1.
Firearm
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A firearm is a portable gun - a barreled weapon that launches one or more projectiles, often driven by the action of an explosive force. The first primitive firearms originated in 13th-century China when the fire lance was combined with projectiles. The technology gradually spread through the rest of East Asia, South Asia, older firearms typically used black powder as a propellant, but modern firearms use smokeless powder or other propellants. Most modern firearms have rifled barrels to impart spin to the projectile for improved flight stability, modern firearms can be described by their caliber or in the case of shotguns their gauge, by the type of action employed together with the usual means of deportment. The word firearms usually is used in a sense restricted to small arms, shooters aim firearms at their targets with hand-eye co-ordination, using either iron sights or optical sights. The accurate range of pistols generally does not exceed 100 yards, while most rifles are accurate to 550 yards using iron sights, some purpose-built sniper rifles are accurate to ranges of more than 2,200 yards. The smallest of all firearms is the handgun, there are three common types of handguns, single-shot pistols, revolvers, and semi-automatic pistols. Revolvers have a number of firing chambers or charge holes in a revolving cylinder, semi-automatic pistols have a single fixed firing chamber machined into the rear of the barrel, and a magazine so they can be used to fire more than one round. Each press of the fires a cartridge, using the energy of the cartridge to activate the mechanism so that the next cartridge may be fired immediately. This is opposed to double-action revolvers which accomplish the end using a mechanical action linked to the trigger pull. Prior to the 19th century, virtually all handguns were single-shot muzzleloaders, with the invention of the revolver in 1818, handguns capable of holding multiple rounds became popular. Certain designs of auto-loading pistol appeared beginning in the 1870s and had largely supplanted revolvers in military applications by the end of World War I. By the end of the 20th century, most handguns carried regularly by military, police and civilians were semi-automatic, both designs are common among civilian gun owners, depending on the owners intention. A long gun is any firearm that is larger than a handgun and is designed to be held. Early long arms, from the Renaissance up to the century, were generally smoothbore firearms that fired one or more ball shot. Most modern long guns are either rifles or shotguns, both are the successors of the musket, diverging from their parent weapon in distinct ways. A rifle is so named for the spiral fluting machined into the surface of its barrel. Shotguns are predominantly smoothbore firearms designed to fire a number of shot, shotguns are also capable of firing single slugs, or specialty rounds such as bean bags, tear gas or breaching rounds
2.
Rimfire ammunition
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Rimfire is a method of ignition for metallic firearm cartridges as well as the cartridges themselves. It is called rimfire because the pin of a gun strikes and crushes the bases rim to ignite the primer. Once the rim of the cartridge has been struck and the bullet discharged, while many other different cartridge priming methods have been tried since the 19th century, only rimfire technology and centerfire technology survive today in significant use. Frenchman Louis-Nicolas Flobert invented the first rimfire metallic cartridge in 1845 and his cartridge consisted of a percussion cap with a bullet attached to the top and the idea was to improve the safety of indoor shooting. In English-speaking countries, the Flobert cartridge corresponds to.22 BB, Rimfire cartridges are limited to low pressures because they require a thin case so that the firing pin can crush the rim and ignite the primer. Rimfire cartridges of.44 caliber up to.56 caliber were once common when black powder was used as a propellant, however, modern rimfire cartridges use smokeless powder which generates much higher pressures and tend to be of.22 caliber or smaller. Rimfire cartridges are typically inexpensive, primarily due to the inherent cost-efficiency of the ability to manufacture the cartridges in large lots, the price of metals used in the cartridges increased in 2002, the prices of the ammunition then further increased in 2012 possibly due to hoarding. The idea of placing a priming compound in the rim of the cartridge evolved from an 1831 patent, by 1845, this had evolved into the Flobert.22 BB Cap, in which the priming compound is distributed just inside the rim. The.22 BB Cap is essentially just a percussion cap with a round ball pressed in the front, intended for use in an indoor gallery target rifle, it used no gunpowder, but relied entirely on the priming compound for propulsion. Its velocities were very low, comparable to an airgun, the next rimfire cartridge was the.22 Short, developed for Smith & Wessons first revolver, in 1857, it used a longer rimfire case and 4 grains of black powder to fire a conical bullet. This led to the.22 Long, with the bullet weight as the short. This was followed by the.22 Extra Long with a longer than the.22 Long. The.22 Long Rifle is a.22 Long case loaded with the heavier Extra Long bullet intended for performance in the long barrel of a rifle. Larger rimfire calibers were used during the American Civil War in the Henry Repeater, the Spencer Repeater, the Ballard rifle and the Frank Wesson carbine. The early 21st century has seen a revival in interest in rimfire cartridges, a new and increasingly popular rimfire, the 17 HMR is based on a.22 WMR casing with a smaller formed neck which accepts a.17 bullet. The advantages of the 17 HMR over.22 WMR and other rimfire cartridges are its much flatter trajectory, the.17 HM2 is based on the.22 Long Rifle and offers similar performance advantages over its parent cartridge, at a significantly higher cost. While.17 HM2 sells for about four times the cost of.22 Long Rifle ammunition, it is significantly cheaper than most centerfire ammunition. A notable rimfire cartridge that is still in production in Europe and this cartridge can fire a small ball, but is primarily loaded with a small amount of shot, and used in smoothbore guns as a miniature shotgun, or garden gun
3.
