1.
Palm Pistol
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The Palm Pistol is a pocket pistol invented by Matthew Carmel and manufactured by his company Constitution Arms in Maplewood, New Jersey. The firearm is specifically intended for use by seniors, disabled, the gun is intended to be a single-shot weapon held in the palm of the hand with the barrel extending between the fingers. The trigger would be at the top, squeezed by the users thumb, Carmel stated, I was sitting in my workshop one day, playing around with a T-handled screwdriver. And I was thinking about the recurring problem I have with the seniors I teach, loading cartridges, locking slides and hand weakness… I was thinking minimalist. If I start with just a cartridge, what is the minimal thing I have to put around it in order to ignite the primer, the T-handled screwdriver made Carmel realize that all he needed was a barrel, a breech, and a short butt or handle. The classification was overturned on December 8,2008, pocket pistol Protector Palm Pistol - 1800s era device of similar design and use
2.
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
3.
Derringer
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The term derringer is a genericized misspelling of the last name of Henry Deringer, a famous 19th-century maker of small pocket pistols. The original Deringer pistol was a single-shot muzzleloading pistol, with the advent of cartridge firearms, a derringer is generally the smallest usable handgun of a given caliber. They were frequently used by women, because they are easily concealable in a purse or as a stocking gun, such weapons designed specifically for women were called muff pistols, due to their compact size enabling them to be carried in a muff. Derringers are not repeating firearms—repeating mechanisms such as used in semi-automatic handguns and/or revolvers would add significant bulk to the gun. The famous Remington derringer design doubled the capacity, while maintaining the size, by adding a second barrel on top of the first. Each barrel then held one round, and a cam on the hammer alternated between top and bottom barrels, the Remington derringer was in.41 Short caliber and achieved wide popularity. The.41 Short bullet moved very slowly, at about 425 feet per second, around half the speed of a modern.45 ACP. It could be seen in flight, but at close range, such as at a casino or saloon card table. The Remington derringer was sold from 1866 to 1935, a Remington-pattern derringer in.38 Special is still smaller than the most compact.25 ACP semiautomatic, and provides superior terminal ballistic performance to the.25 ACP. While the classic Remington design is a single-action, manufacturers have also made double-action derringers, including some four-shot models, with the barrels stacked in a 2 ×2 block. The COP357 Derringer provided four shots of.357 Magnum in a not much larger than a.25 ACP automatic. The COP derringer was invented by Robert Hillberg and closely resembled his earlier work on insurgency weapons, a related design, often grouped with derringers since it fits no other standard classification, is the Semmerling pistol. It is a five-shot.45 ACP pistol with a manual repeater, another military pistol that is truly a derringer design is the FP-45 Liberator, a.45 ACP insurgency weapon dropped behind Axis lines in World War II. The current production of derringers are used by Cowboy Action Shooting reenactors as well as a concealed-carry weapon and it is the smallest handgun that is capable of handling the largest ammunition. Some favor the derringer as a carry weapon because of its size as well as the swiftness of putting it into action. Critics believe it is not a weapon for self-defense since the derringer possesses only a two-shot capacity. The Philadelphia Deringer was a small percussion handgun designed by Henry Deringer, a popular concealed carry handgun of the era, this pocket pistol design was widely copied by competitors, sometimes down to the markings. A new percussion cap would then be placed on the tube, then, to fire the handgun, a user would fully cock the hammer, aim, and squeeze the trigger
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.
Concealed carry in the United States
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Concealed carry or carrying a concealed weapon, is the practice of carrying a weapon in public in a concealed manner, either on ones person or in close proximity. Not all weapons that fall under CCW laws are lethal, there is no federal statutory law concerning the issuance of concealed-carry permits. Vermont does not have such a statute but permits both open and concealed carry based on a decision of long standing. Illinois had been the last state without such a provision – but its long-standing ban on concealed weapons was overturned in an appeals court. Thirteen states use a single permit to regulate the practices of both concealed and open carry of a handgun, some states publish statistics indicating how many residents hold permits to carry concealed weapons, and their demographics. For example, Florida has issued 2,031,106 licenses since adopting its law in 1987 and it is likely that by December 2012 Florida had reached the milestone of 1 million active licensees within a population of 19 million. Reported permit holders are predominantly male, some states have reported the number of permit holders increasing over time. Thats about a more than previous estimates by scholars. The number of permit revocations is typically small, the grounds for revocation in most states, other than expiration of a time-limited permit without renewal, is typically the commission of a gross misdemeanor or felony by the permit holder. While these crimes are often firearm-related, a study of eight years of Texas data found that concealed handgun licensees were much less likely to be convicted of crimes than were nonlicensees. The same study found that licensees convictions were more likely to be for common crimes, such as sexual offenses, gun offenses. However, a 2014 Stanford University study reported that laws were associated with an 8% increase of aggravated assaults. Concealed weapons bans were passed in Kentucky and Louisiana in 1813, by 1859, Indiana, Tennessee, Virginia, Alabama, and Ohio had followed suit. By the end of the century, similar laws were passed in places such as Texas, Florida, and Oklahoma. Before the mid 1900s, most U. S. states had passed concealed carry laws rather than banning weapons completely, until the late 1990s, many Southern states were either No-Issue or Restrictive May-Issue. Since then, these states have largely enacted Shall-Issue licensing laws, regulations differ widely by state, with most states currently maintaining a Shall-Issue policy. As recently as the mid-90s most states were no-issue or may-issue, for detailed information on individual states permitting policies, see Gun laws in the United States by state. An unrestricted jurisdiction is one in which a permit is not required to carry a concealed handgun and this is sometimes called constitutional carry
6.
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
7.
Remington Model 95
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The Remington Model 95 is a double-barrel pocket pistol commonly recognized as a derringer. The design was changed during a production run of nearly 70 years through several financial reorganizations of the manufacturer causing repeating serial number sequences. Guns were offered with engraving or plain blued or nickel-plated finish with grips of metal, walnut, rosewood, hard rubber, ivory or pearl. The earliest production had no extractors and have E. REMINGTON & SONS, ILION, N. Y. stamped on the side of the barrel. 12,1865 stamped on the side of the barrel. These inscriptions were swapped to opposite sides of the barrel when extractors were added in 1869, in 1880, the inscription was changed to E. REMINGTON & SONS, ILION, N. Y. 12th 1865 and placed atop the barrel rib, the barrel rib top inscription changed to REMINGTON ARMS CO. ILION N. Y. in 1888 and again to REMINGTON ARMS U. M. C
8.
Bond Arms
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Bond Arms Inc. is a firearms manufacturer located in Granbury, Texas which makes derringers. Bond arms was founded by tool and die maker, Greg Bond in Granbury. The company became incorporated as Bond Arms in 1995 and was licensed by the BATFE as a manufacturer and dealer. Bond Arms is the largest manufacturer of derringers in the firearms industry, Bond Arms Derringers are made in a variety of calibers including the.45 Long Colt /.410 Shotshell. The three most popular models are the Texas Defender, Cowboy Defender, and Snake Slayer Derringers, Bond Arms Derringers are equipped with a trigger guard, except the Cowboy Defender. The trigger guard is removable for a traditional appearance. Bond Arms constructs their Derringers in such a way that a user can change barrels, in fall of 2014 Bond Arms introduced two California Legal models called the Big Bear and Brown Bear. Bond Arms Handgun Models, The company sells a one-hand opening knife in partnership with Buck Knives, Bond arms offers custom grip panels for their guns and a line of custom holsters made in-house. The Texas Defender, Bond Arms. 45acp/410 Shotshell carryconcealed. net
9.
.22 Long Rifle
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The.22 Long Rifle rimfire cartridge is a long-established variety of ammunition, and in terms of units sold is still by far the most common in the world today. The cartridge is often referred to simply as.22 LR and various rifles, pistols, revolvers, and even some smoothbore shotguns have been manufactured in this caliber. American firearms manufacturer J. Stevens Arms & Tool Company introduced the cartridge in 1887 by combining the casing of the.22 Long with the 40-grain bullet of the.22 Extra Long. The round owes its origin to the Flobert BB cap of 1845 through the.22 Smith & Wesson cartridge of 1857 and it is one of the few cartridges that are accepted by a large variety of rifles, as well as pistols. The.22 Long Rifle and related cartridges use a bullet, which means that the bullet is the same diameter as the case. Low cost, minimal recoil, and relatively low noise make the.22 LR an ideal cartridge for recreational shooting, initial training, small-game hunting. Used by Boy Scouts for the rifle shooting merit badge, the cartridge is popular among novice shooters, a wide variety of rimfire ammunition is available commercially, and the available ammunition varies widely both in price and performance. Bullet weights among commercially available range from 20 to 60 grains. Promotional loads for plinking can be purchased in bulk for significantly less cost than precision target rounds, the low cost of ammunition has a substantial effect on the popularity of the.22 LR. For this reason, rimfire cartridges are used for target practice. The low recoil of the cartridge makes it ideal for introductory firearms courses, novice shooters can be surprised or frightened by the recoil of more powerful rounds. Beginners shooting firearms beyond their comfort level frequently develop a habit of flinching in an attempt to counter anticipated recoil, the resulting habit impedes correct posture and follow-through at the most critical phase of the shot and is difficult to correct. With high recoil eliminated, other errors in marksmanship technique are easier to identify, available for this round are AR-15 upper receivers and M1911 slide assemblies. Many handgun manufacturers have an upper pistol conversion kit to make it shoot.22 ammunition and these rimfire conversions allow shooters to practice inexpensively while retaining the handling characteristics of their chosen firearms. Additionally.22 conversion kits allow practice at indoor ranges which prohibit high-power firearms, annual production is estimated by some at 2–2.5 billion rounds. The NSSF estimates that half of the US production of 10 billion cartridges is composed of. 22LR, performance varies between barrel length and the type of action. For example, bolt-action rifles may perform differently from semiautomatic rifles, the.22 LR is effective to 150 yd, though practical ranges tend to be less. After 150 yd, the ballistics of the round are such that it will be difficult to compensate for the large drop, the relatively short effective range, low report, and light recoil has made it a favorite for use as a target-practice cartridge
10.
