1.
.44 Magnum
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The.44 Remington Magnum, or simply.44 Magnum, and frequently.44 Mag, is a large-bore cartridge originally designed for revolvers. After its introduction, it was adopted for carbines and rifles. Despite the.44 designation, guns chambered for the.44 Magnum round, and its parent, the.44 Magnum is based on a lengthened.44 Special case, loaded to higher pressures for greater velocity. The.44 Magnum cartridge was the end result of years of tuned handloading of the.44 Special, the.44 Special, and other large-bore handgun cartridges, were being loaded with heavy bullets, pushed at higher than normal velocities for better hunting performance. One of these handloaders was Elmer Keith, a writer and outdoorsman of the 20th century, Elmer Keith settled on the.44 Special cartridge as the basis for his experimentation, rather than the larger.45 Colt. At the time, the selection of.44 caliber projectiles for handloaders was more varied, also, the.44 Special case was smaller in diameter than the.45 Colt case. In revolvers of the cylinder size, this meant the.44 caliber revolvers had thicker. This allowed higher pressures to be used with less risk of a burst cylinder, Keith encouraged Smith & Wesson and Remington to produce a commercial version of this new high-pressure loading, and revolvers chambered for it. Smith & Wessons first.44 Magnum revolver, the Model 29, was built on December 15,1955, julian Hatcher, and Elmer Keith received two of the first production models. Hatchers review of the new Smith & Wesson revolver and the.44 Magnum cartridge appeared in the March,1956 issue of the magazine, Smith & Wesson produced 3,100 of these revolvers in 1956. By the summer of 1956, Sturm, Ruger became aware of this project, Ruger began shipping their new revolver in late November,1956. The film Dirty Harry, prominently featuring the S&W M29, contributed to that models popularity, Ruger introduced its first long gun, a semi-automatic carbine called the Ruger Model 44 chambered for.44 Magnum, in 1959. Marlin followed soon after with a lever action Model 1894 in.44 Magnum, the. 38-40 Winchester and. 32-20 Winchester were also available in both carbines and revolvers, allowing the shooter to use one type of ammunition for both firearms. In 2006, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the.44 Magnum, Ruger introduced a special 50th anniversary Blackhawk revolver, the.44 Magnum delivers a large, heavy bullet with high velocity for a handgun. In its full-powered form, it produces so much recoil and muzzle blast that it is considered to be unsuitable for use as a police weapon. Rapid fire is difficult and strenuous on the hands, especially for shooters of smaller build or with small hands. Although marketed as a.44 caliber, the.44 Magnum, the.44 designation is a carryover from the early measurements of heeled bullets, used in the later 19th century. In those times, bullets were measured on the outside of the cartridge, not the inside of the cartridge
2.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
3.
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
4.
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
5.
Rifling
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In firearms, rifling consists of helical grooves in the internal surface of a guns barrel, which impart a spin to a projectile around its long axis. This spin serves to stabilize the projectile, improving its aerodynamic stability. Rifling is often described by its twist rate, which indicates the distance the rifling takes to complete one revolution, such as 1 turn in 10 inches. A shorter distance indicates a faster twist, meaning that for a given velocity the projectile will be rotating at a spin rate. Barrels intended for long, small-diameter bullets, such as the ultra-low-drag, 80-grain 0.223 inch bullets, extremely long projectiles such as flechettes may require high twist rates, these projectiles must be inherently stable, and are often fired from a smoothbore barrel. Muskets were smoothbore, large caliber weapons using ball-shaped ammunition fired at low velocity. Due to the high cost and great difficulty of manufacturing, and the need to load readily from the muzzle. Consequently, on firing the ball bounced off the sides of the barrel when fired, barrel rifling was invented in Augsburg, Germany in 1498. In 1520 August Kotter, an armourer of Nuremberg, Germany improved upon this work, though true rifling dates from the mid-16th century, it did not become commonplace until the nineteenth century. The most successful weapons using rifling with black powder were breech loaders such as the Queen Anne pistol, the grooves most commonly used in modern rifling have fairly sharp edges. More recently, polygonal rifling, a throwback to the earliest types of rifling, has become popular, polygonal barrels tend to have longer service lives because the reduction of the sharp edges of the land reduces erosion of the barrel. Supporters of polygonal rifling also claim higher velocities and greater accuracy, polygonal rifling is currently seen on pistols from CZ, Heckler & Koch, Glock, Tanfoglio, and Kahr Arms, as well as the Desert Eagle. Such guns have achieved significant increases in velocity and range. Examples include the South African G5 and the German PzH2000, gain-twist rifling begins with very little change in the projectiles angular momentum during the first few inches of bullet travel after ignition during the transition from chamber to throat. This enables the bullet to remain undisturbed and trued to the case mouth. After engaging the rifling the bullet is progressively subjected to accelerated angular momentum as burning powder propels it down the barrel. By only gradually increasing the rate, torque is spread along a much longer section of barrel. Gain-twist rifling was used as early as the American Civil War, colt Army and Navy revolvers both employed gain-twist rifling
6.
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
7.
Cartridge (weaponry)
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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
8.
Smith & Wesson Model 500
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The Smith & Wesson Model 500 is a five-shot, double/single action large-caliber revolver produced by Smith & Wesson, firing the.500 S&W Magnum cartridge, a.50 caliber bullet.500 S&W cartridge. It is one of the most powerful production revolvers in the world today and is marketed as the worlds most powerful handgun by the manufacturer. There are a few larger caliber revolvers, like the Pfeifer Zeliska.600 Nitro Express revolver, however this is a custom made firearm from Austria and is not widely available. The Model 500 can fire a bullet weighing 350 gr at 1,975 feet per second generating an energy of over 3,030 foot-pounds force. Commercial loadings are available in bullet weights ranging from 275 gr to 700 gr, the Smith & Wesson.500 Special is a shorter cartridge that is fully compatible with this pistol. Instead of a barrel, the S&W500 uses a rifled tube inside a barrel shroud that is secured by tension from the front. This tensioning leads to stability, making barrels cheaper to produce, lockup is accomplished by a centerpin in the rear of the cylinder and a ball detent in the frame. The advanced design of the helps in counteracting the recoil felt by the shooter. This includes the weight of the firearm, use of rubber grips, the forward balance. On certain S&W Performance Center models the compensator is replaced with a muzzle brake, articles, statements, and opinions vary widely on this firearm. Any of the bullet weights can be relied on to take game at a range in excess of 200 yards. Like most big caliber handguns the Model 500 is suitable for sport, the high energy of these rounds makes it possible to hunt extremely large African game successfully. Model 500ES,2.75 barrel, stainless steel emergency survival revolver, Model 500,4 barrel, stainless steel with 2 compensators. Model 500,6.5 barrel, half lug, stainless steel with compensator, Model 500,7.5 barrel, stainless steel with muzzle brake. Model 500,8.38 barrel, stainless steel with compensator, Model 500 HI-VIZ,8.38 barrel, stainless steel with interchangeable compensators. Model 500,10.5 Lothar-Walther custom German rifle barrel, Model 460, version chambered in.460 S&W Magnum Other variants are available through the Smith & Wessons Performance Center. Like all Smith & Wesson revolvers, custom variants are available on production runs with a minimum order of 500 units
9.
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
10.
SHOT Show
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The SHOT Show is an annual tradeshow for the shooting, hunting, and firearms industry. It is the biggest event of this type in the world together with IWA & OutdoorClassics, SHOT, besides being a general reference to shooting, is an acronym for Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade. This trade show is only to those in the trade. The SHOT Show is restricted to members of the shooting, hunting and outdoor trade industry including commercial buyers and sellers of military, law enforcement and it is not open to the general public. The first SHOT Show was held in St. Louis, Missouri, the show is owned and sponsored by the National Shooting Sports Foundation. It rotates between Las Vegas, Nevada, Orlando, Florida, New Orleans, Louisiana, and several other U. S. cities and it attracted over 60,000 attendees to its 630,000 square feet of exhibition space in Las Vegas. It is among the top 25 trade shows in the country, note, All attendance information courtesy of the SHOT Show Blog. SHOT Show SHOT Show Blog Outdoor Channels Daily SHOT Show Coverage Dave Langstons SHOT Show Coverage on Sportsmanstube. com
11.
