1.
Telescopic sight
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A telescopic sight, commonly called a scope, is a sighting device that is based on an optical refracting telescope. They are equipped with some form of graphic image pattern mounted in an appropriate position in their optical system to give an accurate aiming point. Telescopic sights are used all types of systems that require accurate aiming but are most commonly found on firearms. Other types of sights are iron sights, reflector sights, the optical components may be combined with optoelectronics to form a night scope. The first experiments directed to give shooters optical aiming aids go back to the early 17th century, for centuries different optical aiming aids and primitive predecessors of telescopic sights were created that had practical or performance limitations. The first documented telescopic rifle sight was invented between 1835 and 1840, in 1855, William Malcolm of Syracuse, NY began producing his own sight. Malcolm used a design incorporating achromatic lenses like those used in telescopes. They were between three and twenty magnification, malcolms and those made by L. M. Amidon of Vermont were the standard during the Civil War. Still other telescopic sights of the same period were the Davidson. An early practical refractor telescope based telescopic sight was built in 1880 by August Fiedler, later telescopic sights with extra long eye relief became available for handgun and scout rifle use. A historic example of a sight with a long eye relief is the German ZF41 which was used during World War II on Karabiner 98k rifles. An early example of a man portable telescopic sight for low visibility/night use is the Zielgerät 1229, the ZG1229 Vampir was a Generation 0 active infrared night vision device developed for the Wehrmacht for the StG44 assault rifle, intended primarily for night use. The issuing of the ZG1229 Vampir system to the military started in 1944, Telescopic sights are classified in terms of the optical magnification and the objective lens diameter, e. g. 10×50. This would denote 10 times magnification with a 50 mm objective lens, in general terms, larger objective lens diameters, due to their ability to gather larger amounts of light, provide a larger exit pupil and hence provide a brighter image at the eyepiece. On fixed magnification sights the magnification power and objective diameter should be chosen on the basis of the intended use, there are also telescopic sights with variable magnification. The magnification can be varied by manually operating a zoom mechanism, variable sights offer more flexibility regarding shooting at varying ranges, targets and light conditions and offer a relative wide field of view at lower magnification settings. The syntax for variable sights is the following, minimal magnification – maximum magnification × objective lens, for example, 3–9×40. Confusingly, some older telescopic sights, mainly of German or other European manufacture, have a different classification where the part of the designation refers to light gathering power
2.
Tritium radioluminescence
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Tritium lumination is the use of gaseous tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, to create visible light. Tritium emits electrons through beta decay, and, when they interact with a material, fluorescent light is created. As tritium illumination requires no energy, it found wide use in applications such as emergency exit signs. More recently, many applications using radioactive materials have been replaced with photoluminescent materials, tritium lighting is made using glass tubes with a phosphor layer in them and tritium gas inside the tube. Such a tube is known as a gaseous tritium light source, the tritium in a gaseous tritium light source undergoes beta decay, releasing electrons that cause the phosphor layer to fluoresce. During manufacture, a length of glass tube that has had the inside surface coated with a phosphor-containing material is filled with the radioactive tritium. The tube is then fused with a carbon dioxide laser at the desired length, borosilicate is preferred for its strength and resistance to breakage. In the tube, the tritium gives off a stream of electrons due to beta decay. These particles excite the phosphor, causing it to emit a low, tritium is not the only material that can be used for self-powered lighting. Other beta particle-emitting radioisotopes can also serve, radium was used to make self-luminous paint from the early years of the 20th Century until approximately 1970, but it has been replaced by tritium, which is less hazardous. Various preparations of the compound can be used to produce different colors of light. Some of the colors that have manufactured in addition to the common phosphors are green, red, blue, yellow, purple, orange. The types of GTLS used in watches give off a small amount of light, not enough to be seen in daylight, the average such GTLS has a useful life of 10–20 years. As the tritium component of the lighting is more expensive than the rest of the watch itself. Being an unstable isotope with a half-life of 12.32 years, the more tritium that is initially placed in the tube, the brighter it is to begin with, and the longer its useful life. Tritium exit signs usually come in three brightness levels guaranteed for 10-, 15-, or 20-year useful life expectancies, the difference between the signs is how much tritium the manufacturer installs. The light produced by GTLSs varies in colour and size, green is usually the brightest color and white the least bright. Sizes can be found ranging from tiny tubes small enough to fit on the hand of a watch to ones the size of a pencil and these light sources are most often seen as permanent illumination for the hands of wristwatches intended for diving, nighttime, or combat use
3.
