1.
Imperial units
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The system of imperial units or the imperial system is the system of units first defined in the British Weights and Measures Act of 1824, which was later refined and reduced. The Imperial units replaced the Winchester Standards, which were in effect from 1588 to 1825, the system came into official use across the British Empire. The imperial system developed from what were first known as English units, the Weights and Measures Act of 1824 was initially scheduled to go into effect on 1 May 1825. However, the Weights and Measures Act of 1825 pushed back the date to 1 January 1826, the 1824 Act allowed the continued use of pre-imperial units provided that they were customary, widely known, and clearly marked with imperial equivalents. Apothecaries units are mentioned neither in the act of 1824 nor 1825, at the time, apothecaries weights and measures were regulated in England, Wales, and Berwick-upon-Tweed by the London College of Physicians, and in Ireland by the Dublin College of Physicians. In Scotland, apothecaries units were unofficially regulated by the Edinburgh College of Physicians, the three colleges published, at infrequent intervals, pharmacopoeiae, the London and Dublin editions having the force of law. The Medical Act of 1858 transferred to The Crown the right to publish the official pharmacopoeia and to regulate apothecaries weights, Metric equivalents in this article usually assume the latest official definition. Before this date, the most precise measurement of the imperial Standard Yard was 0.914398416 metres, in 1824, the various different gallons in use in the British Empire were replaced by the imperial gallon, a unit close in volume to the ale gallon. It was originally defined as the volume of 10 pounds of distilled water weighed in air with brass weights with the standing at 30 inches of mercury at a temperature of 62 °F. The Weights and Measures Act of 1985 switched to a gallon of exactly 4.54609 l and these measurements were in use from 1826, when the new imperial gallon was defined, but were officially abolished in the United Kingdom on 1 January 1971. In the USA, though no longer recommended, the system is still used occasionally in medicine. The troy pound was made the unit of mass by the 1824 Act, however, its use was abolished in the UK on 1 January 1879, with only the troy ounce. The Weights and Measures Act 1855 made the pound the primary unit of mass. In all the systems, the unit is the pound. For the yard, the length of a pendulum beating seconds at the latitude of Greenwich at Mean Sea Level in vacuo was defined as 39.01393 inches, the imperial system is one of many systems of English units. Although most of the units are defined in more than one system, some units were used to a much greater extent, or for different purposes. The distinctions between these systems are not drawn precisely. One such distinction is that between these systems and older British/English units/systems or newer additions, the US customary system is historically derived from the English units that were in use at the time of settlement
2.
.303 British
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The.303 British or 7. 7×56mmR, is a. 303-inch calibre rimmed rifle cartridge first developed in Britain as a black-powder round put into service in December 1888 for the Lee–Metford rifle. In 1891 the cartridge was adapted to use smokeless powder and it was the standard British and Commonwealth military cartridge from 1889 until the 1950s when it was replaced by the 7. 62×51mm NATO. The.303 British has 3.64 ml cartridge case capacity, americans would define the shoulder angle at alpha/2 ≈17 degrees. The common rifling twist rate for this cartridge is 254 mm,5 grooves, Ø lands =7.70 millimetres, Ø grooves =7.92 millimetres, land width =2.12 millimetres and the primer type is Berdan or Boxer. Rulings the.303 British can handle up to 365.00 MPa Pmax piezo pressure, regulated countries every rifle cartridge combo has to be proofed at 125% of this maximum C. I. P. pressure to certify for sale to consumers. This means that.303 British chambered arms in C. I. P, regulated countries are currently proof tested at 456.00 MPa PE piezo pressure. The SAAMI Maximum Average Pressure for this cartridge is 49,000 psi piezo pressure, the measurement. 303-inch is the nominal size of the bore measured between the lands which follows the older black powder nomenclature. Measured between the grooves, the size of the bore is. 311-inch. Bores for many.303 military surplus rifles are found ranging from around. 