1.
Handgun
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A handgun is a firearm designed to be handheld, in either one or both hands. This characteristic differentiates handguns as a class of firearms from long guns such as rifles. Major handgun subtypes are the revolver and pistol, other subtypes include derringers, the words pistol and handgun have overlapping variations, in meaning. Although handgun use often includes bracing with a hand, the essential distinguishing characteristic of a handgun is its facility for one-handed operation. The word pistol is often synonymous with the word handgun, some handgun experts make a technical distinction that views pistols as a subset of handguns. But UK/Commonwealth usage often does not make this distinction, handheld firearms were first made in China where gunpowder was first developed. By the 14th century, they existed in Europe as well, the first handheld firearms that might better be called pistols were made as early as the 15th century, but their creator is unknown. By the 18th century, the term came to be used often to refer to handheld firearms, previously there had been no such differentiation, and in fact Samuel Colts original patent was for a revolving-breech pistol. There is no equivalent for handgun in the Romance languages. The general types of handguns are listed below in their order of historical appearance, each type can be classified into many sub-types. Some of these types can also be classified using the general distinction between muzzle-loading firearms and breech-loading firearms. Single-shot pistols are the simplest possible form of pistols and are known to have existed in AD1365, the earliest handguns were single-shot, muzzle-loading guns with ignition provided by inserting a smoldering match cord into a touch hole. As such, they were nothing more than miniature cannon. Improvements followed in subsequent centuries, as types of locks were invented. In the matchlock, the separate match cord was affixed to a pivot which could be tripped by a trigger. In the wheellock, an analogous to that used in todays cigarette lighters replaced the smoldering match cord. In the 17th century, the flintlock, which strikes a flint against steel, the flintlock remained the standard method of small arms ignition around two hundred years. In the 19th century, percussion caps were developed, followed shortly by modern integrated-primer cartridges, an example of a single-shot pistol is the flare gun
2.
Carbine
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A carbine, from French carabine, is a long arm firearm but with a shorter barrel than a rifle or musket. Many carbines are shortened versions of full-length rifles, shooting the same ammunition, while others fire lower-powered ammunition, the smaller size and lighter weight of carbines make them easier to handle. An example of this is the US Armys M4 carbine, which is standard-issue, the carbine was originally a lighter, shortened weapon developed for the cavalry. After the Napoleonic Wars, cavalry began fighting dismounted, using the only for greater mobility. By the American Civil War, dismounted cavalry were mostly the rule, the principal advantage of the carbine was that its length made it very portable. A carbine was typically no longer than a sheathed sabre, and like a sabre was carried arranged to hang clear of the riders elbows. Carbines were usually less accurate and less powerful than the muskets of the infantry, due to a shorter sight plane. With the advent of fast-burning smokeless powder, the velocity disadvantages of a shorter barrel became less of an issue, eventually, the use of horse-mounted cavalry would decline. During the early 19th century, carbines were often developed separately from the rifles and, in many cases, did not even use the same ammunition. A notable weapon developed towards the end of the American Civil War by the Union was the Spencer carbine, one of the very first breechloading, repeating weapons. It had a spring-powered, removable tube magazine in the buttstock which held seven rounds and it was intended to give the cavalry a replacement weapon which could be fired from horseback without the need for awkward reloading after each shot. In the late 19th century, it common for a number of nations to make bolt-action rifles in both full-length and carbine versions. One of the most popular and recognizable carbines were the lever-action Winchester carbines and this made it an ideal choice for cowboys and explorers, as well as other inhabitants of the American West, who could carry a revolver and a carbine, both using the same ammunition. Other nations followed suit after World War I, when they learned that their traditional long-barreled rifles provided little benefit in the trenches, the US M1 carbine was more of a traditional carbine in that it was significantly shorter and lighter, with a 457. A shorter weapon was more convenient when riding in a truck, armored personnel carrier, helicopter, or aircraft, based on the combat experience of World War II, the criteria used for selecting infantry weapons began to change. In addition, improvements in artillery made moving infantry in areas even less practical than it had been. The majority of enemy contacts were at ranges of less than 300 metres, most rounds fired were not aimed at an enemy combatant, but instead fired in the enemys direction to keep them from moving and firing back. These situations did not require a heavy rifle, firing full-power rifle bullets with long-range accuracy, the lower-powered round would also weigh less, allowing a soldier to carry more ammunition
3.
