1.
Smith & Wesson Model 10
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In production since 1899, it is a six-shot double-action revolver with fixed sights. Over its long run it has been available with barrel lengths of 2 in,3 in,4 in,5 in. Barrels of 2.5 inches are also known to have made for special contracts. Some 6,000,000 of the type have been produced over the years, making it the most popular centerfire revolver of the 20th century. In 1899, the United States Army and Navy placed orders with Smith & Wesson for two to three thousand Model 1899 Hand Ejector revolvers chambered for the M1892.38 Long Colt U. S, in 1902 the.38 Military & Police was introduced, featuring substantial changes. These included major modification and simplification of the internal lockwork and the addition of a locking underlug on the barrel to engage the previously free-standing ejector rod, barrel lengths were 4,5,6, and 6.5 inches with a rounded butt. Serial numbers for the Military & Police ranged from number 1 in the series to 20,975, most of the early M&P revolvers chambered in.38 Special appear to have been sold to the civilian market. By 1904, S&W was offering the.38 M&P with a rounded or square butt, and 4-, 5-, heat treating of cylinders began in 1919. The S&W Model 10 military revolvers produced from 1942 to 1944 had serial numbers with a V prefix and it is noteworthy that early Victory Models did not always have the V prefix. Most Victory Models sent to Britain were fitted with 4-inch or 5-inchbarrels, the Victory Model was used by United States forces during World War II, being chambered in the well-known and popular.38 Special cartridge. Some of these remained in service well into the 1990s with units of the United States Armed Forces. Until the introduction of the Beretta M9 9mm pistol in 1990, U. S. Army helicopter crew members, criminal Investigation Division agents were issued.38 caliber revolvers with two inch barrels. The Victory Model remained in use with Air National Guard tanker, rechambering of. 38-200 cylinders to.38 Special results in oversized chambers, which may cause problems. Lee Harvey Oswald was carrying a re-chambered Victory Model when he was apprehended on November 22,1963, other distinguishing features of the Victory Model revolver are the lanyard loop at the bottom of the grip frame, and the use of smooth walnut grip panels. However some early models did use a grip, most notably the pre-1942 manufacture. After World War II, Smith & Wesson returned to manufacturing the M&P series, in 1957, Smith & Wesson adopted the convention of using numeric designations to distinguish their various models of handguns, and the M&P was renamed the Model 10. The M&P/Model 10 has been available in blued steel finish and nickel finish for most of its production run. The model has also offered throughout the years with both the round butt and square butt, i. e. grip patterns
2.
Glock
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It entered Austrian military and police service by 1982 after it was the top performer on an exhaustive series of reliability and safety tests. Glocks are also popular firearms among civilians for recreational and competition shooting, home and self-defense, the companys founder, engineer Gaston Glock, had no experience with firearms design or manufacture at the time their first pistol, the Glock 17, was being prototyped. Glock introduced ferritic nitrocarburizing into the industry as an anticorrosion surface treatment for metal gun parts. In 1980, the Austrian military announced that it would seek tenders for a new, the Austrian Ministry of Defence formulated a list of 17 criteria for the new generation service pistol, The design was to be self loading. The pistol was to fire the NATO-standard 9×19 mm Parabellum round, the magazines were not to require any means of assistance for loading. The magazines were to have a capacity of eight rounds. It was to be possible to all actions one handed which are necessary to prepare the pistol for firing. The pistol was to be secure against accidental discharge from shock, strike. Disassembly of the parts for maintenance and reassembling was to be possible without the use of any tools. Maintenance and cleaning of the pistol was to be accomplished without the use of tools, the pistols construction was not to exceed 58 individual parts. Gauges, measurement tools, and precise testing devices were not to be necessary for the maintenance of the pistol. The manufacturer was to be required to provide the ministry of defence with a set of engineering drawings. These were to be supplied all the relevant details for the production of the pistol. All components were to be interchangeable between pistols. No more than 20 malfunctions were to be permitted during the first 10,000 rounds fired, after firing 15, 000-rounds of standard ammunition, the pistol was to be inspected for wear. The pistol was to then be used to fire an overpressure test cartridge generating 5,000 bar, the critical components were to continue to function properly and be up to specifications, otherwise the pistol was to be disqualified. When handled properly, under no circumstances was the user to be endangered by case ejection, the muzzle energy was to be at least 441.5 J when firing a 9×19 mm S-round/P-08 by Hirtenberger AG. Pistols scoring less than 70% of the available points were not to be considered for military use
3.
Firearm
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A firearm is a portable gun - a barreled weapon that launches one or more projectiles, often driven by the action of an explosive force. The first primitive firearms originated in 13th-century China when the fire lance was combined with projectiles. The technology gradually spread through the rest of East Asia, South Asia, older firearms typically used black powder as a propellant, but modern firearms use smokeless powder or other propellants. Most modern firearms have rifled barrels to impart spin to the projectile for improved flight stability, modern firearms can be described by their caliber or in the case of shotguns their gauge, by the type of action employed together with the usual means of deportment. The word firearms usually is used in a sense restricted to small arms, shooters aim firearms at their targets with hand-eye co-ordination, using either iron sights or optical sights. The accurate range of pistols generally does not exceed 100 yards, while most rifles are accurate to 550 yards using iron sights, some purpose-built sniper rifles are accurate to ranges of more than 2,200 yards. The smallest of all firearms is the handgun, there are three common types of handguns, single-shot pistols, revolvers, and semi-automatic pistols. Revolvers have a number of firing chambers or charge holes in a revolving cylinder, semi-automatic pistols have a single fixed firing chamber machined into the rear of the barrel, and a magazine so they can be used to fire more than one round. Each press of the fires a cartridge, using the energy of the cartridge to activate the mechanism so that the next cartridge may be fired immediately. This is opposed to double-action revolvers which accomplish the end using a mechanical action linked to the trigger pull. Prior to the 19th century, virtually all handguns were single-shot muzzleloaders, with the invention of the revolver in 1818, handguns capable of holding multiple rounds became popular. Certain designs of auto-loading pistol appeared beginning in the 1870s and had largely supplanted revolvers in military applications by the end of World War I. By the end of the 20th century, most handguns carried regularly by military, police and civilians were semi-automatic, both designs are common among civilian gun owners, depending on the owners intention. A long gun is any firearm that is larger than a handgun and is designed to be held. Early long arms, from the Renaissance up to the century, were generally smoothbore firearms that fired one or more ball shot. Most modern long guns are either rifles or shotguns, both are the successors of the musket, diverging from their parent weapon in distinct ways. A rifle is so named for the spiral fluting machined into the surface of its barrel. Shotguns are predominantly smoothbore firearms designed to fire a number of shot, shotguns are also capable of firing single slugs, or specialty rounds such as bean bags, tear gas or breaching rounds
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.
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
6.
Long gun
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A long gun is a category of firearms and cannons with longer barrels than other classes. Canada has a limit of 18.5 inches for either, in addition, Canada puts a minimum fireable length for long guns with detachable or folding stocks of 26 inches. In the United States, the length for long guns with detachable or folding stocks is 26 inches with the stock in the extended position. Almost all long-arms have front grips and shoulder stocks, which provides the user the ability to hold the firearm more steadily than a handgun. In addition, the barrel of a long gun usually provides a longer distance between the front and rear sights, providing the user with more precision when aiming. The presence of a stock makes the use of a sight or red dot sight easier than with a hand gun. The mass of a gun is usually greater than that of a short gun, making the long gun more expensive to transport. The increased moment of inertia makes the long gun slower and more difficult to traverse and elevate, however, this also results in greater stability in aiming. The greater amount of material in a long gun tends to make it expensive to manufacture. The greater size makes it difficult to conceal, and more inconvenient to use in confined quarters. As long guns include a stock which is braced against the shoulder and this allows better control of aim than handguns, which do not include a stock and thus all their recoil must be transferred to the arms of the user. This is one of the reasons for the use of long guns over handguns - faster or heavier projectiles help with penetration. Shotguns are long guns that are designed to fire small projectiles at once. This makes them effective at close ranges, but with diminished usefulness at long range. In historical navy usage, a gun was the standard type of cannon mounted by a sailing vessel. In informal usage, the length was combined with the weight of shot, yielding terms like long 9s, rail-gun, any of several guns utilizing one or more rails for mobilizing, stability/shot consistency, or accelerating a projectile Supergun, an extraordinarily large artillery piece
7.
Samuel Colt
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Samuel Colt was an American inventor and industrialist from Hartford, Connecticut. He founded Colts Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company, and made the production of the revolver commercially viable. Colts first two ventures were producing firearms in Paterson, New Jersey and making underwater mines, both ended in disappointment. But his business expanded rapidly after 1847, when the Texas Rangers ordered 1,000 revolvers during the American war with Mexico, during the American Civil War, his factory in Hartford supplied firearms both to the North and the South. Later, his firearms were prominent during the settling of the western frontier, Colt died in 1862 as one of the wealthiest men in America. Colts manufacturing methods were at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution and his use of interchangeable parts helped him become one of the first to use the assembly line efficiently. Moreover, his use of art, celebrity endorsements, and corporate gifts to promote his wares made him a pioneer in the fields of advertising, product placement. Samuel Colt was born in Hartford, Connecticut, to Christopher Colt, a farmer who had moved his family to the city after he became a businessman, and Sarah Colt, born Caldwell. His mothers father, Major John Caldwell, had been an officer in the Continental Army, Sarah died from tuberculosis when Samuel was six years old, and his father remarried two years later, to Olivia Sargeant. Samuel had three sisters, one of whom died during her childhood and his oldest sister, Margaret, died of tuberculosis at 19 and the other, Sarah Ann, later committed suicide. One brother, James, became a lawyer, another, Christopher, was a textile merchant. Colt, a man of many occupations, killed a creditor in 1841 in New York City, was convicted of the murder, at age 11, Colt was indentured to a farmer in Glastonbury, where he did chores and attended school. Here he was introduced to the Compendium of Knowledge, an encyclopedia that he preferred to read rather than his Bible studies. Its articles on Robert Fulton and gunpowder motivated Colt throughout his life and he discovered that other inventors in the Compendium had accomplished things that were once deemed impossible, and he wanted to do the same. In 1829, at the age of 15, Colt began working in his fathers textile plant in Ware, Massachusetts, where he had access to tools, materials, sent to boarding school, he amused his classmates with pyrotechnics. In 1830, a July 4 accident caused a fire ended his schooling. On a voyage to Calcutta on board the brig Corvo, he noticed that regardless of which way the ships wheel was spun and he later said that this gave him the idea for the revolver. On the Corvo, Colt made a model of a pepperbox revolver out of scrap wood
8.