.45 Colt
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The.45 Colt or.45 Long Colt cartridge is a handgun cartridge dating to 1872. It is a black-powder revolver round developed for the Colt Single Action Army revolver and this cartridge was adopted by the U. S. Army in 1873 and served as an official US military handgun cartridge for 14 years. Colt began work on the revolver in 1871, and submitted a sample to the U. S. Army in late 1872, the revolver was accepted for purchase in 1873. The cartridge is an inside lubricated type, the rebated heel type bullet design of its predecessor, the.44 Colt, was eliminated, since it was an outside lubricated type, which would pick up dirt and grit during handling. The.45 Colt replaced the.50 caliber Model 1871 Remington single shot pistol, while the Colt remained popular, the Smith & Wesson M1875 Army Schofield Revolver was approved as an alternate which created a logistic problem for the Army. Adoption of the.45 M1887 Military Ball Cartridge resolved the Armys ammunition logistic problems, the M1887 Govt round was replaced by the.38 Long Colt in 1892. In 1909, the.45 M1909 round was issued along with the.45 Colt New Service revolver and this round was never loaded commercially, and is almost identical to the original.45 Colt round, except having a larger diameter rim. The rim is large enough that it cannot be loaded in adjacent chambers in the rod-ejector Colt model, the.45 Colt remains popular with renewed interest in Cowboy Action Shooting. The modern.45 Colt bullet has changed as well, and it is now.451 inches in diameter for jacketed bullets, the.45 Colt became the basis for other rounds, such as the.454 Casull. The.45 Colt originally was a cartridge, but modern loadings use smokeless powder. The original black-powder loads called for 28 to 40 grains of powder behind a 230-to-255-grain lead bullet. These loads developed muzzle velocities of up to 1,050 ft/s, because of this power and its excellent accuracy, the.45 Colt was the most-used cartridge at the time of its introduction, succeeding the.44 WCF. The.45 Colt at that time did not enjoy the. 44-40s advantage of a Winchester rifle chambered for it, the rumor was that early.45 Colt cartridges had a very minimal rim, and would not eject reliably. Currently manufactured brass has a rim of adequate diameter for such uses, modern Winchesters, Marlins and replicas have remedied this omission almost 100 years after the fact, and the.45 Colt is now available in modern lever-action rifles. While this has one of numerous arguments to explain the lack of a rifle chambered in.45 Colt, in fact. It required the expiration of those original patents for the.45 Colt to become available in a rifle, todays standard factory loads develop around 400 ft·lbf of muzzle energy at about 860 ft/s, making it roughly equivalent to modern.45 ACP loads. There are Cowboy Action Shooting loads which develop muzzle velocities of around 750 ft/s, cartridges of the World states that.45 Colt should never be loaded to more than 800 fps. Some handloads and factory manufactured cartridges put this round in the class as the.44 Magnum using special revolvers
11.
.410 bore
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.410 bore, commonly incorrectly named the.410 gauge, is the smallest gauge of shotgun shell commonly available. Lancasters pattern centrefire and pinfire.410 shot cartridges first appeared in Eley Brothers Ltd. advertising flysheets in 1857, by 1874 Eleys were advertising modern centrefire.410 cartridges. The first ammunition was 2.0 inches long, compared with the modern 2.5 and 3. 0-inch sizes, as the smallest of traditional shotgun sizes.410 bore guns throw the least weight of shot, but are very easy to handle. This results in a low recoil, so the.410 is often chosen for young shooters. Some shooters, however, discourage the use of the.410, others believe starting young/new/small shooters with large recoiling guns will cause a habit of flinching and negatively affect their accuracy. By using sub-gauge inserts, a 12 gauge break open action can be converted down as far as a.410 bore to provide additional challenge when training. The.410 bore is also used for small game animals such as squirrels and rabbits. The.410 bore is inferior to the traditional 12 gauge shotshell for defensive use, though a number of companies market defensive guns chambered in.410, defensive ammunition is becoming easier to find although most.410 bore shells remain loaded with birdshot. The small size of the.410 bore makes it popular for use in compact firearms carried for emergency use, commonly these are combination guns, with a.22 Hornet or.22 rimfire rifle barrel mounted over a.410 bore shotgun barrel. The most famous of these is the M6 survival rifle made by Springfield Armory, Inc. for the US Air Force, the original has a 14-inch barrel, the same length as the stock, and folds in half for storage, making a compact package. With the short barrel, this is classified as an Any Other Weapon in the United States, so 18. 5-inch barreled models are made for civilian sales, special flare cartridges in.410 were issued with the USAF model. The Thompson Center Arms Contender pistols are commonly encountered with a special.45 Colt/.410 bore barrel, the barrel is rifled for the.45 Colt, but has a special choke and vent rib to make it function as a shotgun. Due to the barrel, the assembled firearm is considered a rifle or pistol. Nonetheless, possession of a Thompson Center Arms. 45/, the fact that the.410 bore shell fits in a.45 Colt chamber has resulted in some unusual applications. The Smith & Wesson Governor is a double-action revolver also capable of firing.45 ACP cartridges with the aid of moon clips, the now discontinued MIL Thunder 5 was also chambered in. 410-bore. Other fireams makers, such as Bond Arms, offer various derringer models which chamber both.45 Colt cartridges and.410 shotshell, the bore designation of the.410 bore is unique among shotgun cartridges. Other shotgun cartridges are measured in terms of shotgun gauge, Shotgun gauge is determined by the weight of a round lead ball that is sized to fit into its barrel. For example, the barrel of a 12-gauge shotgun is equal to the diameter of 1/12th pound lead ball, using this method a.410 bore would be equivalent to a hypothetical 67-gauge
12.
Snubnosed revolver
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A snubnosed revolver has a barrel length of 3 inches or less. The design of these revolvers sacrifices power and range for maneuverability and its popularity was temporarily overshadowed with the wide-scale availability of compact semi-automatic pistols in the 1980s and their gradual adoption by police in the 1990s. The first snubnosed revolver were the various Sheriffs Model, Shopkeeper Special, two developments resulted in a resurgence in popularity of these revolvers in the United States starting in the mid-1990s. First, the passage of Right to Carry laws in various states created new markets for reliable and these are in addition to the advantages of simplicity and reliability common to revolvers. The increased demand for snubnosed revolvers has been met with the introduction of new models from Smith & Wesson, Taurus. More recently even polymer frames have been used
13.
Colt Single Action Army
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The Colt SAA has been offered in over 30 different calibers and various barrel lengths. Its overall appearance has remained consistent since 1873, Colt has discontinued its production twice, but brought it back due to popular demand. The revolver was popular with ranchers, lawmen, and outlaws alike and its design has influenced the production of numerous other models from other companies. The Colt SAA revolver is a piece of Americana, known as The Gun That Won the West. For the design, Colt turned to two of its best engineers, William Mason and Charles Brinckerhoff Richards who had developed a number of revolvers and black powder conversions for the company. Their effort was designed for the United States government service revolver trials of 1872 by Colts Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company, production began in 1873 with the Single Action Army model 1873, also referred to as the New Model Army Metallic Cartridge Revolving Pistol. The very first production Single Action Army, serial number 1, thought lost for years after its production, was found in a barn in Nashua. It was chambered in.45 Colt, a centerfire design containing charges of up to 40 grains of fine-grained black powder, relative to period cartridges and most later handgun rounds, it was quite powerful in its full loading. The Colt Single Action Army revolver, along with the 1870 and 1875 Smith & Wesson Model 3 Schofield revolver, the Colt.45 is a famous piece of American history, known as The Gun That Won the West. The Single Action Army became available in barrel lengths of 4¾, 5½ as well as the Cavalry standard. The shorter barrelled revolvers are sometimes called the Civilian or Gunfighter model, there was also a variant with a sub 4 barrel, without an ejector rod unofficially referred to as the Sheriffs Model, Bankers Special, or Storekeeper. From 1875 until 1880 Colt marketed a single-action revolver in.44 rimfire Henry caliber in a number range from no.1 to 1,863. A Flattop Target Model was listed in Colts catalogs from 1890 to 1898, Colt manufactured 914 of these revolvers with a frame which was flat on top and fitted with an adjustable leaf rear sight. The front sight consisted of a base with an interchangeable blade, in 1920, larger, highly visible sights replaced the original thin blade and notch. The revolvers remained essentially unchanged from that point until cessation of manufacture at the beginning of World War II, from 1873 through 1940, production of the Colt Single Action Army reached 357,859. This is identified as the Pre War or First Generation of the model, calibers, at least thirty in all, ranged from.22 rimfire through.476 Eley, with approximately half, or 158,884, chambered for.45 Colt. The next most prevalent were the. 44-40 Winchester Center fire at 71,392, 38-40 at 50,520, 32-20 Winchester at 43,284 and, the 41 Colt at 19,676. All original, good condition, U. S. Cavalry and Artillery Single Action Armies are among the most valuable to collectors, especially valuable, often going for well over $10,000, are the OWA and the rare Henry Nettleton inspected Single Action Army Colts
14.