Nitrogen
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Nitrogen is a chemical element with symbol N and atomic number 7. It was first discovered and isolated by Scottish physician Daniel Rutherford in 1772, although Carl Wilhelm Scheele and Henry Cavendish had independently done so at about the same time, Rutherford is generally accorded the credit because his work was published first. Nitrogen is the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, the name comes from the Greek πνίγειν to choke, directly referencing nitrogens asphyxiating properties. It is an element in the universe, estimated at about seventh in total abundance in the Milky Way. At standard temperature and pressure, two atoms of the element bind to form dinitrogen, a colourless and odorless diatomic gas with the formula N2, dinitrogen forms about 78% of Earths atmosphere, making it the most abundant uncombined element. Nitrogen occurs in all organisms, primarily in amino acids, in the nucleic acids, the human body contains about 3% nitrogen by mass, the fourth most abundant element in the body after oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen. The nitrogen cycle describes movement of the element from the air, into the biosphere and organic compounds, many industrially important compounds, such as ammonia, nitric acid, organic nitrates, and cyanides, contain nitrogen. The extremely strong bond in elemental nitrogen, the second strongest bond in any diatomic molecule. Synthetically produced ammonia and nitrates are key industrial fertilisers, and fertiliser nitrates are key pollutants in the eutrophication of water systems. Apart from its use in fertilisers and energy-stores, nitrogen is a constituent of organic compounds as diverse as Kevlar used in high-strength fabric, Nitrogen is a constituent of every major pharmacological drug class, including antibiotics. Many notable nitrogen-containing drugs, such as the caffeine and morphine or the synthetic amphetamines. Nitrogen compounds have a long history, ammonium chloride having been known to Herodotus. They were well known by the Middle Ages, alchemists knew nitric acid as aqua fortis, as well as other nitrogen compounds such as ammonium salts and nitrate salts. The mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acids was known as aqua regia, celebrated for its ability to dissolve gold, the discovery of nitrogen is attributed to the Scottish physician Daniel Rutherford in 1772, who called it noxious air. Though he did not recognise it as a different chemical substance, he clearly distinguished it from Joseph Blacks fixed air. The fact that there was a component of air that does not support combustion was clear to Rutherford, Nitrogen was also studied at about the same time by Carl Wilhelm Scheele, Henry Cavendish, and Joseph Priestley, who referred to it as burnt air or phlogisticated air. Nitrogen gas was inert enough that Antoine Lavoisier referred to it as air or azote, from the Greek word άζωτικός. In an atmosphere of nitrogen, animals died and flames were extinguished
4.
Rubber
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Natural rubber, also called India rubber or caoutchouc, as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds, plus water. Malaysia and Indonesia are two of the leading rubber producers, forms of polyisoprene that are used as natural rubbers are classified as elastomers. Currently, rubber is harvested mainly in the form of the latex from the tree or others. The latex is a sticky, milky colloid drawn off by making incisions in the bark, the latex then is refined into rubber ready for commercial processing. In major areas, latex is allowed to coagulate in the collection cup, the coagulated lumps are collected and processed into dry forms for marketing. Natural rubber is used extensively in many applications and products, either alone or in combination with other materials, in most of its useful forms, it has a large stretch ratio and high resilience, and is extremely waterproof. The major commercial source of rubber latex is the Pará rubber tree. This species is preferred because it grows well under cultivation, a properly managed tree responds to wounding by producing more latex for several years. Congo rubber, formerly a source of rubber, came from vines in the genus Landolphia. These cannot be cultivated, and the drive to collect latex from wild plants was responsible for many of the atrocities committed under the Congo Free State. The latex exhibits the quality as the natural rubber from rubber trees. In the wild types of dandelion, latex content is low, in Nazi Germany, research projects tried to use dandelions as a base for rubber production, but failed. In collaboration with Continental Tires, IME began a pilot facility, many other plants produce forms of latex rich in isoprene polymers, though not all produce usable forms of polymer as easily as the Pará. Some of them require more processing to produce anything like usable rubber. Some produce other desirable materials, for example gutta-percha and chicle from Manilkara species, the term gum rubber is sometimes applied to the tree-obtained version of natural rubber in order to distinguish it from the synthetic version. The first use of rubber was by the cultures of Mesoamerica. The earliest archeological evidence of the use of latex from the Hevea tree comes the Olmec culture. The Pará rubber tree is indigenous to South America, charles Marie de La Condamine is credited with introducing samples of rubber to the Académie Royale des Sciences of France in 1736
5.