Colt Paterson
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The Colt Paterson is a revolver. It was the first commercial repeating firearm employing a revolving cylinder with multiple chambers aligned with a single, stationary barrel. Its design was patented by Samuel Colt on February 25,1836, in the United States, France, and England, initially this 5-shot revolver was produced in.28 caliber, with a.36 caliber model following a year later. As originally designed and produced, no loading lever was included with the revolver, starting in 1839, however, a reloading lever and a capping window were incorporated into the design, allowing reloading without requiring partial disassembly of the revolver. This loading lever and capping window design change was incorporated after the fact into most Colt Paterson revolvers that had been produced from 1836 until 1839. Unlike later revolvers, a trigger was incorporated into the Colt Paterson. The trigger only became visible upon cocking the hammer, a subsequent patent renewal in 1849, and aggressive litigation against infringements, gave Colt a domestic monopoly on revolver development until the middle 1850s. Early Colt literature and later publications insist that Colt was inspired to design the revolver in 1830 by viewing the steering mechanisms aboard the brig Corvo while bound from Boston to Calcutta. However, some believe he saw examples of the Collier Flintlock Revolver while touring the Tower after the Corvo docked on the River Thames, in any event, sometime while aboard the Corvo he produced a wooden model and further developed the concept during the early 1830s. A creditor and business associate, John Ehlers, continued manufacture, revolving pistols held five shots and varied from pocket to belt and holster designations based upon size and intended mode of carry. Calibers ranged from 28/100s through 36/100s-inch, the model most identified with the Paterson Colt designation is the Number 5 Holster or Texas Paterson, which was manufactured in.36 caliber. The early Colt revolvers were of single-action design, meaning that the trigger functioned only to discharge the weapon and it was necessary to manually cock the hammer prior to firing. The first Paterson Models required partial disassembly for loading and had no provision for safely carrying the revolver with all chambers loaded. Replace the cylinder, barrel, and wedge and with the hammer at half cock, the revolvers came with spare cylinders, and the practice of the day was to carry spare cylinders loaded and capped for fast reloading. Period users had few qualms about this even though it presented a real hazard of accidental discharge if the caps were struck or the cylinder dropped. The first two options were extremely dangerous, in 1839, a hinged loading lever and capping window became standard for new revolvers and was retrofitted to the older designs. So modified, the revolvers could be loaded without disassembly, when the Paterson revolvers with loading levers finally reached Texas in 1842, Texas Ranger Captain John Coffee Hays was very pleased that his ranging companies could now reload from horseback. To fire the Paterson, the shooter thumbed the hammer back and this also caused the folding trigger to drop down from the frame into firing position
9.
Self-defense
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Self-defense is a countermeasure that involves defending the health and well-being of oneself from harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a justification for the use of force in times of danger is available in many jurisdictions. Physical self-defense is the use of force to counter an immediate threat of violence. Such force can be armed or unarmed. In either case, the chances of success depend on a number of parameters, related to the severity of the threat on one hand. Many styles of arts are practiced for self-defense or include self-defense techniques. Some styles train primarily for self-defense, while other martial or combat sports can be applied for self-defense. Some martial arts train how to escape from a knife or gun situation, or how to break away from a punch, a wide variety of weapons can be used for self-defense. The most suitable depends on the threat presented, the victim or victims, legal restrictions also greatly influence self-defence options. In many cases there are legal restrictions. Non-injurious water-based self-defense indelible dye-marker sprays, or ID-marker or DNA-marker sprays linking a suspect to a scene, would in most places be legal to own. Tie-wraps double as an effective restraint, weapons such as the Kubotan have been built for ease of carry and to resemble everyday objects. Ballpoint pen knives, swordsticks, cane guns and modified umbrellas are similar categories of concealed self-defense weapons that serve a dual purpose, mental self-defense is the ability to get into the proper mindset for executing a physical self-defense technique. Many martial arts schools and self-defense classes focus primarily on the nature of self-defense. If you are skilled in the aspects of a defensive technique. Controlled environments cannot easily mimic the stress and adrenaline dump which occurs during an attack, there is a very real need to be able to enter the proper warrior mindset if one is to have a realistic chance of surviving a potentially deadly encounter. The ability to go over, under, around or through any obstacle is the essence of this never quit mindset - similar to that of the Samurai of Japan, being aware of and avoiding potentially dangerous situations is one useful technique of self-defense. Attackers will typically select victims they feel they have an advantage against, such as physical size
10.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
11.
Hand cannon
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The hand cannon or gonne is the first firearm and the successor of the fire lance. It is the oldest type of arms as well as the most mechanically simplistic form of firearm. Unlike matchlock firearms it requires direct manual external ignition through a hole without any form of firing mechanism. It may also be considered a forerunner of the handgun, in modern usage, the term hand cannon may also be used colloquially to refer to a pistol or revolver chambered for a powerful cartridge, such as the.454 Casull or.500 S&W Magnum. This term is sometimes used to refer to a novelty toy gun known as pocket artillery. Hand cannons first saw use in China sometime during the 13th century and were spread from there to the rest of the world. However the earliest artistic depiction of a cannon is a hand cannon wielding rock sculpture found among the Dazu Rock Carvings dated to 1128. Other specimens are also older and have been dated to the Western Xia period. The Heilongjiang hand cannon weighs 7.8 pounds, and could be carried by a soldier, the earliest reliable evidence of hand cannons in Europe comes from the 14th century, during which time both Europeans and Arabs appear to have begun using them. In East Asia, the Koreans acquired knowledge of the cannon from China in the 14th century. The hand cannon consists of a barrel, a handle, extant samples show that some hand cannons also featured a metal extension as a handle. The hand cannon could be held in two hands, but another person is shown aiding in the ignition process using smoldering wood, coal, red-hot iron rods. The hand cannon could be placed on a rest and held by one hand, projectiles used in hand cannons were known to include rocks, pebbles, and arrows. Eventually stone projectiles in the shape of balls became the form of ammunition. Later hand cannons have been shown to include a pan attached to the barrel. The flash pan had a cover and, later on. These features were carried over to subsequent firearms, the hand cannon was the first firearm used in the history of warfare, the first hand held fireweapon, and the predecessor of subsequent firearm weapons. In Europe depictions of hand cannons appeared as early as 1326, the first recorded use of gunpowder weapons in Europe was in 1331 when two mounted Germanic knights attacked Cividale del Friuli with gunpowder weapons of some sort
12.
China
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China, officially the Peoples Republic of China, is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia and the worlds most populous country, with a population of over 1.381 billion. The state is governed by the Communist Party of China and its capital is Beijing, the countrys major urban areas include Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Hong Kong. China is a power and a major regional power within Asia. Chinas landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes, the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from much of South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third and sixth longest in the world, respectively, Chinas coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometers long and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas. China emerged as one of the worlds earliest civilizations in the basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, Chinas political system was based on hereditary monarchies known as dynasties, in 1912, the Republic of China replaced the last dynasty and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949, when it was defeated by the communist Peoples Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War. The Communist Party established the Peoples Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949, both the ROC and PRC continue to claim to be the legitimate government of all China, though the latter has more recognition in the world and controls more territory. China had the largest economy in the world for much of the last two years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline. Since the introduction of reforms in 1978, China has become one of the worlds fastest-growing major economies. As of 2016, it is the worlds second-largest economy by nominal GDP, China is also the worlds largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. China is a nuclear weapons state and has the worlds largest standing army. The PRC is a member of the United Nations, as it replaced the ROC as a permanent member of the U. N. Security Council in 1971. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BCIM, the English name China is first attested in Richard Edens 1555 translation of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa. The demonym, that is, the name for the people, Portuguese China is thought to derive from Persian Chīn, and perhaps ultimately from Sanskrit Cīna. Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahābhārata, there are, however, other suggestions for the derivation of China. The official name of the state is the Peoples Republic of China. The shorter form is China Zhōngguó, from zhōng and guó and it was then applied to the area around Luoyi during the Eastern Zhou and then to Chinas Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qing
13.