Colt's Manufacturing Company
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Colts Manufacturing Company is an American firearms manufacturer, founded in 1855 by Samuel Colt. It is the corporation to Colts earlier firearms-making efforts, which started in 1836. Colts earliest designs played a role in the popularization of the revolver. Although Samuel Colt did not invent the concept, his designs resulted in the first very successful ones. The most famous Colt products include the Colt Walker, made 1847 in the facilities of Eli Whitney Jr. Though they did not develop it, for a long time Colt was also responsible for all AR-15 and M16 rifle production. The most successful and famous of these are numerous M16 carbines, including the Colt Commando family, in 2002, Colt Defense was split off from Colts Manufacturing Company. Colts Manufacturing Company now serves the market, while Colt Defense serves the law enforcement, military. The two companies remained in the same West Hartford, Connecticut location cross-licensing certain merchandise before reuniting in 2013, following the loss of its M4 contract in 2013, Colt was briefly in Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, starting in 2015. Samuel Colt received a British patent on his design for a revolver in 1835. That same year, he founded his first corporation for its manufacture, the first firearm manufactured at the new Paterson plant, however, was the Colt First Model Ring Lever rifle beginning in 1837. This was followed thereafter in late 1837 by the introduction of the Colt Paterson. This corporation suffered quality problems in production, making firearms with interchangeable parts was still rather new, and it was not yet easy to replicate across different factories. Interchangeability was not complete in the Paterson works, and traditional gunsmithing techniques did not fill the gap entirely there, the Colt Paterson revolver found patchy success and failure, some worked well, while others had problems. The United States Marine Corps and United States Army reported quality problems with these earliest Colt revolvers, production had ended at the New Jersey corporation by 1842. Colt made another attempt at revolver production in 1846 and submitted a prototype to the US government, during the Mexican–American War, this prototype was seen by Captain Samuel Hamilton Walker who made some suggestions to Colt about making it in a larger caliber. Having no factory or machinery to produce the pistols, Samuel Colt collaborated with the Whitney armory of Whitneyville and this armory was run by the family of Eli Whitney. Eli Whitney Jr, the son of the patriarch, was the head of the family armory
15.
Smith & Wesson Safety Hammerless
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The Smith & Wesson Safety Hammerless or Smith & Wesson New Departure is a double-action revolver that was produced from 1887 to 1940 by Smith & Wesson. The revolver incorporated an internal hammer and a grip safety on its backstrap. It was chambered in.32 S&W and.38 S&W calibers, the grip safety made a brief return to Smith & Wessons revolvers in 1952 with the release of the Models 40 and 42. The Smith & Wesson.38 Safety Hammerless models were produced from 1887 to just before World War II and they were chambered in either.32 S&W or.38 S&W with a five-shot cylinder. They were most often produced with a 2-inch, 3-inch, or 3. 5-inch barrels and these top-break revolvers were designed for fast reloading and concealed carry as the hammer was internal and would not snag on drawing the revolver from a pocket. They were known as The New Departure to reflect the new approach to designing revolvers. Minor design changes were made to these revolvers over the years, resulting in different design models. The first model was manufactured between 1887-1902, the 38 was based on S&Ws medium frame, while the 32 was based on the smaller sized 1½ frame. In 1952 the safety hammerless concept was applied to Smith & Wessons J-frame, the finished product became the Model 40 and 42 chambered in.38 Special and is alternately known as the Centennial as it was produced in the 100th anniversary of the founding of Smith & Wesson. While few competitors replicated the grip safety, the hammer or hammerless design proved popular with other manufacturers such as Iver Johnson and Harrington & Richardson. The concept is still maintained by numerous modern double-action revolver manufacturers
16.
.32 S&W
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The.32 S&W cartridge was introduced in 1878 for the Smith & Wesson Model 1 1/2 revolver and shouldnt be confused with the. 32ACP/7. 65×17mmSR Browning. It was originally designed as a powder cartridge. The.32 S&W was offered to the public as a light, defense cartridge, originally designed by the Union Metallic Cartridge Co. as a black powder cartridge using 9 grains of blackpowder, the round has been loaded with smokeless powder exclusively since 1907. It is low powered and perfect for use in small frame concealable revolvers and derringers, the round remained popular in the United States and Europe long after the firearms chambered for it were out of production. At one time it was considered to be the minimum for a self-defense round but was judged unsuitable for police work. These cartridges include the.25 ACP, and the.22 Short, Long, and Long Rifle. For comparison, the minuscule.32 S&W projectile, is over 40% larger in diameter, the.32 S&Ws velocity of approximately 700fps was very close to the.22 long rifles performance from a sub-3in barrel but with this larger diameter and better sectional density. Although the.32 S&Ws round nose bullet was less than optimal for defense and this performance made the.32 S&W, sometimes referred to as.32 Short, very popular as a gentlemans vest gun. The.32 S&W Long cartridge is derived from the.32 S&W, by increasing the overall case length. Leon Czolgosz used an Iver Johnson revolver chambered in.32 S&W to assassinate President William McKinley on September 6,1901, McKinley was shot twice in the abdomen at close range, and although he did not die immediately he eventually succumbed to gangrene on September 14
17.
.38 S&W
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The.38 S&W is a revolver cartridge developed by Smith & Wesson in 1877 for use in the S&W.38 Single Action. Though similar in name, it is not interchangeable with the later.38 Smith & Wesson Special due to a different case shape, the British military adopted a loading of this cartridge as the Cartridge, S. A. Revolver Ball,380 in, MkI. 38-200, with the 200 referring to the weight of the bullet in grains, in 1937, this cartridge was replaced in British Service by the Cartridge, S. A. The main difference between it and the round was that it had a 178 gr FMJ bullet. The.38 Colt New Police was Colts Manufacturing Companys proprietary name for what was essentially the.38 S&W with a flat-nosed bullet, mKEs 9.65 mm Normal cartridge has an 177 gr lead-antimony alloy bullet with a gilding-metal full metal jacket and a Boxer-primed brass case. The Normal designation differentiates it from their 9. 65mm Special round and it has a muzzle velocity of 590 ft/s and a muzzle energy of 21,335 lbs/inch2. Currently only Ruger makes limited runs of revolvers in this caliber for overseas sales, the majority that do offer it in only a 145 gr lead round nose bullet, though Fiocchi still markets FMJ rounds. Some companies such as Buffalo Bore manufacture self-defense or hunting variants, Colt. 38/200 Revolver Colt Police Positive Revolver Enfield No.2 Mk I Revolver S&W Victory Revolver Table of handgun and rifle cartridges Webley Mk IV revolver
18.
Break action
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A separate operation may be required for the cocking of a hammer to fire the new round. They are also known as hinge-action, break-open, break-barrel, break-top, a substantial hinge pin joins the two parts of the rifle or shotgun, the stock with its firing mechanism and the fore-piece and barrel, which hold the round to be fired. In some cases the pin may be easily removable, allowing the two portions of the weapon to be compactly and safely stored. In other cases the hinge will consist of a hook over a pin, a latch is operated to release the two parts of the weapon, allowing the breech to be exposed. A shell is inserted into the breech, and the mechanism is closed and latched, the hammer is then pulled back and latched. The weapon can now ready be fired, done by squeezing the trigger, after firing the rounds, the break action is unlatched and the barrel and forearm are allowed to fall forward. This causes an extractor catch to remove the spent shell, which falls to the ground. The weapon is now ready for a new cycle, the break open action is one of the most compact firearms actions. Since there are no parts to reciprocate, it is shorter than repeating designs and this compactness results in reductions in weight and size compared to larger actions, this can also allow a longer barrel in a firearm of similar size. Since the cartridge extractor or ejector is built into the assembly on break open actions. This makes break open actions ideal for interchangeable barrel firearms, such as the popular Thompson Center Arms Contender, the simplicity of the break open design, especially external hammer types, also reduces the cost of manufacture. There were a number of companies, such as H & R Firearms, while most firearms are designed for right-handed shooters, break action guns operate identically when fired from either shoulder. Another advantage of the action is the ability to insert longer cartridges into the chamber. This allows cartridges of an impractical in other designs, as well as easy use of caliber conversion sleeves.410 bore shells. The break open design is best suited for non-repeating firearms, modern double rifles are very expensive, and designed for short range use, the barrels are often regulated for ranges under 100 yards for use against dangerous game. Wear in the mechanism is focused upon the small area of the latch. In some firearms, such as the Thompson Center guns, the latch is a part that could be replaced when worn. Designs without a replaceable latch may be fixed by building up the part with a welder
19.
Iver Johnson
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Iver Johnson was a U. S. firearms, bicycle, and motorcycle manufacturer from 1871 to 1993. The company shared the name as its founder, Norwegian-born Iver Johnson. After closing, the name was resold and in 2006 Iver Johnson Arms opened in Rockledge, Florida selling shotguns and M1911 pistols. However, the new Iver Johnson company does not have any parts, guns or information relating to the pre-1993 company, Iver Johnson was born in Nordfjord in the year 1841, in Nordfjord, Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway and later emigrated from Norway to the United States. He was educated as a gunsmith in Bergen in 1857 and had a gun store in Oslo and he married Mary Elizabeth Speirs on April 9,1868, in Worcester, with whom he had 3 sons and 2 daughters. Iver Johnson immigrated to Worcester, Massachusetts from Norway in 1863 at the height of the American Civil War, in 1871, Johnson joined Martin Bye to form the Johnson Bye & Company, merging his own and Martin Byes gunsmithing operations. During this period, Johnson and Bye filed for and received several new firearms features and their primary revenues came from the sale of their self designed and manufactured inexpensive models of revolvers. Not much is known about Martin Bye, as there is little documented information about his life. Bye and Johnson filed jointly for and were awarded multiple patents together, mostly related to firearms designs, the company’s name changed to Iver Johnson & Company in 1883 upon Johnsons purchase of Byes interest in the firm. Bye continued to work in the industry for the remainder of his life. The companys name changed again to Iver Johnsons Arms & Cycle Works in 1891, the company attracted a number of talented immigrant machinists and designers to its ranks, including O. F. Iver Johnson died of tuberculosis in 1895, and his sons took over the business, frederick Iver, John Lovell, and Walter Olof, each had vastly different levels of involvement in the company ranging from executive leadership to barely any involvement at all. They shepherded the company through a phase of expansion, as bicycle operations grew, then converted to motorcycle manufacturing, as family ownership waned and outside investment via publicly traded stock and mergers/acquisitions/partnerships took hold, the company changed ownership and moved several times during its operation. The company eventually dropped Cycle Works from its moniker when that part of the business was shut down, the business successfully weathered the Great Depression and was buoyed by the dramatic increase in the market for arms leading up to and during World War II. After World War II, the introduction of new firearms slowed to a trickle. Increasingly, company fortunes depended upon sales of its increasingly outmoded revolvers, without new research and development, most firearms changes were limited to cosmetic updates of existing designs. As a result of changes in ownership, the company had the first of two major relocations in 1971 when it moved to New Jersey, Iver Johnson nomenclature refers to its top-break revolvers as Safety Automatics. These are revolvers, not semi-automatic pistols, which they largely pre-date, the term “Safety Automatic” refers to Iver Johnson’s Hammer-the-Hammer transfer bar safety system and the automatic ejection of cartridges upon breaking open the revolvers. k. a
20.