Rifle
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A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called lands, which contact with the projectile. When the projectile leaves the barrel, this spin lends gyroscopic stability to the projectile and prevents tumbling and this allows the use of aerodynamically-efficient bullets and thus improves range and accuracy. The word rifle originally referred to the grooving, and a rifle was called a rifled gun, the word rifle is now used for any long hand-held aimed device activated by a trigger, such as Air rifles and the Personnel halting and stimulation response rifle. Rifles are used in warfare, hunting and shooting sports, formerly, rifles only fired a single projectile with each squeeze of the trigger. Modern rifles are capable of firing more than one round per trigger squeeze, some fire in an automatic mode. Thus, modern automatic rifles overlap to some extent in design, in fact, many light machine guns are adaptations of existing automatic rifle designs. A militarys light machine guns are chambered for the same caliber ammunition as its service rifles. Generally, the difference between a rifle and a machine gun comes down to weight, cooling system. Modern military rifles are fed by magazines, while machine guns are generally belt-fed, many machine guns allow the operator to quickly exchange barrels in order to prevent overheating, whereas rifles generally do not. Most machine guns fire from a bolt in order to reduce the danger of cook-off. Machine guns are often crewed by more than one soldier, the rifle is an individual weapon, the term rifle is sometimes used to describe larger crew-served rifled weapons firing explosive shells, for example, recoilless rifles. In many works of fiction a rifle refers to any weapon that has a stock and is shouldered before firing, the origins of rifling are difficult to trace, but some of the earliest practical experiments seem to have occurred in Europe during the 15th century. Archers had long realized that a twist added to the feathers of their arrows gave them greater accuracy. This might also have led to a increase in accuracy. Rifles were created as an improvement in the accuracy of smooth bore muskets, the black powder used in early muzzle-loading rifles quickly fouled the barrel, making loading slower and more difficult. Since musketeers could not afford to take the time to stop and clean their barrels in the middle of a battle, rifles were limited to use by sharpshooters, muskets were smoothbore, large caliber weapons using ball-shaped ammunition fired at relatively low velocity. Due to the high cost and great difficulty of manufacturing, and the need to load readily from the muzzle
6.
Light machine guns
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A light machine gun is a machine gun designed to be employed by an individual soldier, with or without an assistant, as an infantry support weapon. Light machine guns are used as squad automatic weapons. Modern light machine guns often fire smaller-caliber cartridges than medium machine guns, some LMGs, such as the Russian RPK, are modifications of existing assault rifle designs and designed to share the same ammunition. Adaptations to the original rifle generally include a magazine, a heavier barrel to resist overheating, a more robust mechanism to support sustained fire. Deployed on a tripod and used for sustained-fire it is a machine gun, if deployed with a bipod with the operator in prone position. Light machine guns are designed to be fired from the hip or on the move as a form of suppressive fire intended to pin down the enemy. Marching fire is a tactic that relies on this capability. Lighter modern LMGs have enabled them to be issued down at the fireteam level, many light machine guns were magazine-fed. Others, such as the MG34, could be fed either from a belt or from a magazine, light machine guns were first introduced in World War I to boost the firepower of advancing infantry. The following were either exclusively light machine guns, had a machine gun variant or were employed in the light machine gun role with certain adaptations. 26 Medium machine gun Heavy machine gun Squad automatic weapon General-purpose machine gun Assault rifle
7.
Elcan
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Ernst Leitz Canada is a Canadian optics and electronics company owned by American defense contractor Raytheon. ELCAN manufactures devices geared towards civilian and military markets, the company currently has a location in Midland, Ontario. Elcan optics are sold through Armament Technology Incorporated and their channel of dealers, ELCAN is perhaps best known for making the 3. 4x28 power ELCAN C79 optical sight that is widely used on the Diemaco C7, FN MINIMI, FN MAG and CZ-805 BREN families of firearms. The C79 sight is not designed as a sniper sight per se, the M145 machine gun optic differs from the C79s standard 3. 4x sight in that ballistic compensation is provided for in the reticle, rather than in the mount. Reticle illumination is by a battery-powered LED with eleven intensity settings and it is used by the US military for its M249s and M240s. ELCAN manufactures the Specter line of combat optics and they come in a variety of configurations. Specter DR1. 5x/6x, DR 1x/4x, 4x Optical Sight, Specter M145 Specter 3x Optical Sight Aimpoint AB Trijicon EOTech ITL MARS Official website Armament Technology Incorporated, distributor
8.