.357 Magnum
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The.357 S&W Magnum, or simply.357 Magnum, is a revolver cartridge with a. 357-inch bullet diameter. It was created by Elmer Keith, Phillip B, Wesson of firearms manufacturers Smith & Wesson and Winchester. It is based upon Smith & Wessons earlier.38 Special cartridge, the.357 Magnum cartridge was introduced in 1934, and its use has since become widespread. This cartridge started the Magnum era of handgun ammunition, the.357 Magnum cartridge is notable for its stopping power. The.357 Magnum was collaboratively developed over a period in the early to mid-1930s by a group of individuals in a response to Colts.38 Super Automatic. Tests at the revealed that those vests defeated any handgun cartridge traveling at less than about 1,000 feet per second. Colts.38 Super Automatic just edged over that velocity and was able to penetrate car doors and vests that bootleggers and gangsters were employing as cover. Though.38 and.357 would seem to be different diameter chamberings, they are in fact identical, the.38 Special nomenclature relates to the previous use of heeled bullets, which were the same diameter as the case. Thus, the only difference in the two cartridges is a slight difference in length, solely for safety purposes. Much credit for the. 357s early development is given to hunter and experimenter Elmer Keith, the. 38-44 HV load used the. 38-Special cartridge loaded to a much higher velocity than standard. 38-Special ammunition. The. 38-44 revolvers were made by using a.44 Special size gun with the barrel bored to accept. 357-caliber bullets, since the frame, cylinder, and barrel were much stronger than the standard.38 Special components, it was capable of withstanding much higher pressures. The. 38-44 HV round, while no longer available, was in most cases the equal of the later.357 Magnum, which works at more than double the pressure of standard.38 Special. Elmer Keith also contributed the Keith-style bullet, which increased the mass of bullet located outside the cartridge, the Keith bullet also employed a large, flat meplat, thus enabling rapid energy transfer for greater wounding properties. At the same time, this design does not deform like a hollow point. These characteristics of the Keith bullet make it suitable for hunting applications as well as for target shooting. In order to reassert itself as the leading law-enforcement armament provider, Smith & Wesson developed the.357 Magnum, Wesson leading the effort within Smith & Wesson, along with considerable technical assistance from Phillip B. Sharpe, a member of the Technical Division staff of the National Rifle Association, the new round was developed from Smith & Wessons existing.38 Special round. It used a different powder load, and ultimately the case was extended by 1⁄8 inch, the case extension was more a matter of safety than of necessity
12.
.44 Remington Magnum
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The.44 Remington Magnum, or simply.44 Magnum, and frequently.44 Mag, is a large-bore cartridge originally designed for revolvers. After its introduction, it was adopted for carbines and rifles. Despite the.44 designation, guns chambered for the.44 Magnum round, and its parent, the.44 Magnum is based on a lengthened.44 Special case, loaded to higher pressures for greater velocity. The.44 Magnum cartridge was the end result of years of tuned handloading of the.44 Special, the.44 Special, and other large-bore handgun cartridges, were being loaded with heavy bullets, pushed at higher than normal velocities for better hunting performance. One of these handloaders was Elmer Keith, a writer and outdoorsman of the 20th century, Elmer Keith settled on the.44 Special cartridge as the basis for his experimentation, rather than the larger.45 Colt. At the time, the selection of.44 caliber projectiles for handloaders was more varied, also, the.44 Special case was smaller in diameter than the.45 Colt case. In revolvers of the cylinder size, this meant the.44 caliber revolvers had thicker. This allowed higher pressures to be used with less risk of a burst cylinder, Keith encouraged Smith & Wesson and Remington to produce a commercial version of this new high-pressure loading, and revolvers chambered for it. Smith & Wessons first.44 Magnum revolver, the Model 29, was built on December 15,1955, julian Hatcher, and Elmer Keith received two of the first production models. Hatchers review of the new Smith & Wesson revolver and the.44 Magnum cartridge appeared in the March,1956 issue of the magazine, Smith & Wesson produced 3,100 of these revolvers in 1956. By the summer of 1956, Sturm, Ruger became aware of this project, Ruger began shipping their new revolver in late November,1956. The film Dirty Harry, prominently featuring the S&W M29, contributed to that models popularity, Ruger introduced its first long gun, a semi-automatic carbine called the Ruger Model 44 chambered for.44 Magnum, in 1959. Marlin followed soon after with a lever action Model 1894 in.44 Magnum, the. 38-40 Winchester and. 32-20 Winchester were also available in both carbines and revolvers, allowing the shooter to use one type of ammunition for both firearms. In 2006, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the.44 Magnum, Ruger introduced a special 50th anniversary Blackhawk revolver, the.44 Magnum delivers a large, heavy bullet with high velocity for a handgun. In its full-powered form, it produces so much recoil and muzzle blast that it is considered to be unsuitable for use as a police weapon. Rapid fire is difficult and strenuous on the hands, especially for shooters of smaller build or with small hands. Although marketed as a.44 caliber, the.44 Magnum, the.44 designation is a carryover from the early measurements of heeled bullets, used in the later 19th century. In those times, bullets were measured on the outside of the cartridge, not the inside of the cartridge
13.
.454 Casull
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The.454 Casull is a firearm cartridge, developed as a wildcat cartridge in 1957 by Dick Casull and Jack Fullmer. It was first announced in November 1959 by Guns & Ammo magazine, the basic design was a lengthened and structurally improved.45 Colt case. The wildcat cartridge finally went mainstream in 1997, when Ruger began chambering its Super Redhawk in this caliber, Taurus followed with the Raging Bull model in 1998 and the Taurus Raging Judge Magnum in 2010. The.45 Schofield and.45 Colt cartridges can fit into the. 454s chambers, the.454 Casull was finally commercialized in 1998, when SAAMI published its first standards for the cartridge. The round is one of the most powerful handgun cartridges in production, the.454 Casull generates almost 5 times the recoil of the.45 Long Colt, and about 75% more recoil energy than the.44 Magnum. It can deliver a 250 grain bullet with a velocity of over 1,900 feet per second. One Buffalo Bore loading drives a heavier 300 grain JFN bullet at 1,650 ft/s for 1,813 ft-lb of muzzle energy, the.454 Casull round is primarily intended for hunting medium or large game, metallic silhouette shooting, and bear protection. The.460 Smith & Wesson Magnum cartridge introduced in 2005 is basically a lengthened.454 Casull cartridge and has the diameter as a.45 Colt or.454 Casull. Therefore, revolvers chambered for the.460 S&W will also chamber the.454 Casull, the.45 Colt, List of cartridges by caliber List of handgun cartridges Table of handgun and rifle cartridges
14.
Sturm, Ruger & Co.
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Sturm, Ruger & Co. Inc. is an American, Southport, Connecticut–based firearm manufacturing company, better known by the shortened name Ruger. The company was founded in 1949 by Alexander McCormick Sturm and William B, Ruger and has been publicly traded since 1969. Ruger produces bolt-action, semi-automatic, and single-shot rifles, shotguns, semi-automatic pistols, Sturm, Ruger & Company was founded by William B. Ruger and Alexander McCormick Sturm in 1949 in a small rented shop in Southport. Ruger is a dominant manufacturer in the.22 LR rimfire rifle market in the U. S. due primarily to the sales of its Ruger 10/22 semiautomatic rifle, the 10/22 is very popular due to being relatively inexpensive and of good quality. As a result, a wealth of after-market accessories and parts were available for it. The availability and variety of after-market parts makes it possible to build a 10/22 using only these parts, Ruger similarly dominates the.22 rimfire semi-automatic pistol market with the Ruger MK II and Ruger MK III, descendants of the Ruger Standard pistol. Like the 10/22, the MkII is supported with a variety of after-market accessories. The 22/45 is similar to the Ruger Standard family of pistols but features a different grip angle, Ruger Casting has plants in Newport, New Hampshire and Prescott, Arizona, making ferrous, ductile iron and commercial titanium castings. Ruger Golf makes steel and titanium castings for golf clubs made by a number of different brands, Sturm, Ruger stock has been publicly traded since 1969, and became a New York Stock Exchange company in 1990. After Alex Sturm’s death in 1951, William B, Ruger continued to direct the company until his death in 2002. From 1949 through 2004, Ruger manufactured over 20 million firearms, and currently offers models for hunting, target shooting, self-defense, collecting, and law enforcement. Sturm, Ruger & Co. is headquartered in Southport, Connecticut, and maintains manufacturing facilities in Newport, New Hampshire, Prescott, Arizona, and Mayodan, North Carolina. Rugers subsidiaries are Ruger Precision Metals LLC in Earth City, Missouri, Pine Tree Castings in Newport, New Hampshire, and Ruger Sportswear & Accessories in Mayodan, North Carolina. Of the total 2,288 makers of civilian firearms operating in the United States from 1986–2010, Ruger was ranked the number one U. S. firearms manufacturer from 2008–2011. In 2011, Ruger manufactured 1,114,687 firearms, as their promotion, the company has set a new goal of 2 million firearms produced per year. From 2009 to 2012, Ruger was the top-seller of handguns, list of modern armament manufacturers TALO Distributors Wilson, R. L. Ruger & His Guns, A History of the Man, the Company and Their Firearms. Sturm, Ruger & Co official site Ruger Official History
15.