H&R Firearms
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H&R1871, LLC is a manufacturer of firearms under the Harrington & Richardson and New England Firearms trademarks. H&R is a subsidiary of the Freedom Group, the original H&R firm was in business for over a century from 1871 to 1986. Frank Wesson, brother of Daniel B, Wesson who co-founded Smith & Wesson, started a firearms manufacturing firm in 1859, sharing an early patent with Nathan Harrington. Wesson produced two trigger rifles and spur trigger pistols and pocket rifles/shotguns popular for short length holster models such as the discontinued topper compact pocket shotguns. He started a partnership in 1871 with his nephew Gilbert Henderson Harrington, as Wesson & Harrington. In 1875 Harrington and another former Wesson employee, William Augustus Richardson, in 1888 the firm was incorporated as The Harrington & Richardson Arms Company. Their original capital investment was $75,000, Harrington was president, Richardson was treasurer, and George F. Brooks was secretary. After the deaths of Harrington and Richardson in 1897, Brooks became the manager, in 1894 the company opened a new facility on Park Avenue in Worcester, Massachusetts. The factory was expanded again after a few years, the firearms produced through this time to 1911 carry extreme value as original antiquities. Original rifles and shotguns from these dates are scarce because of their limited production, in 1950 the company opened a new facility on Cockburn street in Drummondville, Québec, Canada. In the 1960s H&R was acquired by the Kidde corporation and run by the Rowe family, warranty cards were sent to Industrial Rowe, Gardner, Massachusetts. The original H&R company went out of business in 1986, a new company, H&R1871, Inc. was formed in 1991 and started production of revolvers, single-shot rifles and shotguns using original H&R designs. H&R1871, Inc. assets were sold to H&R1871. A Connecticut LLC owned by Marlin Firearms Company in November 2000, H&R1871, LLC. did not extend their product warranty to H&R guns made prior to the LLCs takeover. Marlin, including all its H&R assets, was acquired by Remington Arms Company in December,2007. H&R1871, LLC production was moved to Ilion, N. Y. in late 2008, while their corporate offices are co-located with Remington Arms in Madison, Remington, along with its Marlin and H&R subsidiaries, are now part of the Freedom Group. H&R1871 production ceased 27 February 2015, the Wesson & Harrington company was at 18 Manchester Street, Worcester, Mass. from 1871 until 1877. The Harrington & Richardson company was located at 31 Hermon Street, Worcester, William Richardson lived at 921 Main Street in Worcester
21.
Smith & Wesson Centennial
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S&W Centennial is a family of revolvers made by Smith & Wesson on the J-Frame. Depending upon caliber, the cylinder holds either 5,6,7, or 8, centennials feature a fully enclosed hammer, which makes them Double Action Only firearms. Like all other J-frame Smith & Wesson revolvers, they have a swing-out cylinder, the Smith & Wesson Model 40 originally debuted as the Centennial in 1952 and was renamed the Model 40 in 1957. The Model 40 is chambered in.38 special and has a five-round capacity and it is a snub-nose revolver with a 1 7/8-inch barrel. It is built on Smith & Wessons J-frame and weighs 21 oz. empty, the revolver was made with a grip safety as some shooters could not get used to the idea of firing a revolver without cocking the hammer. Smith & Wesson reintroduced this model in 2007 as a piece with some models featuring a case hardened finish by Doug Turnbull. The Model 42 came out in 1952 as the Airweight Centennial but was changed in 1957 to the Model 42, the gun was the same design as the Model 40 except the frame was made of an aluminum alloy, resulting in a lower weight than the Model 40. The Model 42 was discontinued in 1974, the Model 640 revolver has been in production since 1990 and was chambered for.38 Special. It was fitted with a barrel of 1-7/8 inch length. The second model had a heavier and longer barrel of 2-1/8 inch length. A3 barreled version was offered until 1993, when it was dropped from production, in 1996 S&W began chambering the 640 in.357 Magnum. Because of the power of the.357 magnum cartridge, the frame is strengthened just in front of the release on those models. The 442 has a frame and blued carbon steel cylinder. The 642 has a frame and stainless steel cylinder. In 1993 S&W introduced the Model 940, similar in appearance to the 640, in 1996 the 940 was dropped from production. In 2001 a Scandium framed version was introduced in.357 Magnum designated as the Model 340. The model M&P342 was introduced in 2001 as a run of revolvers that are identical to a Model 340. Another warning in the manual is that recoil may pull the cases of unfired rounds in the cylinder rearward with enough force to unseat the bullets causing the cylinder to jam
22.
Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless
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The Colt Model 1908 Pocket Hammerless is a variant introduced five years later in.380 ACP caliber. Despite the title Hammerless, the Model 1903 does have a hammer and it is covered and hidden from view under the rear of the slide. This allowed the pistol to be carried in, and withdrawn from a pocket quickly and smoothly without snagging, approximately 570,000 Colt Pocket Hammerless pistols were produced from 1903 to 1945, in five different types. Some were issued to US Army and US Air Force general officers from World War II through the 1970s and they were replaced in 1972 with the RIA Colt M15 General Officers Model, a compact version of the M1911A1. In addition to lawful owners, many gangsters of the pre-World War II era favored the Model 1903 and Model 1908 because they were relatively small and easily concealed. It is said that Al Capone kept one in his coat pocket, note, There was also a Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammer pistol in.38 ACP, but this design is unrelated. The FN Model 1903 pistol design is related to the Colt Pocket Hammerless, General Officer models were often engraved with the officers name. Recipients included Generals Eisenhower, Bradley, Marshall, and Patton, pattons Model 1908 was embellished with three stars on the grip panels to denote his rank. They came in russet or black leather and were made by ALPCO or Hickock, a cleaning rod and two spare magazines were also included. Generals were issued the Model M in.380 ACP, until 1950, when supply ran out. At that point, they were substituted with.32 models until their replacement in 1972, the Pocket Hammerless was replaced by the M15 pistol made by Rock Island Arsenal in.45 ACP. Today, the Pocket Hammerless is manufactured by U. S. Armament and this pistol was actually fired by action of a hammer striking and driving a firing pin into a center-fire cartridges primer. The hammer was covered by the rear of the slide, the hammerless designation was merely an advertising designation pointing out the pistols particular suitability for concealed carry. Special features include a serrated slide to prevent slippage during manual cycling of the slide, the grip safety is a spring-loaded piece making up the back strap of the pistol. The grip safety, though not solely restricted to them, was a feature of Colt automatic pistols. A magazine safety was added on models, this feature prevents the pistol from being fired with a round in the chamber. In 1908, a.380 ACP version of this gun was introduced, called the Model 1908, it was nearly identical to the Model 1903 except for the bore diameter and the magazine, which held seven rounds. Grip panels were black checked hard rubber, checked walnut, or special order materials, sights were fixed, although the rear sight was drift-adjustable for windage. Metal finish was blued or nickel, and some special-order finishes such as engraved, Type II,32 cal separate barrel bushing, 3 3⁄4 inch barrel, 1908–1910, SN72,000 through 105,050
23.
.32 ACP
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.32 ACP, also known as the.32 Automatic is a centerfire pistol cartridge. It is a semi-rimmed, straight-walled cartridge developed by firearms designer John Browning and it was introduced in 1899 by Fabrique Nationale, and is also known as the 7. 65×17mmSR Browning or 7.65 mm Browning Short. John Browning engineered a number of modern semi-automatic pistol mechanisms and cartridges, as his first pistol cartridge, the.32 ACP needed a straight wall for reliable blowback operation as well as a small rim for reliable feeding from a box magazine. The cartridge headspaces on the rim, the cartridge was a success and was adopted by dozens of countries and countless governmental agencies. The popularity of the.32 ACP in the half of the 20th century cannot be overstated—especially in Europe. Firearms expert Geoffrey Boothroyd of the UK informed author Ian Fleming, his countryman, a significant factor in recommending this round was its near universal availability throughout the world in the 1950s. To avoid patent infringement John Pedersen designed the Remington Model 51 so as to not to rely on any other, the.32 ACP has been chambered in more handguns than any other cartridge. Between 1899 and 1909, Fabrique Nationale produced 500,000 guns chambered for.32 ACP, heckler & Koch produced the HK4, their first handgun, in 1967. Twelve thousand HK4 pistols were produced in.32 ACP for the German police, the.32 ACP was intended for blowback semi-automatic pistols which lacked a breech locking mechanism. It was John Pedersen with the Remington Model 51 that delivered a true locked breech for the.32 ACP cartridge, the relatively low power and light bullet of the cartridge allowed Browning to incorporate a practical blowback mechanism in a small pocket-size pistol. It is still used primarily in compact, inexpensive pistols. The.32 ACP is compact and light, while some believe it has marginal stopping power, it has been used effectively by military and police worldwide for the past century. Weapons chambered in it are often valued for their compactness, although.32 ACP handguns were traditionally made of steel, they have been produced in light weight polymers since the 1990s. Their light weight, very low recoil and very good relative to larger caliber pistols make them suitable for concealed carry use. Some popular pistols chambered in.32 ACP are the Walther PP and the Walther PPK as well as the FEG PA-63, which is a clone of the Walther PP. It offers more velocity and energy than the.32 S&W, although of lighter bullet weight, the.32 ACP also compares favorably to the.32 S&W Long in performance. Some European 73 grain.32 ACP loads provides similar performance to the.32 H&R Magnum 77 grain lead flat point and 90 grain lead semiwadcutter, the.32 ACP is one of the most common calibers used in veterinary humane killers, such as the Greener Humane Killer. Given that a.22 LR can penetrate bone, the higher power.32 ACP can easily penetrate a skull with a muzzle-contact shot
24.
