1.
Semi-automatic pistol
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One cartridge is fired each time the trigger of a semi-automatic pistol is pulled, the pistols disconnector ensures this behavior. Additional terms sometimes used as synonyms for a semi-automatic pistol are automatic pistol, self-loading pistol, autopistol, a semi-automatic pistol harnesses the energy of one shot to reload the chamber for the next. After a round is fired, the spent casing is ejected, most pistols use recoil operation to do this, but some pistols use blowback or gas operation. Most types of semi-automatic pistols rely on a magazine to store ammunition before it is fired. Typically, the first round is loaded into the chamber by pulling back. This is called racking the slide or racking the gun, after the trigger is pulled and the round is fired, the recoil operation of the handgun automatically extracts and ejects the shell casing and reloads the chamber. This mode of operation allows for faster reloading and storing a larger number of cartridges than a revolver. Each pull of the trigger on a DAO semi-automatic pistol requires the amount of pressure. The Kel-Tec P-32 is an example of a DAO action, DAO semi-automatic pistols are most generally recommended only in the smaller, self-defense, concealable pistols, rather than in target or hunting pistols. A notable exception is Glock-brand pistols which optimize preset triggers, and this allows for significantly shorter trigger pulls than DAO. The trigger spring can be replaced with a one and paired with a low-strength sear connector resulting in lightened trigger pulls to improve a shooters accuracy. Standard modern semi-automatic pistols are double action, also sometimes known as double-action/single-action. In this design, the hammer or striker may be either thumb-cocked or activated by pulling the trigger when firing the first shot, the hammer or striker is recocked automatically during each firing cycle. In double-action pistols, the first pull of the trigger requires roughly twice as much pressure as subsequent firings, the Beretta 92F/FS, a full-sized, service, semi-automatic pistol is an example of this style of action. A common mode of carry for DA semi-automatic pistols is with the full, a round chambered. In contrast, a single-action semi-automatic pistol must be cocked by first operating the slide or bolt, or, if a round is already chambered, the famed Colt M1911 is an example of this style of action. All SA semi-automatic pistols exhibit this feature, and automatically cock the hammer when the slide is first racked to chamber a round, a round can also be manually inserted in the chamber with the slide locked back. Then the safety can be applied, the normal mode of carrying an SA semi-automatic pistol is condition 1, popularly known as cocked and locked
2.
Gun barrel
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A gun barrel is a part of firearms and artillery pieces. The hollow interior of the barrel is called the bore, a gun barrel must be able to hold in the expanding gas produced by the propellants to ensure that optimum muzzle velocity is attained by the projectile as it is being pushed out by the expanding gas. Modern small arms barrels are made of known and tested to withstand the pressures involved. Artillery pieces are made by various techniques providing reliably sufficient strength, early firearms were muzzle-loading, with powder, and then shot loaded from the muzzle, capable of only a low rate of fire. During the 19th century effective mechanical locks were invented that sealed a breech-loading weapon against the escape of propellant gases, the early Chinese, the inventors of gunpowder, used bamboo, a naturally tubular stalk, as the first barrels in gunpowder projectile weapons. Early European guns were made of iron, usually with several strengthening bands of the metal wrapped around circular wrought iron rings. The Chinese were the first to master cast-iron cannon barrels, early cannon barrels were very thick for their caliber. Bore evacuator Bore snake Cannon Muzzle Polygonal rifling Rifling Slug barrel Smoothbore
3.