Elmer Keith
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Elmer Merrifield Keith was an Idaho rancher, firearms enthusiast, and author. Keith was instrumental in the development of the first magnum revolver cartridge, Keiths trademarks were his cigars, his ten-gallon Stetson, and his outspoken opinions. Keith was an avid hunter in the earliest days of the sport. He was married to Loraine Randall, Elmer Keith was born in Missouri but was raised in Montana, Idaho, and eastern Oregon. In the 1930s and early 1940s, he had a ranch on the North Fork of the Salmon River near Salmon, in the late 1940s, Elmer and Loraine left the ranch and moved into the town of Salmon. During World War II, Keith served as an inspector at the Ogden, the rifles that he inspected were cartouche stamped with the initials OGEK in a rectangular box, on the buttstock. Rifles stamped OGEK without a rectangular box were inspected by Ed Klouser at the same Ogden Arsenal, in The Phantom Of Phu Bai, a biography of USMC Scout Sniper Eric England written by Dr. Joseph B. Turner, one chapter is about Elmer Keith and his influence on the shooting community, the.357 Magnum first became available in 1935 and quickly became a favorite among law enforcement and civilian users. Buying a.357 Magnum revolver gave the all the abilities of the well-established.38 Special. Keiths contributions to the development of the.357 Magnum have been questioned by some writers. The.44 Magnum was developed in much the same way, Keith had earlier determined that the thinner chamber walls of the.45 Colt would not comfortably withstand the pressures generated by his own heavy loads. He therefore started experimenting with the.44 Special revolver, the resulting.44 Special Magnum was a formidable cartridge for handgun hunting, firing a 250 grain bullet at 1,200 ft/s. Keith encouraged Smith & Wesson and Remington to produce a version of this new high pressure loading. The.41 Magnum, released in 1963, was an attempt to reach a middle ground between the.357 and.44 magnums, the.357 Magnum was adequate for hunting deer-sized game, but the limited power meant it needed to be used by a skilled marksman. The.44 Magnum provided far more power, easily taking deer sized game, but recoil and muzzle blast are substantial, at least in the earliest commercial loadings. The.41 Magnum, inspired by the older, obsolete.41 Long Colt cartridge, was intended to more power than the.357 Magnum with less recoil. However, while there was a community of shooters preferring the.41 Magnum. Some police, to whom the.41 Magnum was initially marketed, were happy with the.38 Special or
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.
.38 Special
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The.38 Smith & Wesson Special is a rimmed, centerfire cartridge designed by Smith & Wesson. It is most commonly used in revolvers, although some semi-automatic pistols, in other parts of the world, it is known by its metric designation of 9×29. 5mmR or 9. 1×29mmR. Noted for its accuracy and manageable recoil, the.38 Special remains the most popular cartridge in the world more than a century after its introduction. It is used for shooting, formal target competition, personal defense. Despite its name, the caliber of the.38 Special cartridge is actually. 357–.358 inches, except for case length, the.38 Special is identical to the.38 Short Colt.38 Long Colt, and.357 Magnum. This allows the.38 Special round to be fired in revolvers chambered for the.357 Magnum. Upon its introduction, the.38 Special was originally loaded with black powder and this.38 Special variant incorporated a 200 grains round-nosed lead Lubaloy bullet, the.38 Super Police. Remington-Peters also introduced a similar loading, testing revealed that the longer, heavier 200 grains. 357-calibre bullet fired at low velocity tended to keyhole or tumble upon impact, providing more shock effect against unprotected personnel. This cartridge was called the.38 S&W Super Police or the. 38/200, britain would later adopt the. 38/200 as its standard military handgun cartridge. In 1930, Smith & Wesson introduced a large frame.38 Special revolver with a 5-inch barrel and fixed sights intended for police use, the following year, a new high-power loading called the. That same year, Colt Firearms announced that their Colt Official Police would also handle high-speed.38 Special loadings, the. 38/44 high-speed cartridge came in three bullet weights,158 grains,150 and 110 grains, with either coated lead or steel jacket, metal-piercing bullets. The media attention gathered by the. 38/44 and its ammunition eventually led Smith & Wesson to develop a new cartridge with a longer case length in 1934—this was the.357 Magnum. During World War II, some U. S. aircrew were issued.38 Special S&W Victory revolvers as sidearms in the event of a forced landing, the new military.38 Special loading propelled its 158 grains bullet at a standard 850 ft/s from a 4-inch revolver barrel. During the war, many U. S. naval and marine aircrew were also issued red-tipped.38 Special tracer rounds using either a 120 or 158 gr bullet for emergency signaling purposes. In 1956, the U. S. Air Force adopted the Cartridge, Caliber.38, Ball M41, a military variant of the.38 Special cartridge designed to conform to the rules of land warfare. By 1961, a slightly revised M41.38 cartridge specification known as the Cartridge, Caliber.38 Ball, Special, a variant of the standard M41 cartridge with a semi-pointed, unjacketed lead bullet was later adopted for CONUS police and security personnel. At the same time.38 tracer cartridges were reintroduced by the US Navy, Marines, tracer cartridges in.38 Special caliber of different colors were issued, generally as part of a standard aircrew survival vest kit. A request for more powerful.38 Special ammunition for use by Air Police and security personnel resulted in the Caliber.38 Special, Ball, in 1972, the Federal Bureau of Investigation introduced a new.38 +P loading that became known as the FBI Load
6.
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
7.
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
8.
