1.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
2.
United States Army Air Forces
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Each of these forces had a commanding general who reported directly to the Army Chief of Staff. S. Army to control its own installations and support personnel, the peak size of the AAF during the Second World War was over 2.4 million men and women in service and nearly 80,000 aircraft by 1944, and 783 domestic bases in December 1943. By V-E Day, the Army Air Forces had 1.25 million men stationed overseas, in its expansion and conduct of the war, the AAF became more than just an arm of the greater organization. By the end of World War II, the Army Air Forces had become virtually an independent service and this contrast between theory and fact is. fundamental to an understanding of the AAF. Gen. Billy Mitchell that led to his later court-martial, a strategy stressing precision bombing of industrial targets by heavily armed, long-range bombers emerged, formulated by the men who would become its leaders. Since 1920, control of units had resided with commanders of the corps areas. Both were created in 1933 when a conflict with Cuba seemed possible following a coup détat. Activation of GHQ Air Force represented a compromise between strategic airpower advocates and ground force commanders who demanded that the Air Corps mission remain tied to that of the land forces. GHQ Air Force organized combat groups administratively into a force of three wings deployed to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts but was small in comparison to European air forces. Corps area commanders continued to control over airfields and administration of personnel. The expected activation of Army General Headquarters prompted Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall to request a study from Chief of the Air Corps Maj. Gen. Henry H. Arnold resulting on 5 October 1940 in a proposal for creation of an air staff, unification of the air arm under one commander, and equality with the ground and supply forces. Marshall implemented a compromise that the Air Corps found entirely inadequate, naming Arnold as acting Deputy Chief of Staff for Air but rejecting all organizational points of his proposal. GHQ Air Force instead was assigned to the control of Army General Headquarters, although the latter was a training and not an operational component, when it was activated in November 1940. A division of the GHQ Air Force into four air defense districts on 19 October 1940 was concurrent with the creation of air forces to defend Hawaii. The air districts were converted in March 1941 into numbered air forces with an organization of 54 groups. Marshall had come to the view that the air forces needed a simpler system, Arnold and Marshall agreed that the AAF would enjoy a general autonomy within the War Department until the end of the war, while its commanders would cease lobbying for independence. Marshall, a proponent of airpower, left understood that the Air Force would likely achieve its independence following the war
3.
Rifling
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In firearms, rifling consists of helical grooves in the internal surface of a guns barrel, which impart a spin to a projectile around its long axis. This spin serves to stabilize the projectile, improving its aerodynamic stability. Rifling is often described by its twist rate, which indicates the distance the rifling takes to complete one revolution, such as 1 turn in 10 inches. A shorter distance indicates a faster twist, meaning that for a given velocity the projectile will be rotating at a spin rate. Barrels intended for long, small-diameter bullets, such as the ultra-low-drag, 80-grain 0.223 inch bullets, extremely long projectiles such as flechettes may require high twist rates, these projectiles must be inherently stable, and are often fired from a smoothbore barrel. Muskets were smoothbore, large caliber weapons using ball-shaped ammunition fired at low velocity. Due to the high cost and great difficulty of manufacturing, and the need to load readily from the muzzle. Consequently, on firing the ball bounced off the sides of the barrel when fired, barrel rifling was invented in Augsburg, Germany in 1498. In 1520 August Kotter, an armourer of Nuremberg, Germany improved upon this work, though true rifling dates from the mid-16th century, it did not become commonplace until the nineteenth century. The most successful weapons using rifling with black powder were breech loaders such as the Queen Anne pistol, the grooves most commonly used in modern rifling have fairly sharp edges. More recently, polygonal rifling, a throwback to the earliest types of rifling, has become popular, polygonal barrels tend to have longer service lives because the reduction of the sharp edges of the land reduces erosion of the barrel. Supporters of polygonal rifling also claim higher velocities and greater accuracy, polygonal rifling is currently seen on pistols from CZ, Heckler & Koch, Glock, Tanfoglio, and Kahr Arms, as well as the Desert Eagle. Such guns have achieved significant increases in velocity and range. Examples include the South African G5 and the German PzH2000, gain-twist rifling begins with very little change in the projectiles angular momentum during the first few inches of bullet travel after ignition during the transition from chamber to throat. This enables the bullet to remain undisturbed and trued to the case mouth. After engaging the rifling the bullet is progressively subjected to accelerated angular momentum as burning powder propels it down the barrel. By only gradually increasing the rate, torque is spread along a much longer section of barrel. Gain-twist rifling was used as early as the American Civil War, colt Army and Navy revolvers both employed gain-twist rifling
4.