Air gun
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Both the rifle and handgun forms typically propel metallic projectiles, either the non-spherical pellets, or the spherical BBs. Certain types of air guns may also propel arrows or darts, the first air guns were developed in the 1500s. The guns have used in hunting, sporting and warfare. Air guns use three types of power, depending on the design, spring-piston, pneumatic and compressed carbon dioxide, Air guns represent the oldest pneumatic technology. The oldest existing mechanical air gun, an air gun dating back to about 1580, is in the Livrustkammaren Museum in Stockholm. This is the time most historians recognize as the beginning of the air gun. In the 17th century, air guns, in calibers. 30–.51, were used to hunt big game deer and these air rifles were charged using a pump to fill an air reservoir and gave velocities from 650 to 1,000 feet per second. They were also used in warfare, the most recognized example being the Girandoni air rifle, at that time, they had compelling advantages over the primitive firearms of the day. For example, air guns could be discharged in wet weather and rain, moreover, they were quieter than a firearm of similar caliber, had no muzzle flash, and were smokeless. Thus, they did not disclose the shooters position or obscure the shooters view, in the hands of skilled soldiers, they gave the military a distinct advantage. France, Austria and other nations had special sniper detachments using air rifles, the Austrian 1770 model was named Windbüchse. The air reservoir was a removable, club-shaped, butt, the Windbüchse carried twenty-two.51 caliber lead balls in a tubular magazine. A skilled shooter could fire off one magazine in about thirty seconds, a shot from this air gun could penetrate an inch thick wooden board at a hundred paces, an effect roughly equal to that of a modern 9×19mm or.45 ACP caliber pistol. The celebrated Lewis and Clark Expedition carried an air gun. It held 22.46 caliber round balls in a tubular magazine mounted on the side of the barrel, the butt served as the air reservoir and had a working pressure of 800 psi. The rifle was said to be capable of 22 aimed shots per minute and had a bore of 0.452 in. One of the first commercially successful and mass-produced air guns was manufactured by the W. F and their first model air gun was called the Challenger and marketed in 1888. Their next model was the Chicago followed by the King, the Chicago model was sold by Sears, Roebuck for 73 cents in its catalog
4.