.380 ACP
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The.380 ACP is a rimless, straight-walled pistol cartridge developed by firearms designer John Moses Browning. The cartridge headspaces on the mouth of the case and it was introduced in 1908 by Colt, for use in its new Colt Model 1908 pocket hammerless semi-automatic, and has been a popular self-defense cartridge ever since, seeing wide use in numerous handguns. Other names for.380 ACP include.380 Auto, 9mm Browning, 9mm Corto, 9mm Kurz, 9mm Short and it is not to be confused with.38 ACP, 9mm Ultra, 9mm Makarov or 9mm Parabellum. The.380 ACP cartridge was derived from Brownings earlier 9×20mm semi-rimmed design, the.380 ACP was designed to be truly rimless, with headspace on the case mouth instead of the rim for better accuracy. These relatively low-powered designs were intended for blowback pistols which lacked a barrel locking mechanism, a drawback of the blowback system is that it requires a certain amount of slide mass to counter the recoil of the round used. Blowback weapons can be made in larger than.380 ACP. There have also some relatively diminutive submachine guns, such as the Ingram MAC-11. The.380 ACP has experienced widespread use in the years since its introduction. In 1914, it was used by Gavrilo Princip to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophia and it was also used extensively by Germany, who captured or purchased hundreds of thousands of pistols in this caliber during World War II. Popular German built commercial models, such as the Walther PPK were very popular with German officers, the Italian Army used the Beretta M1934, but the Italian Air Force and Navy stuck with the 7. 65mm/.32 ACP when they adopted the Beretta M1935. It was widely used by forces in Europe until at least the 1980s when more powerful 9×19mm handguns began to replace it in this market as well. It does find some use as a backup gun due to the small and easily concealable size of the weapons that chambered it. The.380 ACP round is suitable for situations as a choice for concealed carry pistols. It was the used in Defense Distributeds Wiki Weapon project to successfully 3D print a firearm. The.380 ACP is compact and light, but has a short range. According to gun author Massad Ayoob, Some experts will say its barely adequate, even so, it remains a popular self-defense cartridge for shooters who want a lightweight pistol with manageable recoil and/or smaller pistol. It is slightly less powerful than a standard-pressure.38 Special, the heaviest bullet that can be safely loaded into the.380 ACP is 115 grains, though the standard has long been 85,90 or 95 grains. The wounding potential of bullets is often characterized in terms of a bullets expanded diameter, penetration depth, bullet energy for.380 ACP loads varies from roughly 190 to 220 foot-pounds force
25.
.25 ACP
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The.25 ACP is a semi-rimmed, straight-walled centerfire pistol cartridge introduced by John Browning in 1905 alongside the Fabrique Nationale M1905 pistol. The cartridge was designed by John Browning for early blowback pistols that lacked a breech locking mechanism, the cartridge was designed to duplicate the performance of a.22 Long Rifle cartridge, when fired from a 2 barrel. The.25 caliber was the smallest case Browning could use, and utilize primer pocket, and sufficient rim. The greased, coated lead bullet design, standard for the.22 long rifle of the day, was replaced with a copper jacketed round nose profile for more reliable feeding in self-loading pistols. The bullet weight was typically 50 grains, keeping with the density of the 40 grain.22 caliber bullet. The cartridge is of semi-rimmed design meaning that the rim protrudes slightly beyond the diameter of the base of the cartridge so the cartridge can headspace on the rim, a recessed extractor groove allows an extractor to grab the cartridge reliably. It is one of the smallest centerfire pistol round in production, the.25 ACP achieved widespread use after Colt introduced the Browning-designed Fabrique 1905 vest pocket to the United States as the Colt Model 1908 Vest Pocket. In the late century, Bowen Classic Arms produced a custom Smith & Wesson revolver in.25 ACP. Following World War II, the Italian Lercker machine pistol was chambered for the.25 ACP, manufacturers have loaded commercial hollow-point bullets to higher velocities than standard 50-grain full metal jacketed loads
26.
Colt Model 1908 Vest Pocket
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The Model 1908 Vest Pocket is a compact, hammerless, striker-fired, semi-automatic single-action pistol. Manufactured by the Colts Manufacturing Company from 1908 to 1948, it was marketed as a concealable firearm which could be easily tucked into a vest pocket for unobtrusive carry. Created by famed firearms designer John Moses Browning, the Model 1908 followed Browning’s earlier European version, both pistols were chambered for the Browning-invented.25 ACP cartridge. Known as the Model N internally within Colt, the 1908 Vest Pocket is a diminutive 4.5 inches long, weighing a mere 13 ounces, it is fed by a six-round single column magazine. The pistol’s fixed open iron sights were rather small and rudimentary, Colts advertising and marketing literature of the time highly touted the advanced safety features of the Model 1908, including a standard slide-locking safety catch, as well as a grip safety. In 1916 Colt engineer George Tansley invented a safety feature for the pistol, the magazine safety disconnector. This additional safety device was added to production in 1916 or 1917 in the latter 139,000 serial number range, proud of the state-of-the-art technology represented by this advance, Colt included a green brochure marking its inclusion with every Model 1908 sold for a year after its introduction. Additionally, in approximately the 280,000 serial number range, the Vest Pocket was mainly produced with the famous highly polished lustrous Colt royal blue finish, featuring color-casehardening of the safety catch, grip safety, and trigger. A second popular option was polished nickel plate, and various specialty and customer order finishes were available, including gold and silver plating. Standard grip materials available included black hard rubber in both square and round top configurations, and finely checked walnut, all factory grips sported a medallion emblazoned with the famous rampant Colt which was available in two differing styles. More elaborate grip options were offered, such as Ivory. In 40 years of production a total of approximately 420,705 Model 1908 pistols were manufactured, an improved redesign became the Baby Browning, which is still in production. The 1906 FN Browning and the 1908 Colt, The First Vest Pocket Pistols, by Ed Buffaloe
27.
FN Baby Browning
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The FN Baby Browning is a small blowback-operated semi-automatic pistol designed by Dieudonné Saive based on a design by John Browning and chambered in.25 ACP. The pistol features a magazine capacity and is a striker-fired, single action. The manual thumb operated safety locks the slide in the position when engaged using side thumb pressure. FN introduced the revolutionary model 1905 in 1905, despite the name FN used for this pistol, it was later marketed as the M1906, the V. P.25, and most confusingly, the Baby model. This pistol was introduced more or less at the time the 6. 35x16mm.25 ACP cartridge became widely available. The term ACP stands for Automatic Colt Pistol and this cartridge was among the first automatic pistol cartridges to be utilized worldwide. It was designed with a shell casing made of brass. The rim of the casing had a slightly larger circumference than the base of the cartridge. The M1905/M1906 Vest Pocket pistol incorporated a safety mechanism that constituted the entire rear section of the grip. This particular safety mechanism required a significant amount of hand palm pressure to disengage, Colt produced a nearly identical pocket pistol, the Colt Model 1908 Vest Pocket, which incorporated a small safety lever on the left side of the receiver which locked the trigger. In addition, this safety lever mechanism locked the slide about a half inch back from the front of the pistol to enable easy disassembly, FN also added this safety lever mechanism to its pistol, but did not add the magazine safety mechanism that Colt introduced in 1916. Pressured by dozens of imitations and the proliferation of blatant unlicensed copies, the basic Vest Pocket pistol design was used as a starting point for the new design. Dieudonné Saive was asked during 1926-1927 to design the new pistol and his design was smaller, lighter, and incorporated several refinements and improvements to the M1908 version. This improvement was at the cost of the slide hold-back feature that was eliminated in the new design. The receiver has a full-length dust guard extending to the end of the slide, the Dieudonne Saive design also introduced a magazine safety mechanism similar to the one utilized on the Colt Vest Pocket pistol. Parts are not interchangeable between these pistols, a cocking indicator was also incorporated on the back of the slide. FN manufactured and marketed the Baby Browning pistol from 1931 until 1979, about 500,000 units were produced, including the hand chiseled engraved Renaissance and the Lightweight version. The Lightweight utilized a 6061 T6 aluminum receiver and chrome-plated slide and this particular version of the Baby Browning pistol was developed and marketed in commemoration of the Concorde supersonic jet which was introduced to the public circa 1965
28.
Blowback (firearms)
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Several blowback systems exist within this broad principle of operation, each distinguished by the methods used to control bolt movement. A few locked breech designs use a form of blowback to perform the unlocking function, the blowback principle may be considered a simplified form of gas operation, since the cartridge case behaves like a piston driven by the powder gases. Other operating principles for self-loading firearms include blow forward, gas operation and this rearward thrust, imparted against the breech, is a direct result of the expansion of propellant gases. The energy from the expansion of gases on firing appears in the form of energy transmitted to the bolt mechanism. The extent to which blowback is employed largely depends on the used to control the movement of the bolt. How the movement of the bolt is controlled is where blowback systems differ, relating blowback to other types of automatic firearm operation, George M. Chinn wrote that, In the larger sense, blowback might well be considered a special form of gas operation. This is reasonable because the case may be conceived of as a sort of piston driven by the powder gases. Actually, blowback involves so many problems that it is best considered to be in a class by itself. The question whether or not it should be included within the general class of gas operation or recoil operation is purely academic. The important point is that it some of the properties of both classes and, depending on the particular problem at hand, may be considered to be either one. The blowback system represents the most basic auto loading operation type, in a blowback mechanism, the bolt rests against the rear of the barrel, but is not locked in place. At the point of ignition, expanding gases push the bullet forward through the barrel while at the same time pushing the case rearward against the bolt. The expanding gases push the bolt assembly to the rear, but the motion is slowed by the mass of the bolt, internal friction, the design must ensure that the delay is long enough that bullet exits the barrel before the cartridge case clears the chamber. The empty case is ejected as the travels to the rear. The stored energy of the action spring then drives the bolt forward. A new cartridge is stripped from the magazine and chambered as the returns to its in-battery position. The blowback system is practical for firearms using relatively low-power cartridges with lighter weight bullets, higher power cartridges require heavier bolts to keep the breech from opening prematurely, at some point, the bolt becomes too heavy to be practical. Consequently, the spring is not powerful enough to keep the bolt closed when the gun is tilted up
29.