Game (hunting)
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Game or quarry is any animal hunted for sport or for food. The type and range of animals hunted for food varies in different parts of the world, in some countries, game is classified, including legal classification with respect to licences required, as either small game or large game. Game or quarry is any animal hunted for sport or for food, the term game arises in medieval hunting terminology by the late 13th century and is particular to English, from the generic meaning of Old English gamen joy, amusement, sport, merriment. Small game includes animals, such as rabbits, pheasants. Large game includes animals like deer and bear, big game is a term sometimes used interchangeably with large game although in other contexts it refers to large, typically African, mammals which are hunted mainly for trophies in safaris. The type and range of animals hunted for food varies in different parts of the world and this is influenced by climate, animal diversity, local taste and locally accepted views about what can or cannot be legitimately hunted. Sometimes a distinction is made between varieties and species of a particular animal, such as wild turkey and domestic turkey. Fish caught for sport are referred to as game fish, the flesh of the animal, when butchered for consumption is often described as having a gamey flavour. This difference in taste can be attributed to the diet of the animal. In some countries, game is classified, including legal classification with respect to licences required, a single small game licence may cover all small game species and be subject to yearly bag limits. Large game are often subject to individual licensing where a licence is required for each individual animal taken. In some parts of Africa, wild animals hunted for their meat are called bushmeat, see article for more detailed information on how this operates within the economy. In Africa, animals hunted for their pelts or ivory are sometimes referred to as the big game, also see the legal definition of game in Swaziland. South Africa has 62 species of gamebirds, including guineafowl, francolin, partridge, quail, sandgrouse, duck, geese, snipe, bustard, of the remaining 41 species,24 have shown an increase in numbers and distribution range in the last 25 years or so. The status of 14 species appears unchanged, with insufficient information being available for the three species. S. and Canada, deer are the most commonly hunted big game. Other game species include, In the PRC there is a special category called ye wei. In the UK game is defined in law by the Game Act 1831 and it is illegal to shoot game on Sundays or at night. Other that are hunted for food in the UK are specified under the Wildlife, the ban is generally considered voluntary on private lands, and few birds live away from RSPB or Forestry Commission land allegedly
5.
.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
6.
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
7.
Centerfire ammunition
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A centerfire cartridge is a cartridge with a primer located in the center of the cartridge case head. Unlike rimfire cartridges, the primer is a separate and replaceable component, centerfire cartridges have supplanted the rimfire variety in all but the smallest cartridge sizes. The stronger base of a cartridge is able to withstand higher pressures which in turn give a bullet greater velocity. Larger caliber rimfire cartridges require greater volumes of priming explosive than centerfire cartridges, reducing the amount of priming explosive would reduce the reliability of rimfire cartridge ignition, and increase the probability of misfire or dud cartridges. Economies of scale are achieved through interchangeable primers for a variety of centerfire cartridge calibers. The expensive individual brass cases can be reused after replacing the primer, gunpowder, the forward portion of some empty cases can be reformed for use as obsolete or wildcat cartridges with similar base configuration. Modern cartridges larger than.22 caliber are mostly centerfire, actions suitable for larger caliber rimfire cartridges declined in popularity until the demand for them no longer exceeded manufacturing costs, and they became obsolete. An early form of ammunition, without a percussion cap, was invented between 1808 and 1812 by Jean Samuel Pauly. This was also the first fully integrated cartridge, true centerfire ammunition was invented by the Frenchman Clement Pottet in 1829. However, Pottet would not perfect his design until 1855, the centerfire cartridge was improved by Benjamin Houllier, Gastinne Renette, Charles Lancaster, George Morse, Francois Schneider, Hiram Berdan and Edward Mounier Boxer. The identifying feature of centerfire ammunition is the primer which is a cup containing a primary explosive inserted into a recess in the center of the base of the cartridge. The firearm firing pin crushes this explosive between the cup and an anvil to produce hot gas and a shower of incandescent particles to ignite the powder charge, Berdan priming is less expensive to manufacture and is much more common in military-surplus ammunition made outside the United States. Berdan primers are named after their American inventor, Hiram Berdan of New York who invented his first variation of the Berdan primer and patented it on March 20,1866, in U. S. A small copper cylinder formed the shell of the cartridge, and this system worked well, allowing the option of installing a cap just before use of the propellant-loaded cartridge as well as permitting reloading the cartridge for reuse. S. Berdan primers have remained essentially the same functionally to the present day, Berdan primers are similar to the caps used in the caplock system, being small metal cups with pressure-sensitive explosive in them. Modern Berdan primers are pressed into the pocket of a Berdan-type cartridge case. Inside the primer pocket is a bump, the anvil, that rests against the center of the cup. Berdan cases are reusable, although the process is rather involved, the used primer must be removed, usually by hydraulic pressure or a pincer or lever that pulls the primer out of the bottom
8.