Yuan dynasty
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The Yuan dynasty, officially the Great Yuan, was the empire or ruling dynasty of China established by Kublai Khan, leader of the Mongolian Borjigin clan. His realm was, by point, isolated from the other khanates and controlled most of present-day China and its surrounding areas. Some of the Mongolian Emperors of the Yuan mastered the Chinese language, while others used their native language. The Yuan dynasty is considered both a successor to the Mongol Empire and an imperial Chinese dynasty and it was the khanate ruled by the successors of Möngke Khan after the division of the Mongol Empire. In official Chinese histories, the Yuan dynasty bore the Mandate of Heaven, following the Song dynasty, the dynasty was established by Kublai Khan, yet he placed his grandfather Genghis Khan on the imperial records as the official founder of the dynasty as Taizu. In addition to Emperor of China, Kublai Khan also claimed the title of Great Khan, supreme over the other khanates, the Chagatai, the Golden Horde. As such, the Yuan was also referred to as the Empire of the Great Khan. However, while the claim of supremacy by the Yuan emperors was at times recognized by the khans, their subservience was nominal. In 1271, Kublai Khan imposed the name Great Yuan, establishing the Yuan dynasty, dà Yuán is from the clause 大哉乾元 in the Commentaries on the Classic of Changes section regarding Qián. The counterpart in Mongolian language was Dai Ön Ulus, also rendered as Ikh Yuan Üls or Yekhe Yuan Ulus, in Mongolian, Dai Ön is often used in conjunction with the Yeke Mongghul Ulus, resulting in Dai Ön Yeke Mongghul Ulus, meaning Great Mongol State. Nevertheless, both terms can refer to the khanate within the Mongol Empire directly ruled by Great Khans before the actual establishment of the Yuan dynasty by Kublai Khan in 1271. Genghis Khan united the Mongol and Turkic tribes of the steppes and he and his successors expanded the Mongol empire across Asia. Under the reign of Genghis third son, Ögedei Khan, the Mongols destroyed the weakened Jin dynasty in 1234, Ögedei offered his nephew Kublai a position in Xingzhou, Hebei. Kublai was unable to read Chinese but had several Han Chinese teachers attached to him since his early years by his mother Sorghaghtani and he sought the counsel of Chinese Buddhist and Confucian advisers. Möngke Khan succeeded Ögedeis son, Güyük, as Great Khan in 1251 and he granted his brother Kublai control over Mongol held territories in China. Kublai built schools for Confucian scholars, issued paper money, revived Chinese rituals and he adopted as his capital city Kaiping in Inner Mongolia, later renamed Shangdu. Many Han Chinese and Khitan defected to the Mongols to fight against the Jin, two Han Chinese leaders, Shi Tianze, Liu Heima, and the Khitan Xiao Zhala defected and commanded the 3 Tumens in the Mongol army. Liu Heima and Shi Tianze served Ogödei Khan, Liu Heima and Shi Tianxiang led armies against Western Xia for the Mongols
14.
History of gunpowder
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Gunpowder is the first physical explosive and propellant. Before its invention, many incendiary and burning devices had been used, the invention of gunpowder is usually attributed to experimentation in Chinese alchemy by Taoists in the pursuit of immortality, and is popularly listed as one of the Four Great Inventions of China. It was invented during the late Tang dynasty but the earliest record of a written formula appeared in the Song dynasty. It was employed in warfare to some effect from at least the 12th century in such as fire arrows, bombs. While the fire lance was eventually supplanted by the gun, other weapons such as rockets continued to see use in China, Korea, India. Bombs too never ceased to develop and continued to progress into the day as grenades, mines. Gunpowder can also be used for purposes such as fireworks for entertainment. The evolution of guns led to the development of artillery during the 15th century, Firearms came to dominate early modern warfare in Europe by the 17th century. The use of technology also spread throughout the Islamic world and to India, Korea. The so-called Gunpowder Empires of the modern period consisted of the Mughal Empire, Safavid Empire. The use of gunpowder in warfare during the course of the 19th century diminished due to the invention of smokeless powder, Gunpowder is often referred to today as black powder to distinguish it from the propellant used in contemporary firearms. Although it is impossible to know if he was referring to gunpowder. The next possible reference to gunpowder appeared in the year 300 during the Jin dynasty, a Taoist philosopher by the name of Ge Hong wrote down the ingredients of gunpowder in his surviving works, collectively known as the Baopuzi. In 492, Taoist alchemists had noted that saltpeter, one of the most important ingredients in gunpowder, burns with a purple flame and this was probably because some weapons were deemed too onerous or ineffective to deploy. One of the first, if not the first of these weapons was the fire arrow, a later account of this event corroborated with the report and explained that by let fire is meant things like firebombs and fire arrows. Afterwards fire arrows started transitioning to rocket propelled weapons rather than being fired from a bow and these fire arrows were shown to the emperor in 970 when the head of a weapons manufacturing bureau sent Feng Jisheng to demonstrate the gunpowder arrow design, for which he was heavily rewarded. In 1000 a soldier by the name of Tang Fu also demonstrated his own designs of gunpowder arrows, gunpowder pots, and gunpowder caltrops, for which he was richly rewarded as well. One surviving source circa 1023 lists all the working in Kaifeng while another notes that in 1083 the imperial court sent 100,000 gunpowder arrows to one garrison and 250,000 to another
15.
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
16.
Breech-loading weapon
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A breech-loading gun is a firearm in which the cartridge or shell is inserted or loaded into a chamber integral to the rear portion of a barrel. Modern mass production firearms are breech-loading, early firearms, on the other hand, were almost entirely muzzle-loading. In field artillery, breech loading allows the crew to reload the gun without exposing themselves to fire or repositioning the piece. The main challenge for developers of breech-loading firearms was sealing the breech and this was eventually solved for smaller firearms by the development of the self-contained metallic cartridge. For firearms too large to use cartridges, the problem was solved by the development of the interrupted screw, breech-loading swivel guns were invented in the 14th century. The breech-loading swivel gun had a rate of fire, and was especially effective in anti-personnel roles. Breech-loading firearms are known from the 16th century, Henry VIII possessed one, which he apparently used as a hunting gun to shoot birds. More breech-loading firearms were made in the early 18th century, one such gun known to have belonged to Philip V of Spain, and was manufactured circa 1715, probably in Madrid. It came with a ready-to load reusable cartridge, patrick Ferguson, a British Army officer, developed in 1772 the Ferguson rifle, a breech-loading flintlock firearm. Later on into the century there were attempts in Europe at an effective breech-loader. There were concentrated attempts at improved cartridges and methods of ignition, the cartridge was loaded through the breech and fired with a needle. The needle-activated central-fire breech-loading gun would become a feature of firearms thereafter. The corresponding firearm was also developed by Pauly, Pauly made an improved version, which was protected by a patent on 29 September 1812. In 1846 another Paris Frenchman, Benjamin Houllier, patented the first fully metallic cartridge containing powder in a metallic shell, Houllier commercialised his weapons in association with the gunsmiths Blanchard or Charles Robert. In English-speaking countries the Flobert cartridge corresponds to the.22 BB, the first centrefire cartridge was introduced in 1855 by Pottet, with both Berdan and Boxer priming. The Dreyse Zündnadelgewehr or Dreyse needle gun, was a single-shot breech-loading rifle using a rotating bolt to seal the breech and it was so called because of its. 5-inch needle-like firing pin, which passed through a paper cartridge case to impact a percussion cap at the bullet base. It began development in the 1830s under von Dreyse and eventually a version of it was adopted by Prussia in the late 1840s. The paper cartridge and the gun had numerous deficiencies, specifically, however, the rifle was used to great success in the Prussian army in the Austro-Prussian war of 1866
17.
Projectile
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A projectile is any object thrown into space by the exertion of a force. Although any object in motion through space may be called a projectile, mathematical equations of motion are used to analyze projectile trajectory. Blowguns and pneumatic rifles use compressed gases, while most other guns and cannons utilize expanding gases liberated by sudden chemical reactions, light-gas guns use a combination of these mechanisms. Railguns utilize electromagnetic fields to provide a constant acceleration along the length of the device. Some projectiles provide propulsion during flight by means of an engine or jet engine. In military terminology, a rocket is unguided, while a missile is guided, note the two meanings of rocket, an ICBM is a guided missile with a rocket engine. An explosion, whether or not by a weapon, causes the debris to act as high velocity projectiles. An explosive weapon, or device may also be designed to produce high velocity projectiles by the break-up of its casing. Many projectiles, e. g. shells, may carry a charge or another chemical or biological substance. Aside from explosive payload, a projectile can be designed to cause damage, e. g. fire. Typical kinetic energy weapons are blunt projectiles such as rocks and round shots, pointed ones such as arrows, among projectiles that do not contain explosives are those launched from railguns, coilguns, and mass drivers, as well as kinetic energy penetrators. Other types of weapons are accelerated over time by a rocket engine. In either case, it is the energy of the projectile that destroys its target. Some kinetic weapons for targeting objects in spaceflight are anti-satellite weapons, since in order to reach an object in orbit it is necessary to attain an extremely high velocity, their released kinetic energy alone is enough to destroy their target, explosives are not necessary. For example, the energy of TNT is 4.6 MJ/kg, and this saves costly weight and there is no detonation to be precisely timed. This method, however, requires direct contact with the target, some hit-to-kill warheads are additionally equipped with an explosive directional warhead to enhance the kill probability. With regard to weapons, the Arrow missile and MIM-104 Patriot PAC-2 have explosives, while the Kinetic Energy Interceptor, Lightweight Exo-Atmospheric Projectile. A kinetic projectile can also be dropped from aircraft and this is applied by replacing the explosives of a regular bomb with a non-explosive material, for a precision hit with less collateral damage
18.
Touch hole
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The vent is the access point through which the propellant charge is ignited. In small arms, the flash from a charge of priming held in the pan is enough to ignite the charge within. In artillery, priming powder, a fuse, squib, or friction igniter is inserted into the hole to ensure ignition of the charge. The powder in the hole was lit either with a slow match. Spiking a gun was a method of disabling a cannon by hammering a barbed steel spike into the touch-hole. If a cannon was in danger of being captured by the enemy, captured guns would be spiked if they could not be hauled away and the guns recapture seemed likely. If a special spike was unavailable, spiking could be done by driving a bayonet into the touch-hole and breaking it off, guns could also be rendered useless by burning their wooden carriages or blowing off their trunnions
19.
