Imperial or metric

[fngTony]

Im glad Im fluent in both, and Im also glad the US is a holdout.

Genuinely curious, why are you glad that we’re a hold out?

 

[Macintosh]

Genuinely curious, why are you glad that we’re a hold out?

Not sure if this will be coherent, but will take a stab at it.
I’ve worked for 2 different european companies for the past 25 years. Not enough people speak any one european language, so in order to deal with themselves virtually everyone there speaks at least their native language, English, and another language. Many people speak 4 or 5 languages. Its very cool, and I think admirable. At the same time, all of the constructs we have including language and measurements and a host of other things are part of our culture and it seems to me something is profoundly lost every time something gets “standardized” in order to be more universal. So I particularly like regional differences. I dont think we need to be standardized with everyone else, therefore I dont think we should be. (Even though I think we should be fluent in speaking metric)

 

[TaperPin]

Hey how many meters per second is your bullet going at 500 meters?

Sounds weird. Lol

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Throughout my college engineering and career in the military business, I used nothing but metric for 35 years. I much prefer it. I like everything being a factor of 10, one number. When I retired, I'm like aww crap, now 1/4", 3/8", 7/16th, etc. We should have gone metric and joined the rest of the world. Now for all the foreign equipment, I had to buy an entire set of metric tools.

 

[Shooter Mike]

Living in the grand old USA I have spent a ton of time with a tape measure on my hip measuring things in feet, inches, fractions of inches. I do remember in the 3rd grade back in the 80s my school district tried to teach us both imperial, and metric systems of measurement. If I re all everyone picked up on metric quite easily. But alas, they dropped it.
I know linear measurements and angular are not the same. But while on the mils vs moa thread I cant help but note I think in inches, therefore moa seems easier to me. If I used the metric system would mils be easier? Would moa be harder than for an inch thinker?
In a general off season kind of way what are your thoughts on our measurement systems? Is metric better? Is imperial better?

I understand why you think the way you might, regarding MOA vs MILs. I once did too. Ask yourself this: How will you use inches in shooting? It is far easier to figure and calculate on a 10-base system, than a system in 12's.

In ranging, the average height of a male human is 1.75 meters. That's 69 inches. The shoulder height of a mature elk is 1.25 to 1.5 meters or 54-60 inches. Relate that MOA at any given distance. Maybe you can do Rain Man-level math, but I can't. MILs is much faster.

 

[LongWayAround]

You could always use survey feet. You still use a foot, but it's divided into tenths and hundredths.

Metric system is way more intuitive, it's too bad our country had to deviate from it.

 

[Nykki]

I worked as a mechanic for 30 + years and am comfortable with both. Though I naturally think in imperial cause that is what I grew up using. After working in Russia for five years I find it rather easy to convert back and forth.

 

[oldskool67]

We fought and won two world wars with the 30-06 so we wouldn’t have to use the metric system

 

[Boarmaster]

I’m 63 and I wish the first time the US talked about switching they had not lazed out and done it.
At that time I was in the 3rd grade. I have spent my whole life saddled with imperial so dear old dad and grandad didn't have to buy a new tape measure. I learned metric on my own after I got out of school (college) . I can get by either way and metric is just so much easier.

 

[Sunshine40]

metric except for temperature. Fractions in any math formula is the devils work. Here’s a video that explains the issues with the imperial system.

I was hoping somone would post this

 

[IdahoElk]

Currently doing construction and using imperial but having worked in two cabinet shops that used only metric I can say metric is better for finish work, Imperial for framing.

 

[ODB]

You could always use survey feet. You still use a foot, but it's divided into tenths and hundredths.

Metric system is way more intuitive, it's too bad our country had to deviate from it.

Have we really lost something? I don’t see it that way at all. What would be made patently and demonstrably better had we gone 100% metric? Conversely, what, because of metric, is superior from other countries? Does food grow better in a hectare? are cars more efficient when fueled by the liter?

I’m struggling to see where a preference makes a real difference.

And for the record, I don’t care either way, it’s just that the claimed superiority for metric doesn’t seem to reveal itself in any meaningful way.