Wildey
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The Wildey is a gas-operated, double-action/single-action pistol designed by Wildey J. Moore. It was designed to fire several high-pressure proprietary cartridges including the.45 Wildey Magnum and they are currently being produced by USA Firearms Corp. -Wildey Guns of Winsted, Connecticut. The Wildey was purpose-designed to be a hunting firearm, the pistol is built to withstand breech pressures of over 48,000 PSI associated with Moores lines of proprietary cartridges. The Wildey was the first gas-operated double action semi-automatic pistol, the Wildey employs a unique short-stroke gas operation which allows the pistol to be adapted to fire several high pressure cartridges ranging from the 9mm Winchester Magnum to the.475 Wildey Magnum. Moore described the Wildey patented gas system as an air-hydraulic piston powered by the gases through six small holes in the barrel. This piston forces the slide rearward, initiating the cycling of the pistol, the valve is adjusted by way of turning the gas-regulating collar at the base of the barrel. Another advantage of a system is that it often reduces felt recoil. The Wildey uses a fixed-barrel, three-lug, rotating-bolt design, the bolt locks into the aft barrel extension. The bolt is linked to the slide via one of the bolt lugs, when the cartridge is fired, the piston is forced against the slide. The retracting slide catches the bolt lug which causes the bolt to rotate open. The spent cartridge is ejected by the bolt through the retracting slides ejection port, the fixed-barrel design is considered to promote greater accuracy over pistols designed around an articulating barrel design. The Wildey can be used as either a single-shot or an auto-loading pistol, all pistols feature a ventilated, ribbed barrels and an angled frame similar to that of the Colt M1911 design but considerably larger. The pistols will accept scope attachments which are mounted on the barrel rib, the pistol uses a single-stack magazine. The Wildey features a frame mounted auto-resetting decocking lever which will drop the hammer safely, the pistol also incorporates a number of safety features including a firing pin block, trigger block and a rebounding firing pin. The Wildey allows for caliber and barrel conversions by simply installing a new barrel assembly into the original frame, whenever the caliber and barrel conversions are made, the gas regulator will need to be tuned to allow for the pistol to function reliably. Stainless steel is used for all parts of the pistol including the frame, slide. The pistol was offered in four models, the Survivor, Survivor Guardsman, Hunter, the Survivor models come in a bright stainless steel, high-luster finish while the Hunter models are available in a matte finish. The Guardsman models have squared-off trigger guards instead of the trigger guards found on the non-Guardsman models
16.
Winchester
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Winchester is a city and the county town of Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a government district. It is situated 61 miles south-west of London and 13.6 miles from Southampton, at the time of the 2011 Census, Winchester had a population of 45,184. The wider City of Winchester district which includes such as Alresford. Winchester developed from the Roman town of Venta Belgarum, which in turn developed from an Iron Age oppidum. Winchesters major landmark is Winchester Cathedral, one of the largest cathedrals in Europe, with the distinction of having the longest nave and overall length of all Gothic cathedrals in Europe. The city is home to the University of Winchester and Winchester College, the area around Winchester has been inhabited since prehistoric times, with three Iron Age hillforts, Orams Arbour, St. Catherines Hill, and Worthy Down all in the nearby vicinity. In the Late Iron Age, an urban settlement type developed, known as an oppidum. It was overrun by the confederation of Gaulish tribes known as the Belgae sometime during the first century BCE and it seems to have been known as Wentā or Venta, from the Brittonic for town or meeting place. After the Roman conquest of Britain, the settlement served as the capital of the Belgae and was distinguished as Venta Belgarum, Venta of the Belgae. Although in the years of the Roman province it was of subsidiary importance to Silchester and Chichester. At the beginning of the century, Winchester was given protective stone walls. At around this time the city covered an area of 144 acres, there was a limited suburban area outside the walls. Like many other Roman towns however, Winchester began to decline in the fourth century. Ford identifies the community as the Cair Guinntguic listed by Nennius among the 28 cities of Britain in his History of the Britains, amid the Saxon invasions of Britain, cemeteries dating to the 6th and 7th centuries suggest a revival of settlement. The city became known as Wintan-ceastre in Old English, in 648, King Cenwalh of Wessex erected the Church of SS Peter and Paul, later known as the Old Minster. This became a cathedral in the 660s when the West Saxon bishopric was transferred from Dorchester-on-Thames, the citys first mint appears to date from this period. In the early tenth century there were two new establishments, the convent of Nunnaminster, founded by Alfreds widow Ealhswith
17.
Smith & Wesson Model 29
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The Smith & Wesson Model 29 is a six-shot, double-action revolver chambered for the.44 Magnum cartridge and manufactured by the U. S. company Smith & Wesson. The Model 29 was offered with 3,4,5,6, 6½, 8⅜ and, later, other barrel lengths were available either by special order from Smith & Wessons Custom Shop or custom built by gunsmiths. The 5 barreled variant had a full length underlug, finish options available included a highly polished blued or nickel-plated surface. At the time of its introduction, the Model 29 was the most powerful production handgun and it was made famous by association with the fictional character Dirty Harry Callahan. The Model 29 will chamber and fire.44 Special cartridges, the Magnum case is slightly longer to prevent magnum rounds from being chambered and fired in handguns chambered for the.44 Special. Elmer Keiths achievements in maximizing the power and performance of the.44 Special was the inspiration, S&Ws production of a large N-frame revolver in.44 Magnum began in 1955, the Model 29 designation was applied in 1957. At the time of its introduction, the Model 29 was the most powerful production handgun, there were a number of custom calibers that were more powerful, as in the old Howdah pistols of the 19th century. After the movies release, retailers had trouble keeping the Model 29 in stock, the original Model 29 was superseded by the Model 29-1 in 1960, with modifications made to the ejector-rod screw. The Model 29-2 replaced it the year, with one screw that had secured the cylinder-stop spring being deleted. The barrel length was shortened from 6 1/2 to 6 in 1979 and these two versions are known as pinned and recessed. Pinned means that the barrels are screwed in, and secured by a pin driven through the frame, recessed denotes the rear of the bored cylinder holes being countersunk, so that, when loaded, the cartridge rims are fully enclosed by the cylinder. In 1982, the cost-cutting Model 29-3 dropped recessed cylinders and pinned barrels for crush-fit barrels, the -4 and -5, produced from 1988 and 1990 respectively had changes to improve durability for heavy use. In 1994 the 29-6 began production, now fitted as standard with rubber Monogrips from Hogue to replace the wooden items. The 29-7 started production in 1998 with changes to the mechanism, the firing pins attachment. Introduced in 1978, the Smith & Wesson Model 629 is a steel version of the Model 29. The 629 Classic variant features a full-length barrel underlug, other include the 629 Stealth Hunter. Some S&W model 29s were rebuilt by the AAI Corporation to make the Quiet Special Purpose Revolvers and this special ammunition was made by AAI. This pistol was developed from 1967 to 1971 to be used by rats in the Vietnam War
18.
Dirty Harry
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Dirty Harry is a 1971 American action thriller film produced and directed by Don Siegel, the first in the Dirty Harry series. Clint Eastwood plays the role, in his first outing as San Francisco Police Department Inspector Dirty Harry Callahan. The film drew upon the case of the Zodiac Killer as the Callahan character seeks out a similar vicious psychopath. Dirty Harry was a critical and commercial success and set the style for a genre of police films. It was followed by four sequels, Magnum Force in 1973, The Enforcer in 1976, Sudden Impact in 1983, in 2012, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant. A psychopathic serial killer calling himself Scorpio shoots a woman in a San Francisco swimming pool from a nearby rooftop. The chief of police and the mayor assign the inspector to the case, while in a local diner, Callahan observes a bank robbery in progress. He goes outside, wielding his Smith & Wesson Model 29 revolver, Callahan then challenges him, I know what you’re thinking, Did he fire six shots or only five. Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, but being this is a.44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question, Do I feel lucky. After the robber surrenders, he tells Callahan that he must know if the gun was still loaded, Callahan pulls the trigger, with the weapon pointed directly at the robber, and laughs, as it is revealed to be empty. Scorpio targets a gay male, but is interrupted by a police helicopter. Later that night, Callahan and his partner, Chico Gonzalez pursue a likely suspect. Following that, Callahan successfully halts a suicide attempt, after which he reveals that the origin of his nickname comes from the fact that he is given every dirty job to do. When Scorpio kills a black boy from another rooftop, the police believe the killer will next pursue a Catholic priest. Scorpio escapes, killing a police officer disguised as a priest, Scorpio then demands $200,000 for a teenage girl he has kidnapped, threatening to let her suffocate otherwise. The mayor decides to pay and tells Callahan to deliver the money with no tricks, but the inspector wears a covert listening device, brings a switchblade, and has his partner follow him. As Scorpio sends Callahan to various payphones throughout the city to make sure he is alone, Scorpio brutally beats Callahan and tells him hes going to kill him and let the girl die anyway, Gonzalez comes to his partners rescue but is wounded. Callahan stabs Scorpio in the leg, but the killer escapes without the money, the doctor who has treated Scorpios wound phones the police and tells Callahan and his new partner that he has seen Scorpio in Kezar Stadium
19.