309-inch up to. 318-inch. Recommended bullet diameter for standard.303 British cartridges is. 312-inch, the bolt thrust of the.303 British is relatively low compared to many other service rounds used in the early 20th century. The original.303 British service cartridge employed black powder as a propellant, and was adopted for the Lee–Metford rifle, ballistite was a stick-type smokeless powder composed of soluble nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine. Unlike Cordite, Riflelite was a powder, and contained no nitroglycerine. After extensive testing, the Committee on Explosives selected Cordite for use in the Mark II.303 British service cartridge, the initial.303 Mark I and Mk II service cartridges employed a 215-grain, round-nosed, copper-nickel full-metal-jacketed bullet with a lead core. After tests determined that the bullet had too thin a jacket when used with cordite. This led to the introduction of the Cartridge S. A. Ball.303 inch Cordite Mark III, similar hollow-point bullets were used in the Mk IV and Mk V loadings, which were put into mass production. The design of the Mk IV hollow-point bullet shifted bullet weight rearwards, improving stability, the remaining stocks were used for target practice. The concern about expanding bullets was brought up at the 1899 Hague Convention by Swiss, the British and American defense was that they should not focus on specific bullet designs, like hollow-points, but instead on rounds that caused superfluous injury. The parties in the end agreed to abstain from using expanding bullets, as a result, the Mark III and other expanding versions of the.303 were not issued during the Second Boer War
3.
Submachine gun
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A submachine gun is a magazine-fed, automatic carbine designed to fire pistol cartridges. The term submachine gun was coined by John T. Thompson, the submachine gun was developed during World War I. At its zenith during World War II, millions of SMGs were made, after the war, new SMG designs appeared frequently. However, by the 1980s, SMG usage decreased, today, submachine guns have been largely replaced by assault rifles, which have a greater effective range and are capable of penetrating the helmets and body armor used by modern infantrymen. Carbine-type automatic weapons firing pistol rounds were developed during the stages of World War I by Italy, Germany. Their improved firepower and portability offered an advantage in trench warfare, in 1915, the Italians introduced the Villar-Perosa aircraft machine gun. It fired pistol-caliber 9mm Glisenti ammunition, but was not a true submachine gun and this odd design was then modified into the Beretta OVP carbine-type submachine gun, which then evolved into the Beretta Model 1918 after the end of World War I. Both the Beretta OVP and the Model 1918 had a wooden stock, a 25-round top-fed box magazine. The Germans initially used heavier versions of the P08 pistol equipped with a larger-capacity snail-drum magazine, by 1918, Bergmann Waffenfabrik had developed the MP18, the first practical submachine gun. This weapon fired the 9×19mm Parabellum round and used the same 32-round snail-drum magazine as the Luger P-08, the MP18 was used in significant numbers by German stormtroopers employing infiltration tactics, achieving some notable successes in the final year of the war. However, these were not enough to prevent Germanys collapse in November 1918, after World War I, the MP18 would evolve into the MP28/II SMG, which incorporated a simple 32-round box magazine, a semi & full auto selector, and other minor improvements. The Thompson submachine gun had been in development at approximately the time as the Bergmann. However, the war ended before prototypes could be shipped to Europe, although it had missed its chance to be the first purpose-designed submachine gun to enter service, it became the basis for later weapons and had the longest active service life of the three. However, the FBI and other U. S. police forces themselves showed no reluctance to use, eventually, the submachine gun was gradually accepted by many military organizations, especially as World War II loomed, with many countries developing their own designs. The Italians were among the first to develop submachine guns during World War I, however, they were slow to produce them during World War II. The Beretta Model 1938 was not available in numbers until 1943. The 38 was made in a series of improved and simplified models all sharing the same basic layout. The Beretta has two triggers, the front for semi-auto and rear for full-auto, most models use standard wooden stocks, although some models were fitted with an MP 40-style under-folding stock and are commonly mistaken for the German SMG
4.