.17 HMR
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.17 Hornady Magnum Rimfire, commonly known as the.17 HMR, is a rimfire rifle cartridge developed by the ammunition company Hornady in 2002. It descended from the.22 Magnum by necking down the.22 Magnum case to take a.17 caliber projectile, commonly loaded with a 17 grain projectile, it can deliver muzzle velocities in excess of 775 m/s. The.17 HMR round is similar to rounds developed by dedicated rimfire wildcatters who worked to create a cartridge with an exceptionally flat trajectory. With 5mm diameter barrels and bullets being virtually unavailable at the time, the commercially available.17 caliber became their bullet of choice. The.22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire was the parent case, rather than 5mm RMR, because it was commonly available. The.17 caliber wildcats not only met, but far exceeded the 5 mm RMRs velocities, the accuracy of these cartridges was also quite good. However, the energy of the 5mm RMR is superior to both.22 WMR and.17 HMR, so there is still potential in the 5mm rimfire for wildcatters. Hornady, in conjunction with Marlin Firearms and Sturm, Ruger, with the.22 WMR case as the starting point, a simple barrel change was sufficient for most.22 WMR firearms to chamber the new cartridge. In 2002 the first rifles and ammunition began appearing on the market, while the ammunition was relatively expensive due to the high-performance.17 caliber bullets used, it was still cheaper than most centerfire ammunition. By 2004 CCI, Federal Cartridge and Remington had each introduced.17 HMR ammunition offerings. Cartridges for.17 HMR come with bullets that weigh 15. 5-grain, 17-grain, and 20-grain, and come in such as polymer tipped, hollow points, soft points. A growing number of companies offer.17 HMR ammunition, CCI Ammunition loads all of the.17 HMR ammunition for the CCI, Federal Cartridge, Hornady, and Remington brands. However, the ammunition is loaded with different bullets to different specifications, Ammunition is also available from Winchester, PMC and Sellier & Bellot. Citing safety concerns about the use in semi-automatic firearms, Remington issued a product safety warning. Higher velocity, 2350-2550fps compared to the popular ≈1255fps. 22LR High Velocity, Flatter trajectory Longer range As the round is faster there is less chance of ricochet due to bullet break up at shorter ranges More expensive. Overly destructive at close range for small game, faster flight, 2350-2550fps compared to the Hornady 2200fps 22Wmr 30gr rounds Flatter trajectory Longer range. The.17 HM2 is based on the.22 LR case necked down to.17 caliber using the bullet as the HMR. 4 mm caliber Table of handgun and rifle cartridges 4. 5×26mm MKR Varmint Als Field Testing the.17 HMR
5.
Ammunition
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Ammunition is the general term used for the material fired, scattered, dropped or detonated from any weapon. The term ammunition can be traced back to the mid 17th century, broadly speaking, ammunition refers to both expendable weapons and the component parts of other weapons that create the effect on a target. Nearly all weapons will require some form of ammunition to operate, the word comes from the French la munition, which refers to the material used for war. The terms ammunition and munitions are used interchangeably, although the term munition now usually refers to both the actual weapons system alongside the ammunition required to operate it. The purpose of ammunition is to project a force against a target to have an effect. The most iconic example of ammunition is the cartridge, which all components required to deliver the weapon effect in a single package. Ammunition comes in a range of sizes and types and is often designed to work only in specific weapons systems. However, there are internationally recognized standards for certain types that enable their use across different weapons. There are also types of ammunition that are designed to have a specialized effect on a target, such as armor-piercing shells and tracer ammunition. Ammunition is commonly colored in a manner to assist in the identification. A round is a cartridge containing a projectile, propellant, primer. A shell is a form of ammunition that is fired by a large cannon or artillery piece. Before the mid-19th century, these shells were made of solid materials. However, since that time, they are often filled with high-explosives. A shot refers to a release of a weapons system. This may involve firing just one round or piece of ammunition, a dud refers to loaded ammunition that fails to function as intended, typically failing to detonate on landing. However, it can refer to ammunition that fails to fire inside the weapon, known as a misfire, or when the ammunition only partially functions. Dud ammunition, which is classified as an ordnance, is regarded as highly dangerous
6.