Headspace (firearms)
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In firearms, headspace is the distance measured from the part of the chamber that stops forward motion of the cartridge to the face of the bolt. Used as a verb, headspace refers to the interference created between this part of the chamber and the feature of the cartridge that achieves the correct positioning, different cartridges have their datum lines in different positions in relation to the cartridge. For example,5.56 NATO ammunition headspaces off the shoulder of the cartridge, if the headspace is too short, ammunition that is in specification may not chamber correctly. If headspace is too large, the ammunition may not fit as intended or designed, the cartridge is said to be rimless if the extractor groove is machined into the head of the case so the rim is the same diameter as the adjacent part of the case. Most modern automatic firearms use rimless cartridges, straight-walled rimless cartridges often headspace on the forward lip of the cartridge as shown in the diagram at the top of this article. This necessitates careful attention to consistent case length, bottle-necked rimless cartridges may headspace on the conical shoulder between the narrow neck and the larger diameter portion of the case. All small arms cartridges have a flange at the base of the case called a rim, the part of the firearm called an extractor claw hooks over the rim to extract the spent case from the chamber after it has been fired. The cartridge is said to be of a type when the rim is of larger diameter than the remainder of the case. Most early cartridges were rimmed, and the ledge at the rear of the chamber prevents the cartridge from moving forward. Headspace for rimmed cartridges is the space between that forward ledge and the face when the action is closed. Some large rimless magnum cartridges have a belt formed above the extractor groove and this belt is of slightly larger diameter than the adjacent case, so the cartridge can headspace from the forward edge of the belt closest to the bullet. The original purpose of the belt was to give accurate headspacing for cartridges with shallow shoulder angles, where longitudinal precision of seating using such a shoulder presents difficulties. In effect this was similar to the function of a rim. Some more or less straight cartridges have no bottleneck to headspace on, such cylindrical shaped cartridge cases use the case mouth as a forward positioned flange used for headspacing. There are four types of control to consider based on the case type used. This style of case relies on the face of the case neck. It is from this circular conic section face, as a datum, examples include.308 Winchester.223 Remington, and 7. 92×57mm Mauser. For a rimmed case, where the rim extends beyond the diameter of the case, such as with.22 Long Rifle. 30-30 Winchester, a rimmed case can have straight, tapered, or bottlenecked case walls
20.
.500 Linebaugh
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The.500 Linebaugh is a.50 caliber handgun cartridge designed for use in revolvers. It is considered one of the most powerful handgun cartridges designed in terms of kinetic energy, the.500 Linebaugh cartridge was designed by John Linebaugh of Maryville, Missouri, in 1986. John Linebaugh had been converting.45 Colt six-shooters to five-shot revolvers, while this venture was successful, he continued to search for a more powerful cartridge, which resulted in the.500 Linebaugh. The cartridge case itself was designed by cutting off the.348 Winchester case to 1.405 in, turning the rim to a diameter of.610 in, the first revolvers converted to use the.500 Linebaugh were the Ruger Bisley and the Seville revolvers. Due to the demise of the Seville revolvers in the early 1990s and it was when the supply of.348 Winchester cases started running out that John Linebaugh began working on the.475 Linebaugh, which could be formed from the more available. 45-70 Government cases. When the Winchester Model 71 was reintroduced in the.348 Winchester, today, Starline and Buffalo Bore offer.500 Linebaugh cases which are not dependent on the supply of.348 Winchester cases. The.500 Linebaugh is a cartridge and thus has not been adopted by mainline firearms manufacturers. Currently no firearms manufacturers make revolvers specifically for this cartridge, hamilton Bowen has been known to have converted the Ruger Redhawk double-action revolver for use with this cartridge. Due to the status of the cartridge neither the CIP nor SAAMI have published official specifications for the cartridge. As is the case, there can be variations from gunsmith to gunsmith. No pressure standard has been published for the cartridge but according to Linebaugh pressures levels between 30,000 psi and 35,000 psi are considered safe in the converted revolvers, diameter jacketed bullets or. 511-.512 in. lead bullets. The.500 Linebaugh was designed as a hunting cartridge but would make excellent backup firearm in areas where large bears may be encountered. It was designed to fire a 440 gr bullet at 1,300 ft/s and this particular loading generates 1,650 ft·lbf of energy making this one of the most powerful handgun cartridges put into production. In terms of energy, this is comparable to the.454 Casull cartridge, however, the.500 Linebaugh provides a larger diameter, heavier bullet with a greater sectional density than the.454 Casull. As a hunting cartridge it is capable of taking any North American game animals and most African game species
21.
National Firearms Act
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The National Firearms Act, 73rd Congress, Sess. 1236, enacted on June 26,1934, currently codified as amended as I. R. C. 53, is an Act of Congress in the United States that, in general, imposes a statutory excise tax on the manufacture and transfer of certain firearms, the Act was passed shortly after the repeal of Prohibition. The NFA is also referred to as Title II of the Federal firearms laws, the Gun Control Act of 1968 is Title I. All transfers of ownership of registered NFA firearms must be done through the federal NFA registry, the NFA also requires that permanent transport of NFA firearms across state lines by the owner must be reported to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Temporary transport of items, most notably silencers, do not need to be reported. Like the current National Firearms Act, the 1934 Act required NFA firearms to be registered and taxed, the $200 tax was quite prohibitive at the time. With a few exceptions, the tax amount is unchanged, conventional pistols and revolvers were ultimately excluded from the Act before passage, but other concealable weapons were not. Under the original Act, NFA weapons were machine guns, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, any other weapons, minimum barrel length was soon amended to 16 inches for rimfire rifles and by 1960 had been amended to 16 inches for centerfire rifles as well. The United States Supreme Court, in 1968 decided the case of Haynes v. United States in favor of the defendant, as one could possess an NFA firearm and choose not to register it, and not face prosecution due to Fifth Amendment protections, the Act was unenforceable. To deal with this, Congress rewrote the Act to make registration of existing weapons impossible except by the government, the National Firearms Act of 1934 defines a number of categories of regulated firearms. These weapons are known as NFA firearms and include the following. Both continuous fully automatic fire and burst fire are considered machine gun features, the weapons receiver is by itself considered to be a regulated firearm. Short-barreled rifles This category includes any firearm with a buttstock and either a barrel less than 16 long or an overall length under 26. The overall length is measured with any folding or collapsing stocks in the extended position, the category also includes firearms which came from the factory with a buttstock that was later removed by a third party. Short barreled shotguns This category is defined similarly to SBRs, silencers This includes any portable device designed to muffle or disguise the report of a portable firearm. This category does not include non-portable devices, such as sound traps used by gunsmiths in their shops which are large, many AOWs are disguised devices such as pens, cigarette lighters, knives, cane guns and umbrella guns. AOWs can be pistols and revolvers having smooth bore barrels designed or redesigned to fire a shotgun shell
22.
1 euro coin
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The 1 euro coin is a euro coin with a value of one euro. It is made of two alloys, the part of cupronickel, the outer part of nickel brass. All coins have a reverse side and country-specific national sides. The coin has been used since 2002, with the present common side design dating from 2007. As of July 2015, there were approximately 6.7 billion one euro coins in circulation, the coin dates from 2002, when euro coins and banknotes were introduced in the 12 member Eurozone and its related territories. The common side was designed by Luc Luycx, a Belgian artist who won a Europe-wide competition to design the new coins. The design of the one and two coins was intended to show the European Union as a whole with the then 15 countries more closely joined together than on the 10 to 50 cent coins. National designs were not allowed to change until the end of 2008 and this happened in Monaco and the Vatican City, resulting in three new designs in circulation. National designs have some changes, as they are now required to include the name of the issuing country. As of 2010, Austria, Germany and Greece are obliged to change their designs due this requirement in the future and this map showed Europe, not just the EU, as one continuous landmass, however Cyprus was moved west as the map cut off after the Bosphorus. The 2007 redesign coincided with the first enlargement of the eurozone in that year, hence, the Slovenian design was added to the designs in circulation. Since then designs for Cyprus, Malta, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have been added as each of these joined the eurozone. Andorra began minting its own designs in 2014 after winning the right to do so, the coins are composed of two alloys. The inner circle is composed of three layers and the ring of nickel brass, giving the coin a two-colour appearance. The coin has a diameter of 23.25 mm, thickness 2.33 mm, the coins edges consist of alternating segments, three smooth, three finely ribbed. The coins have been used from 2002, though some are dated 1999, which is the year the euro was created as a currency, Cyprus is located further west than it should be and Malta is shown disproportionately large so that it appears on the map. The map has numerous indentations giving an appearance of geography rather than a flat design, six fine lines cut across the map except where there is landmass and have a star at each end - reflecting the twelve stars on the flag of Europe. Across the map is the word EURO, and a large number 1 appears to the hand side of the coin
23.
.460 S&W Magnum
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The.460 S&W Magnum round is a powerful revolver cartridge designed for long-range handgun hunting in the Smith & Wesson Model 460 revolver. The.460 S&W round is a lengthened, more powerful version of the popular.454 Casull, itself a longer and more powerful version of the.45 Colt. Consequently, firearms that fire.460 S&W are usually capable of firing the less powerful.454 Casull.45 Colt and.45 Schofield rounds, for instance, some lever-action firearms are designed to handle cartridges within a certain length and bullet profile range. The reverse, however, does not apply.45 Schofield.45 Colt, the length of the.460 S&W was intended to fully use the overall length of the S&W X frame cylinder thereby increasing its powder capacity. The.460 cartridge achieves high velocities by operating at chamber pressures normally reserved for magnum rifle cartridges, Smith & Wesson says that the.460 S&W is the highest velocity revolver cartridge in the world, firing bullets at up to 2409 ft/s. For comparison, Hornadys 9249 load for the.500 S&W Magnum cartridge offers a bit more energy at the muzzle, achieving 2,868 ft lbf by driving a 300 grain FTX bullet at 2,075 ft/s. Buffalo Bores loading for the.500 S&W Magnum cartridge offers much less energy at the muzzle, achieving only 2,579 ft lbf by driving a 440 grain.500 caliber bullet at 1625 ft/s
24.
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
25.