Grain (unit)
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A grain is a unit of measurement of mass, and, for the troy grain, equal to exactly 7001647989100000000♠64.79891 milligrams. It is nominally based upon the mass of a seed of a cereal. From the Bronze Age into the Renaissance the average masses of wheat, rather, expressions such as thirty-two grains of wheat, taken from the middle of the ear appear to have been ritualistic formulas, essentially the premodern equivalent of legal boilerplate. Another book states that Captain Henry Kater, of the British Standards Commission, the grain was the legal foundation of traditional English weight systems, and is the only unit that is equal throughout the troy, avoirdupois, and apothecaries systems of mass. The unit was based on the weight of a grain of barley. The fundamental unit of the pre-1527 English weight system known as Tower weights, was a different sort of known as the wheat grain. The Tower wheat grain was defined as exactly 45⁄64 of a troy grain.79891 milligrams, 7000100000000000000♠1 gram is approximately 7001154323600000000♠15.43236 grains. The unit formerly used by jewellers to measure pearls, diamonds, or other stones, called the jewellers grain or pearl grain, is equal to 1⁄4 of a carat. The grain was also the name of a traditional French unit equal to 6995531150000000000♠53.115 mg. In both British Imperial and U. S. customary units, there are precisely 7,000 grains per avoirdupois pound, the grain is commonly used to measure the mass of bullets and propellants. The term also refers to a particle of gunpowder, the size of which varies according to requirements. In archery, the grain is the unit used to weigh arrows. In dentistry, gold foil, used as a material to restore teeth, is measured in grains, in North America, the hardness of water is often measured in grains per US gallon of calcium carbonate equivalents. Otherwise, water hardness is measured in the metric unit parts per million, one grain per US gallon is approximately 6995171000000000000♠17.1 ppm. Soft water contains 1–4 gpg of calcium carbonate equivalents, while hard water contains 11–20 gpg, though no longer recommended, grains are still used occasionally in medicine as part of the apothecaries system, especially in prescriptions for older medicines such as aspirin or phenobarbital. For example, the dosage of a standard 6996325000000000000♠325 mg tablet of aspirin is sometimes given as 7000500000000000000♠5 grains, in that example the grain is approximated to 6995650000000000000♠65 mg, though the grain can also be approximated to 6995600000000000000♠60 mg, depending on the medication and manufacturer. The apothecaries system has its own system of notation, in which the symbol or abbreviation is followed by the quantity in lower case Roman numerals. For amounts less than one, the quantity is written as a fraction, or for one half, therefore, a prescription for tablets containing 325 mg of aspirin and 30 mg of codeine can be written ASA gr
9.
Primer (firearms)
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In firearm ballistics, the primer is a component of pistol, rifle, and shotgun rounds. Early primers were simply the same black powder used to fire the weapon and this external powder was connected though a tube in the barrel that led to the main charge. As powder wont burn when wet, this led to difficulty, or even the inability, modern primers are shock sensitive chemicals. In smaller weapons the primer is usually integrated into the rear of a cartridge, in larger weapons like cannon the primer is a separate component placed inside the barrel to the rear of the main propellant charge. The first step to firing a firearm of any sort is igniting the propellant, the earliest firearms were cannons, which were simple closed tubes. There was an aperture, the touchhole, drilled in the closed end of the tube. This hole was filled with finely ground powder, which was ignited with a hot ember or torch. With the advent of firearms, this became an undesirable way of firing a gun. The first attempt to make the process of firing a small arm easier was the matchlock, the matchlock incorporated a lock that was actuated by a trigger, originally called a tricker. The lock was a lever which pivoted when pulled. The match was a burning fuse made of plant fibers that were soaked in a solution of nitrates, charcoal, and sulfur. This slow-match was ignited before the gun was needed, and it would slowly burn, after the gun was loaded and the touchhole primed with powder, the burning tip of the match was positioned so that the lock would bring it into contact with the touchhole. To fire the gun, it was aimed and the trigger pulled and this brought the match down to the touchhole, igniting the powder. With careful attention the slow-burning match could be burning for long periods of time. The next revolution in technology was the wheel-lock. It used a spring-loaded, serrated steel wheel which rubbed against a piece of iron pyrite, a key was used to wind the wheel and put the spring under tension. Once tensioned, the wheel was held in place by a trigger, when the trigger was pulled, the serrated edge of the steel rubbed against the pyrite, generating sparks. These sparks were directed into a pan, called the flash pan, the flashpan usually was protected by a spring-loaded cover that would slide out of the way when the trigger was pulled, exposing the powder to the sparks
10.
Revolver
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A revolver is a repeating handgun that has a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers and at least one barrel for firing. Revolvers might be regarded as a subset of pistols, or as a subset of handguns. Though the term revolver usually only refers to handguns, other firearms may also have a revolving chamber and these include some models of grenade launchers, shotguns, and rifles. Most revolvers contain five or six rounds in the cylinder, though the original name was revolving gun, the short-hand revolver is universally used. The revolver allows the user to fire multiple rounds without reloading, each time the user cocks the hammer, the cylinder revolves to align the next chamber and round with the hammer and barrel, which gives this type of firearm its name. In a single-action revolver, the user pulls the back with his free hand or thumb. In a double-action revolver, pulling the trigger moves the back, then releases it. Loading and unloading a double-action revolver requires the operator to swing out the cylinder and insert the proper ammunition, the first guns with multichambered cylinders that revolved to feed one barrel were made in the late 16th century in Europe. They were expensive and rare curiosities, not until the 19th century would revolvers become common weapons of industrial production. One of the first was a flintlock revolver patented by Elisha Collier in 1814, the first percussion revolver was made by Lenormand of Paris in 1820 and the first percussion cap revolver was invented by the Italian Francesco Antonio Broccu in 1833. He received a prize of 300 francs for his invention, although he did not patent it, however, in 1835 a similar handgun was patented by Samuel Colt, who would go on to make the first mass-produced revolver. The first cartridge revolvers were produced around 1854 by Eugene Lefaucheux, revolvers soon became standard for nearly all uses. In the early 20th century, semi-automatic pistols were developed, which can hold more rounds, Automatic pistols also have a flat profile, more suitable for concealed carry. Automatic pistols have almost completely replaced revolvers in military and law enforcement use, revolvers still remain popular as back-up and off-duty handguns among American law enforcement officers and security guards. Also, revolvers are still common in the American private sector as defensive, in the development of firearms, an important limiting factor was the time it took to reload the weapon after it was fired. While the user was reloading, the weapon was useless, several approaches to the problem of increasing the rate of fire were developed, the earliest being multi-barrelled weapons which allowed two or more shots without reloading. Later weapons featured multiple barrels revolving along a single axis, the earliest examples of what today is called a revolver were made in Germany in the late 16th century. These weapons featured a barrel with a revolving cylinder holding the powder
11.