Metallurgy
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The production of metals involves the processing of ores to extract the metal they contain, and the mixture of metals, sometimes with other elements, to produce alloys. Metallurgy is distinguished from the craft of metalworking, although metalworking relies on metallurgy, as medicine relies on medical science, Metallurgy is subdivided into ferrous metallurgy and non-ferrous metallurgy or colored metallurgy. Ferrous metallurgy involves processes and alloys based on iron while non-ferrous metallurgy involves processes, the production of ferrous metals accounts for 95 percent of world metal production. The roots of metallurgy derive from Ancient Greek, μεταλλουργός, metallourgós, worker in metal, from μέταλλον, métallon, metal + ἔργον, érgon, in the late 19th century it was extended to the more general scientific study of metals, alloys, and related processes. In English, the pronunciation is the more common one in the UK. The /ˈmetələrdʒi/ pronunciation is the common one in the USA. The earliest recorded metal employed by humans appears to be gold, small amounts of natural gold have been found in Spanish caves used during the late Paleolithic period, c.40,000 BC. Silver, copper, tin and meteoric iron can also be found in native form, egyptian weapons made from meteoric iron in about 3000 BC were highly prized as daggers from heaven. Certain metals, notably tin, lead and copper, can be recovered from their ores by simply heating the rocks in a fire or blast furnace, a process known as smelting. The first evidence of this extractive metallurgy dates from the 5th and 6th millennia BC and was found in the sites of Majdanpek, Yarmovac and Plocnik. To date, the earliest evidence of copper smelting is found at the Belovode site, other signs of early metals are found from the third millennium BC in places like Palmela, Los Millares, and Stonehenge. However, the ultimate beginnings cannot be ascertained and new discoveries are both continuous and ongoing. These first metals were single ones or as found, about 3500 BC, it was discovered that by combining copper and tin, a superior metal could be made, an alloy called bronze, representing a major technological shift known as the Bronze Age. The extraction of iron from its ore into a metal is much more difficult than for copper or tin. The process appears to have been invented by the Hittites in about 1200 BC, the secret of extracting and working iron was a key factor in the success of the Philistines. Historical developments in ferrous metallurgy can be found in a variety of past cultures. A 16th century book by Georg Agricola called De re metallica describes the highly developed and complex processes of mining metal ores, metal extraction, Agricola has been described as the father of metallurgy. Extractive metallurgy is the practice of removing valuable metals from an ore, in order to convert a metal oxide or sulphide to a purer metal, the ore must be reduced physically, chemically, or electrolytically
20.
Matchlock
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The matchlock was the first mechanism, or lock, invented to facilitate the firing of a hand-held firearm. The classic European matchlock gun held a burning slow match in a clamp at the end of a curved lever known as the serpentine. The flash from the primer travelled through the touch hole igniting the charge of propellant in the gun barrel. On release of the lever or trigger, the spring-loaded serpentine would move in reverse to clear the pan, for obvious safety reasons the match would be removed before reloading of the gun. Both ends of the match were usually kept alight in case one end should be accidentally extinguished. Earlier types had only an S-shaped serpentine pinned to the stock either behind or in front of the flash pan, most matchlock mechanisms mounted the serpentine forward of the flash pan. The serpentine dipped backward, toward the firer, to ignite the priming and this is the reverse of the familiar forward-dipping hammer of the flintlock and later firearms. A later addition to the gun was the rifled barrel and this made the gun much more accurate at longer distances but did have drawbacks, the main one being that it took much longer to reload because the bullet had to be pounded down into the barrel. As the match was often extinguished after its relatively violent collision with the pan, this type fell out of favour with soldiers. An inherent weakness of the matchlock was the necessity of keeping the match constantly lit, the match was steeped in potassium nitrate to keep the match lit for extended periods of time. Being the sole source of ignition for the powder, if the match was not lit when the gun needed to be fired, the mechanism was useless, and this was chiefly a problem in wet weather, when damp match cord was difficult to light and to keep burning. Another drawback was the match itself. At night, the match would glow in the darkness, possibly revealing the carriers position, the distinctive smell of burning match-cord was also a giveaway of a musketeers position. It was also dangerous when soldiers were carelessly handling large quantities of gunpowder with lit matches present. This was one reason why soldiers in charge of transporting and guarding ammunition were amongst the first to be issued self-igniting guns like the wheellock, the matchlock was also uneconomical to keep ready for long periods of time. To maintain a single sentry on guard duty with a matchlock. The matchlock first appeared in Europe, in the mid-15th century, the first dated illustration of a matchlock mechanism dates to 1475 and by the 16th century they were universally used. During this time the latest tactic in using the matchlock was to line up and this volley would be much more effective than single soldiers trying to hit individual targets
21.
Musket
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A musket is a muzzle-loaded, smoothbore firearm, fired from the shoulder. Muskets were designed for use by infantry, a soldier armed with a musket had the designation musketman or musketeer. The musket replaced the arquebus, and was in turn replaced by the rifle. By the end of the 17th century, a version of the musket had edged out the arquebus, and the addition of the bayonet edged out the pike. In the 18th century, improvements in ammunition and firing methods allowed rifling to be practical for use. In the 19th century, rifled muskets became common, combining the advantages of rifles, about the time of the introduction of cartridge, breechloading, and multiple rounds of ammunition just a few years later, muskets fell out of fashion. Musket calibers generally ranged from 0.50 to 0.90 in, rifled muskets of the mid-19th century, like the Springfield Model 1861, were significantly more accurate, with the ability to hit a man sized target at a distance of 500 yards or more. However, in the Italian War of 1859, French forces were able to defeat the longer range of Austrian rifle muskets by aggressive skirmishing and rapid bayonet assaults during close quarters combat. According to the Etymology Dictionary, firearms were often named after animals, and the word derived from the French word mousquette. An alternative theory is that derives from the 16th century French mousquet, -ette, from the Italian moscetto, -etta, the Italian moscetto is a diminutive of mosca, a fly. Hand cannons arrived in Europe from Asia sometime in the early 14th century and they were more commonly used by the early 15th century, particularly in the Hussite wars. It is possible that the noise was at least as important as the missile and these were very short ranged, inaccurate and difficult to load and fire. Hand cannons had a handle, or no handle at all. A wooden stock was added, allowing the weapon to be easily held. The hand cannon evolved into the arquebus by the mid 15th century, the matchlock mechanism was a simple solution to this problem, and placed the match in a clamp on the end of a lever. When a trigger was pulled, the lever would rotate and allowed the match to come in contact with the touch hole, the first European usage of firearms in large ratios was in Hungary under king Matthias Corvinus. Every third soldier in the Black Army of Hungary had an arquebus, gradual advances in the empirical understanding of the corning of gunpowder made possible a more powerful explosive. The cost of gunpowder also gradually fell, by the 16th century the handheld firearm became commonplace, replacing the crossbow and longbow in all advanced armies, and known as the arquebus
22.
Europe
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Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, yet the non-oceanic borders of Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are arbitrary. Europe covers about 10,180,000 square kilometres, or 2% of the Earths surface, politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states of which the Russian Federation is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a population of about 740 million as of 2015. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable than close to the coast, Europe, in particular ancient Greece, was the birthplace of Western civilization. The fall of the Western Roman Empire, during the period, marked the end of ancient history. Renaissance humanism, exploration, art, and science led to the modern era, from the Age of Discovery onwards, Europe played a predominant role in global affairs. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers controlled at times the Americas, most of Africa, Oceania. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to economic, cultural, and social change in Western Europe. During the Cold War, Europe was divided along the Iron Curtain between NATO in the west and the Warsaw Pact in the east, until the revolutions of 1989 and fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1955, the Council of Europe was formed following a speech by Sir Winston Churchill and it includes all states except for Belarus, Kazakhstan and Vatican City. Further European integration by some states led to the formation of the European Union, the EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The European Anthem is Ode to Joy and states celebrate peace, in classical Greek mythology, Europa is the name of either a Phoenician princess or of a queen of Crete. The name contains the elements εὐρύς, wide, broad and ὤψ eye, broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion and the poetry devoted to it. For the second part also the divine attributes of grey-eyed Athena or ox-eyed Hera. The same naming motive according to cartographic convention appears in Greek Ανατολή, Martin Litchfield West stated that phonologically, the match between Europas name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor. Next to these there is also a Proto-Indo-European root *h1regʷos, meaning darkness. Most major world languages use words derived from Eurṓpē or Europa to refer to the continent, in some Turkic languages the originally Persian name Frangistan is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa
23.
Wheellock
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A wheellock, wheel-lock or wheel lock, is a friction-wheel mechanism to cause a spark for firing a firearm. It was the major development in firearms technology after the matchlock. Its name is from its rotating steel wheel to provide ignition, developed around 1500, it was used alongside the matchlock and was later superseded by the snaplock, the snaphance and the flintlock. The pyrite is clamped in vise jaws on a spring-loaded arm, when the trigger is pulled, the pan cover is opened, and the wheel is rotated, with the pyrite pressed into contact. On the other hand, wheellock mechanisms were complex to make, the dog is a spring-loaded arm pivoted on the outside of the lock plate. A sparking material, usually a piece of iron pyrite, is clamped. Flint is not suitable as a material in the wheellock because it is too hard. The upper segment of the wheel, made of hardened steel. The wheel is grooved on its circumference with three or more V-shaped grooves with transverse cuts at intervals to provide a friction surface for the iron pyrites. The wheel is fixed to a shaft, one end of which projects outside the lockplate, the outside projection is of square section to permit a spanner to be engaged for subsequent tensioning of the lock. The other end of the shaft fits through a hole in the lockplate, and on this end is forged a cam, or eccentric. As in all muzzle-loading firearms, the pan transmits the fire to the charge of gunpowder inside the breech of the barrel, via a small hole in the side of the breech. The priming pan of all wheellocks is provided with a cover that has two purposes, the first of which is to contain the priming powder and afford it some protection from the elements. The pan cover may be open and closed by hand, but it is also attached to an arm inside the lock plate. The trigger engages one arm of a z-shaped sear pivoting in its centre between two upstanding brackets riveted or brazed to the inside of the lockplate, first, the dog is rotated forward to the safe position, and the priming pan pushed open. What occurs is that when the wheel is turned, the mainspring is tensioned via the chain, the click is the sound of one end of the sear engaging in the blind hole on the inside of the wheel, as described above, thus immobilising it. The pan is primed with powder, and the pan cover pulled shut. Finally the dog is pulled back so that the pyrite in its jaws is resting on the top of the pan cover, under pressure from the spring at the toe of its arm
24.
