1.
Safety (firearms)
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In firearms, a safety or safety catch is a mechanism used to help prevent the accidental discharge of a firearm, helping to ensure safer handling. Safeties can generally be divided into such as internal safeties. Sometimes these are called passive and active safeties, respectively, some firearms manufactured after the late 1990s include mandatory integral locking mechanisms that must be deactivated by a unique key before the gun can be fired. These integral locking mechanisms are intended as child-safety devices during unattended storage of the firearm—not as safety mechanisms while carrying, other devices in this category are trigger locks, bore locks, and gun safes. The most common form of safety mechanism is a switch, button or lever that, other designs may block the hammer or striker from forward movement or act as a block to prevent them from contacting the firing pin. The M1911 design is an example of a handgun with a grip safety. The Uzi submachine gun is another example of a firearm with a grip safety, a related grip-type safety is the decocking grip found on some H&K pistols like the P7 Series. The firearm is cocked and ready to fire only when the front of the grip is squeezed by the operator. When the grip is released, the firearm is decocked, and the trigger will not cock the firearm, therefore it will not fire unless the grip is squeezed. Alternatively, the trigger can first be pulled and then it will fire when the grip is subsequently squeezed, finally, if both the grip is squeezed and the trigger pulled simultaneously, the pistol will fire. Another, unusual variant was found in the Ortgies semi-automatic pistols, to disengage the safety, a user would squeeze a lever until flush with the rear of the grip. Thus, engaging the safety also relieved some tension in the striker spring, as the Ortgies is a pocket pistol meant for personal defense, this feature eliminates the problem of failing to disengage the safety when one needs to shoot. Gripping the pistol tightly is all it takes to disengage the safety, most traditional semi-automatic double-action/single action pistols are designed to be carried with the hammer down on a chambered round, with or without a manual safety engaged. However, the act of cycling the action on such a firearm will leave the hammer cocked in single-action mode. To return the pistol to its state, it is necessary to uncock the hammer, usually by holding the hammer spur, carefully pulling the trigger. A decock/safety is a manual safety switch and decocking lever. A simpler two-way system was popularized by the Walther PP and is commonly seen on the Beretta 92. The SIG Sauer line of pistols, such as the SIG P226, the earliest use of a single-action decocker was the Vis wz.35 Radom redesign in 1932 to enable horsemen to safely holster their firearm with one hand
2.
Shotgun
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Shotguns come in a wide variety of sizes, ranging from 5. A shotgun is generally a smoothbore firearm, which means that the inside of the barrel is not rifled, preceding smoothbore firearms, such as the musket, were widely used by armies in the 18th century. The direct ancestor to the shotgun, the blunderbuss, was used in a similar variety of roles from self-defense to riot control. It was often used by cavalry troops because of its shorter length and ease of use. In the 19th century, however, these weapons were replaced on the battlefield with breechloading rifled firearms. The military value of shotguns was rediscovered in the First World War, since then, it has been used in a variety of roles in civilian, law enforcement, and military applications. The shot pellets from a spread upon leaving the barrel, and the power of the burning charge is divided among the pellets. In a hunting context, this makes shotguns useful primarily for hunting birds, however, in a military or law enforcement context, the large number of projectiles makes the shotgun useful as a close quarters combat weapon or a defensive weapon. Militants or insurgents may use shotguns in asymmetric engagements, as shotguns are commonly owned civilian weapons in many countries, shotguns are also used for target shooting sports such as skeet, trap, and sporting clays. These involve shooting clay disks, known as clay pigeons, thrown in various ways, shotguns come in a wide variety of forms, from very small up to massive punt guns, and in nearly every type of firearm operating mechanism. The common characteristics that make a unique center around the requirements of firing shot. These features are the typical of a shotgun shell, namely a relatively short, wide cartridge, with straight walls. Ammunition for shotguns is referred to in the USA as shotgun shells, shotshells, the term cartridges is standard usage in the United Kingdom. The shot is fired from a smoothbore barrel, another configuration is the rifled slug barrel. The typical use of a shotgun is against small and fast moving targets, the spreading of the shot allows the user to point the shotgun close to the target, rather than having to aim precisely as in the case of a single projectile. The disadvantages of shot are limited range and limited penetration of the shot, which is why shotguns are used at short ranges, and typically against smaller targets. Larger shot sizes, up to the case of the single projectile slug load, result in increased penetration. Aside from the most common use against small, fast moving targets, First, it has enormous stopping power at short range, more than nearly all handguns and many rifles
3.