Cartridge (firearms)
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Military and commercial producers continue to pursue the goal of caseless ammunition. A cartridge without a bullet is called a blank, One that is completely inert is called a dummy. Some artillery ammunition uses the same concept as found in small arms. In other cases, the shell is separate from the propellant charge. In popular use, the bullet is often misused to refer to a complete cartridge. The cartridge case seals a firing chamber in all directions excepting the bore, a firing pin strikes the primer and ignites it. The primer compound deflagrates, it does not detonate, a jet of burning gas from the primer ignites the propellant. Gases from the burning powder pressurize and expand the case to seal it against the chamber wall and these propellant gases push on the bullet base. In response to pressure, the bullet will move in the path of least resistance which is down the bore of the barrel. After the bullet leaves the barrel, the pressure drops to atmospheric pressure. The case, which had been expanded by chamber pressure. This eases removal of the case from the chamber, brass is a commonly used case material because it is resistant to corrosion. A brass case head can be work-hardened to withstand the pressures of cartridges. The neck and body portion of a case is easily annealed to make the case ductile enough to allow reforming so that it can be reloaded many times. Steel is used in some plinking ammunition, as well as in military ammunition. Steel is less expensive than brass, but it is not feasible to reload, Military forces typically consider small arms cartridge cases to be disposable, one-time-use devices. However, case weight affects how much ammunition a soldier can carry, conversely, steel is more susceptible to contamination and damage so all such cases are varnished or otherwise sealed against the elements. One downside caused by the strength of steel in the neck of these cases is that propellant gas can blow back past the neck
4.
.22 Long Rifle
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The.22 Long Rifle rimfire cartridge is a long-established variety of ammunition, and in terms of units sold is still by far the most common in the world today. The cartridge is often referred to simply as.22 LR and various rifles, pistols, revolvers, and even some smoothbore shotguns have been manufactured in this caliber. American firearms manufacturer J. Stevens Arms & Tool Company introduced the cartridge in 1887 by combining the casing of the.22 Long with the 40-grain bullet of the.22 Extra Long. The round owes its origin to the Flobert BB cap of 1845 through the.22 Smith & Wesson cartridge of 1857 and it is one of the few cartridges that are accepted by a large variety of rifles, as well as pistols. The.22 Long Rifle and related cartridges use a bullet, which means that the bullet is the same diameter as the case. Low cost, minimal recoil, and relatively low noise make the.22 LR an ideal cartridge for recreational shooting, initial training, small-game hunting. Used by Boy Scouts for the rifle shooting merit badge, the cartridge is popular among novice shooters, a wide variety of rimfire ammunition is available commercially, and the available ammunition varies widely both in price and performance. Bullet weights among commercially available range from 20 to 60 grains. Promotional loads for plinking can be purchased in bulk for significantly less cost than precision target rounds, the low cost of ammunition has a substantial effect on the popularity of the.22 LR. For this reason, rimfire cartridges are used for target practice. The low recoil of the cartridge makes it ideal for introductory firearms courses, novice shooters can be surprised or frightened by the recoil of more powerful rounds. Beginners shooting firearms beyond their comfort level frequently develop a habit of flinching in an attempt to counter anticipated recoil, the resulting habit impedes correct posture and follow-through at the most critical phase of the shot and is difficult to correct. With high recoil eliminated, other errors in marksmanship technique are easier to identify, available for this round are AR-15 upper receivers and M1911 slide assemblies. Many handgun manufacturers have an upper pistol conversion kit to make it shoot.22 ammunition and these rimfire conversions allow shooters to practice inexpensively while retaining the handling characteristics of their chosen firearms. Additionally.22 conversion kits allow practice at indoor ranges which prohibit high-power firearms, annual production is estimated by some at 2–2.5 billion rounds. The NSSF estimates that half of the US production of 10 billion cartridges is composed of. 22LR, performance varies between barrel length and the type of action. For example, bolt-action rifles may perform differently from semiautomatic rifles, the.22 LR is effective to 150 yd, though practical ranges tend to be less. After 150 yd, the ballistics of the round are such that it will be difficult to compensate for the large drop, the relatively short effective range, low report, and light recoil has made it a favorite for use as a target-practice cartridge
5.