Wildcat cartridge
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A wildcat cartridge, often shortened to wildcat, is a custom cartridge for which ammunition and/or firearms are not mass-produced. These cartridges are often created in order to optimize a certain performance characteristic of a commercial cartridge. Often, wildcats are commercially sold rounds that have been modified in some way to alter the cartridges performance, barrels for the caliber are originally manufactured by gunsmiths specializing in barrel making. Generally the same makers also offer reloading dies, tools to custom-load bullets into cases, because changing the barrel of a gun to accommodate custom cartridges requires precision equipment, most wildcats are developed by or in association with custom barrel makers. Ammunition is handloaded, using modified parent cases and the gunsmith-provided wildcat dies, handloaders use the data to develop a load by starting with minimum loads and carefully working up. Wildcat cases and cartridges can be found for sale, but only from small makers, larger manufacturers usually do not produce wildcats because there is such a limited market for them and because there are no established CIP or SAAMI standards, which causes liability concerns. Wildcat cartridges are developed for many reasons, generally, the goal is to optimize some characteristic of a commercial cartridge in a given context. The sport of metallic silhouette shooting, has given rise to a number of wildcats. Wildcat cartridges are developed because, Higher velocities can be obtained by increasing the case capacity. Greater energy can be attained by increasing the caliber or the case capacity, better efficiency can be achieved by increasing the shoulder angle, shortening the case, and reducing case taper. Greater consistency can be achieved by tuning the case capacity to a bullet diameter, weight. Some methods used to develop a wildcat are, Cold forming, the parent case is well lubricated and forced carefully into the reloading die for the wildcat caliber. This will swage the case into the new shape and this type of operation is used for reducing case dimensions, such as reducing the neck diameter or pushing the shoulder back, or changing the neck diameter. This consists of taking the parent case, or a cold formed case, loading it with a light bullet and light load of powder. Another technique uses a charge of fast burning powder topped with a full of Cream of Wheat. This technique is used for increasing case dimensions, such as pushing the neck forward, increasing the neck angle, or straightening the case walls. Generally, after either a cold forming or a fire forming operation, the mouth of the case will be longer than ideal, and the case will be trimmed back to the trim to length. Trimming is a normal reloading operation, as high pressure cartridges will flow each time they are fired, changing the diameter of the case
26.
.45-70
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The. 45-70 rifle cartridge, also known as. 45-70 Government, was developed at the U. S. Armys Springfield Armory for use in the Springfield Model 1873, which is known to collectors as the trapdoor Springfield. The new cartridge was a replacement for the stop-gap. 50-70 Government cartridge which had adopted in 1866. The new cartridge was completely identified as the. 45-70-405, but was referred to as the.45 Government cartridge in commercial catalogs. The minimum acceptable accuracy of the, a skilled shooter, firing at known range, could consistently hit targets that were 6 ×6 feet at 600 yards —the armys standard target. It was a skill valuable mainly in mass or volley fire, after the Sandy Hook tests of 1879, a new variation of the. 45-70 cartridge was produced, the. 45-70-500, which fired a heavier,500 grain, bullet. The heavier bullet produced significantly superior ballistics, and could reach ranges of 3,350 yards, which were beyond the maximum range of the. 45-70-405. While the effective range of the. 45-70 on individual targets was limited to about 1,000 yards with either load and it was hoped the longer range of the. 45-70-500 would allow effective volley fire at ranges beyond those normally expected of infantry fire. While the nominal diameter was.450 inches, the groove diameter was actually closer to.458 inches. As was standard practice with many early U. S. commercially produced cartridges, specially-constructed bullets were often paper patched and this patch served to seal the bore and keep the soft lead bullet from coming in contact with the bore, preventing leading. Like the cloth or paper used in muzzleloading firearms, the paper patch fell off soon after the bullet left the bore. Paper-patched bullets were made of soft lead.450 inches in diameter, when wrapped in two layers of thin cotton paper, this produced a final size of.458 inches to match the bore. Paper patched bullets are available, and some black-powder shooters still roll their own paper patched bullets for hunting. Arsenal loadings for the. 45-70-405 and. 45-70-500 government cartridges generally used groove diameter grease groove bullets of.458 inches diameter. The predecessor to the. 45-70 was the. 50-70-450 cartridge, adopted in 1866 and used until 1873 in a variety of rifles, many of them percussion rifled muskets converted to trapdoor action breechloaders. The conversion consisted of milling out the rear of the barrel for the tilting breechblock, the. 50-70 was nevertheless adopted as a temporary solution until a significantly improved rifle and cartridge could be developed. The result of the quest for an accurate, flatter shooting.45 caliber cartridge. Like the. 50-70 before it, the. 45-70 used a copper center-fire case design, a reduced power loading was also adopted for use in the trapdoor carbine
27.
Gauge (bore diameter)
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The gauge of a firearm is a unit of measurement used to express the inner diameter of the barrel. Thus there are twelve 12-gauge balls per pound, etc, the term is related to the measurement of cannon, which were also measured by the weight of their iron round shot, an 8 pounder would fire an 8 lb ball. These very large rifles, sometimes called elephant guns, were intended for use in India, gauge is abbreviated ga. ga, or G. The space between the number and the abbreviation is often left out, as in 12ga. Therefore, a shotgun or n-bore rifle has a bore diameter of approximately d n =11.33 Explanation. Divide it by 11.3 to find the volume of the ball, multiply it by 0.75 and divide it by pi, then find its cube root, to find its radius in cm. Multiply it by 2 to find the diameter in cm, Divide it by 2.54 to find the diameter in inches. This simplifies to d n =1.67 / n 3 to find the diameter in inches of the barrel of an n-gauge shotgun. Therefore, if the diameter is in inches, n =4.66 / d n 3 Another source for a gauge size formula can be found in page Shotgun shell#Shotgun gauge diameter formula. Since shotguns were not originally intended to fire projectiles, but rather a compressible mass of shot. The fact that most shotgun bores are not cylindrical also causes deviations from the bore diameter. The chamber of the gun is larger, to accommodate the thickness of the walls. The forcing cone can be as short as a fraction of an inch, or as long as a few inches on some guns. At the muzzle end of the barrel, the choke can constrict the bore even further, so measuring the diameter of a shotgun is not a simple process. Shotgun bores are commonly overbored or backbored, meaning that most of the bore is larger than the value given by the formula. This is claimed to reduce recoil and improve patterning. A 12-gauge shotgun, nominally 18.5 mm, can range from a tight 18.3 mm to an extreme overbore of 20.3 mm. Some also claim an increased velocity with the barrels, up to 15 m/s
28.
Shotgun slug
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A modern shotgun slug is a heavy projectile made of lead, copper, or other material and fired from a shotgun. Slugs are designed for hunting game, self-defense, and other uses. The first effective modern shotgun slug was introduced by Wilhelm Brenneke in 1898, most shotgun slugs are designed to be fired through a cylinder bore or improved cylinder choke, rifled choke tubes, or fully rifled bores. Slugs differ from round-ball lead projectiles in that they are stabilized in some manner, in the early development of firearms, smooth-bored barrels were not differentiated to fire either single or multiple projectiles. Single projectiles were used for game, though shot could be loaded as needed for small game. As firearms became specialized and differentiated, shotguns were still able to fire round balls though rifled muskets were far more accurate, modern slugs emerged as a way of improving on the accuracy of round balls. Early slugs were heavier in front than in the rear, similar to a Minié ball to provide aerodynamic stabilization, rifled barrels, or rifled choke tubes were developed later to provide gyroscopic spin stabilization in place of or in addition to aerodynamic stabilization. Many of these slugs are saboted sub-caliber projectiles, resulting in greatly improved external ballistics performance, a shotgun slug is typically more massive than a rifle bullet. As an example, one common. 30-06 bullet weighs 150 grains, the lightest common 12 gauge shotgun slug weighs 7/8 oz. Slugs made of low-density material, such as rubber, are available as less lethal specialty ammunition. Shotgun slugs are used to hunt medium-large game at short ranges by firing a large projectile rather than a large number of smaller ones. In many populated areas, hunters are restricted to shotguns even for medium to large game, such as deer, due to concerns about the range of modern rifle bullets. In such cases a slug will provide a longer range than a load of buckshot, law enforcement officers are frequently equipped with shotguns. In contrast to traditional buckshot, slugs offer the benefits of accuracy, range, further, the shotgun allows the operator to select the desired shell a variety of situations such as a less-lethal cartridge such as a bean bag round or other Less lethal slugs. A traditional rifle would offer greater range and accuracy than slugs, the mass of a shotgun slug is kept within SAAMI pressure limits for shot loads in any given shotgun shell load design. Slugs are designed to pass safely through any choke, though accuracy may suffer, common 12 gauge slug masses are 7⁄8 oz,1 oz, and 1 1⁄8 oz, the same as common birdshot payloads. Shotgun slugs achieve typical velocities of approximately 1800 fps for 1-oz, Slugs, for an energy of over 3,100 ft-lbs. In contrast, a. 30-06 bullet weighing 150 grains at a velocity of 2600 fps achieves an energy of 2,250 ft-lbs, however, a shotgun slug has greater air resistance and slows more quickly than a spitzer bullet fired from a rifle. Shotgun slugs thus are best suited for uses over shorter ranges than rifle bullets, full-bore slugs, such as the Brenneke and Foster types use a shuttlecock method of stabilization by placing the mass at the front of the projectile
29.