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
4.
Break action
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A separate operation may be required for the cocking of a hammer to fire the new round. They are also known as hinge-action, break-open, break-barrel, break-top, a substantial hinge pin joins the two parts of the rifle or shotgun, the stock with its firing mechanism and the fore-piece and barrel, which hold the round to be fired. In some cases the pin may be easily removable, allowing the two portions of the weapon to be compactly and safely stored. In other cases the hinge will consist of a hook over a pin, a latch is operated to release the two parts of the weapon, allowing the breech to be exposed. A shell is inserted into the breech, and the mechanism is closed and latched, the hammer is then pulled back and latched. The weapon can now ready be fired, done by squeezing the trigger, after firing the rounds, the break action is unlatched and the barrel and forearm are allowed to fall forward. This causes an extractor catch to remove the spent shell, which falls to the ground. The weapon is now ready for a new cycle, the break open action is one of the most compact firearms actions. Since there are no parts to reciprocate, it is shorter than repeating designs and this compactness results in reductions in weight and size compared to larger actions, this can also allow a longer barrel in a firearm of similar size. Since the cartridge extractor or ejector is built into the assembly on break open actions. This makes break open actions ideal for interchangeable barrel firearms, such as the popular Thompson Center Arms Contender, the simplicity of the break open design, especially external hammer types, also reduces the cost of manufacture. There were a number of companies, such as H & R Firearms, while most firearms are designed for right-handed shooters, break action guns operate identically when fired from either shoulder. Another advantage of the action is the ability to insert longer cartridges into the chamber. This allows cartridges of an impractical in other designs, as well as easy use of caliber conversion sleeves.410 bore shells. The break open design is best suited for non-repeating firearms, modern double rifles are very expensive, and designed for short range use, the barrels are often regulated for ranges under 100 yards for use against dangerous game. Wear in the mechanism is focused upon the small area of the latch. In some firearms, such as the Thompson Center guns, the latch is a part that could be replaced when worn. Designs without a replaceable latch may be fixed by building up the part with a welder
5.
Shotgun shell
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A shotgun shell is a self-contained cartridge typically loaded with multiple metallic shot, which are small, generally spherical projectiles. Traditionally lead was used, but increasingly steel, tungsten or bismuth shot has replaced lead, due to laws designed to protect the environment. An old non-lethal shotgun load consisted of a shell loaded with rock salt, which could inflict very painful, but rarely deadly, wounds. Most shotgun shells are designed to be fired from a smoothbore barrel, a rifled barrel will increase the accuracy of slugs, but makes it unsuitable for firing shot, as it imparts a spin to the shot cup, causing a centrifugal force that makes the shot cluster disperse. Specialty shotgun ammunition includes non-lethal rounds available in the form of slugs made of low-density material, early shotgun shells used brass cases, not unlike rifle and pistol cartridge cases of the same era. These brass shotgun hulls or cases closely resembled rifle cartridges, in terms of both the head and primer portions of the shell, as well as in their dimensions. Card wads, made of felt, leather, and cork, waterglass was commonly used to cement the top overshot wad into these brass shell casings. No roll crimp or fold crimp was used on these early brass cases, the primers on these early shotgun shells were identical to pistol primers of the same diameter. Starting in about 1877, paper hulls started to replace brass shotgun shells, paper hulls remained popular for nearly a century, until the late 1960s. These shotgun shells using paper hulls were nearly always roll crimped, although fold crimping also eventually became popular. Card wads, made of felt and cork, as well as paperboard, were all used at times, gradually giving way to plastic over powder wads, with card wads. Starting in the 1960s, plastic cases started to replace paper hulls for shotgun shells, by the 1980s, plastic cases had largely replaced nearly all paper hulls for shotgun shells. Today, modern shotgun shells typically consist of a plastic case, as noted previously, paper shells used to be common, and are still made, as are solid brass shells. Some companies have produced what appear to be all-plastic shells, although in these there is a metal ring cast into the rim of the shell to provide strength. Often the more powerful loads will use high brass shells, with the extended up further along the sides of the shell. The brass does not actually provide a significant amount of strength, the base of the shotshell is fairly thick to hold the large shotgun primer, which is longer than primers used for rifle and pistol ammunition. After the powder comes the wadding or wad, the primary purpose of a wad is to prevent the shot and powder from mixing, and to provide a seal that prevents gas from blowing through the shot rather than propelling it. The wad design may encompass a shock absorber and a cup that holds the shot together until it is out the barrel
6.