Augsburg
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Augsburg is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany. It was a Free Imperial City for over 500 years and it is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is a district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is the third-largest city in Bavaria with a population of 286,000 citizens, after Neuss and Trier, Augsburg is Germanys third oldest city, being founded by the Romans as Augusta Vindelicorum, named after the Roman emperor Augustus. Augsburg is the only German city with its own legal holiday and this gives Augsburg more legal holidays than any other region or city in Germany. Augsburg was the home of two families that rose to great prominence internationally, replacing the Medicis as Europes leading bankers, the Fugger. Augsburg lies at the convergence of the Alpine rivers Lech and Wertach, in the south extends the Lechfeld, an Outwash plain of the post ice age between the rivers Lech and Wertach, where rare primeval landscapes were preserved. The Augsburg city forest and the Lech valley heaths today rank among the most species-rich middle European habitats, on Augsburg borders the nature park Augsburg Western Woods - a large forestland. The city itself is also heavily greened, as a result, in 1997 Augsburg was the first German city to win the Europe-wide contest Entente Florale for Europes greenest and most livable city. Augsburg is surrounded by the counties Landkreis Augsburg in the west, the neighboring towns and cities are Friedberg, Königsbrunn, Stadtbergen, Neusäß, Gersthofen, Rehling, Affing, Kissing, Mering, Merching, Bobingen, Gessertshausen und Diedorf. Augsburg has a continental climate. The city was founded in 15 BC by Drusus and Tiberius as Augusta Vindelicorum, the name means Augusta of the Vindelici. This garrison camp soon became the capital of the Roman province of Raetia, thus, Augsburg was the intersection of many important European east-west and north-south connections, which later evolved as major trade routes of the Middle Ages. Around 120 AD Augsburg became the capital of the Roman province Raetia, Augsburg was sacked by the Huns in the 5th century AD, by Charlemagne in the 8th century, and by Welf of Bavaria in the 11th century, but arose each time to greater prosperity. Augsburg was granted the status of a Free Imperial City on March 9,1276 and from then until 1803, it was independent of its former overlord, the Prince-Bishop of Augsburg. Frictions between the city-state and the prince-bishops were to remain frequent however, particularly after Augsburg became Protestant and curtailed the rights, with a strategic location as intersection of trade routes to Italy, the Free Imperial City became a major trading center. Augsburg produced large quantities of goods, cloth and textiles. Augsburg became the base of two banking families that rose to prominence, the Fuggers and the Welsers
25.
Pyrite
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The mineral pyrite, or iron pyrite, also known as fools gold, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula FeS2. This minerals metallic luster and pale brass-yellow hue give it a resemblance to gold. The color has led to the nicknames brass, brazzle. Pyrite is the most common of the sulfide minerals, the name pyrite is derived from the Greek πυρίτης, of fire or in fire, in turn from πύρ, fire. 1550, the term had become a term for all of the sulfide minerals. Pyrite is usually associated with other sulfides or oxides in quartz veins, sedimentary rock. Despite being nicknamed fools gold, pyrite is sometimes found in association with small quantities of gold, Gold and arsenic occur as a coupled substitution in the pyrite structure. In the Carlin–type gold deposits, arsenian pyrite contains up to 0.37 wt% gold, Pyrite has been used since classical times to manufacture copperas, that is, iron sulfate. Iron pyrite was heaped up and allowed to weather, the acidic runoff from the heap was then boiled with iron to produce iron sulfate. In the 15th century, such leaching began to replace the burning of sulfur as a source of sulfuric acid, by the 19th century, it had become the dominant method. Pyrite remains in use for the production of sulfur dioxide, for use in such applications as the paper industry. Thermal decomposition of pyrite into FeS and elemental sulfur starts at 540 °C, a newer commercial use for pyrite is as the cathode material in Energizer brand non-rechargeable lithium batteries. Pyrite is a material with a band gap of 0.95 eV. During the early years of the 20th century, pyrite was used as a detector in radio receivers. Pyrite detectors occupied a midway point between galena detectors and the more mechanically complicated perikon mineral pairs, Pyrite detectors can be as sensitive as a modern 1N34A germanium diode detector. Pyrite has been proposed as an abundant, inexpensive material in low-cost photovoltaic solar panels, synthetic iron sulfide was used with copper sulfide to create the photovoltaic material. Pyrite is used to make marcasite jewelry, marcasite jewelry, made from small faceted pieces of pyrite, often set in silver, was known since ancient times and was popular in the Victorian era. Marcasite jewelry does not actually contain the mineral marcasite, from the perspective of classical inorganic chemistry, which assigns formal oxidation states to each atom, pyrite is probably best described as Fe2+S22−
26.
Gunpowder
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Gunpowder, also known as black powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate, the sulfur and charcoal act as fuels, and the saltpeter is an oxidizer. Black powder firearms are in limited use today in hunting, shooting, Black powder has been replaced for most industrial uses by high explosives such as dynamite. Black powder is assigned the UN number UN0027 and has a class of 1. 1D. It has a point of approximately 427–464 °C. The specific flash point may vary based on the composition of the gunpowder. Gunpowders specific gravity is 1. 70–1.82 or 1. 92–2.08, Gunpowder is classified as a low explosive because of its relatively slow decomposition rate and consequently low brisance. Low explosives deflagrate at subsonic speeds, whereas high explosives detonate, ignition of the powder packed behind a bullet must generate enough pressure to force it from the muzzle at high speed, but not enough to rupture the gun barrel. Gunpowder thus makes a good propellant, but is suitable for shattering rock or fortifications. Gunpowder was widely used to fill artillery shells and in mining and civil engineering to blast rock until the half of the 19th century. Black powder is used as a delay element in various munitions where its slow-burning properties are valuable. The spread of gunpowder across Asia from China is widely attributed to the Mongols, the earliest record of a written formula for gunpowder appears in the 11th century Song dynasty text, Wujing Zongyao. This discovery led to the invention of fireworks and the earliest gunpowder weapons in China, in the centuries following the Chinese discovery, gunpowder weapons began appearing in the Muslim world and Europe. The technology spread from China through the Middle East or Central Asia, the earliest Western accounts of gunpowder appear in texts written by English philosopher Roger Bacon in the 13th century. The most ardent protagonists were Nathaniel Halhad, Johann Backmann, Quintin Craufurd, however, due to lack of sufficient proof, these theories have not been widely accepted. A major problem confronting the study of the history of gunpowder is ready access to sources close to the events described. The translation difficulty has led to errors or loose interpretations bordering on artistic licence, early writings potentially mentioning gunpowder are sometimes marked by a linguistic process where old words acquired new meanings. For instance, the Arabic word naft transitioned from denoting naphtha to denoting gunpowder, saltpeter was known to the Chinese by the mid-1st century AD and there is strong evidence of the use of saltpeter and sulfur in various largely medicinal combinations
27.
Vise
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A vise or vice is a mechanical apparatus used to secure an object to allow work to be performed on it. Vises have two jaws, one fixed and the other movable, threaded in and out by a screw. Woodworking vises are attached to a workbench, typically flush with its work surface and their jaws are made of wood or metal, the latter usually faced with wood, called cheeks, to avoid marring the work. The movable jaw may include a dog to hold work against a bench dog. Quick-release vises employ a split nut that allows the screw to engage or disengage with a half-turn of the handle, when disengaged the movable jaw may be moved in or out throughout its entire range of motion, vastly speeding up the process of adjustment. Common thread types are Acme and buttress, traditional workbench vises are commonly either face vises, attached to the front of the workbench, near the left end or end vises, attached to or forming part of the right end of the bench. An engineers vise, also known as a metalworking vise or machinists vise, is used to clamp metal instead of wood and it is used to hold metal when filing or cutting. It is sometimes made of cast steel or malleable cast iron, however, most heavy duty vises are 55,000 psi cast steel or 65,000 psi ductile iron. Some vises have a cast iron body but a steel channel bar, cast iron is popular because it is typically 30 ksi grey iron which is rigid, strong and inexpensive. The jaws are separate and replaceable, usually engraved with serrated or diamond teeth. Soft jaw covers made of aluminum, copper, wood or plastic may be used to protect delicate work, the jaw opening of an engineers vise is almost always the same size as the jaw width, if not bigger. An engineers vise is bolted onto the top surface of a workbench, the vise may include other features such as a small anvil on the back of its body. Most engineers vises have a swivel base, some engineers vises marketed as Homeowner Grade are not made of steel or cast iron, but of pot metal or a very low grade of iron, typically with a tensile strength of under 10 ksi. Most homeowners bench vises have an exposed screw, machine vises are mounted on drill presses, grinding machines and milling machines. Abrasive chop saws have a type of machine vise built into the saw. Some hobbyists use a machine vise as a bench vise because of the low cost, a vacuum vise is a hobbyists tool, commonly used to hold circuit boards, model airplanes and other small work. They are mounted with a cup and often have an articulated joint in the middle to allow the vise to pivot. Jewelers also use vacuum vises to hold jewelry, pipe vises are a plumbers tool, often used to hold pipes in place for threading and cutting
28.