FN Model 1910
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The FN Model 1910 is a blowback-operated, semi-automatic pistol designed by John Browning and manufactured by Fabrique Nationale of Belgium. The FN Model 1910, also known as the Browning model 1910, was a departure for Browning, before, his designs were produced by both FN in Europe and Colt Firearms in the United States. Since Colt did not want to produce it, Browning chose to patent, introduced in 1910, this pistol used a novel operating spring location surrounding the barrel. This location became the standard in such weapons as the Walther PPK. It incorporated the standard Browning striker-firing mechanism and a grip safety along with a magazine safety, offered in both.380 ACP and.32 ACP calibres, it remained in production until 1983. It is possible to switch calibres by changing only the barrel, however, FN never offered packages containing a single pistol with both calibre barrels. A variant of the Model 1910 was known variously as the Model 1922 or 1910/22 and this was a larger model with a longer barrel, slide extension, and a longer grip frame to accommodate an extra two rounds. This model was aimed at military and police contracts and many examples were produced for various agencies, the FN Model 1910/1922 was initially designed for Yugoslavia. 1910/1922 pistols went on to see service in World War Two. These examples carry Nazi production stamps, and most have simple chequered wood grips instead of the horn or plastic grips bearing the FN logo. The FN Model 1922 was also used by the countries, Yugoslavia, Holland, Greece, Turkey, Romania, France, Finland, Denmark. In 1955, the Browning Arms Company introduced the Model 1910 pistol for the American market as the Model 1955, made in Belgium, this model was virtually identical to the European model except for the markings and grips. Importation ceased in 1968 due to the passage of stricter gun-control laws in the U. S, another version, the Model 1971, featured a longer barrel and slide, adjustable sights, a finger-rest magazine, and enlarged target grips. These features were intended to comply with the Gun Control Act of 1968 which had halted import of the Model 1955, north Korea made copies of the Model 1910 without licence as the Type 70 pistol. The weapon is not only for domestic use but also for export. The Hamada Type or Hamada Type Automatic handgun was a semi-automatic pistol developed in 1941 for use by the Empire of Japan during World War II, developed by Bunji Hamada, the pistol took its basic design from the Model 1910 Browning. Production occurred at the Japanese Firearms Manufacturing Company, with minor changes made as the war progressed. Numerous previous sources erroneously cited the FN Model 1900 in.32 calibre as being the weapon Princip used and this has led to confusion over the calibre of the pistol actually used
30.
Walther PP
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The Walther PP series pistols are blowback-operated semi-automatic pistols, developed by the German arms manufacturer Walther. It features an exposed hammer, a traditional double-action trigger mechanism, a magazine. The series includes the Walther PP, PPK, PPK/S, various PP series are manufactured in either Germany, France, or the United States. Since 2002, the PPK variant is manufactured by Smith & Wesson in Houlton, Maine, United States. The PP and the PPK were among the worlds first successful double action semi-automatic pistols and were widely copied, but are still made by Walther. The design inspired other pistols, among them the Soviet Makarov, the Hungarian FEG PA-63, the Polish P-64, the American Accu-Tek AT-380 II, the PP and PPK were both popular with European police and civilians, for being reliable and concealable. During World War II, they were issued to the German military, including the Luftwaffe, the original PP was released in 1929. It was designed for use and was used by police forces in Europe in the 1930s. The semi-automatic pistol operated using a blowback action. The PP was designed with safety features, some of them innovative, including an automatic hammer block, a combination safety/decocker. The most common variant is the Walther PPK, a version of the PP with a shorter grip, barrel and frame. A new, two-piece wrap-around grip panel construction was used to conceal the exposed back strap, the smaller size made it more concealable than the original PP and hence better suited to plainclothes or undercover work. PPK is an abbreviation for Polizeipistole Kriminalmodell, kriminal referring to the detective division. Adolf Hitler shot and killed himself with his PPK in the Führerbunker in Berlin, south Korean dictator Park Chung-hee was shot and killed by Kim Jae-gyu, using the Walther PPK. Fleming had given Bond a.25 Beretta 418 pistol in early novels, no on the advice of firearms expert Geoffrey Boothroyd. Singer Elvis Presley owned a silver-finish PPK, inscribed TCB, the PPK/S was developed following the enactment of the Gun Control Act of 1968 in the United States, the pistols largest market. One of the provisions of GCA68 banned the importation of pistols and revolvers not meeting requirements of length, weight. The PPK failed the Import Points test of the GCA68 by a single point, Walther addressed this situation by combining the PPs frame with the PPKs barrel and slide to create a pistol that weighed slightly more than the PPK
31.
Makarov pistol
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The Makarov pistol or PM is a Russian semi-automatic pistol. Under the project leadership of Nikolay Fyodorovich Makarov, it became the Soviet Unions standard military, shortly after the Second World War, the Soviet Union reactivated its plans to replace the Tokarev TT33 self-loading pistols and Nagant M1895 revolvers. The adoption of the future AK assault rifle relegated the pistol to a light, therefore, the TT30/33 was unsuited for such a role, as it was heavy, bulky, and possessed too little stopping power. Whats more, the Tokarev pistols omitted a safety and magazines were deemed too easy to lose, as a result, in December 1945, two separate contests for a new service pistol were created, respectively for a 7. 62mm and 9mm pistol. It was later judged that the new 9. 2x18mm cartridge, the lower pressures of the cartridge allowed practical straight blowback operation, while retaining low recoil and good stopping power. Several engineers took part in the contest, including Korovin, Baryshev, Vojvodin, Simonov, Rakov, Klimov, Lobanov, Sevryugin, special emphasis was placed on safety, user-friendliness, accuracy, weight, and dimensions. During April 1948, Makarovs pistol experienced 20 times fewer malfunctions than the competing Baryshev and Sevryugin counterparts, the pistol was therefore selected in 1949 for further development and optimization for mass production. Tooling was set up in the Izhevsk plant for production, after many major design changes and tweaks, the gun was formally adopted as the Pistolet Makarova, or PM in 1951. As the new standard sidearm of the USSR, the PM was issued to NCOs, police, special forces. It remained in wide front-line service with Soviet military and police until, variants of the pistol remain in production in Russia, China, and Bulgaria. In 2003, the Makarov PM was formally replaced by the Yarygin PYa pistol in Russian service, although as of 2012, large numbers of Makarov PMs are still in Russian military, the Makarov PM is still the service pistol of many Eastern European and former Soviet republics. North Korea and Vietnam also use Makarov PMs as standard-issue pistols, the PM is a medium-size, straight-blowback-action, all-steel construction, frame-fixed barrel handgun. In blowback designs, the force holding the slide closed is that of the recoil spring, upon firing. Blowback designs are simple and more accurate than using a recoiling, tilting, or articulated barrel. The 9×18mm cartridge is a cartridge in blowback-operated pistols, producing a respectable level of energy from a gun of moderate weight. Other, more powerful cartridges have been used in blowback pistol designs, the general layout and field-strip procedure of the Makarov pistol is similar to that of the PP. However, designer Makarov and his team drastically simplified the construction of the pistol, improving reliability and reducing the count to an astonishing 27. This allowed considerable ease of manufacture and servicing, all of the individual parts of the PM have been optimised for mass production, robustness and interchangeability, partially thanks to captured German tooling, technology, and machinery
32.
Safety (firearms)
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In firearms, a safety or safety catch is a mechanism used to help prevent the accidental discharge of a firearm, helping to ensure safer handling. Safeties can generally be divided into such as internal safeties. Sometimes these are called passive and active safeties, respectively, some firearms manufactured after the late 1990s include mandatory integral locking mechanisms that must be deactivated by a unique key before the gun can be fired. These integral locking mechanisms are intended as child-safety devices during unattended storage of the firearm—not as safety mechanisms while carrying, other devices in this category are trigger locks, bore locks, and gun safes. The most common form of safety mechanism is a switch, button or lever that, other designs may block the hammer or striker from forward movement or act as a block to prevent them from contacting the firing pin. The M1911 design is an example of a handgun with a grip safety. The Uzi submachine gun is another example of a firearm with a grip safety, a related grip-type safety is the decocking grip found on some H&K pistols like the P7 Series. The firearm is cocked and ready to fire only when the front of the grip is squeezed by the operator. When the grip is released, the firearm is decocked, and the trigger will not cock the firearm, therefore it will not fire unless the grip is squeezed. Alternatively, the trigger can first be pulled and then it will fire when the grip is subsequently squeezed, finally, if both the grip is squeezed and the trigger pulled simultaneously, the pistol will fire. Another, unusual variant was found in the Ortgies semi-automatic pistols, to disengage the safety, a user would squeeze a lever until flush with the rear of the grip. Thus, engaging the safety also relieved some tension in the striker spring, as the Ortgies is a pocket pistol meant for personal defense, this feature eliminates the problem of failing to disengage the safety when one needs to shoot. Gripping the pistol tightly is all it takes to disengage the safety, most traditional semi-automatic double-action/single action pistols are designed to be carried with the hammer down on a chambered round, with or without a manual safety engaged. However, the act of cycling the action on such a firearm will leave the hammer cocked in single-action mode. To return the pistol to its state, it is necessary to uncock the hammer, usually by holding the hammer spur, carefully pulling the trigger. A decock/safety is a manual safety switch and decocking lever. A simpler two-way system was popularized by the Walther PP and is commonly seen on the Beretta 92. The SIG Sauer line of pistols, such as the SIG P226, the earliest use of a single-action decocker was the Vis wz.35 Radom redesign in 1932 to enable horsemen to safely holster their firearm with one hand
33.
