The 2-pounder gun, officially the QF 2-pounder and universally known as the pom-pom, was a 40 mm (1.6 in) British autocannon, used as an anti-aircraft gun by the Royal Navy. The name came from the sound that the original models make when firing. This QF 2-pounder was not the same gun as the Ordnance QF 2-pounder, used by the British Army as an anti-tank gun and a tank gun, although they both fired 2 lb (0.91 kg), 40 mm (1.6 in) projectiles.
Quadruple 2 pdr MK VIII guns on Mk.VII mounting aboard HMAS Nizam August 1941
Australian troops with a QF 1-pounder Maxim auto cannon captured from the Boers
Posed photo of Mk II guarding a train against air attack, Mesopotamia, 1918
Gunners on HMCS Assiniboine fire their 2 pdr while escorting a troop convoy from Halifax to Britain, 10 July 1940.
An autocannon, automatic cannon or machine cannon is a fully automatic gun that is capable of rapid-firing large-caliber armour-piercing, explosive or incendiary shells, as opposed to the smaller-caliber kinetic projectiles (bullets) fired by a machine gun. Autocannons have a longer effective range and greater terminal performance than machine guns, due to the use of larger/heavier munitions, but are usually smaller than tank guns, howitzers, field guns, or other artillery. When used on its own, the word "autocannon" typically indicates a non-rotary weapon with a single barrel. When multiple rotating barrels are involved, such a weapon is referred to as a "rotary autocannon" or occasionally "rotary cannon", for short.
US M242 Bushmaster 25 mm autocannon mounted on an M2 Bradley armoured fighting vehicle
ZU-23-2, a twin barrel 23×152 mm anti-aircraft autocannon from the 1960s still in service with some former members of the Warsaw Pact
German BK 5 50 mm aircraft autocannon displayed in front of the Me 262A jet, a design once tested with it
XM307 25 mm caliber man portable Automatic Grenade Launcher, part of the cancelled OCSW program