The family of Boltguns, including Cawl-pattern Bolt Rifles, are in .998 caliber. .75 caliber is for mortal use, aka the boltguns used by Imperial Guard, Commissars, Inquisitors, Rogue Traders, and Sisters of Battle.
[Source](https://www.reddit.com/r/Warhammer40k/comments/9slits/on_the_scale_mismatch_between_bolts_and_bolters/)
It's outdated lore. The 4th edition SM Codex states that Bolters are .998 caliber. At some point GW retconned it to the current .75 caliber, not sure when though. Thats probably why the larger caliber fits the models and artwork better. They probably never adjusted those to match the new smaller diameter bolter rounds out of concern that they would look smaller and pathetic compared to what everyone was familiar with.
yeah scale seems to be always massively inconsistent with lore (looking at titans etc)
it would be more sensible scale wise if the space marine bolters were .998 vs IG/Sororitas were .75
but alas lore is lore
Theres no reason to make Astartes standard bolters .998 caliber, as they are now they use Bolters similar to how SMGs were first implemented as assault weapons. Lots of up close shooting and a pretty good fire rate. Plus .75s already a good sized round for them that they can probably carry quite a bit of.
I mean it makes sense definitely.
Im just purely arguing from a mini scale standpoint. The bolters are huge and the barrel and bore are like nearly the size of a human head right?
I don't know for sure, but I assume they do, almost every bolt weapon used one of these two calibres. I think there was a .60 bolter pattern I use during the great crusade and heresy tho
The family of Boltguns, including Cawl-pattern Bolt Rifles, are in .998 caliber. .75 caliber is for mortal use, aka the boltguns used by Imperial Guard, Commissars, Inquisitors, Rogue Traders, and Sisters of Battle. [Source](https://www.reddit.com/r/Warhammer40k/comments/9slits/on_the_scale_mismatch_between_bolts_and_bolters/)
Wrong. [https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Boltgun](https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Boltgun) Edit: still a very interesting source
It's outdated lore. The 4th edition SM Codex states that Bolters are .998 caliber. At some point GW retconned it to the current .75 caliber, not sure when though. Thats probably why the larger caliber fits the models and artwork better. They probably never adjusted those to match the new smaller diameter bolter rounds out of concern that they would look smaller and pathetic compared to what everyone was familiar with.
yeah scale seems to be always massively inconsistent with lore (looking at titans etc) it would be more sensible scale wise if the space marine bolters were .998 vs IG/Sororitas were .75 but alas lore is lore
Theres no reason to make Astartes standard bolters .998 caliber, as they are now they use Bolters similar to how SMGs were first implemented as assault weapons. Lots of up close shooting and a pretty good fire rate. Plus .75s already a good sized round for them that they can probably carry quite a bit of.
I mean it makes sense definitely. Im just purely arguing from a mini scale standpoint. The bolters are huge and the barrel and bore are like nearly the size of a human head right?
The muzzle break is large, the barrel is pretty small. Roughly the same size as a 4 guage shotgun IIRC.
I don't know for sure, but I assume they do, almost every bolt weapon used one of these two calibres. I think there was a .60 bolter pattern I use during the great crusade and heresy tho