Lighter
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A lighter is a portable device used to create a flame, and to ignite a variety of combustible materials, such as cigars, gas stoves, fireworks, candles, or cigarettes. It consists of metal or plastic container filled with a fluid or pressurized liquid gas, a means of ignition to produce the flame. Alternatively, a lighter can be powered by electricity, using an arc or heating element to ignite the target. The first lighters were converted flintlock pistols that used gunpowder, one of the first lighters was invented by the German chemist named Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner in 1823 and was often called Döbereiners lamp. The patenting of ferrocerium by Carl Auer von Welsbach in 1903 has made modern lighters possible, when scratched it produces a large spark which is responsible for lighting the fuel of many lighters, and is suitably inexpensive for use in disposable items. Using Carl Auer von Welsbachs flint, companies like Ronson were able to develop practical, in 1910, Ronson released the first Pist-O-Liter, and in 1913, the company developed its first lighter, called the Wonderlite, which was a permanent match style of lighter. The Zippo lighter and company were invented and founded by George G. Blaisdell in 1932, the Zippo was noted for its reliability, Life Time Warranty and marketing as Wind-Proof. Most early Zippos used naphtha as a fuel source, in the 1950s, there was a switch in fuel choice from naphtha to butane, as butane allows for a controllable flame and has less odour. This also led to the use of spark, which replaced the need for a flint wheel in some lighters and was used in many Ronson lighters. In modern times most of the worlds lighters are produced in the United States, China, naphtha based lighters employ a saturated cloth wick and fibre packing to absorb the fluid and prevent it from leaking. They employ an enclosed top to prevent the liquid from evaporating. Butane lighters have a valved orifice that meters the butane gas as it escapes, a spark is created by striking metal against a flint, or by pressing a button that compresses a piezoelectric crystal, generating an electric arc. In naphtha lighters, the liquid is sufficiently volatile, and flammable vapour is present as soon as the top of the lighter is opened, butane lighters combine the striking action with the opening of the valve to release gas. The spark ignites the gas causing a flame to come out of the lighter which continues until either the top is closed. A metal enclosure with air holes generally surrounds the flame, and is designed to allow mixing of fuel and air while making the lighter less sensitive to wind. The high energy jet in butane lighters allows mixing to be accomplished by using Bernoullis principle, specialized windproof butane lighters are manufactured for demanding conditions such as shipboard, high altitude, and wet climates. Some dedicated models double as synthetic rope cutters, such lighters are often far hotter than normal lighters and can burn in excess of 1,100 °C. Instead, windproof lighters mix the fuel with air, and pass the butane/air mixture through a catalytic coil, an electric spark starts the initial flame, and soon after the coil is hot enough to sustain a catalytic reaction and cause the fuel/air mixture to burn on contact
29.
Slow match
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Slow match or match cord is the slow-burning cord or twine fuse used by early gunpowder musketeers, artillerymen, and soldiers to ignite matchlock muskets, cannons, shells, and petards. Slow match of various types was one of the first kinds of artillery fuse, the slow match attached to the lock of the matchlock gun was usually a length of hemp or flax cord that had been chemically treated to make it burn slowly and consistently for an extended period. In Japan, however, match cord was made from braiding together strands of bark from the Japanese cypress, the rate of burning was approximately 1 ft per hour. The British Army estimated that a soldier on guard duty, for one year. Many formulas for match cord exist, providing varying burn rates, the predominant chemical used was potassium nitrate, although sodium nitrate, and lead acetate also appear to have been used. Potassium nitrate, however, had an advantage over sodium nitrate, Match cord was often used from the 15th century until about 1630, when the flintlock started its rise to prominence. Match cord remained in use with limited numbers of matchlocks in Europe until approximately 1730, even once it became obsolete for small arms use, some artillery users continued to deploy it as a backup until the end of the flintlock era. Modern-day slow match is made of cotton cord, instead of hemp. For faster burning and modern-day applications such as for igniting fireworks, tubed black match, black match Hand cannon Flash pan Fuse Matchlock Linstock Punk Touch hole The Slow Match Website Handgonnes and Matchlocks Slowmatch and Handgonnes
30.
Flintlock
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Flintlock is a general term for any firearm that uses a flint striking ignition mechanism. The true flintlock continued to be in use for over two centuries, replaced by percussion cap and, later, the cartridge-based systems in the early-to-mid 19th century. Although long superseded by modern firearms, flintlock weapons enjoy continuing popularity with black-powder shooting enthusiasts, french court gunsmith Marin le Bourgeoys made a firearm incorporating a flintlock mechanism for King Louis XIII shortly after his accession to the throne in 1610. However, firearms using some form of flint ignition mechanism had already been in use for half a century. Le Bourgeoys fitted these various features together to create what became known as the flintlock or true flintlock, the new flintlock system quickly became popular, and was known and used in various forms throughout Europe by 1630, although older flintlock systems continued to be used for some time. Examples of early flintlock muskets can be seen in the painting Marie de Medici as Bellona by Rubens, various breech-loading flintlocks were developed starting around 1650. The most popular action has a barrel which was unscrewed from the rest of the gun, obviously this is more practical on pistols because of the shorter barrel length. This type is known as a Queen Anne pistol because it was during her reign that it became popular, another type has a removable screw plug set into the side or top or bottom of the barrel. A large number of sporting rifles were made with this system, as it allowed easier loading compared with muzzle loading with a tight fitting bullet, one of the more successful was the system built by Isaac de la Chaumette starting in 1704. The barrel could be opened by 3 revolutions of the triggerguard, the plug stayed attached to the barrel and the ball and powder were loaded from the top. This system was improved in the 1770s by Colonel Patrick Ferguson and 100 experimental rifles used in the American Revolutionary War, the only two flintlock breechloaders to be produced in quantity were the Hall and the Crespi. The first was invented by John Hall and patented c and it was issued to the U. S. Army as the Model 1819 Hall Breech Loading Rifle. The Hall rifles and carbines were loaded using a paper cartridge inserted into the upward tilting breechblock. Hall rifles leaked gas from the often poorly fitted action, the same problem affected the muskets produced by Giuseppe Crespi and adopted by the Austrian Army in 1771. Nonetheless, the Crespi System was experimented with by the British during the Napoleonic Wars, Flintlock weapons were commonly used until the mid 19th century, when they were replaced by percussion lock systems. Even though they have long considered obsolete, flintlock weapons continue to be produced today by manufacturers such as Pedersoli, Euroarms. Flintlocks may be any type of arm, long gun or pistol, smoothbore or rifle. Flintlock pistols were used as weapons and as a military arm
31.
Thomas Ketland
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Thomas Ketland & Co. was a gun maker founded in Birmingham, England around 1760. T. Ketland & Co. is Thomas Sr. a very successful Birmingham gun maker and he started in business around 1760, expanded into the export market around 1790, died in 1816. His business was carried on until bankrupt in 1821. The company made flintlock pistols hand guns, W. Ketland is Thomas Ketland Srs eldest son. He was originally a partner with his father and William Walker and he petitioned to liquidate his part in the firm in 1800. The partnership was dissolved in 1801 and he died in 1804 but the business carried on to at least 1831. The story about an earlier W. Ketland gunmaker, going back to the 1740s, is not verified. The directory dates are 1808 to 1831 but W. Ketland was trading under that name as early as the middle of 1801, the Philadelphia Ketlands are 2nd son Thomas Jr. and John. Thomas Jr. resided in Philadelphia from 1789 to 1815 and they never made guns, they were merchant princes, not mechanics and arms were only a small part of their business. Around 1801, the Ketland Co. began trading overseas and the company ceased operations around 1831
32.
Sword
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A sword is a long bladed weapon intended for slashing or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the epoch or the geographical region under consideration. A sword consists of a blade attached to a hilt. The blade can be straight or curved, thrusting swords have a pointed tip on the blade, and tend to be straighter, slashing swords have sharpened cutting edge on one or both sides of the blade, and are more likely to be curved. Many swords are designed for thrusting and slashing. Historically, the sword developed in the Bronze Age, evolving from the dagger, the later Iron Age sword remained fairly short and without a crossguard. The word sword continues the Old English, sweord, the use of a sword is known as swordsmanship or as fencing. In the Early Modern period, western sword design diverged into two forms, the thrusting swords and the sabers. The thrusting swords such as the rapier and eventually the smallsword were designed to impale their targets quickly and their long and straight yet light and well balanced design made them highly maneuverable and deadly in a duel but fairly ineffective when used in a slashing or chopping motion. A well aimed lunge and thrust could end a fight in seconds with just the swords point, the saber and similar blades such as the cutlass were built more heavily and were more typically used in warfare. Built for slashing and chopping at multiple enemies, often from horseback, most sabers also had sharp points and double edged blades, making them capable of piercing soldier after soldier in a cavalry charge. Sabers continued to see use until the early 20th century. The US Navy kept tens of thousands of sturdy cutlasses in their armory well into World War II, non-European weapons called sword include single-edged weapons such as the Middle Eastern scimitar, the Chinese dao and the related Japanese katana. The Chinese jian is an example of a non-European double-edged sword, the first weapons that can be described as swords date to around 3300 BC. They have been found in Arslantepe, Turkey, are made from arsenical bronze, some of them are inlaid with silver. The sword developed from the dagger when the construction of longer blades became possible, from the late 3rd millennium BC in the Middle East, first in arsenic copper, then in tin-bronze. Blades longer than 60 cm were rare and not practical until the late Bronze Age because the strength of bronze is relatively low. These are the type A swords of the Aegean Bronze Age, one of the most important, and longest-lasting, types swords of the European Bronze Age was the Naue II type, also known as Griffzungenschwert
33.
Cutlass
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A cutlass is a short, broad sabre or slashing sword, with a straight or slightly curved blade sharpened on the cutting edge, and a hilt often featuring a solid cupped or basket-shaped guard. It was a naval weapon during the Age of Sail. The word cutlass developed from a 17th-century English variation of coutelas, in the English-speaking Caribbean, the term cutlass is used as a word for machete. The cutlass is a 17th-century descendent of the short sword exemplified by the medieval falchion. Woodsmen and soldiers in the 17th and 18th centuries used a short and broad backsword called a hanger, or in German a messer. Although also used on land, the cutlass is best known as the weapon of choice. Another advantage to the cutlass was its simplicity of use, cutlasses are famous for being used by pirates, although there is no reason to believe that Caribbean buccaneers invented them, as has sometimes been claimed. However, the subsequent use of cutlasses by pirates is well documented in sources, notably by the pirate crews of William Fly, William Kidd. French historian Alexandre Exquemelin reports the buccaneer Francois lOllonais using a cutlass as early as 1667, in their most simplified form they are held to have become the machete of the Caribbean. In 1936 the British Royal Navy announced that from then on cutlasses would be carried only for ceremonial duties, the last recorded use of cutlasses by the Royal Navy is often said to be on 16 February 1940 during the boarding action known as the Altmark Incident. However, this is disbelieved by the majority of the HMS Cossack Association, the authors point to another claim, a boarding by HMS Armada in 1952, but disbelieve this one too. In their view, the last use of cutlasses by the Royal Navy was by a party in China in 1900. Cutlasses continue to be worn in the Royal Navy by a Chief Petty Officer escorting the White Ensign, the cutlass remained an official weapon in United States Navy stores until 1949, though seldom used in training after the early 1930s. A United States Marine Corps engineer NCO is reported to have killed an enemy with a Model 1941 cutlass at Incheon during the Korean War. A cutlass is still carried by the designated as the Recruit Chief Petty Officer for each training company unit of recruits while at the US Navy Recruit Training Command. In a message released March 31,2010, the US Navy approved optional wear of a cutlass as part of the Chief Petty Officer dress uniform. That approval came in January 2011, and the cutlass was available for ceremonial wear by Chief Petty Officers in August of that year. Elgin pistol Chinese butterfly sword This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh
34.