Gunpowder
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Gunpowder, also known as black powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate, the sulfur and charcoal act as fuels, and the saltpeter is an oxidizer. Black powder firearms are in limited use today in hunting, shooting, Black powder has been replaced for most industrial uses by high explosives such as dynamite. Black powder is assigned the UN number UN0027 and has a class of 1. 1D. It has a point of approximately 427–464 °C. The specific flash point may vary based on the composition of the gunpowder. Gunpowders specific gravity is 1. 70–1.82 or 1. 92–2.08, Gunpowder is classified as a low explosive because of its relatively slow decomposition rate and consequently low brisance. Low explosives deflagrate at subsonic speeds, whereas high explosives detonate, ignition of the powder packed behind a bullet must generate enough pressure to force it from the muzzle at high speed, but not enough to rupture the gun barrel. Gunpowder thus makes a good propellant, but is suitable for shattering rock or fortifications. Gunpowder was widely used to fill artillery shells and in mining and civil engineering to blast rock until the half of the 19th century. Black powder is used as a delay element in various munitions where its slow-burning properties are valuable. The spread of gunpowder across Asia from China is widely attributed to the Mongols, the earliest record of a written formula for gunpowder appears in the 11th century Song dynasty text, Wujing Zongyao. This discovery led to the invention of fireworks and the earliest gunpowder weapons in China, in the centuries following the Chinese discovery, gunpowder weapons began appearing in the Muslim world and Europe. The technology spread from China through the Middle East or Central Asia, the earliest Western accounts of gunpowder appear in texts written by English philosopher Roger Bacon in the 13th century. The most ardent protagonists were Nathaniel Halhad, Johann Backmann, Quintin Craufurd, however, due to lack of sufficient proof, these theories have not been widely accepted. A major problem confronting the study of the history of gunpowder is ready access to sources close to the events described. The translation difficulty has led to errors or loose interpretations bordering on artistic licence, early writings potentially mentioning gunpowder are sometimes marked by a linguistic process where old words acquired new meanings. For instance, the Arabic word naft transitioned from denoting naphtha to denoting gunpowder, saltpeter was known to the Chinese by the mid-1st century AD and there is strong evidence of the use of saltpeter and sulfur in various largely medicinal combinations
30.
.50-70 Government
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The. 50-70 Government cartridge was a black powder round adopted in 1866 for the Springfield Model 1866 Trapdoor Rifle. The cartridge was developed after the results of the.58 rimfire cartridge for the Springfield Model 1865 Trapdoor Rifle. The. 50-70 Government cartridge became the official cartridge of the US military until replaced by the. 45-70 Government in 1873, the. 50-70 cartridge had a pressure limit of 22,500 PSI. The official designation of this cartridge at the time of introduction was US Center-fire Metallic Cartridge, there is evidence that a reduced load version of this cartridge was officially produced for use in Sharps carbines converted to metallic cartridge ammunition, as well as cadet rifles. This used a 430-grain bullet and 45 grains of powder, buffalo Bill Cody used a Springfield Model 1866 in caliber. 50-70 while hunting buffalo to feed the track workers of the Kansas Pacific Railroad. List of rifle cartridges 13 mm caliber Gaining respect for the. 50/70 Government. 50-70 Government
31.
Recoil
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Recoil is the backward movement of a gun when it is discharged. To apply this counter-recoiling force, modern mounted guns may employ recoil buffering comprising springs and hydraulic recoil mechanisms, early cannons used systems of ropes along with rolling or sliding friction to provide forces to slow the recoiling cannon to a stop. Recoil buffering allows the maximum counter-recoil force to be lowered so that strength limitations of the gun mount are not exceeded, however, the same pressures acting on the base of the projectile are acting on the rear face of the gun chamber, accelerating the gun rearward during firing. This results in the required counter-recoiling force being proportionally lower, modern cannons also employ muzzle brakes very effectively to redirect some of the propellant gasses rearward after projectile exit. This provides a force to the barrel, allowing the buffering system. The same physics affecting recoil in mounted guns and cannons applies to hand-held guns, hands, arms and shoulders have considerable strength and elasticity for this purpose, up to certain practical limits. For this reason, establishing recoil safety standards for small arms remains challenging, a change in momentum of a mass requires a force, according to Newtons first law, known as the law of inertia, inertia simply being another term for mass. That force, applied to a mass, creates an acceleration, according to Newtons second law, the law of momentum -- changing the velocity of the mass changes its momentum. It is important to understand at this point that velocity is not simply speed, velocity is the speed of a mass in a particular direction. In a very technical sense, speed is a scalar, a magnitude, in summation, the total momentum of the system equals zero, surprisingly just as it did before the trigger was pulled. There are two conservation laws at work when a gun is fired, conservation of momentum and conservation of energy, recoil is explained by the law of conservation of momentum, and so it is easier to discuss it separately from energy. The nature of the process is determined by the force of the expanding gases in the barrel upon the gun. It is also determined by the force applied to the gun. The recoil force only acts during the time that the ejecta are still in the barrel of the gun, except for the case of zero-recoil, the counter-recoil force is smaller than the recoil force but lasts for a longer time. Since the recoil force and the force are not matched. In the zero-recoil case, the two forces are matched and the gun will not move when fired. In most cases, a gun is very close to a free-recoil condition, an example of near zero-recoil would be a gun securely clamped to a massive or well-anchored table, or supported from behind by a massive wall. For example, placing the butt of a large caliber gun directly against a wall, the recoil of a firearm, whether large or small, is a result of the law of conservation of momentum
32.
Muzzle brake
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A muzzle brake or recoil compensator is a device connected to the muzzle of a firearm or cannon that redirects propellant gases to counter recoil and unwanted rising of the barrel during rapid fire. They have been used in forms for rifles and pistols to help control recoil. They are used on pistols for practical pistol competitions, and are usually called compensators in this context, the interchangeable terms muzzle rise, muzzle flip, or muzzle climb refer to the tendency of a handheld firearms front end to rise after firing. Firearms with less height from the line to the barrel centerline tend to experience less muzzle rise. The muzzle rises primarily because, for most firearms, the centerline of the barrel is above the center of contact between the shooter and the grip and stock. The reactive forces from the bullet and propellant gases exiting the muzzle act directly down the centerline of the barrel. If that line of force is above the center of the points, this creates a moment or torque rotational force that makes the firearm rotate. The M1946 Sieg automatic rifle had a muzzle brake that made the rifle climb downward. Muzzle brakes are simple in concept, such as the one employed on the 90 mm M3 gun used on the M47 Patton tank and this consists of a small length of tubing mounted at right angles to the end of the barrel. Brakes most often utilize slots, vents, holes, baffles, the strategy of a muzzle brake is to redirect and control the burst of combustion gases that follows the departure of a projectile. All muzzle brake designs share a basic principle, they partially divert combustion gases at a sideways angle. The momentum of the diverted gases thus does not add to the recoil, the angle toward which the gases are directed will fundamentally affect how the brake behaves. If gases are directed upward, they exert a downward force. Construction of a brake or compensator can be as simple as a diagonal cut at the muzzle end of the barrel to direct some of the escaping gas upward. On the AKM assault rifle, the brake also angles slightly to the right to counteract the movement of the rifle under recoil. Another simple method is porting, where holes or slots are machined into the barrel near the muzzle to allow the gas to escape, more advanced designs use baffles and expansion chambers to slow escaping gases. This is the principle behind a linear compensator. Ports are often added to the chambers, producing the long
33.
Monster Pig
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Monster Pig was the subject of a controversial 2007 story that initially ran in the news media as a report of an eleven-year-old boy shooting a giant feral pig. The pig was claimed to have shot during a hunt on May 3,2007 by an eleven-year-old boy named Jamison Stone. The location of the shooting was the Lost Creek Plantation, a hunting preserve outside Anniston, Alabama. According to the hunters, the pig weighed 1,051 pounds and it was pointed out right away that the photographs of the pig released to the media seemed to be purposely posed and doctored to exaggerate scale. There was a 2008 grand jury investigation of the event based on charges of cruelty that was later canceled. Jamison told the media they were invited there by a friend who told them about a big hog he had that was tearing up land. They hauled the pig by truck to the Clay County Farmers Exchange in Lineville where they used a scale, the hunters also claimed that the pig was 9 feet 4 inches in length from the tip of its snout to the base of its tail. However, this has not been corroborated by any source and it was soon revealed that the hunt took place in a 150-acre low fence enclosure within the larger 2, 500-acre commercial hunting preserve called Lost Creek Plantation. A later claim said that Mr Stone had paid $1,500 to Eddy Borden, other facts were revealed expanding the controversy around this story. Several days after the story broke, suspicion mounted over the authenticity of the photographic evidence, retired New York University physicist, Dr. Others claim the photographs were digitally altered and it has been shown that most of the pictures that were distributed to the media were altered through the use of digital enhancement and perspective to make the pig look much larger than it really was. There were also claims there were other photographs from the Stone family owned Monsterpig. com website that showed a more normal size/scale for the pig. Others claim the photographs were digitally altered, despite evidence that the photos were altered, the Stone family website continues to deny that the images were modified to make Monster Pig look larger than its actual size. The Associated Press continues to keep the monster pig image in their archives with no disclosures of the forced perspective photo trick having been employed, the monster pig photo has an AP archive caption as if it is a legitimate photograph. The caption states, In this photo released by Melynne Stone, Jamison Stone,11, poses with a wild pig he killed near Delta, Ala. Stones father says the hog weighed a staggering 1,051 pounds, if claims of the animals size are true, it would be larger than Hogzilla, the huge hog killed in Georgia in 2004. Shortly after the hit the press, the truth about the origins of the pig were revealed. Four days before Monster Pig was shot, he lived on a nearby farm, the owners, Rhonda and Phil Blissitt, stated that the pig loved to play with their grandchildren and his favorite treat was canned sweet potatoes
34.