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
12.
Smith & Wesson
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Smith & Wesson is a manufacturer of firearms in the United States. The corporate headquarters are based in Springfield, Massachusetts, founded in 1852, Smith & Wessons pistols and revolvers have become standard issue to police and armed forces throughout the world, in addition to their popularity among sport shooters. Apart from firearms, Smith & Wesson has been known for the types of ammunition it has introduced over the years. Wesson founded the Smith & Wesson Company in Norwich, Connecticut in 1852 to develop the Volcanic rifle, Smith developed a new Volcanic Cartridge, which he patented in 1854. The Smith & Wesson Company was renamed Volcanic Repeating Arms in 1855, Smith left the company and returned to his native Springfield, Massachusetts, Wesson stayed on as plant manager with Volcanic Repeating Arms. As Samuel Colts patent on the revolver was set to expire in 1856 and his research pointed out that a former Colt employee named Rollin White held the patent for a Bored-through cylinder, a component he would need for his invention. Wesson reconnected with Smith and the two partners approached White to manufacture a newly designed revolver-and-cartridge combination, rather than make White a partner in their company, Smith and Wesson paid him a royalty of $0.25 on every revolver that they made. It would become Whites responsibility to defend his patent in any court cases which led to his financial ruin. The orders for the Smith & Wesson Model 1 revolver outpaced the production capabilities. In 1860 demand was so great that Smith & Wesson expanded into a new facility, at the same time, the companys design was being infringed upon by other manufacturers which led to numerous lawsuits filed by Rollin White. In many of these part of the restitution came in the form of the offender being forced to stamp Manufactured for Smith & Wesson on the revolvers in question. Whites vigorous defense of his patent caused a problem for armsmakers in the United States at the time as they could not manufacture cartridge revolvers, at the end of the war the US Government charged White with causing the retardation of arms development in America. Demand for revolvers declined at the close of the Civil War, in 1870 the company introduced a large frame revolver in heavier calibers than the pocket sized revolvers it had been making. The design was known as the Smith & Wesson Model 3, after an organized campaign by the NRA and NSSF, thousands of retailers and tens of thousands of firearms consumers boycotted Smith & Wesson. On 11 May 2001, Saf-T-Hammer Corporation acquired Smith & Wesson Corp. from Tomkins plc for US$15 million, Saf-T-Hammer assumed US$30 million in debt, bringing the total purchase price to US$45 million. The acquisition of Smith & Wesson was chiefly brokered by Saf-T-Hammer President Bob Scott, after the purchase, Scott became the president of Smith & Wesson to guide the 157-year-old company back to its former standing in the market. On 15 February 2002, the name of the newly formed entity was changed to Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation, about 2006 Smith & Wesson refocused its marketing on big box retailers, according to Smith & Wesson CEO Mike Golden in a 2008 conference call with investors. In December 2014, Smith & Wesson Holding announced it was paying $130.5 million for Battenfeld Technologies, the company made the acquisition with the eventual intent to merge all its existing Smith & Wesson, M&P and Thompson Center Arms accessories into a single division
13.
