1.
Westley Richards
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Westley Richards is a British manufacturer of guns and rifles and also a well established gunsmith. The company was founded in 1812 by William Westley Richards, who was responsible for the innovation of many rifles used in wars featuring the British Army during the 1800s. It remained in the hands of the Richards family until it was purchased by Clode in 1957, the company has received a number of royal warrants since 1840. Famous gun owners have included Ernest Hemingway, Maharaja of Alwar, today, Westley Richards is one of the oldest surviving traditional gun and rifle makers in England. In 2009, the company diversified into a number of other markets, Westley Richards was founded in Birmingham in 1812 by William Westley Richards at the age of 22. His family background had been in fine jewellery, cutlery and the gun trade, early in the companys history, Richards coined the motto, to be the maker of as good a gun as can be made, which is still used to this day. William Westley Richards was an early gun innovator, creating a number of gun-related patents, Richards opened a gun store in London in 1815 on New Bond Street. The store was owned and managed by William Bishop, who was known as the Bishop of Bond Street and it was stated in a book published by G. T. Teasdale-Buckell in 1900, that Bishop had served as a lieutenant. In 1865, control of the company was inherited by Westley Richards. Richards carried on in a vein to his father, innovating various guns. In 1862, he was responsible for the innovation of the system used on some rifles. His innovations with rifles continued for the decade, creating the falling block rifle in 1868. John Deeley took over the side of the company, with the aim to expand the business from 1871 onwards. These expansions were mainly focused on South Africa and India, both of which were part of the British Empire, in the decades to come, these expansions proved to be vital to the companys global success. Deeley not only focused on the aspects, but also worked on innovations. His greatest achievement is likely the invention of the Anson & Deeley Boxlock action, the cocking mechanism was first established in this shotgun. Sporting guns today still use a method to release the barrel fall. Following the establishment of the new type of mechanism, the companys success in manufacturing both military and sporting weapons saw them move to a new base in 1894
2.
Bullet
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The word bullet is a firearm term. A bullet is a projectile expelled from the barrel of a firearm, the term is from Middle French and originated as the diminutive of the word boulle which means small ball. Bullets are made of a variety of materials and they are available singly as they would be used in muzzle loading and cap and ball firearms, as part of a paper cartridge, and much more commonly as a component of metallic cartridges. Bullets are made in a numbers of styles and constructions depending on how they will be used. Many bullets have specialized functions, such as hunting, target shooting, training, defense, a bullet is not a cartridge. In paper and metallic cartridges a bullet is one component of the cartridge, bullet sizes are expressed by their weight and diameter in both English and Metric measurement systems. For example.22 caliber 55 grain bullets or 5. 56mm 55 grain bullets are the same caliber, the word bullet is often used colloquially to refer to a cartridge, which is a combination of the bullet, paper or metallic case/shell, powder, and primer. This use of bullet, when cartridge is intended, leads to confusion when the components of a cartridge are discussed or intended, the bullets used in many cartridges are fired at a muzzle velocity faster than the speed of sound. Meaning they are supersonic and thus can travel a substantial distance, bullet speed through air depends on a number of factors such as barometric pressure, humidity, air temperature, and wind speed. Subsonic cartridges fire bullets slower than the speed of sound and so there is no sonic crack and this means that a subsonic cartridge such as.45 ACP can be effectively suppressed to be substantially quieter than a supersonic cartridge such as the.223 Remington. Bullets do not normally contain explosives, but damage the target by impact. The first use of gunpowder in Europe was recorded in 1247 and it had been used in China for hundreds of years. Later in 1364 hand cannon appeared, early projectiles were made of stone. Stone was used in cannon and hand cannon, in cannon it was eventually found that stone would not penetrate stone fortifications which gave rise to the use of heavier metals for the round projectiles. Hand cannon projectiles developed in a similar following the failure of stone from siege cannon. The first recorded instance of a ball from a hand cannon penetrating armor occurred in 1425. In this photograph of shot retrieved from the wreck of the Mary Rose which was sunk in 1545, the round shot are clearly of different sizes and some are stone while others are cast iron. The development of the hand culverin and matchlock arquebus brought about the use of cast lead balls as projectiles, bullet is derived from the French word boulette, which roughly means little ball
3.
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
4.
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
5.