Pump action
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A pump-action or slide-action firearm is one in which a forend can be moved forward and backward in order to eject a spent round of ammunition and to chamber a fresh one. It is much faster than a bolt-action and somewhat faster than a lever-action, once fired, the forend is slid rearward by hand and the expended cartridge ejected. It is then reloaded by manually moving the forend to the front, the first slide action patent was issued to Alexander Bain of Britain in 1854. This technique is called a slamfire, and was used in conjunction with the M1897 in the First World Wars trench warfare. Semi-automatic shotguns must use some of the energy of each round fired to cycle their actions, in addition, like all manual action guns, pump-action guns are inherently more reliable than semi-automatic guns under adverse conditions, such as exposure to dirt, sand, or climatic extremes. Thus, until recently, military combat shotguns were almost exclusively pump-action designs, the cycling time of a pump-action is quite short. The manual operation gives a pump-action the ability to cycle rounds of varying power that a gas or recoil operated firearm would fail to cycle. The simplicity of the relative to a semi-automatic design also leads to improved durability. It has also noticed that the time taken to work the action allows the operator to identify and aim on a new target. However, most are not truly ambidextrous, as the spent casing is ejected out the side in most designs, like most lever-action rifles, most pump-action shotguns and rifles do not use a detachable magazine. This makes for slow reloading, as the cartridges have to be inserted individually into the firearm, however, some pump action shotguns and rifles, such as the Russian Zlatoust RB-12, Italian Valtro PM5 and the American Remington 7600 series use detachable box magazines. A pump-action firearm is fed from a tubular magazine underneath the barrel. The rounds are fed in one by one through a port in the receiver, a latch at the rear of the magazine holds the rounds in place in the magazine until they are needed. If it is desired to load the gun fully, a round may be loaded through the port directly into the chamber, or cycled from the magazine. Pump shotguns with box magazines or even drums exist. Nearly all pump-actions use a motion of the forend to cycle the action. The forend is connected to the bolt by one or two bars, two bars are considered reliable because it provides symmetric forces on the bolt and pump. The motion of the back and forth in a tubular magazine model will also operate the elevator
7.
Lever action
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Lever action is a type of firearm action which uses a lever located around the trigger guard area to load fresh cartridges into the chamber of the barrel when the lever is worked. This contrasts to bolt-action, semi-automatic, or selective-fire weapons, most lever-action firearms are rifles, but some lever-action shotguns and a few pistols have also been made. One of the most famous lever-action firearms is the Winchester Model 1873 rifle, even Colts Mfg. Co. produced 1883 until 18856403 lever-action Colt-Burgess rifles. Mossberg produces the 464 in centerfire. 30-30 and rimfire.22, probably the first lever-action rifles on the market were Colts 1st and 2nd Model Ring Lever rifles, both Cap and ball rifles, produced by the Patent Arms Mfg. Co. Paterson, N. J. -Colts Patent between 1837 and 1841, the ring-lever was located in front of the trigger. This loading-lever, when pulled, would index the cylinder to the next position, the first significant lever-action design was the Spencer repeating rifle, a magazine-fed lever-operated breech-loading rifle designed by Christopher Spencer in 1860. It was fed from a removable seven-round tube magazine, enabling the rounds to be fired one after another, and which, the Henry also placed the magazine under the barrel, rather than in the butt-stock, a trend followed by most tubular magazines since. The Martini–Henry rifle was the rifle of British and Empire forces from the early 1870s to the turn of the 20th century. It was used in areas, either by civilians or by the local military. Variants copying the Martini–Henry mechanism but using more modern cartridges were also produced, john Marlin, founder of Marlin Firearms Company, New Haven, Connecticut, introduced Marlins first lever-action repeating rifle as the Model 1881. This was chambered in rounds such as the 45/70 and 38/55 and its successor was the 1895 solid top design, which we know as the model 336 today. It also gave rise to the Marlin Model 1894, which is still in production today, by the 1890s, lever-actions had evolved into a form that would last for over a century. Both Marlin and Winchester released new model lever-action rifles in 1894, the Marlin rifle is still in production, whereas production of the Winchester 94 ceased in 2006. While externally similar, the Marlin and Winchester rifles are quite different internally, the fledgling Savage Arms Company became well known after the development of its popular hammerless Models 1895 and 1899 lever-action sporting rifles. Unlike most Winchester and the Marlin lever-action rifles, which used a tubular magazine requiring round-nose or flat-nose bullets and this allowed the 99 to use cartridges with spitzer pointed bullets for increased ballistic performance. The 99 was produced in different cartridges and several different model variations. The final models eliminated the very expensive-to-produce rotary magazine, using a box magazine instead. But the 99 was still expensive to produce when compared to the other lever-action rifles
8.