Action (firearms)
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In firearms terminology, an action is the mechanism that handles the ammunition or the method by which that mechanism works. Breech-loading weapons have actions, actions are not present on muzzleloaders. The mechanism that fires a muzzle-loader is called the lock, actions can be categorized in several ways, including single action versus double action, break action versus bolt action, and others. The term action can also short, long, and magnum if it is in reference to the length of the rifle’s receiver. The short action rifle usually can accommodate a cartridge length of 2.8 in or smaller, the long action rifle can accommodate a cartridge of 3.34 in, and the magnum action rifle can accommodate cartridges of 3.6 in, or longer in length. Manual operation is a term describing any type of firearm action that is loaded one shot at a time by the user rather than automatically. For example, break action is a form of operation using a simple hinge mechanism that is manually unlatched by the operator. These are actions wherein the breechblock lowers or drops into the receiver to open the breech, there are two principal types of dropping block, the tilting block and the falling block. In a tilting or pivoting block action, the breechblock is hinged on a pin mounted at the rear, when the lever is operated, the block tilts down and forward, exposing the chamber. The best-known pivoting block designs are the Peabody, the Peabody–Martini, the original Peabody rifles, manufactured by the Providence Tool Company, used a manually cocked side-hammer. The 1871 Martini–Henry which replaced the trapdoor Snider–Enfield was the standard British Army rifle of the later Victorian era, charles H. Ballards self-cocking tilting-block action was produced by the Marlin Firearms Company from 1875, and earned a superlative reputation among long-range Creedmoor target shooters. Surviving Marlin Ballards are today highly prized by collectors, especially those mounted in the elaborate Swiss-style Schützen stocks of the day. A falling-block action is a firearm action in which a solid metal breechblock slides vertically in grooves cut into the breech of the weapon. Examples of firearms using the falling block action are the Sharps rifle, in a rolling block action the breechblock takes the form of a part-cylinder, with a pivot pin through its axis. The operator rotates or rolls the block to open and close the breech, it is a simple, rugged, a break action is a type of firearm where the barrel are hinged and can be broken open to expose the breech. The earliest metallic-cartridge breechloaders designed for military issue began as conversions of muzzle-loading rifle-muskets. The upper rear portion of the barrel was filed or milled away, an internal angled firing pin allowed the re-use of the rifles existing side-hammer. The Allin action made by Springfield Arsenal in the US hinged forward, france countered in 1866 with its superior Chassepot rifle, also a paper-cartridge bolt action
6.
Colt's Manufacturing Company
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Colts Manufacturing Company is an American firearms manufacturer, founded in 1855 by Samuel Colt. It is the corporation to Colts earlier firearms-making efforts, which started in 1836. Colts earliest designs played a role in the popularization of the revolver. Although Samuel Colt did not invent the concept, his designs resulted in the first very successful ones. The most famous Colt products include the Colt Walker, made 1847 in the facilities of Eli Whitney Jr. Though they did not develop it, for a long time Colt was also responsible for all AR-15 and M16 rifle production. The most successful and famous of these are numerous M16 carbines, including the Colt Commando family, in 2002, Colt Defense was split off from Colts Manufacturing Company. Colts Manufacturing Company now serves the market, while Colt Defense serves the law enforcement, military. The two companies remained in the same West Hartford, Connecticut location cross-licensing certain merchandise before reuniting in 2013, following the loss of its M4 contract in 2013, Colt was briefly in Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, starting in 2015. Samuel Colt received a British patent on his design for a revolver in 1835. That same year, he founded his first corporation for its manufacture, the first firearm manufactured at the new Paterson plant, however, was the Colt First Model Ring Lever rifle beginning in 1837. This was followed thereafter in late 1837 by the introduction of the Colt Paterson. This corporation suffered quality problems in production, making firearms with interchangeable parts was still rather new, and it was not yet easy to replicate across different factories. Interchangeability was not complete in the Paterson works, and traditional gunsmithing techniques did not fill the gap entirely there, the Colt Paterson revolver found patchy success and failure, some worked well, while others had problems. The United States Marine Corps and United States Army reported quality problems with these earliest Colt revolvers, production had ended at the New Jersey corporation by 1842. Colt made another attempt at revolver production in 1846 and submitted a prototype to the US government, during the Mexican–American War, this prototype was seen by Captain Samuel Hamilton Walker who made some suggestions to Colt about making it in a larger caliber. Having no factory or machinery to produce the pistols, Samuel Colt collaborated with the Whitney armory of Whitneyville and this armory was run by the family of Eli Whitney. Eli Whitney Jr, the son of the patriarch, was the head of the family armory
7.