Winchester Repeating Arms Company
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The Winchester Repeating Arms Company was a prominent American maker of repeating firearms, located in New Haven, Connecticut. The ancestor of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company was the Horace Smith and Daniel Wesson partnership of Norwich, Jennings rifle was a commercial failure, and Robbins & Lawrence ceased production in 1852. Smith designed a much-improved rifle based on Jennings, and the partners also hired away Robbins & Lawrence shop foreman Benjamin Tyler Henry. In 1855 the Smith & Wesson partnership, in order to manufacture what they called the Volcanic lever-action rifle and pistol, sought investors and its largest stockholder was clothing manufacturer Oliver Winchester. The Volcanic rifle had only limited success, the company moved to New Haven in 1856, but by the end of that year became insolvent. Oliver Winchester and his partner John M. Davies purchased the firms assets from the remaining stockholders. After Smiths departure Benjamin Henry continued to work with a Smith development project, the self-contained metallic rimfire cartridge, Henry also supervised a new rifle design based loosely on the Volcanic 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, the Henry rifle ensured New Haven Arms success, and together with the Spencer rifle established the lever-action repeater in the firearms market. In 1866 Benjamin Henry, angered over what he believed was inadequate compensation, Oliver Winchester, hastening back from Europe, forestalled the move and reorganized New Haven Arms yet again as the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. Another extremely popular model was rolled out in 1873, the Model 1873 introduced the first Winchester center fire cartridge, the. 44-40 WCF. These rifle families are known as the Gun That Won the West. The Model 1873 was followed by the Model 1876, a version of the 73. It was chambered for longer, more powerful cartridges such as. 45-60 WCF. 45-75 WCF, Oliver Winchester died in December 1880, his son and successor, William Wirt Winchester, died of tuberculosis four months later. William Wirt Winchesters widow, Sarah Winchester, used her inheritance, several of these are still in production today through companies such as Browning, Rossi, Navy Arms and others which have revived several of the discontinued models or produced reproductions. The early years of the century found the Winchester Repeating Arms Company competing with new John Browning designs. The race to produce the first commercial self-loading rifle brought forth the.22 rimfire Winchester Model 1903 and later centerfire Model 1905, Model 1907, and Model 1910 rifles. Winchester engineers, after ten years of work, designed the Model 1911 to circumvent Brownings self-loading shotgun patents, one of Winchesters premier engineers, T. C. Johnson, was instrumental in the development of these self-loading firearms and went on to superintend the designs of Winchesters classic Model 1912, Model 52 and Model 54
14.
Marlin Model 1894
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The Marlin Model 1894 is a lever-action repeating rifle introduced in 1894 by the Marlin Firearms Company of North Haven, Connecticut. At its introduction the rifle came with a 24-inch barrel and was chambered for a variety of pistol rounds such as. 25-20 Winchester. 32-20 Winchester. 38-40, variants in other chamberings remain in production today. Marlin produced its first lever-action repeating rifle as the Model 1881 and this was followed by the Model 1888 which was a top-eject action like the 1881 with several improvements, most important was the incorporation of a locking lug locking the breech. It was chambered in the WCF family of cartridges developed for the Winchester 1873 rifle.44 WCF.38 WCF. The Model 1889 that followed was the first lever-action rifle to have a top with side ejection of spent cartridges. This model was chambered for the cartridges as the 1888. Additionally, the lever lock of the Model 1889 was eliminated on the Model 1894. This model was chambered in the same calibers with the addition of the. 25/20, the designer and patentee of the Model 1888 and subsequent Marlin lever action rifles up to the Model 1897 was L. L. Hepburn. With the popularity of magnum cartridges in the 1960s, in 1969 Marlin produced a short-action Model 1894 that was designed for modern high-pressure.44 Magnum cartridges. Marlin had briefly manufactured its Model 336 chambered for the.44 magnum cartridge, however, after a few years of development Marlin reintroduced the model 1894. In the 1970s, Marlin added the Model 1894C/CS in 1979.357 Magnum, in the mid-1990s, Marlin changed the.357 and.44 barrels from 12-groove-or-more Micro-Groove rifling to 6-groove Ballard-style rifling. The Model 1894 is produced in variants, as shown in the table below. All variants are made in lever action, include a black walnut, straight grip stock, the Model 1894CL features marble adjustable, semi-buckhorn rear and marble carbine front sights. The Model 1894SS, caliber.44 Magnum, and the 1894CSS, the Model 1894P, caliber.44 Magnum, and the 1894CP, caliber.357 magnum both have 16 1⁄4 inch ported barrels. However, shortly after announcing its release, Marlin suspended production indefinitely, none have been shipped as of June 2012. The Model 1894CB, in.32 H&R Magnum, loads from the front of the magazine, like the Marlin Model 39A rimfire rifle. There are also several Limited Edition Marlin 1894 rifles which are Stainless Steel with grey, laminated furniture and they were pre-drilled for a scope base and included a solid, rubber recoil pad. They are considered collectible as only 250 of each caliber were made
15.