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
5.
Nagant M1895
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The Nagant M1895 Revolver is a seven-shot, gas-seal revolver designed and produced by Belgian industrialist Léon Nagant for the Russian Empire. The Nagant M1895 was chambered for a cartridge,7. The Nagant M1895 was adopted as the standard side arm for the Imperial Russian Army and police officers. Production began in Liège, Belgium, however Russia purchased the rights in 1898, and moved production to the Tula Arsenal in Russia. Until 1918 it was produced in two versions, a version for officers, and a cheaper single-action version for the ranks. It continued to be used after the Russian Revolution by the Red Army, the common Russian name for the revolver, наган became synonymous with the concept of the revolver in general and was applied to such weapons regardless of actual make or model. As early 1933 the M1895 had started to be replaced by the Tokarev semi-automatic pistol but was never fully replaced until the Makarov pistol in 1952. It was still produced and used in great numbers during World War II and remained in use with the Russian Railways, postal service, in the Russian Federation, it was only retired from use with postal security service in 2003, and from bailiff security service in 2009. Expensive revolvers such as Korth and Manurhin are hand-fitted, keeping the gap to a minimum, mass-produced revolvers such as Smith & Wesson may have a gap as large as 0.25 mm. The M1895 by contrast, has a mechanism which, as the hammer is cocked, first turns the cylinder and then moves it forward, the cartridge, also unique, plays an important part in sealing the gun to the escape of propellant gases. The bullet is seated, entirely within the cartridge case. The barrel features a conical section at its rear, this accepts the mouth of the cartridge. The Nagant M1895 was made in both single-action and double-action models before and during World War I, they are known colloquially as the “Privates model”, production of the single-action model seems to have stopped after 1918, with some exceptions, including examples made for target competition. Most single-action revolvers were converted to double-action, making original single-action revolvers rather rare. Whether fired in action or double action, the Nagant M1895 has a markedly heavy trigger pull. The M1895 revolver was used extensively by the Russian Imperial Army, in Russian service, it was known for its extreme sturdiness and ability to withstand abuse. As one former Imperial Russian officer stated, if anything went wrong with the M1895 and it was widely employed by the Bolshevik secret police, the Cheka, as well as its Soviet successor agencies, the OGPU and NKVD. Seven Nagant revolvers were used by communist revolutionaries to murder the Russian imperial family, in the police role, it was frequently seen with a cut-down barrel to aid in concealment by plainclothes agents
6.
.30 Carbine
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The.30 Carbine is the cartridge used in the M1 Carbine introduced in the 1940s. It is a rifle round designed to be fired from the M1 carbines 18-inch barrel. The propellant was much newer, though, taking advantage of chemistry advances, as a result, the.30 Carbine is approximately 27% more powerful than its parent cartridge. The.30 Carbines relatively straight case and the nose of its bullet led some to believe it was designed for use in pistols. At first, Winchester was tasked with developing the cartridge but did not submit a carbine design, other firms and individual designers submitted several carbine designs, but most prototypes were either unreliable or grossly off the target weight of five pounds. The M1 Carbine was issued to officers, machine gun, artillery and tank crews, paratroopers. The weapon was issued with a 15-round detachable magazine. The Carbine and cartridge were not intended to serve as an infantry weapon. The M2 Carbine was introduced late in World War II with a switch allowing optional fully automatic fire at a rather high rate. The M1 and M2 Carbines continued in service during the Korean War, a postwar U. S. Army evaluation reported that here are practically no data bearing on the accuracy of the carbine at ranges in excess of 50 yards. The record contains a few examples of carbine-aimed fire felling an enemy soldier at this distance or perhaps a little more, but they are so few in number that no general conclusion can be drawn from them. Where carbine fire had proved killing effect, approximately 95 percent of the time the target was dropped at less than 50 yards, by experience, they would come to handle it semiautomatically, but it took prolonged battle hardening to bring about this adjustment in the human equation. With these requirements in hand, Winchesters Edwin Pugsley chose to design the cartridge with a.30 caliber, 100–120 grain bullet at a velocity of 2,000 feet per second. The first cartridges were made by turning down rims on. 32SL cases, the first 100,000 cartridges manufactured were headstamped.30 SL. The popularity of the M1 Carbine for collecting, sporting, for hunting, it is considered a small/medium-game cartridge, of marginal power for deer-size game. Even in long-barreled carbines, military-style full metal jacket projectiles do not expand as easily as soft or hollow point, in addition, the high sectional density of the projectile causes the bullet to overpenetrate. With millions of surplus M1 Carbines still owned by civilians, the continues to be used for these purposes into the present day. A number of handguns have been chambered for.30 Carbine ammunition, in 1944, Smith & Wesson developed a hand-ejector revolver to fire.30 Carbine
7.