John Browning
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He is regarded as one of the most successful firearms designers of the 20th century, in the development of modern automatic and semi-automatic firearms, and is credited with 128 gun patents. He made his first firearm at age 13 in his fathers gun shop, Browning influenced nearly all categories of firearms design. He invented or made significant improvements to single-shot, lever-action, and slide-action, rifles and his most significant contributions were arguably in the area of autoloading firearms. He developed the first autoloading pistols that were reliable and compact by inventing the telescoping bolt, integrating the bolt and barrel shroud into what is known as the pistol slide. Brownings telescoping bolt design is now found on every modern semi-automatic pistol. Browning also made significant contributions to automatic cannon development, some of these arms are still manufactured, often with only minor changes in detail and cosmetics to those assembled by Browning or his licensees. His guns are some of the most copied guns in the world, Browning was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served a two-year mission in Georgia beginning on March 28,1887. His father Jonathan Browning, who was among the thousands of Mormon pioneers in the exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois to Utah. John Moses worked in his fathers Ogden shop from the age of seven, where he was taught basic engineering and manufacturing principles, production examples of the Model 1885 Single Shot Rifle caught the attention of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, who dispatched a representative to evaluate the competition. Winchester bought the design for $8,000 and moved production to their Connecticut factory, Winchester manufactured several popular small arms designed by John M. Browning. For decades in the late 19th Century-early 20th Century, Browning designs and Winchester firearms were synonymous, as was the custom of the time, Brownings earlier designs had been licensed exclusively to Winchester for a single fee payment. With this new product, Browning introduced in his negotiations a continuous royalty fee based upon unit sales, if the new shotgun became highly successful, Browning stood to make substantially more fee income over the prior license fee arrangements. Winchester management was displeased with the change in their relationship. Remington Arms was also approached, however the president of Remington died of an attack as Browning waited to offer them the gun. This forced Browning to look overseas to produce the shotgun, however, Remington would later produce a copy of the Auto-5 as the Model 11 which was used by the US Military and was also sold to the civilian market. The Browning Auto-5 was continuously manufactured as a highly popular throughout the 20th century. This shift marked the end of an era of Winchester-Browning collaboration, John Browning was known as a dedicated and tireless innovator and experimenter who sought breakthrough consumer-oriented features and performance and reliability improvements in small arms designs. He did not retire from his career in his elder years, but dedicated his entire adult life—literally to his last day—to these pursuits
8.