Canada
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Canada is a country in the northern half of North America. Canadas border with the United States is the worlds longest binational land border, the majority of the country has a cold or severely cold winter climate, but southerly areas are warm in summer. Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its territory being dominated by forest and tundra. It is highly urbanized with 82 per cent of the 35.15 million people concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, One third of the population lives in the three largest cities, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Its capital is Ottawa, and other urban areas include Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec City, Winnipeg. Various aboriginal peoples had inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Pursuant to the British North America Act, on July 1,1867, the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick and this began an accretion of provinces and territories to the mostly self-governing Dominion to the present ten provinces and three territories forming modern Canada. With the Constitution Act 1982, Canada took over authority, removing the last remaining ties of legal dependence on the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II being the head of state. The country is officially bilingual at the federal level and it is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries. Its advanced economy is the eleventh largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources, Canadas long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture. Canada is a country and has the tenth highest nominal per capita income globally as well as the ninth highest ranking in the Human Development Index. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, Canada is an influential nation in the world, primarily due to its inclusive values, years of prosperity and stability, stable economy, and efficient military. While a variety of theories have been postulated for the origins of Canada. In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona, from the 16th to the early 18th century Canada referred to the part of New France that lay along the St. Lawrence River. In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada collectively named The Canadas, until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841. Upon Confederation in 1867, Canada was adopted as the name for the new country at the London Conference. The transition away from the use of Dominion was formally reflected in 1982 with the passage of the Canada Act, later that year, the name of national holiday was changed from Dominion Day to Canada Day
9.
Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight
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Advanced Combat Optical Gunsights are a series of telescopic sights manufactured by Trijicon. The ACOG was originally designed to be used on the M16 rifle and M4 carbine, models provide fixed power magnification levels from 1. 5× to 6×. ACOG reticles are illuminated at night by an internal phosphor, some versions have an additional daytime reticle illumination via a passive external fiber optic light pipe or are LED-illuminated using a battery. The ACOG is available in a variety of configurations from the manufacturer with different reticles, illumination, most ACOGs do not use batteries for reticle illumination, being designed to use internal phosphor illumination provided by the radioactive decay of tritium. The tritium illumination has a life of 10–15 years. Some versions of the ACOG have an additional daytime reticle illumination via a passive external fiber optic light pipe, reticles have other features such as a bullet drop compensator and other different reticle shapes such as chevrons. Some ACOG models incorporate rudimentary ghost ring iron sights as a backup for targets that are within 50 m, most ACOG models, when mounted to a carry handle, have an open space through the mount to allow the use of the rifles iron sights without removing the scope. Others include Docter or Trijicon reflex sights mounted on top, the ACOG ECOS line features both of these secondary sighting systems on the same scope. Other features include Picatinny rails, flip caps, and the ability to be waterproof up to 11 m, although the ACOG is designed for the Picatinny rail of the M16A4 and M4, it can be mounted on the carrying handles of previous models by using a special adapter. Several ACOG models are designed to be used with the Bindon Aiming Concept, the technique is essentially using the illuminated part of the reticle and its focusing rear eyepiece as a collimator sight. In this both-eyes-open technique the brain superimposes the aiming reticle on the target, an added part of the technique is to shift focus after acquisition to the dominant eye/telescopic image for more accurate shooting. This overcomes the problem of centering or acquiring fast traversing targets common with all telescopic sights, only certain models of the ACOG are designed with bright enough daylight-lit fiber optic or battery-powered LED reticles that facilitate this technique. Greece, Hellenic Army Commandos and SFs United Kingdom, British Army, United States, United States armed forces, various law enforcement agencies. This sight is designated the M150 Rifle Combat Optic in Army service, after an October 2005 evaluation, the USMC fielded 115,000 ACOGs so that every rifle and every carbine in the Marine Corps inventory would be equipped with one. Other Trijicon models have seen service after being purchased at the unit. Trijicon has been the subject of criticism for inscribing a reference to a Bible verse alongside the model numbers on their ACOG sights. Starting in late 2009, Trijicon began shipping sights to the U. S. military without the Bible verse, sight SUSAT, 4× telescopic sight with tritium-powered illumination similar to the ACOG Article on the Trijicon ACOG An italian article about TA44S
Australia
Canada
Denmark
Iraq
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Norway
United States
United Kingdom
France
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