Coach gun
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A coach gun is a modern term, coined by gun collectors, for a double-barreled shotgun, generally with barrels from 18 to 24 in length placed side-by-side. These weapons were known as cut-down shotguns or messengers guns from the use of such shotguns on stagecoaches by shotgun messengers in the American Wild West and they came in 10 and 12 gauge blackpowder. The terms cut-down shotgun or messengers gun were coined in the 1860s when Wells Fargo & Co. assigned shotgun messengers to guard its shipments on stagecoaches in California, the company issued shotguns to its guards for defense. The guard was called a shotgun messenger although the phrase riding shotgun was not coined until 1919, shotgun messengers guarded express shipments, not stagecoaches. These shotguns featured external hammers and were manufactured primarily by Remington Arms, Ithaca, Colts Manufacturing Company, Parker, from 1908 to 1918 all Wells Fargo shotguns were made by Ithaca. They stood in close proximity that the town mortician was able to cover McLaurys wound with one hand. However, according to another account, both men used Greeners, the modern coach gun can be had in a variety of configurations suitable for both Cowboy Action Shooting competition and hunting. Some modern coach guns feature internal hammers as opposed to the traditional external hammers and it is because of this gun and its usage that the term Riding shotgun came to be. Typically, a cut-down shotgun would be carried by the messenger sitting next to the stagecoach driver, today, in American English, the term Riding shotgun refers to the person sitting in the front passenger seat of an automobile. When Law Was in the Holster, The Frontier Life of Bob Paul, -Bob Paul was one of the most famous shotgun messengers of the old west
9.
Sawed-off shotgun
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A sawed-off shotgun also called a sawn-off shotgun and a short-barreled shotgun, is a type of shotgun with a shorter gun barrel—typically under 18 inches—and often a shortened or absent stock. Despite the colloquial term, barrels do not, strictly speaking, have to be shortened with a saw, barrels can be manufactured at shorter lengths as an alternative to traditional, longer barrels. This makes them easier to transport due to their smaller profile, the design also makes the weapon easy to maneuver in cramped spaces, a feature sought by military close quarters combat units, law enforcement SWAT team users, and home defense purposes. With modern pump action/magazine tube shotguns, the shorter barrel limits the capacity of the weapon due to the magazine tube protruding beyond the barrel. Therefore the magazine tubes are matched in length to the barrel, in the 1930s, the United States, Britain and Canada mandated that a proper permit is required to own these firearms. They are subject to legal restrictions depending upon jurisdiction and they also are in use by military forces and police agencies worldwide. Compared to a shotgun, the sawn-off shotgun has a shorter effective range, due to a lower muzzle velocity. Despite these drawbacks, its size makes it easier to maneuver. Powerful and compact, the weapon is especially suitable for use in small spaces, military vehicle crews use short-barreled combat shotguns as ancillary weapons. In urban combat zones, military entry teams often use entry shotguns when breaching and entering doorways, to make shotguns less concealable, many jurisdictions have a minimum legal length for shotgun barrels. These restrictions are aimed at making concealable shotguns not available to criminals who intend to use the weapons in the commission of robberies or other crimes. A sawed-off shotgun is often an unofficial modification of a standard shotgun, in countries where handguns are more costly or difficult to obtain, criminals might convert legally purchased or stolen shotguns into concealable weapons. For criminal organizations, the availability of standard hunting ammunition is another advantage of sawed-off shotguns. This practice is not limited to localities where handguns are difficult to obtain, sawed-off shotguns might be made for a number of reasons, such as the reputation they have gained through portrayal in action movies and news reports of crime incidents. The term is applied to illegal weapons that are created by cutting off the barrel of a standard shotgun. This has an effect on double-barreled or single-shot shotguns because the barrel can be cut to any length. Repeating-fire shotguns with box magazines do not lose shell capacity when sawed off, shotguns manufactured with barrels under the legal minimum length frequently fall into special categories. Many nations have placed restrictions on sawed-off shotguns