FN Model 1903
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The FN Model 1903, or Browning No.2 was a self-loading semi-automatic pistol engineered by John Browning and made by Belgian arms manufacturer Fabrique Nationale. It was introduced in 1903 and fired the 9×20mmSR Browning Long cartridge and it should not be confused with the US-made Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless, nor with the Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammer. Due to its reliability, accuracy, light weight, and quick reloading, the pistol was initially introduced by FN as the Browning Modèle de Guerre or Browning Grand Modèle. FN requested John Browning to prepare a prototype in 1901, FN manufactured a few samples for Norway and Sweden to consider as military weapons. Norway opted for the Colt M1911 pistol in the form of the Kongsberg M/1912, an additional 9,000 pistols were sold commercially before production was discontinued when the FN factory was overrun by troops from the German Empire in August 1914. Sweden obtained a license to manufacture a variant of the design for use as the Husqvarna m/1907. Husqvarna produced military pistols for Colombia when FN was unwilling to resume production in the 1930s, Sweden had manufactured 89,230 pistols when production ended in 1942. Early Husqvarna-produced pistols included the slide marking of either Brownings Patent or System Browning and this practice was discontinued after World War I at the insistence of FN, which had been granted the exclusive right to use John Brownings name firearms marketing. The Swedish military designation was pistol m/07 and it was the standard sidearm until the adoption of the Lahti L-35 in 1940 when it was declared substitute standard. The pistol m/07 was taken out of storage and pressed into service in the 1980s as the bolts of the Lahti L-35 pistols started cracking due to the use of a more powerful 9 mm P cartridge. This was a solution until deliveries of the new Glock 17 were complete. Availability of surplus firearms caused very low demand for new pistol production following World War I, as demand increased through the 1920s, FN manufactured 4,616 pistols as the standard military sidearm for Estonia and several hundred for Paraguay and El Salvador. FN stopped production in 1927 after manufacturing a total of 58,442 pistols, the Estonian pistols were sold to Spain in the 1930s where many saw use in the Spanish Civil War. Some of the Swedish pistols were used by Finland during World War II, modern Firearms Swedish m/1907 Pistol FN pistol model 1903 explained FN pistol model 1903
9.
M1911 pistol
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The M1911 is a single-action, semi-automatic, magazine-fed, recoil-operated pistol chambered for the.45 ACP cartridge. It served as the sidearm for the United States Armed Forces from 1911 to 1986. It was first used in stages of the Philippine–American War, and was widely used in World War I, World War II, the Korean War. The pistols formal designation as of 1940 was Automatic Pistol, Caliber.45, M1911 for the model of 1911 or Automatic Pistol, Caliber.45, M1911A1 for the M1911A1. The designation changed to Pistol, Caliber.45, Automatic, the U. S. procured around 2.7 million M1911 and M1911A1 pistols in military contracts during its service life. The M1911 was replaced by the 9mm Beretta M9 pistol as the standard U. S. sidearm in October 1986, but due to its popularity among users, it has not been completely phased out. Modernized derivative variants of the M1911 are still in use by units of the U. S. Army Special Forces. Designed by John Browning, the M1911 is the best-known of his designs to use the short recoil principle in its basic design, the pistol was widely copied, and this operating system rose to become the preeminent type of the 20th century and of nearly all modern centerfire pistols. It is popular with civilian shooters in competitive events such as USPSA, IDPA, International Practical Shooting Confederation, compact variants are popular civilian concealed carry weapons in the U. S. because of the designs relatively slim width and stopping power of the.45 ACP cartridge. The M1911 pistol originated in the late 1890s as the result of a search for a suitable self-loading pistol to replace the variety of then in service. Maxim had designed a self-loading rifle in the 1880s, but was preoccupied with machine guns, nevertheless, the application of his principle of using cartridge energy to reload led to several self-loading pistols in 1896. The designs caught the attention of various militaries, each of which programs to find a suitable one for their forces. In the U. S. such a program would lead to a formal test at the turn of the 20th century, during the end of 1899 and start of 1900, a test of self-loading pistols was conducted, which included entries from Mauser, Mannlicher, and Colt. This led to a purchase of 1,000 DWM Luger pistols, chambered in 7. 65mm Luger, during field trials these ran into some problems, especially with stopping power. Other governments had made similar complaints, consequently, DWM produced an enlarged version of the round, the 9×19mm Parabellum, a necked-up version of the 7.65 mm round. Fifty of these were tested as well by the U. S. Army in 1903, American units fighting Moro guerrillas during the Philippine–American War using the then-standard Colt M1892 revolver. The problems prompted the then–Chief of Ordnance, General William Crozier and this led to the 1906 trials of pistols from six firearms manufacturing companies. Of the six designs submitted, three were eliminated early on, leaving only the Savage, Colt, and DWM designs chambered in the new.45 ACP cartridge and these three still had issues that needed correction, but only Colt and Savage resubmitted their designs
10.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