Queen Anne pistol
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Queen Anne pistols are a type of flintlock pistol distinguished by the lockplate being forged in one piece with the breech and the trigger plate. They are usually a design known as a turn-off pistol. Possibly first made in England, they came in fashion in England during the reign of Anne, Queen of Great Britain, hence the name. Though made in all sizes up to carbine, they were made in the size range known as coat pocket pistols or coat pistols. A small version, known as a Toby or muff pistol, was able to be concealed in a pocket or a ladies hand warmer muff. Other types of pistol are often referred to as Queen Anne, the chamber is long and narrow with a cup at the top shaped to fit the bullet. The user can quickly fill the chamber with black powder and put a bullet on top, the bullet is larger than the barrel, so the breech is tapered to compress the ball as it moves forward at the moment of firing to tightly fit the bore. High gas pressure is developed behind the bullet before it is forced into the barrel, thus achieving considerably higher muzzle velocity, the barrel was often rifled, which improves accuracy. The system also avoids the need for wadding or a ramrod during loading and it was not successful as a military weapon because in the heat of battle the separate barrel could be dropped during loading. A swiveled, hinged link was designed to allow the barrel to be unscrewed while still remaining attached, the greatest popularity of the Queen Anne was among civilians as an effective self defense weapon. It was often decorated to suit the tastes of the wealthy. Pirate Living History 1680-1725 Burgoyne, John W, museum Restoration Service,2002 ISBN 0-88855-015-4 Boothroyd, Geoffrey, The Handgun, Crown Publishers 1970 Garrett, Richard, The Evolution of the Queen Anne Pistol. Catalogue of the London Park Lane Arms Fair, Spring 2005
35.
Duelling pistol
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A duelling pistol is a type of pistol that was manufactured in matching pairs to be used in a duel, when duels were customary. Duelling pistols are often single-shot flintlock or percussion black-powder pistols which fire a lead musket ball and they were made in identical pairs to put both duellists on the same footing. Not all fine pairs of pistols are actual duelling pistols, though they may be called so, standard flintlock pistols have a noticeable delay between pulling the trigger and actually firing the bullet. All component parts were manufactured, hand-finished and then adjusted with care and precision. Special care was taken when moulding the lead bullets to ensure there were no voids which would affect accuracy. Pistols were carefully and identically loaded, and each duellist was offered his choice of the indistinguishable loaded pistols, as duels were generally fought at short distances which were paced out, typically 35 to 45 feet, between stationary opponents, extreme accuracy was not required. Duelling pistols had long smoothbore barrels and fired large, heavy bullets, pistols with calibers of 0.45 in,0.52 in,0.58 in or even 0.65 in were common. The bullets loaded in them could weigh half an ounce in.52 caliber and this was the fate of Alexander Pushkin, a highly experienced pistol duellist who had fought 29 duels before being wounded in the stomach by Georges-Charles de Heeckeren dAnthès on 8 February 1837. Pushkin managed to fire, slightly wounding dAnthès, but died two days later. Most English pistols had smooth bores, though some had scratch rifling, pistols with rifled barrel spin-stabilise the shot when it is fired, resulting in much improved accuracy. As a result, duelling pistols with rifled barrels were considered unsporting by many, in continental Europe, the use of smooth-bored pistols was considered cowardly, and rifled pistols were the norm. The short range most duels took place at, combined with the accuracy of rifled pistols meant their use increased the chances of a fatality during a duel. A pair of rifled pistols often included a hammer as an accessory, they used slightly oversized bullets. Pairs of duelling pistols can be confused with holster pistols. These types are similar to duelling pistols in that they are large, muzzle-loading weapons, traveling pistols, also known as overcoat pistols, were intended for use by travelers to protect themselves from highwaymen and footpads, unlike dueling pistols, they were commonly rifled. Holster pistols were carried in pairs in a holster slung across a horses saddle. Although best suited for use, they were often owned by civilians. Although their purpose was self-defense, holster pistols were used on occasion to fight duels, the use of pistols in duels became popular in Britain, France and America during the mid-eighteenth century
36.
Caplock mechanism
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Forsyth patented his ignition system in 1807. However, it was not until after Forsyths patents expired that the percussion cap system was developed. The caplock offered many improvements over the flintlock, the caplock was easier to load, more resistant to weather, and was much more reliable than the flintlock. Many older flintlock weapons were converted into caplocks so that they could take advantage of this increased reliability. The caplock mechanism consists of a hammer, similar to the used in a flintlock, and a nipple. The nipple contains a tube which goes into the barrel, the percussion cap contains a chemical compound called mercuric fulminate or fulminate of mercury, whose chemical formula is Hg2. It is made from mercury, nitric acid and alcohol, when the trigger releases the hammer, it strikes the cap, causing the mercuric fulminate to explode. The flames from this explosion travel down the tube in the nipple and enter the barrel, where they ignite the main powder charge
37.
Percussion cap
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The percussion cap, introduced circa 1820, was the crucial invention that enabled muzzleloading firearms to fire reliably in any weather. This gave rise to the caplock or percussionlock system, before this development, firearms used flintlock ignition systems that produced flint-on-steel sparks to ignite a pan of priming powder and thereby fire the guns main powder charge. Flintlocks were prone to misfire in wet weather, and many flintlock firearms were later converted to the more reliable percussion system, the percussion cap is a small cylinder of copper or brass with one closed end. Inside the closed end is an amount of a shock-sensitive explosive material such as fulminate of mercury. The percussion cap is placed over a hollow metal nipple at the end of the gun barrel. Pulling the trigger releases a hammer strikes the percussion cap. The flame travels through the nipple to ignite the main powder charge. Percussion caps were, and still are, made in sizes for pistols and larger sizes for rifles. While the metal percussion cap was the most popular and widely used type of primer, accordingly, several manufacturers developed alternative, auto-priming systems. The Maynard tape primer, for example, used a roll of paper much like todays toy cap gun. The Maynard tape primer was fitted to some firearms used in the mid-nineteenth century, other disc or pellet-type primers held a supply of tiny fulminate detonator discs in a small magazine. Cocking the hammer automatically advanced a disc into position, however, these automatic feed systems were difficult to make with the manufacturing systems in the early and mid-nineteenth century and generated more problems than they solved. While it had a number of problems, it was used by the Prussians. In the 1850s, the cap was first integrated into a metallic cartridge. By the late 1860s, breech-loading metallic cartridges had made the percussion cap system obsolete, today, reproduction percussion firearms are popular for recreational shooters and percussion caps are still available. Most percussion caps now use non-corrosive compounds such as lead styphnate, the percussion cap replaced the flint, the steel frizzen, and the powder pan of the flint-lock mechanism. It was only applied to the British military musket in 1842. The first percussion firearm produced for the US military was the carbine version of the M1819 Hall rifle
38.
Frizzen
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The frizzen, historically called the steel, is an L shaped piece of steel hinged at the rear used in flintlock firearms. It is positioned over the pan so as to enclose a small priming charge of black powder next to the flash hole that is drilled through the barrel into where the main charge is loaded. He may have influenced by the Spanish miquelet lock that utilized a similarly shaped frizzen at least two decades earlier. It is important that the frizzen be case hardened to a carbon content. Materials such as horn or hooves were wrapped around the frizzen which were placed into a fire for several hours to increase the carbon content of the steel. It is important to keep the fire below the point of the steel. This process hardens the outside while the center stays relatively ductile so as to prevent cracking, with continued use a frizzen will lose its ability to create enough sparks to reliably ignite the powder. As such it needs to be rehardened or replaced, glossary of firearms terminology Case hardening
39.
Flintlock mechanism
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The flintlock mechanism is a type of lock used on muskets, pistols, and rifles in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. It is commonly referred to as a flintlock, though that term is commonly used for the weapons themselves as a whole. The flintlock, also known as the flintlock, was developed in France in the early 17th century. It quickly replaced earlier technologies, such as the matchlock and wheellock and it continued to be in common use for over two centuries, until it was finally replaced by the percussion lock. Flintlock firing mechanisms made their appearance in the 16th century in the form of the snaplock, the snaphance, the miquelet, the so-called true flintlock was developed in France in the early 17th century. Though its exact origins are not known, credit for the development of the true flintlock is usually given to Marin le Bourgeoys, an artist, gunsmith, luthier, Marin le Bourgeoyss basic design became the standard for flintlocks, quickly replacing most older firing mechanisms throughout Europe. Flintlock weapons based on this design were used for two centuries, until gradually superseded by caplock mechanisms in the early 19th century. The key element apparently added by Marin le Bourgeoys was the vertically acting sear, previously the sear, located within the lock, had acted through a hole in the lockplate to engage the cock on the outside of the plate. The vertically acting sear acted on a called the tumbler. This design proved to be the most efficient in terms of cost, a typical flintlock mechanism has a piece of flint which is held in place in between a set of jaws on the end of a short hammer. This hammer is pulled back into the cocked position, when released by the trigger, the spring-loaded hammer moves forward, causing the flint to strike a piece of steel called the frizzen. At the same time, the motion of the flint and hammer pushes the back, opening the cover to the pan. As the flint strikes the frizzen it creates a spark which falls into the pan, flame burns through a small hole into the barrel of the gun and ignites the main powder charge, causing the weapon to fire. Most hammers follow Marin le Bourgeoyss design, and have a half-cocked position, from this position, the frizzen can be opened, and powder can be placed in the pan. Then the frizzen is closed, and the hammer is pulled back into the cocked position. The phrase dont go off half cocked originated with these types of weapons, a gun flint is a piece of flint that has been shaped, or knapped into a wedge-shape that fits in the jaws of a flintlock. The gun flints were wrapped in a piece of lead or leather to hold them firmly in place and were made in different sizes to suit different weapons. Pieces of the mineral agate could be used instead of flint, the experience of modern flintlock shooters shows that a good quality flint can be used for hundreds of shots, although for reliable shooting it must be sharpened periodically
40.