.38 Super
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The.38 Super or.38 Super Automatic is a pistol cartridge that fires a 0. 356-inch-diameter bullet. The Super was introduced in the late 1920s as a higher pressure loading of the.38 ACP or.38 Auto, the old.38 ACP propelled a 130-grain bullet at 1,050 ft/s. The improved.38 Super Auto pushed the same 130-grain bullet at 1,280 ft/s, the.38 Super has gained distinction as the caliber of choice for many top pistol match competitors, it remains one of the dominant calibers in IPSC competition. The cartridge was designed for use in the M1911 pistol and was capable of penetrating the body armor, when the.357 Magnum was introduced in 1934, this advantage of the.38 Super was no longer enough to lure police departments and officers from the traditional revolver. The.38 Super retains the original dimensions of the.38 ACP case, the cartridge was originally designed to headspace on the semi-rim, which worked in the Colt M1900 due to the design of the feed ramp. When the.38 Auto became the.38 Super, in the 1911A1, as a result of this, observed accuracy of the.38 Super suffered until Irv Stone of Bar-Sto barrels re-designed the chamber to allow headspacing on the case mouth. Since then, all new production.38 Super pistols headspace on the case mouth, the semi-rimmed case is known to cause feeding problems in some magazines, especially double stack magazines, and led to the development of new variants with reduced rims. In 1974 the industry added the +P headstamp to the.38 Super to further distinguish it from the lower-pressure.38 ACP, most current ammunition manufacturers label ammunition for the Super as.38 Super +P. Since the.38 Super is dimensionally the same as the.38 ACP, the weakness, in the Colt M1900, M1902 and others derived from that design, comes from the assembly wedge at the front of the slide. If the wedge comes out, or the slide cracks at the wedge, the 1911 and 1911A1, having a slide that is solid on front, cannot come off the frame that way. The.38 Super has 1.14 ml cartridge case capacity.38 Super maximum C. I. P. The common rifling twist rate for this cartridge is 406 mm,6 grooves, ø lands =8.79 mm, ø grooves =9.02 mm, land width =3.07 mm, specify a bullet diameter of 0.356 inches. Guidelines the.38 Super case can handle up to 230 MPa piezo pressure, regulated countries every pistol cartridge combo has to be proofed at 130% of this maximum C. I. P. pressure to certify for sale to consumers. The SAAMI pressure limit for the.38 ACP or.38 Auto is set at 182.72 MPa, the SAAMI pressure limit for the.38 Super +P is set at 251.66 MPa, piezo pressure. The C. I. P. and SAAMI specified.38 Super has a cartridge case. In recent years, cases such as the.38 Supercomp.38 Super Lapua.38 Super RL and these rimless cases are somewhat of a misnomer, due to the case rim not retaining the same diameter as the case wall just forward of the extractor groove. A common example is the.38 Supercomp case, which has a semi-rim extending only. 003-.004 per side, the nearly rimless cases improve feeding reliability in these pistols but are intended to be used in firearms that headspace on the case mouth. Other improvements found in some of cases are modified extractor groves
16.
Bulletproof vest
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These vests often have a ballistic plate inserted into the vest. Body armor may combine a ballistic vest with other items of protective clothing, Ballistic vests use layers of very strong fibers to catch and deform a bullet, mushrooming it into a dish shape, and spreading its force over a larger portion of the vest fiber. The vest absorbs the energy from the bullet, bringing it to a stop before it can completely penetrate the textile matrix. Some layers may be penetrated but as the bullet deforms, the energy is absorbed by a larger and larger fiber area, while a vest can prevent bullet penetration, the vest and wearer still absorb the bullets impulse. Even without penetration, heavy bullets deal enough force to blunt force trauma under the impact point. Vest specifications will typically include both penetration resistance requirements and limits on the amount of force that is delivered to the body. This is because the force of these objects stays concentrated in a relatively small area. By contrast, stab vests provide better protection against sharp implements, textile vests may be augmented with metal, ceramic or polyethylene plates that provide extra protection to vital areas. These hard armor plates have proven effective against all handgun bullets and these upgraded ballistic vests have become standard in military use, as soft body armor vests are ineffective against military rifle rounds. Prison guards and police often wear vests which are designed specifically against bladed weapons and these vests may incorporate coated and laminated para-aramid textiles or metallic components. In 1538, Francesco Maria della Rovere commissioned Filippo Negroli to create a bulletproof vest, in 1561, Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor is recorded as testing his armor against gun-fire. Similarly, in 1590 Sir Henry Lee expected his Greenwich armor to be pistol proof and its actual effectiveness was controversial at the time. The etymology of bullet and the form of proof in the late 16th century would suggest that the term bulletproof originated shortly thereafter. During the English Civil War Oliver Cromwells Ironside cavalry were equipped with Capeline helmets, the outer layer was designed to absorb the bullets energy and the thicker inner layer stopped further penetration. The armor would be left badly dented but still serviceable, one of the first recorded descriptions of soft armor use was found in medieval Japan, with the armor having been manufactured from silk. One of the first commercially sold bulletproof armour was produced by a tailor in Dublin, I hope in a few days to have a specimen garment on view at my warerooms. Another soft ballistic vest, Myeonje baegab, was invented in Joseon, the Heungseon Daewongun ordered development of bullet-proof armor because of increasing threats from Western armies. Kim Gi-Doo and Gang Yoon found that cotton could protect against bullets if 10 layers of fabric were used
17.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
18.