Gewehr 98
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The Gewehr 98 replaced the earlier Gewehr 1888 rifle as the German service rifle, first saw combat in the Boxer Rebellion, and was the main German infantry rifle of World War I. The Gewehr 98 saw further use by the Ottoman Empire. Many have been converted to sporting use, the Gewehr 98, named for 1898, the first year of its manufacture, superseded the earlier Gewehr 1888 in German service. The bolt-action design used for the Gewehr 98 was patented by Paul Mauser on 9 September 1895, the Gewehr 98 itself was the latest in a line of Mauser rifles that were introduced in the 1890s. The German Gewehr-Prüfungskommission adopted the Gewehr 98 on 5 April 1898, the action was derived from the experimental Gewehr 96 Rifle. In 1901, the first troop issues of the Gewehr 98 Rifles were made to the East Asian Expeditionary Force, the first combat use of the Gewehr 98 was during the Boxer Rebellion. In 1904, contracts were placed with Waffenfabrik Mauser for 290,000 rifles, at the outbreak of the war in 1914, the German Army had 2.273.080 Mauser 98-rifles of all types, additional 7.000.000 were produced during the war. The ammunition conversion was indicated by a small S stamped above the chamber and this was done since the 1888 pattern M/88 cartridge and 1903 S-bore pattern cartridge are two different non interchangeable chamberings. Since the new IS cartridge had a flatter trajectory the Lange Visier rear sight had to be changed with an S-adapted Lange Visier. The Gewehr 98 or model 98 rifle is a manually operated and it has a 740 mm long rifled barrel and carries 5 rounds of ammunition in an internal magazine. The Gewehr 98 has two sling swivels, open front sights, and a curved tangent-type rear sight, known as the Lange Visier, the controlled-feed bolt-action of the Gewehr 98 is a distinct feature and is regarded as one of the major bolt-action system designs. A drawback of the M98 system is that it cannot be cheaply mass-produced very easily, some other bolt-action designs offer trained operators a faster rate of fire. This third lug is a feature and was not present on previous Mauser bolt action designs. The bolt handle is attached to the bolt and, on the Gewehr 98, is straight. Combined with a slight bolt retraction at the last stage of the bolt opening cycle, caused by the surface on the rear receiver bridge. The M98 bolt-action will cycle correctly, irrespective of the way the rifle is moved or positioned during the bolt cycling action or if the cartridge has been fired or not. Only if the bolt is not brought back far enough, sharply enough, in a controlled round feed bolt-action the cartridge case may not be cleanly ejected and a jam may result. The bolt houses the firing pin mechanism that cocks when the bolt is opened, a cocking shroud lock that was not present on previous Mauser bolt-action designs was added. 92×57mm Mauser cartridge
6.
Pattern 1914 Enfield
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The Rifle.303 Pattern 1914 was a British service rifle of the First World War period. A bolt action weapon with an integral 5-round magazine, it was principally contract manufactured by companies in the United States and it served as a sniper rifle and as second line and reserve issue until being declared obsolete in 1947. The Pattern 1914 Enfield was the successor to the Pattern 1913 Enfield experimental rifle, during the Boer War the British were faced with accurate long-range fire from Mauser rifles, model 1893 and 1895, in 7×57mm caliber. This smaller, high-velocity round prompted the War Department to develop their own magnum round, the primary contractor was unable to produce more than a handful of rifles, so the P14 became a de facto afterthought. The Short Magazine Lee–Enfield therefore remained the standard British rifle during World War I, shortly afterwards a modification was made to enlarge the bolt lugs and the rifle became the Mark I*. Eventually Winchester would manufacture 235,293 rifles, Remington 400,000 and Eddystone 600,000, when the U. S. entered World War I, the P14 was modified and standardized by the U. S. Ordnance Department and went into production at the factories as had produced the P14, production of that rifle having ceased. Sometimes called the M1917 Enfield, it was chambered for the standard US, in 1926 the Pattern 1914 Enfield was re-designated by the British military as the No3Mk1. Prior to and during World War II, the Pattern 1914 Enfield was used, post Dunkirk and with the great loss of arms that the British forces endured in 1940 the No3Mk1 stock suddenly became a valued resource. The rifle was used again as a sniper rifle, the configuration being different from the World War I incarnation. The Australian Army also used some quantities of the variant of the P14 during World War II. Once sufficient numbers were built up of the Short Magazine Lee–Enfields, the P14/No3Mk1 was declared obsolete in British service in 1947. Adapting the design to fire the standard.303 British round led to the Rifle.303 Pattern 1914, with its prominent sight protection ears on the receiver, dog-leg bolt handle and pot-belly magazine, it was distinctive in appearance. The P14 was a design for the time, and was said to be the most advanced service rifle of World War I. The Pattern 1914 Enfield had a large, strong action. The bolt action had a Model 98 Mauser type claw extractor, the unusual dog-leg bolt handle is low profile and places the knob close to the firers hand, again facilitating rapid fire. Like the Lee–Enfield, the safety falls under the firers thumb, the rifle was designed with a iron sight line consisting of rear receiver aperture battle sight calibrated for. The ladder aperture sight moves vertically on a slide, and hence was not able to correct for wind drift, the front sighting element consisted of a wing guards protected front post, and was adjusted laterally and locked into position during assembly at the arsenal
7.