James Bond (literary character)
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Commander James Bond, CMG, RNVR, is a fictional character created by British journalist and novelist Ian Fleming in 1953. He is the protagonist of the James Bond series of novels, films, comics, Fleming wrote twelve Bond novels and two short story collections, although the last two books—The Man with the Golden Gun and Octopussy and The Living Daylights—were published posthumously. The Bond character is a Secret Service agent, code number 007, residing in London but active internationally. Bond has a number of traits which run throughout the books, including an enjoyment of cars, a love of food and drink. There have also other authors who wrote one book each, Kingsley Amis, Sebastian Faulks, Jeffery Deaver, William Boyd. Additionally, a series of novels based on Bonds youth—Young Bond—was written by Charlie Higson, as spin-offs from the literary works, there was a television adaptation of the first novel, Casino Royale, in which Bond was played as an American agent. A comic strip also ran in the Daily Express newspaper. There have been 26 Bond films, seven actors have played Bond in these films, the central figure in Ian Flemings work was the fictional character of James Bond, an intelligence officer in the Secret Service. Bond was also known by his number,007, and was a Royal Naval Reserve Commander. During World War II, Ian Fleming had mentioned to friends that he wanted to write a spy novel. It was not until 1952, however, shortly before his wedding to his pregnant girlfriend, Ann Charteris and he finished work on the manuscript in just over a month, completing it on 18 March 1952. Fleming went on to write a total of twelve Bond novels, the last two books—The Man with the Golden Gun and Octopussy and The Living Daylights—were published posthumously. Among those types were his brother, Peter, whom Fleming worshipped, sir Fitzroy Maclean was another figure mentioned as a possibility, based on his wartime work behind enemy lines in the Balkans, as was the MI6 double agent Dušan Popov. Distinct similarities between the protagonist in The Life Line, Mark Chalmers and James Bond have been highlighted by spy writer, Nigel West. On another occasion Fleming said, I wanted the simplest, dullest, plainest-sounding name I could find, James Bond was much better than something more interesting, like Peregrine Carruthers. Exotic things would happen to and around him, but he would be a neutral figure—an anonymous, after Fleming met the ornithologist and his wife, he described them as a charming couple who are amused by the whole joke. In the first draft of Casino Royale he decided to use the name James Secretan as Bonds cover name while on missions, Bonds number—007—was assigned by Fleming in reference to one of British naval intelligences key achievements of World War I, the breaking of the German diplomatic code. One of the German documents cracked and read by the British was the Zimmermann Telegram, which was coded 0075, facially, Bond resembles the composer, singer and actor Hoagy Carmichael
34.
James Bond in film
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The James Bond film series is a British series of spy films based on the fictional character of MI6 agent James Bond,007, who originally appeared in a series of books by Ian Fleming. It is one of the longest continually-running film series in history, in that time Eon Productions has produced 24 films, most of them at Pinewood Studios. With a combined gross of over $7 billion to date, the produced by Eon constitute the fourth-highest-grossing film series. Six actors have portrayed 007 in the Eon series, the latest being Daniel Craig, Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman co-produced most of the Eon films until 1975, when Broccoli became the sole producer. The single exception during this period was Thunderball, on which Broccoli, from 1984 Broccoli was joined by his stepson Michael G. Wilson as producer and in 1995 Broccoli stepped aside from Eon and was replaced by his daughter Barbara, who has co-produced with Wilson since. Broccolis family company, Danjaq, has ownership of the series through Eon. The Eon series has seen continuity both in the actors and in the production crews, with directors, writers, composers, production designers. No to For Your Eyes Only, the films were distributed solely by United Artists, when Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer absorbed United Artists in 1981, MGM/UA Entertainment Co. was formed and distributed the films until 1995. MGM solely distributed three films from 1997 to 2002 after United Artists was retired as a mainstream studio, Feldman, and a 1983 remake of Thunderball entitled Never Say Never Again, produced by Jack Schwartzman, who had obtained the rights to the film from McClory. It was adapted for the screen by Anthony Ellis and Charles Bennett, Bennett was well known for his collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock, including The 39 Steps and Sabotage. Due to the restriction of a play, the adapted version lost many of the details found in the book, although it retained its violence. The hour-long Casino Royale episode, which starred American actor Barry Nelson as Bond and Peter Lorre as the villain Le Chiffre, in 1959 producer Albert R. Cubby Broccoli at Warwick Films expressed interest in adapting the Bond novels, but his colleague Irving Allen was unenthusiastic. Towards the end of Saltzmans option period, screenwriter Wolf Mankowitz introduced him to Broccoli, a number of Hollywood studios did not want to fund the films, finding them too British or too blatantly sexual. Eventually the two signed a deal with United Artists for 100 per cent financial backing and distribution of seven films, Saltzman and Broccoli also created the company Danjaq, which was to hold the rights to the films which Eon Productions was to produce. Eon had originally intended to film Flemings novel Thunderball first, but Kevin McClory took Fleming to the High Court in London for breach of copyright over the book, and so Eon decided to film Dr. Eon asked several directors—Bryan Forbes, Guy Green, Val Guest and Guy Hamilton—to helm the film, Eon had originally hired Wolf Mankowitz and Richard Maibaum to write Dr. Nos screenplay, partly because of Mankowitzs help in brokering the deal between Broccoli and Saltzman. An initial draft of the screenplay was rejected because the scriptwriters had made the villain, Dr. No, a monkey, and Mankowitz left the film. To play the role of Bond, Sean Connery was not Broccoli or Flemings first choice, but he was selected after Patrick McGoohan had turned down the role
35.
James Bond novels
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James Bond is the fictional protagonist of a series of novels and short stories, first published in 1953. Fleming went on to write a total of twelve novels and two collections of stories, all written at his Jamaican home Goldeneye and published annually. Two of his books were published after his death in 1964, since Flemings death a number of other authors have written continuation works. Some of these have been novelizations of episodes in the series of Bond films, produced by Eon Productions, while others were either continuation novels or short stories. The first author was Kingsley Amis, writing under the pseudonym of Robert Markham who produced one novel, then came novelist, novelist and screenwriter Christopher Wood wrote two novelizations in the late 1970s. Writer John Gardner was asked to continue the series by copyright holders Ian Fleming Publications and, after Gardner retired due to ill health, American author Raymond Benson continued the stories and wrote six Bond novels, three novelizations and three short stories between 1996 and 2002. There was a hiatus of six years before Sebastian Faulks was commissioned to write a further Bond novel, which was released on 28 May 2008, the 100th anniversary of Ian Flemings birth. This was followed in 2011 by a novel by American author Jeffery Deaver, a 2013 book by William Boyd, there has also been a spin-off series of books, Young Bond, based around Bonds adventures whilst a schoolboy at Eton College. During World War II Fleming had mentioned to friends that he wanted to write a spy novel, publishers Jonathan Cape were initially reluctant to publish the book, but were persuaded by Flemings brother Peter, who had previously published material through them. On 13 April 1953 Casino Royale was released in the UK in hardcover, priced at 10s, 6d, with a cover that had been devised by Fleming himself. The first edition of 4,728 copies of Casino Royale sold out in less than a month, at the time, Fleming was the Foreign Manager for Kemsley Newspapers, an organisation which owned The Sunday Times. Upon accepting the job, Fleming requested that he be allowed three months holiday per year, which allowed him the freedom to write. The novel centred on the exploits of James Bond, an officer in the 00 section of the Secret Intelligence Service. Bond was also known by his number,007, and was a Royal Naval Reserve Commander. Fleming took the name for his character from that of the American ornithologist James Bond, in the summer of 1958, the CBS television network commissioned Fleming to write episodes of a television show based on the James Bond character. This deal came about after the success of the 1954 television adaptation of Casino Royale as an episode of the CBS television series Climax, Fleming agreed to the deal, and began to write outlines for the series, however, CBS later dropped the idea. In January and February 1959 Fleming adapted four of the plots into short stories. After Flemings death, a collection featuring two short stories was released, Octopussy and The Living Daylights
36.
Ian Fleming
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Ian Lancaster Fleming was an English author, journalist and naval intelligence officer who is best known for his James Bond series of spy novels. Fleming came from a family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co. Educated at Eton, Sandhurst and, briefly, the universities of Munich and Geneva and his wartime service and his career as a journalist provided much of the background, detail and depth of the James Bond novels. Fleming wrote his first Bond novel, Casino Royale, in 1952 and it was a success, with three print runs being commissioned to cope with the demand. Eleven Bond novels and two short-story collections followed between 1953 and 1966, the novels revolved around James Bond, an officer in the Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known as MI6. Bond was also known by his number,007, and was a commander in the Royal Naval Reserve. The Bond stories rank among the series of fictional books of all time. Fleming also wrote the childrens story Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang and two works of non-fiction, in 2008, The Times ranked Fleming 14th on its list of The 50 greatest British writers since 1945. Fleming was married to Ann Charteris, who was divorced from the second Viscount Rothermere owing to her affair with the author, Fleming and Charteris had a son, Caspar. Fleming was a smoker and drinker for most of his life. Two of his James Bond books were published posthumously, other writers have since produced Bond novels, Flemings creation has appeared in film twenty-six times, portrayed by seven actors. Ian Fleming was born on 28 May 1908, at 27 Green Street in the wealthy London district of Mayfair and his mother was Evelyn St Croix Rose, and his father was Valentine Fleming, the Member of Parliament for Henley from 1910. As an infant he lived, with his family, at Braziers Park in Oxfordshire. Fleming was the grandson of the Scottish financier Robert Fleming, who founded the Scottish American Investment Trust, in 1914, with the start of the First World War, Valentine joined C Squadron, Queens Own Oxfordshire Hussars, and rose to the rank of major. He was killed by German shelling on the Western Front on 20 May 1917, because the family owned an estate at Arnisdale, Valentines death was commemorated on the Glenelg War Memorial. Flemings elder brother Peter became a writer and married actress Celia Johnson. Fleming also had two brothers, Michael and Richard, and a younger maternal half-sister born out of wedlock, cellist Amaryllis Fleming. Amaryllis was conceived during an affair between John and Evelyn that started in 1923, some six years after the death of Valentine
37.