Cartridge (firearms)
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Military and commercial producers continue to pursue the goal of caseless ammunition. A cartridge without a bullet is called a blank, One that is completely inert is called a dummy. Some artillery ammunition uses the same concept as found in small arms. In other cases, the shell is separate from the propellant charge. In popular use, the bullet is often misused to refer to a complete cartridge. The cartridge case seals a firing chamber in all directions excepting the bore, a firing pin strikes the primer and ignites it. The primer compound deflagrates, it does not detonate, a jet of burning gas from the primer ignites the propellant. Gases from the burning powder pressurize and expand the case to seal it against the chamber wall and these propellant gases push on the bullet base. In response to pressure, the bullet will move in the path of least resistance which is down the bore of the barrel. After the bullet leaves the barrel, the pressure drops to atmospheric pressure. The case, which had been expanded by chamber pressure. This eases removal of the case from the chamber, brass is a commonly used case material because it is resistant to corrosion. A brass case head can be work-hardened to withstand the pressures of cartridges. The neck and body portion of a case is easily annealed to make the case ductile enough to allow reforming so that it can be reloaded many times. Steel is used in some plinking ammunition, as well as in military ammunition. Steel is less expensive than brass, but it is not feasible to reload, Military forces typically consider small arms cartridge cases to be disposable, one-time-use devices. However, case weight affects how much ammunition a soldier can carry, conversely, steel is more susceptible to contamination and damage so all such cases are varnished or otherwise sealed against the elements. One downside caused by the strength of steel in the neck of these cases is that propellant gas can blow back past the neck
7.
.22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire
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The.22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire, more commonly called.22 WMR.22 Magnum, or simply.22 Mag, is a rimfire cartridge. More recently, a high-quality 30gr Vmax cartridge from Hornady has been released and this exceeds 2200fps in a rifle and has a reputation for much greater consistency and accuracy than was previously attributed to this calibre. The.22 WMR was introduced in 1959 by Winchester, but was not used by Winchester until the Winchester Model 61 slide rifle could be chambered for it in 1960. By that time, Smith & Wesson and Ruger had revolvers for it, and Savage had come out with the Model 24 and since late 2012, the model 42, a modern update than the 24. It was the only successful rimfire cartridge introduced in the 20th Century, the.22 WMR uses a larger case than the more popular.22 Long Rifle, both in diameter and length. The.22 WMR case is a version of the older.22 WRF. The combination of powder and higher sustained pressures gives velocities over 2,000 feet per second from a rifle using a 30-grain bullet. Since the.22 WMR generally uses the same bullets as the.22 Long Rifle. If sighted in for maximum point blank range on a 3-inch high target and this makes the.22 WMR an effective short to medium range varmint rifle cartridge. The relatively quiet report and negligible recoil also make it a very pleasant round to shoot for extended periods. The.22 WMR can take down small game such as rabbits, groundhogs, prairie dogs, foxes, racoons and it first appeared in the Savage Model 24 combination rifle, followed by Winchesters own Model 61 pump-action rifle and Model 255 lever-action rifle. A number of single-shot and repeating rifles were offered in.22 WMR, the.22 WMR operates at pressures beyond what normal blowback actions typically handle, but the self-loading Jefferson Model 159 was introduced for the cartridge. Until the 1990s, most.22 WMR firearms were bolt-action rifles, in 1977-1985 Harrington & Richardson produced the first American-made semi-automatic.22 WMR. Revolvers in.22 WMR are made by Smith & Wesson, Taurus, North American Arms, Heritage Arms, semi-automatic pistols for this cartridge are produced by Kel-Tec, Grendel and AMT, the latter two now defunct. High-Standard produced various models and versions of their classic two-shot over/under derringer in both.22 WMR and.22 LR, the Argentine EDDA submachine gun uses the.22 WMR round. The.22 WMR is an enlarged, more powerful version of the much earlier.22 WRF, despite frequent claims to the contrary, it should not be used in any firearm except those specifically chambered for.22 WMR. The.22 WMR was for a time the most powerful rimfire round available, though the.22 WMR is more powerful than the.22 Long Rifle.22 WMR ammunition is not manufactured in as large a variety as.22 LR. It also is not as available in retail stores
8.
.17 HM2
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The.17 Hornady Mach 2, or.17 HM2, is a rimfire cartridge introduced in 2004 by the ammunition manufacturer Hornady, following the successful launch in 2002 of the.17 HMR. The.17 HM2 is based on the.22 Long Rifle Stinger case, necked down to.17 caliber, the ultralight bullet is a key part of achieving the very-high velocity for a rimfire round. It weighs only 17 grains vs 30-40 grains for typical.22 LR bullets, the.17 HM2 may or may not live up to its Mach 2 name, depending on geographic location and conditions, with velocities out of a rifle of 2100 ft/s. The velocity is nearly double that of a standard.22 LR, since the.17 HM2 is based on the.22 Long Rifle converting most bolt action firearms chambered in.22 Long Rifle to.17 HM2 requires only a barrel change. The higher pressure makes conversion of semi-automatic firearms more difficult, as all are blowback designs that are sensitive to pressure changes. Kits for the Ruger 10/22 and AR-15 have appeared, and they replace the bolt or bolt handle with a heavier one to increase the bolt mass. List of handgun cartridges List of rifle cartridges Table of handgun and rifle cartridges 4 mm caliber.17 Rimfire The.17 HM2 by Chuck Hawks Eley CCI
9.