Bolt action
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Bolt-action firearms are most often rifles, but there are some bolt-action shotguns and a few handguns as well. Examples of this date as far back as the early 19th century. From the late 19th century, all the way through both World Wars, the rifle was the standard infantry firearm for most of the worlds militaries. Bolt-action firearms are still popular for hunting and target shooting. The first bolt-action rifle was produced in 1824 by Johann Nikolaus von Dreyse, von Dreyse would perfect his Nadelgewehr by 1836, and it was adopted by the Prussian Army in 1841. It however was not the first bolt-action weapon to see combat as it was not fielded until 1864, during the American Civil War, the bolt-action Palmer carbine was patented in 1863, and by 1865,1000 were purchased for use as cavalry weapons. The French Army adopted its first bolt-action rifle, the Chassepot rifle, in 1866, ultimately the military turned to bolt-action rifles using a box magazine, the first of its kind was the M1885 Remington–Lee, but the first to be generally adopted was the British 1888 Lee–Metford. World War I marked the height of the bolt-action rifles use, there are, however, many semi-automatic sniper rifle designs, especially in the designated marksman role. Today, bolt-action rifles are used as hunting rifles. These rifles can be used to hunt anything from vermin, to deer, to game, especially big game caught on a safari. Bolt-action shotguns are considered a rarity among modern firearms, but were formerly a commonly used action for.410 entry-level shotguns, as well as for low-cost 12 gauge shotguns. The M26 Modular Accessory Shotgun System is the most advanced and recent example of a bolt-action shotgun, some pistols utilize a bolt action, although this is uncommon, and such examples are typically specialized target handguns. Most of the bolt-action designs involve the shooters doing a turn + pull handle movement to open the bolt, cock the firing pin, there are three major turning bolt-action system designs, the Mauser system, the Lee–Enfield system, and the Mosin–Nagant system. The vast majority of bolt-action rifles utilize one of three systems, with other designs seeing only limited use. The Mauser system is stronger than that of the Lee–Enfield due to two locking lugs just behind the head which make it better able to handle higher pressure cartridges. The 8×68mm S and 9. 3×64mm Brenneke magnum rifle cartridge families were designed for the Mauser M98 bolt action. A novel safety feature was the introduction of a locking lug present at the rear of the bolt that normally did not lock the bolt. The Mauser system features cock on opening, meaning the upward rotation of the bolt when the rifle is opened cocks the action, a drawback of the Mauser M98 system is that it cannot be cheaply mass-produced very easily
8.
Rim (firearms)
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A rim is an external flange that is machined, cast, molded, stamped or pressed around the bottom of a firearms cartridge. Thus, rimmed cartridges are sometimes called flanged cartridges, almost all cartridges feature an extractor or headspacing rim, in spite of the fact that some cartridges are known as rimless cartridges. These types are rimmed, rimless, semi-rimmed, rebated rim and these categories describe the size of the rim in relation to the base of the case. The rimmed cartridge, sometimes called flanged cartridge, is the oldest of the types and has a rim that is larger in diameter than the base of the cartridge. Rimmed cartridges use the rim to hold the cartridge in the chamber of the firearm, because the rimmed cartridge headspaces on the rim, the case length is of less importance than rimless cartridges. This allows some firearms chambered for similar rimmed cartridges to safely chamber and fire shorter cartridges, rimmed cartridges are well suited to certain types of actions, such as revolvers, where the rim helps hold the cartridge in position, and break-action firearms. Semi-automatic handguns have been chambered in rimmed cartridges as well, for example a LAR Grizzly or Desert Eagle in.357 or.44 Magnum, under the metric cartridge designation system, a capitalized R added at the end of the designation denotes a rimmed cartridge. For example,7. 62×54mmR is a cartridge, while 7. 62×51mm is a rimless cartridge.45 Auto Rim. Examples of rimmed handgun cartridges include the.38 Special.357 Magnum, rimmed rifle cartridge examples include the.22 Hornet.303 British and 7. 62×54mmR. Rimless cases are not well suited to break-open and revolver actions, though they can be used with modifications, such as a spring-loaded extractor or, in a revolver. Crimping affects the length of the cartridge, and thus cannot be used on cartridges which headspace on the case mouth. Examples of rimless handgun cartridges include the 9mm Parabellum.40 S&W, rimless rifle examples include the.223 Remington.308 Winchester. 30-06 Springfield and 7. 92×57mm Mauser. On a semi-rimmed case the rim projects slightly beyond the base of the case, the tiny rim provides minimal interference feeding from a box magazine, while still providing enough surface to headspace on. Semi-rimmed cases are less common than the other types, if the chamber is cut shallow, so the case headspaces off the mouth, the rim is used for extraction only, a standard chamber will use the rim for both headspacing and extraction. Examples of more commonly encountered rimless handgun cartridges are.25 ACP.32 ACP and.38 ACP, while the.308 Marlin Express.338 Marlin Express and.444 Marlin are rifle cartridges that are semi-rimmed. Rebated rim cartridges have a rim that is smaller in diameter than the base of the case. Functionally the same as a case, the rebated rim provides some additional benefits when considered in conjunction with other cartridges. One example of a rebated rim cartridge is the.50 Action Express, by using the same rim dimensions as the.44 Magnum, a Desert Eagle could be converted from.44 Magnum to.50 AE by merely changing the barrel and magazine
9.