H&R Firearms
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H&R1871, LLC is a manufacturer of firearms under the Harrington & Richardson and New England Firearms trademarks. H&R is a subsidiary of the Freedom Group, the original H&R firm was in business for over a century from 1871 to 1986. Frank Wesson, brother of Daniel B, Wesson who co-founded Smith & Wesson, started a firearms manufacturing firm in 1859, sharing an early patent with Nathan Harrington. Wesson produced two trigger rifles and spur trigger pistols and pocket rifles/shotguns popular for short length holster models such as the discontinued topper compact pocket shotguns. He started a partnership in 1871 with his nephew Gilbert Henderson Harrington, as Wesson & Harrington. In 1875 Harrington and another former Wesson employee, William Augustus Richardson, in 1888 the firm was incorporated as The Harrington & Richardson Arms Company. Their original capital investment was $75,000, Harrington was president, Richardson was treasurer, and George F. Brooks was secretary. After the deaths of Harrington and Richardson in 1897, Brooks became the manager, in 1894 the company opened a new facility on Park Avenue in Worcester, Massachusetts. The factory was expanded again after a few years, the firearms produced through this time to 1911 carry extreme value as original antiquities. Original rifles and shotguns from these dates are scarce because of their limited production, in 1950 the company opened a new facility on Cockburn street in Drummondville, Québec, Canada. In the 1960s H&R was acquired by the Kidde corporation and run by the Rowe family, warranty cards were sent to Industrial Rowe, Gardner, Massachusetts. The original H&R company went out of business in 1986, a new company, H&R1871, Inc. was formed in 1991 and started production of revolvers, single-shot rifles and shotguns using original H&R designs. H&R1871, Inc. assets were sold to H&R1871. A Connecticut LLC owned by Marlin Firearms Company in November 2000, H&R1871, LLC. did not extend their product warranty to H&R guns made prior to the LLCs takeover. Marlin, including all its H&R assets, was acquired by Remington Arms Company in December,2007. H&R1871, LLC production was moved to Ilion, N. Y. in late 2008, while their corporate offices are co-located with Remington Arms in Madison, Remington, along with its Marlin and H&R subsidiaries, are now part of the Freedom Group. H&R1871 production ceased 27 February 2015, the Wesson & Harrington company was at 18 Manchester Street, Worcester, Mass. from 1871 until 1877. The Harrington & Richardson company was located at 31 Hermon Street, Worcester, William Richardson lived at 921 Main Street in Worcester
35.
Cylinder (firearms)
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In firearms, the cylinder is the cylindrical, rotating part of a revolver containing multiple chambers. The cylinder revolves around an axis in the revolver to bring each individual chamber into alignment with the barrel for firing. Each time the gun is cocked, the cylinder indexes by one chamber, cylinders typically hold six cartridges, but some small frame revolvers only hold 5 cartridges, due to the smaller overall size of the gun and reduced space availability. The Nagant M1895 revolver has a 7 shot cylinder, the Webley-Fosbery Automatic Revolver has an 8-shot cylinder in.38 caliber, several models of.22 rimfire caliber revolvers have cylinders holding 9 or 10 rounds. As a general rule, cylinders are not designed to be detached from the firearm, rapid reloading is instead facilitated by the use of a speedloader or moon clip, although these only work on break-top and swing-out cylinder revolvers, for obvious reasons. The first generation of cartridge revolvers were converted caplock designs, in many of these, the pin on which the cylinder revolved was removed, and the cylinder taken from the gun for loading. Most revolvers using this method of loading are single action revolvers, because of this, many modern large caliber hunting revolvers tend to be based on the fixed cylinder design. The next method used for loading and unloading cartridge revolvers was the top break design, in a top break revolver, the frame is hinged at the bottom front of the cylinder. Releasing the lock and pushing the barrel down brings the cylinder up - this exposes the rear of the cylinder for reloading, fresh rounds are then placed into the cylinder, either one at a time or all at once with either a speedloader or a moon clip. The barrel and cylinder are then rotated back and locked in place, since the frame is in two parts, held together by a latch on the top rear of the cylinder, top break revolvers cannot handle high pressure or magnum-type rounds. Top break designs are largely extinct in the world of firearms, one of the most famous break top revolvers is the Webley service revolver, used by the British military from 1889-1963. The most modern method of loading and unloading a revolver is by means of the swing out cylinder, the cylinder is mounted on a pivot that is coaxial with the chambers, and the cylinder swings out and down. An extractor is fitted, operated by a rod projecting from the front of the cylinder assembly, when pressed, it will push all fired rounds free simultaneously. The cylinder may then be loaded, singly or again with a speedloader, closed, the pivoting part that supports the cylinder is called the crane, it is the weak point of swing-out cylinder designs. Lack of alignment between chamber and barrel is a condition, as it can impede the bullets transition from chamber to barrel. This gives rise to higher pressures in the chamber, bullet damage, the shock of firing can exert a great deal of stress on the crane, as in most designs the cylinder is only held closed at one point, the rear of the cylinder. Stronger designs, such as the Ruger Super Redhawk, use a lock in the crane as well as the lock at the rear of the cylinder and this latch provides a more secure bond between cylinder and frame, and allows the use of larger, more powerful cartridges. Swing out cylinders are rather strong, but not as strong as fixed cylinders, Firearm cylinders were first developed in the 16th century and, over time, had anywhere from three to twelve chambers bored into them
36.
Thompson/Center Arms
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Thompson/Center Arms is an American firearms company based in Springfield, Massachusetts. The company is best known for its line of interchangeable-barrel, single-shot pistols, Thompson/Center also manufactures muzzle-loading rifles and is credited with creating the resurgence of their use in the 1970s. In the 1960s, Warren Center developed an unusual break-action, single-shot pistol that later known as the Contender in his basement workshop. Meanwhile, the K. W. Thompson Tool Company had been searching for a product to manufacture year-round, in 1965, Warren Center joined the K. W. Thompson Tool Company, and together, they announced Warren Centers Contender pistol in 1967. As K. W. Thompson Tool began marketing Centers Contender pistol, then, in 1970, Thompson/Center created the modern black powder industry, introducing Warren Centers Hawken-styled black powder muzzle-loader rifle. On January 4,2007, Thompson/Center was purchased by Smith & Wesson, on December 8,2010, Smith & Wesson announced that the original Rochester, New Hampshire plant would be closed and manufacturing was transferred to Springfield, Massachusetts. Thompson/Centers success came with the emergence of long range hunting, target shooting. Their break-action, single-shot design brought rifle-like accuracy and power in a handgun, the Contender, first introduced in 1967, is a break-action, single-shot pistol or rifle with a number of unique features. The first unique feature is the way the barrel is attached to the frame, by removing the fore-end, a large hinge pin is exposed, by pushing this hinge pin out, the barrel can be removed. Since the sights and extractor remain attached to the barrel in the Contender design, a barrel of another caliber can be installed and pinned in place, the fore-end replaced, and the pistol is ready to shoot with a different barrel and pre-aligned sights. This allowed easy changes of calibers, sights, and barrel lengths, the Encore was released in 1983. The Encore uses a different trigger mechanism, designed to be stronger than the original Contenders, the Encore uses a considerably larger and stronger frame than the Contender, and accordingly, is found in over 86 cartridges - ranging from.22 Hornet to the huge.416 Rigby. There has even been one pistol-length stainless barrel made in.600 Nitro Express, the Encore barrel list also includes shotgun barrels in 28,20, and 12 gauge, and muzzleloading barrels in.45.50 caliber, and 12 gauge using #209 shotgun primers. In 2007, Encore rimfire barrels became available in 22 LR and 17 HMR, an upgraded T/C Encore is called the Pro Hunter which generally includes stocks with rubber Flex Tech inserts and are stainless or carbon steel with weather shielding. There are other differences among the rifles including the breech plug on muzzleloader versions. The original Contender, now known as the generation one Contender, was replaced by the G2 Contender soon after the Encore came out, the G2 Contender is essentially dimensionally the same as the original Contender, but uses an Encore style trigger group. Unlike the original Contender, dry-firing of the G2 Contender is possible only in the center hammer position, also, unlike the original Contender, the break-action does not need to be opened/closed to practice dry-firing, provided the hammer is lowered between dry firing shots. The adjustability of G2 Contender triggers is also different from the original G1 Contender
37.