Rum-running
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Rum-running, or bootlegging, is the illegal business of transporting alcoholic beverages where such transportation is forbidden by law. Smuggling is usually done to circumvent taxation or prohibition laws within a particular jurisdiction, the term rum-running is more commonly applied to smuggling over water, bootlegging is applied to smuggling over land. The term rum-running most likely originated at the start of Prohibition in the United States and it was said that some ships carried $200,000 in contraband in a single run. It was not long after the first taxes on alcoholic beverages that someone began to smuggle them, the British government had revenue cutters in place to stop smugglers as early as the 16th century. Pirates often made extra money running rum to heavily taxed colonies, an irony of the history of prohibition in North America is that industrial-scale smuggling flowed both ways across the Canada–US border at different points in the early twentieth century. National prohibition in the United States did not begin until 1920, as well, Canadas version of prohibition had never included a ban on the manufacture of liquor for export. Soon the black-market trade was reversed with Canadian whisky and beer flowing in large quantities to the United States, again, this illegal international trade undermined the support for prohibition in the receiving country, and the American version ended in 1933. One of the most famous periods of rum-running began in the United States with the Prohibition began on January 16,1920 and this period lasted until the Eighteenth Amendment was repealed with ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment, on December 5,1933. At first, there was action on the seas. This was the start of the Bimini–Bahamas rum trade and the introduction of Bill McCoy, with the start of Prohibition Captain McCoy began bringing rum from Bimini and the rest of the Bahamas into south Florida through Government Cut. The rum-running business was good, and McCoy soon bought a Gloucester knockabout schooner named Arethusa at auction. He installed an auxiliary, mounted a concealed machine gun on her deck. In the days of rum running, it was common for captains to add water to the bottles to stretch their profits, any cheap sparkling wine became French champagne or Italian Spumante, unbranded liquor became top-of-the-line name brands. McCoy became famous for never watering his booze, and selling only top brands, although the phrase appears in print in 1882, this is one of several folk etymologies for the origin of the term The real McCoy. On November 15,1923, McCoy and Tomoka encountered the U. S. Coast Guard Cutter Seneca, a boarding party attempted to board, but McCoy chased them off with the machine gun. Tomoka tried to run, but the Seneca placed a shell just off her hull, the small, quick boats could more easily outrun Coast Guard ships and could dock in any small river or eddy and transfer their cargo to a waiting truck. They were also known to float planes and flying boats. Soon others were following suit, the limit became known as Rum Line
19.
Gangster
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A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Some gangs are considered to be part of organized crime, gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from mob and the suffix -ster. Gangs provide a level of organization and resources that support much larger, gangsters have been active for many years in countries around the world. Some gangsters, such as Al Capone have become infamous, gangsters are the subject of many novels and films, particularly from the period between 1920 and 1990. Some contemporary criminals refer to themselves as gangsta in reference to non-rhotic Black American pronunciation, in todays usage, the term gang is generally used for a criminal organization, and the term gangster invariably describes a criminal. Much has been written on the subject of gangs, although there is no consensus about what constitutes a gang or what situations lead to gang formation and evolution. For example, the view that illegal drug distribution in the United States is largely controlled by gangs has been questioned. A gang may be a small group of people who cooperate in criminal acts, as with the Jesse James gang. But a gang may be a group with a formal organization that survives the death of its leader. The Chicago Outfit created by Al Capone outlasted its founders imprisonment and death, the term organized crime is associated with gangs and gangsters, but is not synonymous. A small street gang that engages in sporadic low-level crime would not be seen as organized, an organization that coordinates gangs in different countries involved in the international trade in drugs or prostitutes may not be considered a gang. The Sicilian Mafia, or Cosa Nostra is a syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is an association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure. The origins lie in the upheaval of Sicilys transition out of feudalism in 1812, under feudalism, the nobility owned most of the land and enforced law and order through their private armies. After 1812, the feudal barons steadily sold off or rented their lands to private citizens, primogeniture was abolished, land could no longer be seized to settle debts, and one fifth of the land was to become private property of the peasants. Organized crime has existed in Russia since the days of Imperial Russia in the form of banditry and thievery, in the Soviet period Vory v Zakone emerged, a class of criminals that had to abide by certain rules in the prison system. One such rule was that cooperation with the authorities of any kind was forbidden, in 1988 the Soviet Union legalized private enterprise but did not provide regulations to ensure the security of market economy. Crude markets emerged, the most notorious being the Rizhsky market where prostitution rings were run next to the Rizhsky Railway Station in Moscow, as the Soviet Union headed for collapse many former government workers turned to crime, while others moved overseas
20.
Heeled bullet
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The heeled bullet design has many advantages, mainly when coupled with the straight or slightly tapered walled cases it appeared in. For pistols, converting a cap and ball revolver to use cartridges was as simple as cutting off part of the rear of the cylinder, replacing it with a frame-mounted ring, one of the primary reasons for the change was the issue of lubrication. Lead bullets, especially soft, low lead used in low pressure cartridges. This lubricant can be applied either to the portion of the heeled bullet, called outside lubricated, or on the portion inside the case. Outside lubrication requires a hard, dry lubricant, as anything soft or sticky will rub off or pick up dirt that comes in contact. While there were some methods patented to allow inside lubrication of heeled bullets, they never became popular, due to the complexity, non-heeled bullets, however, can easily be lubricated on the portion inside the case using a grease groove packed with lubricant. This prevents the lubricant, usually a grease or wax, from picking up dirt, arguably, heeled bullets are still very common because, while very few calibers use them, the.22 Long Rifle does, and it is the most commonly used cartridge in the world. The other cartridges in the.22 Long Rifle family, the.22 Short.22 Long.22 CB and.22 BB, a few other heeled-bullet cartridges are available, but they all originated in the late 19th century. The recent gains in popularity of Cowboy Action Shooting has increased interest in these old cartridges, to convert a heeled-bullet cartridge to a non-heeled design, it was necessary to either enlarge the case diameter, or shrink the bullet and bore diameter. Examples of both choices can be found, but some of the evident and confusing examples are cases where the bullet diameter was reduced. Many shooters wonder why a.38 caliber firearm actually shoots bullets of diameter.357 inches, and a.44 caliber firearm shoots. 429-inch-diameter bullets. In both of these cases, the name of the caliber derives from older designs. The.38 S&W cartridge, for example, dates from 1877 and has a nominal outside case diameter of.380 inches, while the inside of the case is.357 inches. The later.38 Special continued the trend, and even automatic pistol cartridges like the.38 Super and.380 ACP retained the.38 caliber designation and this continued until 1935 and the introduction of the.38 Special-based.357 Magnum cartridge. The newer.44 Magnum, however, retained the designation of its parent.44 Special cartridge, the legacy of heeled bullets is the cause of confusion among many shooting enthusiasts over the actual physical diameters of the bullets they fire in their guns
21.