 

[LongWayAround]

Have we really lost something? I don’t see it that way at all. What would be made patently and demonstrably better had we gone 100% metric? Conversely, what, because of metric, is superior from other countries? Does food grow better in a hectare? are cars more efficient when fueled by the liter?

I’m struggling to see where a preference makes a real difference.

And for the record, I don’t care either way, it’s just that the claimed superiority for metric doesn’t seem to reveal itself in any meaningful way.

Well no, we didn't lose anything since we never used the metric system to my knowledge. Tens, hundreds, thousands are easier to use than fractions of inches, quarts, whatever.

Don't hurt yourself. It isn't complicated.

 

[isleofGough]

Even in the us military, pacer (ranger) beads and artillery adjustments are based on metric.

 

[bigeyedfish]

I'm a mechanical engineer by training but have worked most of my career surrounded by civil engineers. I'm perfectly comfortable working with either and converting as needed, but for large scale projects my brain works with feet, yards, acres, miles, cubic yards, etc. If you want an estimate in metric, I have to convert my thoughts from imperial to metric. Small scale measurements like engines or machine shop work, I can work in either system fluently.

Would life be easier if we all just stuck to one system? Maybe, but neither system is difficult at all once you know how they work. When you teach a kid the concept of decimals, you illustrate it to them with fractions. The guys I've worked with who struggle reading a tape measure would not do any better if it was metric.

I feel the same about Mils vs. MOA, but I've never gotten into long range shooting. If I do, I'll probably lean toward mils since there are threads on here to help people get started, and that's what they use.

 

[Wrongside]

Unique perspective here. I moved to the Yukon as a kid from Alaska ,was 11 at the time. Grade 6 in Canada was my introduction to Metric. I now live in Alberta and got my Journeyman as a carpenter in 1993. I work with Imperial daily so understand and know it well. However when it comes to tempatures in the Farenheit system they may as well be Italian as far as understanding what is what. Virtually no one I know knows their height and weight in Metric we all still talk in pounds and feet/inches. I build cabinets now and use metric more and more. Building doors on a Shaper sure works easier when my default planing thickness for lumber is 20 mils, makes setup far easier with a metric caliper and height gauge. Basically traped between two systems for life is the way I see it . Using one or the other depending on what is required at the time.

Haha. Very similar experience here. I grew up in the US until 13-14. Dad moved us to Ontario around that time, and now live in AB. I also work in the building trades and move back and forth between both systems daily. Overall metric is far more intuitive, but having grown up learning Imperial I just can’t shake some old habits. Height, feet & inches for building/rise-run/etc, and in certain situations, MPH.

 

[ADK_hunter]

I am working with Europe, Canada and the USA and have to suffer through conversions all the time. There is a lot of confusion: the „gallon“ in the UK is not the same as a „gallon“ in the US. A „ton“ is confusing when omitting „short“ or „metric“. Oz and FL Oz get often mixed up. It’s a mess.

 

[IdahoBeav]

You have to be able to do both. Where it gets interesting is surveying and grading design- decimal feet. Hand one of those tape measures to a carpenter and watch his head spin.

It's also kinda funny when people that swear by imperial have no idea what a slug is outside of invertebrate or shotguns.

 

[Rotnguns]

Mechanical engineer here so I can work with both systems fine. Back in the day, I had a job with a small engineering firm and it wasn't unusual for us to work with metric in house but convert to Imperial when presenting to clients. They often had an instinctive feel for "yards" (cubic yards) rather than cubic meters; BTU's rather than Joules. President Carter, an engineer, signed the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 that was intended to encourage the US to transition to the metric system. As I recall, it started with road signs showing distances in both miles and kilometers. But when gas stations started to show prices for liters rather than gallons, it was too much for Americans to take. And that's about as far as the MCA got.

 

[Rotnguns]

You have to be able to do both. Where it gets interesting is surveying and grading design- decimal feet. Hand one of those tape measures to a carpenter and watch his head spin.

It's also kinda funny when people that swear by imperial have no idea what a slug is outside of invertebrate or shotguns.

You got that right. The Imperial system comes up way short in units of mass. On the other hand, try to tell most Americans what a Newton is, instead of a pound.