Wildcat cartridge
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A wildcat cartridge, often shortened to wildcat, is a custom cartridge for which ammunition and/or firearms are not mass-produced. These cartridges are often created in order to optimize a certain performance characteristic of a commercial cartridge. Often, wildcats are commercially sold rounds that have been modified in some way to alter the cartridges performance, barrels for the caliber are originally manufactured by gunsmiths specializing in barrel making. Generally the same makers also offer reloading dies, tools to custom-load bullets into cases, because changing the barrel of a gun to accommodate custom cartridges requires precision equipment, most wildcats are developed by or in association with custom barrel makers. Ammunition is handloaded, using modified parent cases and the gunsmith-provided wildcat dies, handloaders use the data to develop a load by starting with minimum loads and carefully working up. Wildcat cases and cartridges can be found for sale, but only from small makers, larger manufacturers usually do not produce wildcats because there is such a limited market for them and because there are no established CIP or SAAMI standards, which causes liability concerns. Wildcat cartridges are developed for many reasons, generally, the goal is to optimize some characteristic of a commercial cartridge in a given context. The sport of metallic silhouette shooting, has given rise to a number of wildcats. Wildcat cartridges are developed because, Higher velocities can be obtained by increasing the case capacity. Greater energy can be attained by increasing the caliber or the case capacity, better efficiency can be achieved by increasing the shoulder angle, shortening the case, and reducing case taper. Greater consistency can be achieved by tuning the case capacity to a bullet diameter, weight. Some methods used to develop a wildcat are, Cold forming, the parent case is well lubricated and forced carefully into the reloading die for the wildcat caliber. This will swage the case into the new shape and this type of operation is used for reducing case dimensions, such as reducing the neck diameter or pushing the shoulder back, or changing the neck diameter. This consists of taking the parent case, or a cold formed case, loading it with a light bullet and light load of powder. Another technique uses a charge of fast burning powder topped with a full of Cream of Wheat. This technique is used for increasing case dimensions, such as pushing the neck forward, increasing the neck angle, or straightening the case walls. Generally, after either a cold forming or a fire forming operation, the mouth of the case will be longer than ideal, and the case will be trimmed back to the trim to length. Trimming is a normal reloading operation, as high pressure cartridges will flow each time they are fired, changing the diameter of the case
10.
.17 Winchester Super Magnum
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.17 Winchester Super Magnum, is a rimfire rifle cartridge developed by the ammunition company Winchester in 2012. It descended from the.27 caliber nail gun blank by necking down the case to take a.17 caliber bullet. Initial loadings were with a 20 grain bullet, delivering muzzle velocities around 3000 ft/s, Winchester, in conjunction with Savage, introduced this cartridge at the 2013 SHOT Show. The brass case for this round is roughly 50% thicker than the 17 HMR, factory ammunition is available from Winchester, Federal American Eagle, and more recently Hornady. Hornady 17 Win Super Mag and Federal Ammunition American Eagle®17 Win, Super Magnum cartridges are currently only available with 20 grain polymer-tipped projectiles rated @3000 FPS at the muzzle. Currently, rifles firing the 17 WSM are the Savage B-Mag bolt action, ruger Model 77/17, Winchester 1885 Low Wall single shot, the Volquartsen semi-automatic, H-S Precision Pro Series 2000, and the semi-automatic Franklin Armory F-17. The F-17 is the first gas-operated rimfire firearm, designed to handle the pressures of this cartridge. Also recently Jard Inc. joined this list with their J7117 WSM AR15 rifle,4 mm caliber Table of handgun and rifle cartridges Super.17 WSM, Savage B-Mag Review