Handloading
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Handloading or reloading is the process of loading firearm cartridges or shotgun shells by assembling the individual components, rather than purchasing completely assembled, factory-loaded ammunition. Economy, increased accuracy, performance, commercial ammunition shortages, Reloading fired cartridge cases can save the shooter money, or provides the shooter with more, and higher quality, ammunition within a given budget. Besides economy, the ability to customize the performance of ammunition is a common goal, hunters may desire cartridges with specialized bullets or specific performance as regards bullet and velocity. Target shooters seek the best achievable accuracy, as well as the best shot-to-shot consistency, shotgunning enthusiasts can make specialty rounds not available in commercial inventories at any price. This technique also enables hunters to use the rifle and caliber to hunt a wider variety of game. Collectors of obsolete firearms who want to shoot those guns often must handload because appropriate cartridges or shotshells are no commercially produced. Handloaders can also create cartridges for which no equivalent exists - wildcat cartridges. As with any hobby, the enjoyment of the reloading process may be the most important benefit. Recurring shortages of ammunition are also reasons to reload cartridges. There are three aspects to ballistics, internal ballistics, external ballistics, and terminal ballistics, internal ballistics refers to things that happen inside the firearm during and after firing but before the bullet leaves the muzzle. Each cartridge reloaded can have each component carefully matched to the rest of the cartridges in the batch, brass cases can be matched by volume, weight, and concentricity, bullets by weight and design, powder charges by weight, type, case filling, and packing scheme. Where the most extreme accuracy is demanded, such as in rifle benchrest shooting, handloading is a prerequisite for success. The basic piece of equipment for handloading is the press, a press is a device that uses compound leverage to push the cases into the dies that perform the loading operations. Presses vary from simple, inexpensive single stage models, to complex progressive models that will eject a cartridge with each pull of a lever. Inexpensive tong tools have been used for reloading since the mid-19th century and they resembled a large pair of pliers and can be caliber specific or have interchangeable dies. Reloading presses are often categorized by the letter of the alphabet that they most resemble, O, C, the sturdiest presses, suitable for bullet swaging functions as well as for normal reloading die usage, are of the O type. Heavy steel completely encloses the single die on these presses, equally sturdy presses for all but bullet swaging use often resemble the letter C. Both steel and aluminum construction are seen with C presses, some users prefer C style presses over O presses, as there is more room to place bullets into cartridge mouths on C presses
9.
Winchester rifle
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Winchester rifle is a comprehensive term describing a series of lever-action repeating rifles manufactured by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. Developed from the 1860 Henry rifle, Winchester rifles were among the earliest repeaters, the Model 1873 was particularly successful, being colloquially known as The Gun that Won the West. In 1848, Walter Hunt of New York patented his Volition Repeating Rifle incorporating a tubular magazine, the Hunt rifle fired what he called the Rocket Ball, an early form of caseless ammunition in which the powder charge was contained in the bullets hollow base. Horace Smith and Daniel Wesson of Norwich, Connecticut acquired the Jennings patent from Robbins & Lawrence and its largest stockholder was Oliver Winchester. Smiths cartridge, the.22 Short, would be introduced commercially in 1857 with the landmark Smith & Wesson Model 1 revolver and is manufactured today. Wesson had left Volcanic soon after it was formed and Smith followed eight months later, Volcanic moved to New Haven in 1856, but by the end of that year became insolvent. Oliver Winchester purchased the firms assets from the remaining stockholders. Benjamin Henry continued to work with Smiths cartridge concept, and perfected the much larger, Henry also supervised the redesign of the rifle to use the new ammunition, retaining only the general form of the breech mechanism and the tubular magazine. This became the Henry rifle of 1860, which was manufactured by the New Haven Arms Company, confederates called the Henry that damned Yankee rifle that they load on Sunday and shoot all week. After the war, Oliver Winchester renamed New Haven Arms the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, the company modified and improved the basic design of the Henry rifle, creating the first Winchester rifle, the Model 1866. It retained the.44 Henry cartridge, was built on a bronze-alloy frame, and had an improved magazine. In 1873 Winchester introduced the steel-framed Model 1873 chambering the more potent. 44-40 centerfire cartridge, in 1876, in a bid to compete with the powerful single-shot rifles of the time, Winchester brought out the Model 1876. The first Winchester rifle – the Winchester Model 1866 – was originally chambered for the rimfire.44 Henry. Nelson Kings improved patent remedied flaws in the Henry rifle by incorporating a loading gate on the side of the frame and integrating a round, france purchased 6,000 Model 1866 rifles along with 4.5 million.44 Henry cartridges during the Franco-Prussian War. The Ottoman Empire purchased 45,000 Model 1866 muskets and 5,000 carbines in 1870 and 1871, the Model 1866 compelled Russians to develop a new rifle, the Mosin–Nagant, after the war. The Swiss Army initially selected the Model 1866 to replace their existing single-shot Milbank-Amsler rifles, however, ensuing political pressure to adopt a domestic design resulted in the Vetterli Model 1867, a bolt-action design utilizing a copy of the Winchesters tubular magazine, being adopted instead. Due to public demand, the Model 1866 continued to be manufactured and sold until 1899, the Model 1873 was one of the most successful Winchester rifles of its day, with Winchester marketing it as The Gun that Won the West. Still an icon in the day, it was manufactured between 1873 and 1923