M1 carbine
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The M1 carbine is a lightweight, easy to use.30 caliber semi-automatic carbine that was a standard firearm for the U. S. military during World War II, the Korean War and well into the Vietnam War. The M1 carbine was produced in variants and was widely used by not only the U. S. military. It has also been a civilian firearm. The M2 carbine is the version of the M1 carbine capable of firing in both semi-automatic and full-automatic. The M3 carbine was an M2 carbine with an infrared scope system. Despite its name and similar appearance, the M1 carbine is not a version of the M1 Garand rifle. It is a different firearm and it fires a different type of ammunition. It was simply called a carbine because it is smaller and lighter than the Garand. On July 1,1925, the U. S. Army began using the current naming system where the M is the designation for Model, therefore, the M1 rifle was the first rifle developed under this system. The M1 carbine was the first carbine developed under this system, the M2 carbine was the second carbine developed under the system, etc. Prior to World War II, U. S. Army Ordnance received reports that the full-size M1 rifle was too heavy and cumbersome for most support troops to carry. During prewar and early war field exercises, it was found that the M1 Garand impeded these soldiers mobility, as a rifle would frequently catch on brush, bang the helmet. Many soldiers found the rifle slid off the shoulder unless slung diagonally across the back, additionally, Germanys use of glider-borne and paratroop forces to launch surprise attacks behind the front lines, generated a request for a new compact infantry weapon to equip support troops. This request called for a compact, lightweight defensive weapon with greater range, accuracy and firepower than handguns, while weighing half as much as the Thompson submachine gun or the M1 rifle. The U. S. Army decided that a carbine would adequately fulfill all of these requirements, Paratroopers were also added to the list of intended users and a folding-stock version would also be developed. In 1938, the Chief of Infantry requested that the Ordnance Department develop a rifle or carbine. This led to a competition in 1941 by major U. S. firearm companies, Winchester at first did not submit a carbine design, as it was occupied in developing the. 30-06 Winchester M2 Military Rifle. The rifle originated as a design by Jonathan Ed Browning, brother of the famous firearm designer John Browning. 30-06 M2 rifle, Williams incorporated his short-stroke piston in the existing design
8.