Weapon
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A weapon, arm, or armament is any device used with intent to inflict damage or harm to living beings, structures, or systems. Weapons are used to increase the efficacy and efficiency of such as hunting, crime, law enforcement, self-defense. In a broader context, weapons may be construed to include anything used to gain a strategic, something that has been re-purposed, converted, or enhanced to become a weapon of war is termed weaponized, such as a weaponized virus or weaponized lasers. The use of objects as weapons has been observed among chimpanzees, however, this can not be confirmed using physical evidence because wooden clubs, spears, and unshaped stones would not have left an unambiguous record. The earliest unambiguous weapons to be found are the Schöninger Speere, the first defensive structures and fortifications appeared in the Bronze Age, indicating an increased need for security. Weapons designed to breach fortifications followed soon after, for example the battering ram was in use by 2500 BC, although early Iron Age swords were not superior to their bronze predecessors, once iron-working developed, around 1300 BC in Greece Alex Webb, Metalworking in Ancient Greece. Domestication of the horse and widespread use of spoked wheels by ca.2000 BC, led to the light, the mobility provided by chariots were important during this era. Spoke-wheeled chariot usage peaked around 1300 BC and then declined, ceasing to be militarily relevant by the 4th century BC. Cavalry developed once horses were bred to support the weight of a man, the horse extended the range and increased the speed of attacks. Ships built as weapons or warships such as the trireme were in use by the 7th century BC and these ships were eventually replaced by larger ships by the 4th century BC. European warfare during the Post-classical history was dominated by groups of knights supported by massed infantry. They were involved in combat and sieges which involved various siege weapons. Knights on horseback developed tactics for charging with lances providing an impact on the enemy formations, whereas infantry, in the age before structured formations, relied on cheap, sturdy weapons such as spears and billhooks in close combat and bows from a distance. As armies became more professional, their equipment was standardized and infantry transitioned to pikes, pikes are normally seven to eight feet in length, in conjunction with smaller side-arms. In Eastern and Middle Eastern warfare, similar tactics were developed independent of European influences, the introduction of gunpowder from the Far East at the end of this period revolutionized warfare. Formations of musketeers, protected by pikemen came to dominate open battles, the European Renaissance marked the beginning of the implementation of firearms in western warfare. Guns and rockets were introduced to the battlefield, firearms are qualitatively different from earlier weapons because they release energy from combustible propellants such as gunpowder, rather than from a counter-weight or spring. This energy is released very rapidly and can be replicated without much effort by the user, therefore even early firearms such as the arquebus were much more powerful than human-powered weapons. During the U. S. Civil War various technologies including the gun and ironclad warship emerged that would be recognizable and useful military weapons today
38.
Carl Walther GmbH
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Carl Walther GmbH Sportwaffen German pronunciation, or simply Walther, is a German arms manufacturer. For more than 100 years, Walther has manufactured firearms and air guns at their facility in Germany, Carl Walther Sportwaffen is a subsidiary of the PW Group. Walther Arms, Inc. is the USA representative for Walther business and is located in Fort Smith, the correct pronunciation of Walther is like the English word vaulter. In German, w sounds like /v/, th sounds like /t/, however, it is common for English speakers not familiar with German phonology to pronounce the name as /ˈwɔːltər/. The history of Walther started with the created by Matthias Conrad Pistor who was the chief armorer of the Kassel Armory. Pistor is the ancestor of the Walther family and this plant was operating in 1780 and made pistols and other weapons. It was the granddaughter of Gustave Wilhelm Pistor who married August Theodore Walther whose son Carl Wilhelm Freund established the factory that employed apprentice Carl Wather and this small shop was established in 1886 in Zella-Mehlis, in what was then Hesse but is today Thuringia. The company originally manufactured hunting and target rifles and it was not until 1908 that, under the initiative of Fritz Walther, the oldest son of Carl Walther, they began to make pistols. Models 1 through 5 and 7 through 9 were in calibers 6.35 and 7.65, the Model 6 was Walthers first attempt at a 9mm Luger pistol. It used blowback rather than a locked breech and proved unsuccessful and its rarity has made it highly sought after on the collectors market. In 1929 they began to make the popular Polizeipistole or PP models and this was followed in 1931 by the first of the PPKs. Both PP and PPKs were manufactured in.22 Long Rifle.32 ACP.380 ACP, in 1938 the German Reich awarded the contract for that replacement to Walther for the 9mm P38 with a weight of 960 g. From 1942 until 1945, the company used slave labour at the Neuengamme concentration camp, with his factory destroyed by World War II and Zella-Mehlis in Soviet-occupied East Germany, Walther was reduced to just a collection of designs and patents. But Fritz Walther started anew and began manufacturing in Ulm, West Germany in 1953, the company resumed production of the P38 in 1957 in order to equip the new West German Army, the Bundeswehr, with sidearms. When Fritz Walther died in December 1966, his son, Karl-Heinz, took over the company, which concentrated on the sports sector. In 1993 the Walther firm was acquired by UMAREX Sportwaffen of Arnsberg, Germany who continued to manufacture under the Walther name in Ulm, the German Walther company is known as Carl Walther Sportwaffen. In 1999 the US based Smith & Wesson company became the importer for Walther Firearms. Two of the divisions of the PW Group, Carl Walther Sportwaffen and UMAREX Sportwaffen formed a new US company named Walther Arms, Inc. located in Fort Smith, AR, USA. in 2012
39.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
40.
Luftwaffe
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The Luftwaffe was the aerial warfare branch of the combined German Wehrmacht military forces during World War II. During the interwar period, German pilots were trained secretly in violation of the treaty at Lipetsk Air Base, with the rise of the Nazi Party and the repudiation of the Versailles Treaty, the Luftwaffe was officially established on 26 February 1935. The Condor Legion, a Luftwaffe detachment sent to aid Nationalist forces in the Spanish Civil War, provided the force with a testing ground for new doctrines. By the summer of 1939, the Luftwaffe had twenty-eight Geschwaders, during World War II, German pilots claimed roughly 70,000 aerial victories, while over 75,000 Luftwaffe aircraft were destroyed or significantly damaged. Of these, nearly 40,000 were lost entirely, the Luftwaffe proved instrumental in the German victories across Poland and Western Europe in 1939 and 1940. From 1942, Allied bombing campaigns gradually destroyed the Luftwaffes fighter arm, in addition to its service in the West, the Luftwaffe operated over the Soviet Union, North Africa and Southern Europe. In January 1945, during the stages of the Battle of the Bulge, the Luftwaffe made a last-ditch effort to win air superiority. After the defeat of Germany, the Luftwaffe was disbanded in 1946, the Luftwaffe had only two commanders-in-chief throughout its history, Hermann Göring and later Generalfeldmarschall Robert Ritter von Greim. Throughout the war, the force was responsible for war crimes, one of the forerunners of the Luftwaffe, the Imperial German Army Air Service, was founded in 1910 with the name Die Fliegertruppen des deutschen Kaiserreiches, most often shortened to Fliegertruppe. It was renamed Luftstreitkräfte on 8 October 1916, after the defeat of Germany, the service was dissolved on 8 May 1920 under the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles, which also mandated the destruction of all German military aircraft. Since the Treaty of Versailles forbade Germany to have an air force, to train its pilots on the latest combat aircraft, Germany solicited the help of its future enemy, the Soviet Union, which was also isolated in Europe. This base was known as 4th squadron of the 40th wing of the Red Army. Hundreds of Luftwaffe pilots and technical personnel visited, studied and were trained at Soviet air force schools in locations in Central Russia. The first steps towards the Luftwaffes formation were undertaken just months after Adolf Hitler came to power, in April 1933 the Reichsluftfahrtministerium was established. Görings control over all aspects of aviation became absolute, on 25 March 1933 the Deutschen Luftsportverband absorbed all private and national organizations, while retaining its sports title. On 15 May 1933, all military organizations in the RLM were merged, forming the Luftwaffe. The |Nationalsozialistisches Fliegerkorps was formed in 1937 to give pre-military flying training to male youths, military-age members of the NSFK were drafted to the Luftwaffe. As all such prior NSFK members were also Nazi Party members, the absence of Göring in planning and production matters was fortunate
41.
Smith & Wesson Model 36
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The Smith & Wesson Model 36 is a revolver chambered for.38 Special. It is one of models of J-frame Smith & Wesson revolvers. It was introduced in 1950, and is still in production, the Model 36 was designed in the era just after World War II, when Smith & Wesson stopped producing war materials and resumed normal production. For the Model 36, they sought to design a revolver that could fire the more powerful.38 Special round in a small, since the older I-frame was not able to handle this load, a new frame was designed, which became the Smith & Wesson J-frame. The new design was introduced at the International Association of Chiefs of Police convention in 1950, a vote was held to name the new revolver, and the name Chiefs Special won. A three-inch barreled version of this went into production immediately. It was available in either a blued or nickel-plated finish and it was produced as the Chiefs Special until 1957, when it then became the Model 36. The Chiefs Special continued to be manufactured as a separate variant, in 1951, Smith & Wesson introduced the Airweight Model 37, which was basically the Model 36 design with an aluminum frame and cylinder. The aluminum cylinders proved to be problematic and were abandoned in favor of a steel cylinder, in 1989, Smith & Wesson introduced the LadySmith variant of the Model 36. This was available with a 2-inch or 3 inch barrel and blued finish and this model also featured special grips designed specifically for women, and had LADYSMITH engraved on the frame. Approximately 615 Model 36-6 Target variations were produced and this variant had a 3-inch full lug barrel with adjustable sights and a blued glass finish. In 2002, Smith & Wesson reintroduced the Model 36 with gold features, the gold color was actually titanium nitride. In 2005, Smith & Wesson produced the Texas Hold Em variant and this was produced with a blued finish, imitation ivory grips, and 24k gold plate engraving. A large number of Model 37 variants with a ring attached were made for Japan. Part of this contract was cancelled, resulting in a number of these being sold to a wholesaler. These entered the market in 2001. In 2006, the Model 37 was dropped from Smith & Wessons catalog, serial number 337 was shipped to J. Edgar Hoover and is engraved with his name. In 1958, Spanish manufacturer Astra developed a high quality revolver line based on this weapon, under the name of Astra Cadix, Astra 250, designed to be small and compact, the Model 36 is available with a 1.875 inch barrel
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