.38 Short Colt
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The.38 Short Colt /.38 Short Center Fire was a heeled bullet cartridge intended for metallic cartridge conversions of the.36 cal cap & ball Colt 1851 Navy Revolver from the American Civil War era. Later, this cartridge was fitted with a 0.359 diameter inside-lubricated bullet in the 125–135 grain range, visually, it resembles a.38 S&W but the case dimensions are slightly different. The.38 Short Colt case is the parent to.38 Long Colt, the round was produced in two lengths. The classic.38 Short Colt M1874 is. mm and it is the original and standard.38 Short Colt cartridge and was designed for use in the Colt New Line revolver. The shorter.38 Short Colt M1919 was. mm, the.38 Short Colt M1919 was designed for the.38 Colt Police revolver, but was discontinued in the 1920s due to its unpopularity. Remington is one of the few producers of this cartridge today with a 125grs LRN bullet, magtech produces this grain weight and Ten-x manufactures a 95gr load, as well as blanks. There is no problem firing this cartridge in.38 Special or.357 Magnum revolvers, the bullet jump has not, however, been proven to have any effect on accuracy
22.
Smith & Wesson .38/44
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High-pressure. 38/44 loadings represent a transition between conventional.38 Special ammunition and the.357 Magnum. Revolvers were manufactured from 1930 to 1941, and after World War II until lower-priced.357 Magnum revolvers became widely available. In 1930, Smith & Wesson chambered their large framed.44 Special revolver for.38 Special with a 5-inch barrel and fixed sights intended for police use, a 4-inch barrel was offered in 1935 for users willing to accept the reduced ballistic performance of a more compact firearm. The media attention gathered by the. 38/44 and its ammunition encouraged Smith & Wesson to develop the longer.357 Magnum cartridge in 1935, the. 38/44 was an option for purchasers unwilling to pay the premium pricing of.357 Magnum revolvers. Revolvers were available with blue or nickel finish. Production was interrupted by the world war. Postwar production serial numbers are prefixed with the letter S, the Outdoorsman with adjustable sights became the Smith & Wesson Model 23 after 1957 and the fixed sight Heavy Duty version was marketed as the Smith & Wesson Model 20
23.
.44 Special
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The.44 Special or.44 S&W Special is a smokeless powder center fire metallic cartridge developed by Smith & Wesson in 1907 as the standard chambering for their New Century revolver, introduced in 1908. On the late 19th Century American frontier, large. 44- and. 45-caliber cartridges were considered the epitome of handgun ammunition for self-protection and hunting. Black-powder rounds such as the.44 American.44 Russian. 44-40 Winchester, and.45 Colt enjoyed a reputation for effective terminal ballistics, accuracy. At the start of the 20th Century, Smith & Wesson decided to celebrate by introducing a new revolver design which they called the New Century. Smith & Wesson wished to pair their new design with a worthy new ammunition chambering. At the time, smokeless powder was state of the art in ammunition technology, older black-powder ammunition was in the process of being converted to smokeless. Due to the energy density of the early semi-smokeless powders. Smith & Wesson addressed this issue by lengthening the.44 Russian cartridge case by 0. 190-inch, the resulting design, which S&W called the.44 Special, had a case length of 1. 16-inch. Nevertheless, the.44 Special retained its progenitors reputation for accuracy, the SAAMI maxiumum pressure standard for the 44 SW special is 15,500 PSI. Led by articles in firearms periodicals penned by gun writers such as Elmer Keith and Skeeter Skelton, a loose cadre of enthusiastic fans who called themselves the.44 Associates formed. Elmer Keith, one of the most famous and popular firearms related authors at the time, developed a number of classical heavy handloads for the.44 Special, many are still highly regarded today. He also championed the concept of higher powered big-bore revolvers with Smith & Wesson and Remington Arms, eventually leading to the development of the.357.41, and.44 Magnums. Keiths suggested designation for the proposed.44 caliber round was the.44 Special Magnum, nonetheless, the new cartridge was developed directly from the.44 Special design by simply lengthening the older case by.125 inch. Remingtons stated rationale for the making of this change was to preclude higher pressured Magnum loads from being chambered in.44 Special revolvers. The hype and excitement surrounding the introduction of the.44 Magnum in the mid-1950s eclipsed the.44 Special, as a result, gunmakers offered fewer revolver models chambered in.44 Special for several years. This makes the.44 Special cartridge an attractive alternative for reduced velocity target shooting and plinking
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