Full metal jacket bullet
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A full metal jacket bullet is a small-arms projectile consisting of a soft core encased in a shell of harder metal, such as gilding metal, cupronickel, or less commonly a steel alloy. In military nomenclature, it is often labeled ball ammunition, the harder gilding was less prone to deformation than softer exposed lead, which improved feeding. Jacketed bullets had been in use since at least 1882, in general, a bullet jacket allows for higher muzzle velocities than bare lead without depositing significant amounts of metal in the bore. It also prevents damage to bores from steel or armor-piercing core materials, historically, the first successful full metal jacket rifle bullets were invented by Col. Eduard Rubin of the Swiss Army in 1882. Full metal jacket bullets were first used as ammunition in 1886. By design, fully jacketed projectiles have less capacity to expand after contact with the target than a hollow-point projectile. While this can be an advantage, it can also be a disadvantage as an FMJ bullet may pierce completely through a target, leading to severe wounding. Furthermore, a projectile that goes completely through a target can cause unintentional damage downrange of the target, the bullet design inspired the title of the film Full Metal Jacket, by Stanley Kubrick, Michael Herr, and Gustav Hasford. Hollow-point bullet Soft-point bullet Huon, Jean, military Rifle and Machine Gun Cartridges. International Peace Conference at The Hague, which entered force on September 4,1900. Photos showing terminal effects of British Mark 7.303 bullets
10.
Soft-point bullet
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A soft-point bullet, also known as a soft-nosed bullet, is a jacketed expanding bullet with a soft metal core enclosed by a stronger metal jacket left open at the forward tip. A soft-point bullet is intended to expand upon striking flesh to cause a wound diameter greater than the bullet diameter, jacketed soft point is usually abbreviated JSP in the ammunition and reloading industry. Lead-alloy bullets used with gunpowder firearms were unsatisfactory at the bullet velocities available from rifles loaded with nitrocellulose propellants like cordite. The lead-alloy core was swaged into a cup of the metal covering the front and sides of the core. The bullet jacket may be described as an envelope, steel envelope, or hard envelope. Reversing the direction of jacket placement leaves the exposed core on the forward tip of the bullet creating a soft-point bullet. Soft-point bullets expose the soft lead-alloy core on the part of the bullet most likely to be deformed when striking a target. The sides of the bullet remain covered by the jacket to reliably impart stabilizing rotation from rifling, a core of pure lead is softer than a core of lead alloyed with metals like antimony and tin. Some jacket alloys have greater strength than others, and, for any given alloy and annealing process. Energy available to expand the bullet is proportional to the square of the velocity at which the bullet strikes the target, if the bullet passes through the target, the energy represented by the square of the velocity of the departing bullet has no effect on the target. Soft point bullets may not expand if they strike a target at low velocity, varmint rifle bullets with thin jackets are intended to expand rapidly and disintegrate upon encountering minimum resistance. Bullets intended for hunting are designed to increase their forward diameter while remaining intact to penetrate deeply enough to damage internal organs likely to cause rapid death. Big-game bullets sometimes have a specialized jacket including a center baffle between a forward core intended to expand and another core intended to remain intact. Alternative designs include a jacket with a thicker belt around the central part of the bullet intended to resist expansion while the thinner forward part of the bullet jacket ruptures. Some bullets have a formed from a soft alloy in the forward part of the bullet bonded to a harder alloy core in the rear of the bullet. Others have a jacket which is thicker near the base of the bullet, soft-point bullets are similar to jacketed hollow-point bullets, because both have a jacket open on the forward tip. Bullets with an amount of core exposed forward of the jacket might have a hollow point within that core. Jacketed flat point may describe either soft-point or full metal jacket bullets with a flat, until recently, flat-point bullets were required in centerfire rifles with tubular magazines, such as the Winchester rifle, where the rounds are stored front-to-back