.50 caliber handguns
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A.50 caliber handgun is a handgun firing a bullet measuring approximately.5 inches in diameter. Historically, many black powder pistols fired bullets with diameters well above ½ inch, in the twentieth century, several new cartridges of half-inch diameter were developed, with the.50 Action Express being the first to achieve wide popularity. This diameter was further popularized by the development of the.500 S&W Magnum in 2003, there are automatic, revolver, and single-shot.50 caliber handgun designs. Handguns of this caliber tend to be larger and heavier than most others of their type, for both structural integrity and absorbing the recoil associated with firing these rounds
38.
Table of handgun and rifle cartridges
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Table of selected handgun, submachine gun, rifle and machine gun cartridges by common name. Data values are the highest found for the cartridge, and might not occur in the same load, number of manufacturers currently producing complete cartridges - e. g. Norma, RWS, Hornady, Winchester, Federal, Remington, Sellier&Bellot, Prvi Partizan. May be none for obsolete and wildcat cartridges, a guide to the recoil from the cartridge, and an indicator of bullet penetration potential. The. 30-06 Springfield is considered the limit for tolerable recoil for inexperienced rifle shooters
39.
Popular Mechanics
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Popular Mechanics is a classic magazine of popular science and technology. First published by Henry Haven Windsor, January 11,1902, there are nine international editions, including a now-defunct Latin American version that had been published for decades, and a newer South African edition. The Russian edition of Popular Mechanics has been issued since 2002, in 2013, the US edition changed from twelve to ten issues per year. Popular Mechanics features regular sections on automotive, home, outdoors, science, a recurring column is Jay Lenos Garage featuring observations by the famed late-night talk show host and vehicle enthusiast. Popular Mechanics was established in 1902, the first issue appeared on January 11,1902. The magazine was originally self-published by the Popular Mechanics Company but in 1958 became a subsidiary of the Hearst Corporation, a nearly complete archive of Popular Mechanics issues from 1905 through 2005 is available through Google Books. Popular Mechanics Show is the weekly podcast of Popular Mechanics magazine. Enthusiasts and Innovators, Possible Dreams and the Innovation Station at the Henry Ford Museum, society for the History of Technology. Possible Dreams, Enthusiasm for Technology in America, Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village
40.
John Ross (author)
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Unintended Consequences is a controversial novel that mixes real events with fiction. The cover of the shows a woman dressed as Lady Justice being menaced by a heavily armed agent of the ATF, it contains several scenes of graphic sex. The book has been confiscated in Canada by customs officials. The publisher no longer ships copies of the book to Canada as a result, lacking any advertising or promotion in the mainstream book industry, the novel has remained a top seller on Amazon. com since it came out in 1996. Its sales largely have been either at gun shows or through online retailers such as Amazon. com. It has sold briskly at gun shows but is not sold at traditional bookstores. In 2007, Ross designed a version of the S&W.500 Magnum revolver so as to make it suitable to his needs. It is a lighter than the standard version and produces even more power due to tighter barrel/cylinder tolerances. It produces more power per pound of gun weight than any repeating handgun ever made, Ross is the grandson of Charles Ross, who was the Sixth White House Press Secretary, serving under President Harry Truman. Ross supported a Concealed Carry law passed in Missouri in 2003 and he received 28. 3% of the vote, losing to Republican incumbent James Talent. In 2000, Ross appeared under his own name in the independent film Defiance, in October 2000, he had a stroke and was incapacitated for a few weeks. Ross wrote a semi-regular Internet column called Ross In Range, where he discussed topics that interest him, a recurring theme is understanding and coping with women. Personal website John Ross ending one of his Concealed Carry classes with a Machine Gun demonstration
41.
Wikimedia Commons
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Wikimedia Commons is an online repository of free-use images, sound, and other media files. It is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation, the repository contains over 38 million media files. In July 2013, the number of edits on Commons reached 100,000,000, the project was proposed by Erik Möller in March 2004 and launched on September 7,2004. The expression educational is to be according to its broad meaning of providing knowledge. Wikimedia Commons itself does not allow fair use or uploads under non-free licenses, for this reason, Wikimedia Commons always hosts freely licensed media and deletes copyright violations. The default language for Commons is English, but registered users can customize their interface to use any other user interface translations. Many content pages, in particular policy pages and portals, have also translated into various languages. Files on Wikimedia Commons are categorized using MediaWikis category system, in addition, they are often collected on individual topical gallery pages. While the project was proposed to also contain free text files. In 2012, BuzzFeed described Wikimedia Commons as littered with dicks, in 2010, Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger reported Wikimedia Commons to the FBI for hosting sexualized images of children known as lolicon. Wales responded to the backlash from the Commons community by voluntarily relinquishing some site privileges, over time, additional functionality has been developed to interface Wikimedia Commons with the other Wikimedia projects. Specialized uploading tools and scripts such as Commonist have been created to simplify the process of uploading large numbers of files. In order to free content photos uploaded to Flickr, users can participate in a defunct collaborative external review process. The site has three mechanisms for recognizing quality works, one is known as Featured pictures, where works are nominated and other community members vote to accept or reject the nomination. This process began in November 2004, another process known as Quality images began in June 2006, and has a simpler nomination process comparable to Featured pictures. Quality images only accepts works created by Wikimedia users, whereas Featured pictures additionally accepts nominations of works by third parties such as NASA, the three mentioned processes select a slight part from the total number of files. However, Commons collects files of all quality levels, from the most professional level across simple documental, files with specific defects can be tagged for improvement and warning or even proposed for deletion but there exists no process of systematic rating of all files. The site held its inaugural Picture of the Year competition, for 2006, all images that were made a Featured picture during 2006 were eligible, and voted on by eligible Wikimedia users during two rounds of voting
42.
Smith & Wesson Model 1
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The Smith & Wesson Model 1 was the first firearm manufactured by Smith & Wesson, with production spanning the years 1857 through 1882. It was the first commercially successful revolver to use rimfire cartridges instead of powder, musket ball. It is a single-action, tip-up revolver holding seven.22 Short black powder cartridges, as Samuel Colts patent on the night revolver was set to expire in 1856, Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson were researching a prototype for a cartridge revolver. Rather than make White a partner in their company, Smith and it would become Whites responsibility to defend his patent in any court cases which eventually led to his financial ruin, but was very advantageous for the new Smith & Wesson Company. The Model 1 had three issues or major variants, with each subsequent issue introducing significant technical changes, the 1st Issue of the Model 1 was the first major iteration, with approximately 12,000 produced over a three year period. There are six variations of the Model 1, first identified in an article by John Kountz in the April 1956 issue of The Gun Report. In this article, Kountz noted specific differences in the shield, the barrel latch. Serial numbers were issued sequentially for the Model 1 1st Issues ranging from 1 through approximately 12,000, the 2nd Issue of the Model 1 looked similar to the 1st Issue, with several notable differences. The side plate on the 2nd Issue was much larger and irregularly shaped, the profile of the frame was flatter, and the hammer was now made in one piece. Model 1 2nd Issues still had the flared, square cornered shaped grip and the octagonal tip-up style frame, there are several variations of the 2nd Issue guns. Variants between serial numbers 12,000 through to about 20,000 involve the shape of the plate, the design of the trigger spring. There was also a decrease in the size of the barrel roll stamps at around serial number 95,000, 2nd Issue marked 2D QUALTY are also seen occasionally. There were approximately 110,000 2nd Issues produced from 1860 through 1868, the Model 1, 3rd Issue represented a substantial redesign for the Model 1, with a fluted cylinder, a round barrel and a rounded birds head style grip. Finishes included full nickel plating, full blued steel, and a half plate nickel/blue combo, variants include the square and triangular top strap design that changed around serial number 9,500. The 3rd Issue guns were produced from 1868 through 1882 with serial numbers from 1 through approximately 131,000 and this popularity led to numerous knockoffs and patent infringements by other armsmakers. Rolin White and S&W brought infringement cases against Manhattan Firearms Company, Ethan Allen, Merwin & Bray, National Arms Company, the courts mostly allowed these manufacturers to continue production runs, with a royalty on each revolver paid to White. In some cases, Smith & Wesson bought the back to remark and sell
43.
Smith & Wesson Model 1 1/2
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Chambered in.32 Rimfire, its cylinder held 5 shots. It was produced in three varieties from 1865 through 1892, with production exceeding 223,000. The Model 1 1/2 had three issues, the first issue of the Model 1 1/2 can be identified by its smooth cylinder, and the square shape of the grip butt. Models were available in blued or nickel-plated finishes, and the majority were produced with 3 1⁄2-inch barrels, a less common 4-inch barrel variety was also sold. Serial numbers range from 1 through to approximately 26,300, the second issue of the Model 1 1/2 can be identified by its fluted barrel and the rounded shape of the grip butt. Like the 1st Issue, it was produced in blued steel and nickel-plated varieties. 2nd Issue guns were numbered consecutively after the 1st Issue. There is also a transitional model 2nd issue that uses the unfluted 1st issue barrels, the serial numbers for these transitional models span approximately 27,200 through 28,800. The third issue of the Model 1 1/2 is known as the Model No.1 1/2 Single Action Revolver and it differs substantially from the first two issues by breaking at the top, consistent with the design of the Safety Hammerless or S&W.38 Single Action. The grip is rounded at the butt, and is similar in appearance to that on the 2nd Issue and this revolver marked the debut of the.32 S&W centerfire cartridge. Serial numbers ranged from 1 to approximately 97,500