M4 carbine
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The M4 carbine is a shorter and lighter variant of the M16A2 assault rifle. The M4 is a 5. 56×45mm NATO, air-cooled, direct impingement gas-operated, magazine-fed carbine and it has a 14.5 in barrel and a telescoping stock. The M4 carbine is used by the United States Armed Forces and is replacing the M16 rifle in most United States Army. The M4 is also capable of mounting the M203 and M320 grenade launchers, the distinctive step in its barrel is for mounting the M203 with the standard hardware. The M4 is capable of firing in semi-automatic and three-round burst modes, while the M4A1 is capable of firing in semi-auto, following the adoption of the M16 rifle, carbine variants were also adopted for close quarters operations. The CAR-15 family of weapons served through the Vietnam War, nevertheless, as a short-range weapon it is quite adequate and thus, its caliber, is classed as a submachine gun. In 1988, Colt began work on a new design called the XM4 combining the best features of the Colt Commando. The XM4 was given a longer 14. 5-inch barrel with the M16A2s 1,7 inch rifle twist, the extended barrel improved the XM4s ballistics, reduced muzzle blast and gave the XM4 the ability to mount a bayonet and the M203 grenade launcher. The XM4 was also given the M16A2s improved rear sight and cartridge deflector, in 1994, the U. S. military officially accepted the XM4 into service as the M4 carbine to replace M16A2s in certain roles. The United States Marine Corps has ordered its officers and staff non-commissioned officers to carry the M4 carbine instead of the M9 handgun and this is in keeping with the Marine Corps doctrine, Every Marine a rifleman. The Marine Corps, however, chose the full-sized M16A4 over the M4 as its infantry rifle. United States Navy corpsmen E5 and below are also issued M4s instead of the M9, as of 2013, the U. S. Marine Corps had 80,000 M4 carbines in their inventory. By July 2015, major Marine Corps commands were endorsing switching to the M4 over the M16A4 as the infantry rifle. Approval of the change would move the M16 to support personnel, in October 2015, Commandant Robert Neller formally approved of making the M4 carbine the primary weapon for all infantry battalions, security forces, and supporting schools in the U. S. Marine Corps. The switch is to begin in early 2016 and be completed by September 2016, on 1 July 2009, the U. S. Army took complete ownership of the M4 design. This allowed companies other than Colt to compete with their own M4 designs, the Army planned on fielding the last of its M4 requirement in 2010. On 30 October 2009, Army weapons officials proposed a series of changes to the M4 to Congress, requested changes included an electronic round counter that records the number of shots fired, a heavier barrel, and possibly replacing the direct impingement system with a gas piston system. The benefits of this, however, have come under scrutiny from both the military and civilian firearms community. S
9.
STANAG magazine
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A STANAG magazine or NATO magazine is a type of detachable firearm magazine proposed by NATO in October 1980. The U. S. M16 rifle magazine was proposed for standardization, many NATO members, but not all, subsequently developed or purchased rifles with the ability to accept this type of magazine. However the standard was never ratified, in due to German and French work on proprietary magazines respectively for the Heckler & Koch G11 and FAMAS. The STANAG magazine concept is only an interface, dimensional and controls requirement, therefore, it not only allows one type of magazine to interface with various weapon systems, but also allows STANAG magazines to be made in various configurations and capacities. The standard capacities of STANAG-compatible magazines are 20 or 30 rounds of 5. 56×45mm NATO ammunition, there are also 5-, 10-, 40- and 50-round box magazines, as well as 60- and 100-round casket magazines, 90-round snail-drum magazines, and 100-round drum magazines. There has also been a 150-round drum magazine produced, the STANAG magazine, while relatively compact compared to other types of 5. Because STANAG4179 is only a standard, production quality from manufacturer to manufacturer is not uniform. As a result, in March 2009, the U. S. military began to accept delivery of improved STANAG magazines, to increase reliability, these magazines incorporate heavier, more corrosion resistant springs and new tan-colored anti-tilt followers. In addition, many commercial magazine manufacturers now offer improved STANAG-compatible magazines and these magazines are made from high-grade stainless steel bodies, rust- and set-resistant chrome-silicon springs, and anti-tilt followers. There are also highly reliable polymer magazines, some with view windows, ARDEC began development of a new magazine design in July 2013 to address feeding issues of older designs with the new M855A1 Enhanced Performance Round. It was first made public in 2014 and completed development in mid-2016 as the Enhanced Performance Magazine, the RAM-LINE 30-round COMBO MAG is a uniquely notable STANAG magazine. These commercial translucent plastic magazines can be used in both AR-15 type rifles and Ruger Mini-14 type rifles