Fulminate
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Fulminates are chemical compounds which include the fulminate ion. The fulminate ion, CNO− is an ion, acting like a halogen with its charge. Due to the instability of the ion, fulminate salts are friction-sensitive explosives, the best known is mercury fulminate, which has been used as a primary explosive in detonators. Fulminates can be formed from metals, such as silver and mercury, dissolved in nitric acid and it is largely the presence of the weak single nitrogen-oxygen bond which leads to its instability. Nitrogen very easily forms a triple bond to another nitrogen atom. Fulminates were discovered by Edward Charles Howard in 1800, joshua Shaw then made the transition to their use in metallic encapsulations, to form a percussion cap, but did not patent his invention until 1822. In the 1820s, the organic chemist Justus Liebig discovered silver fulminate, the fact that these substances have the same chemical composition led to an acrid dispute, which was not resolved until Jöns Jakob Berzelius came up with the concept of isomers. Fulminic acid Mercury fulminate Potassium fulminate Silver fulminate The cyanate and isocyanate groups have a related structure, the functional group fulminate corresponds to the fulminate ion, if the organic bond is at the other end, we get instead the nitrile oxide functional group
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Mercury(II) fulminate
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Mercury fulminate, or Hg2, is a primary explosive. It is highly sensitive to friction and shock and is used as a trigger for other explosives in percussion caps. Mercury cyanate, though its empirical formula is identical, has a different atomic arrangement, first used as a priming composition in small copper caps beginning in the 1820s, mercury fulminate quickly replaced flints as a means to ignite black powder charges in muzzle-loading firearms. Later, during the late 19th century and most of the 20th century, mercury fulminate or potassium chlorate became widely used in primers for self-contained rifle, mercury fulminate has the distinct advantage over potassium chlorate of being non-corrosive, but it is known to weaken with time. Today, mercury fulminate has been replaced in primers by more efficient chemical substances and these are non-corrosive, less toxic and more stable over time, they include lead azide, lead styphnate and tetrazene derivatives. In addition, none of these compounds require mercury for manufacture, mercury fulminate is prepared by dissolving mercury in nitric acid and adding ethanol to the solution. It was first prepared by Edward Charles Howard in 1800, the crystal structure of this compound was only determined in 2007. The thermal decomposition of mercury fulminate can begin at temperatures as low as 100 °C, a possible reaction for the decomposition of mercury fulminate yields carbon dioxide gas, nitrogen gas, and a combination of relatively stable mercury salts
42.
Cylinder (firearms)
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In firearms, the cylinder is the cylindrical, rotating part of a revolver containing multiple chambers. The cylinder revolves around an axis in the revolver to bring each individual chamber into alignment with the barrel for firing. Each time the gun is cocked, the cylinder indexes by one chamber, cylinders typically hold six cartridges, but some small frame revolvers only hold 5 cartridges, due to the smaller overall size of the gun and reduced space availability. The Nagant M1895 revolver has a 7 shot cylinder, the Webley-Fosbery Automatic Revolver has an 8-shot cylinder in.38 caliber, several models of.22 rimfire caliber revolvers have cylinders holding 9 or 10 rounds. As a general rule, cylinders are not designed to be detached from the firearm, rapid reloading is instead facilitated by the use of a speedloader or moon clip, although these only work on break-top and swing-out cylinder revolvers, for obvious reasons. The first generation of cartridge revolvers were converted caplock designs, in many of these, the pin on which the cylinder revolved was removed, and the cylinder taken from the gun for loading. Most revolvers using this method of loading are single action revolvers, because of this, many modern large caliber hunting revolvers tend to be based on the fixed cylinder design. The next method used for loading and unloading cartridge revolvers was the top break design, in a top break revolver, the frame is hinged at the bottom front of the cylinder. Releasing the lock and pushing the barrel down brings the cylinder up - this exposes the rear of the cylinder for reloading, fresh rounds are then placed into the cylinder, either one at a time or all at once with either a speedloader or a moon clip. The barrel and cylinder are then rotated back and locked in place, since the frame is in two parts, held together by a latch on the top rear of the cylinder, top break revolvers cannot handle high pressure or magnum-type rounds. Top break designs are largely extinct in the world of firearms, one of the most famous break top revolvers is the Webley service revolver, used by the British military from 1889-1963. The most modern method of loading and unloading a revolver is by means of the swing out cylinder, the cylinder is mounted on a pivot that is coaxial with the chambers, and the cylinder swings out and down. An extractor is fitted, operated by a rod projecting from the front of the cylinder assembly, when pressed, it will push all fired rounds free simultaneously. The cylinder may then be loaded, singly or again with a speedloader, closed, the pivoting part that supports the cylinder is called the crane, it is the weak point of swing-out cylinder designs. Lack of alignment between chamber and barrel is a condition, as it can impede the bullets transition from chamber to barrel. This gives rise to higher pressures in the chamber, bullet damage, the shock of firing can exert a great deal of stress on the crane, as in most designs the cylinder is only held closed at one point, the rear of the cylinder. Stronger designs, such as the Ruger Super Redhawk, use a lock in the crane as well as the lock at the rear of the cylinder and this latch provides a more secure bond between cylinder and frame, and allows the use of larger, more powerful cartridges. Swing out cylinders are rather strong, but not as strong as fixed cylinders, Firearm cylinders were first developed in the 16th century and, over time, had anywhere from three to twelve chambers bored into them
43.
Caliber
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In guns, particularly firearms, caliber or calibre is the approximate internal diameter of the barrel, or the diameter of the projectile it fires, in hundredths or sometimes thousandths of an inch. For example, a 45 caliber firearm has a diameter of.45 of an inch. Barrel diameters can also be expressed using metric dimensions, as in 9mm pistol, when the barrel diameter is given in inches, the abbreviation cal can be used. Good performance requires a bullet to closely match the diameter of a barrel to ensure a good seal. While modern cartridges and cartridge firearms are referred to by the cartridge name. Firearm calibers outside the range of 17 to 50 exist, but are rarely encountered. Larger calibers, such as.577.585.600.700, the.950 JDJ is the only known cartridge beyond 79 caliber used in a rifle. Referring to artillery, caliber is used to describe the length as multiples of the bore diameter. A 5-inch 50 calibre gun has a diameter of 5 in. The main guns of the USS Missouri are 1650 caliber, makers of early cartridge arms had to invent methods of naming the cartridges, since no established convention existed then. One of the early established cartridge arms was the Spencer repeating rifle, later various derivatives were created using the same basic cartridge, but with smaller-diameter bullets, these were named by the cartridge diameter at the base and mouth. The original No.56 became the. 56-56, and the smaller versions. 56-52. 56-50, the. 56-52, the most common of the new calibers, used a 50-cal bullet. Optionally, the weight in grains was designated, e. g. 45-70-405. Variations on these methods persist today, with new cartridges such as the.204 Ruger, metric diameters for small arms refer to cartridge dimensions and are expressed with an × between the bore diameter and the length of the cartridge case, for example,7. 62×51 NATO. This indicates that the diameter is 7. 62mm, loaded in a case 51mm long. Similarly, the 6. 5×55 Swedish cartridge has a diameter of 6.5 mm. An exception to rule is the proprietary cartridge used by U. S. maker Lazzeroni. The following table lists commonly used calibers where both metric and imperial are used as equivalents
44.
Trigger (firearms)
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A trigger is a mechanism that actuates the firing sequence of a firearm or crossbow, a trigger may also start another mechanism such as a trap or a quick release. A small amount of energy applied to the causes the release of much more energy. In double action firearm designs, the trigger is used to cock the firearm -. Firearms use triggers to initiate the firing of a cartridge in the chamber of the weapon. This is accomplished by actuating a striking device through a combination of spring and kinetic energy operating through a pin to strike. There are two types of striking mechanisms, hammers and strikers. Hammers are spring-tensioned masses of metal that pivot on a pin when released, strikers are, essentially, spring-loaded firing pins that travel on an axis in-line with the cartridge eliminating the need for a separate hammer. The connection between the trigger and the hammer is generally referred to as the sear surface, variable mechanisms will have this surface directly on the trigger and hammer or have separate sears or other connecting parts. There are numerous types of action, where action refers to the mechanism or to the logic of how it is built and they are categorized according to which functions the trigger is to perform. Most modern firearms use the trigger to deactivate passive safeties but this does not change how they are identified, a single-action trigger is the earliest and mechanically simplest of trigger types. Almost all rifles and shotguns use this type of trigger, the term single-action wasnt in use until weapons with double-action triggers were invented, which didnt occur until the mid-19th century, before that, all triggers were single-action. Although these weapons dont require the user to physically cock the hammer, manually cocked hammers lasted a while longer in some break-action shotguns, and in dangerous game rifles, where the hunter didnt want to rely on an unnecessarily complex or fragile weapon. In modern usage, the terms single-action and double-action almost always refer to handguns, while a single-action revolver or semi-automatic must always be cocked prior to firing, most double-action handguns are capable of firing in both single- and double-action modes. Only double-action only weapons are incapable of firing from a cocked hammer. Thereafter, every time a round is fired, the hammer is recocked by the cycling slide, after the first shot, they would fire as single-actions. These double action, or double action, pistols rapidly gained popularity. A double-action/single-action firearm combines the features of both mechanisms, and is called traditional double-action. In simple terms, double-action refers to a gun trigger mechanism that both cocks the hammer and then releases the sear, thus performing two actions, hence double action
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