1.
United States Special Operations Command
–
The command is part of the Department of Defense and is the only Unified Combatant Command legislated into being by the U. S. Congress. USSOCOM is headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, the idea of a unified special operations command had its origins in the aftermath of Operation Eagle Claw, the disastrous attempted rescue of hostages at the American embassy in Iran in 1980. Since its activation on 16 April 1987, U. S, Special Operations Command has participated in many operations, from the 1989 invasion of Panama to the ongoing Global War on Terrorism. Since the incident, the Army Chief of Staff, General Edward C, shy Meyer, called for a further restructuring of special operations capabilities, eventually helping to create the U. S. By 1983, there was a small but growing sense in the Congress for the need for military reforms, in June, the Senate Armed Services Committee began a two-year-long study of the Defense Department, which included an examination of SOF spearheaded by Senator Barry Goldwater. The Joint Special Operations Agency thus did little to improve SOF readiness, capabilities, or policies, within the Defense Department, there were a few staunch SOF supporters. Noel Koch, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, at the same time, a few on Capitol Hill were determined to overhaul United States Special Operations Forces. Senators Nunn and Cohen also felt strongly that the Department of Defense was not preparing adequately for future threats, Senator Cohen agreed that the U. S. needed a clearer organizational focus and chain of command for special operations to deal with low-intensity conflicts. In October 1985, the Senate Armed Services Committee published the results of its review of the U. S. military structure, entitled Defense Organization. Mr. James R. Locher III, the author of this study, also examined past special operations. This influential document led to the Goldwater-Nichols Defense Reorganization Act of 1986, by spring 1986, SOF advocates had introduced reform bills in both houses of Congress. Congress held hearings on the two bills in the summer of 1986, Admiral William J. Crowe Jr. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, led the Pentagons opposition to the bills. He proposed, as an alternative, a new Special Operations Forces command led by a three-star general and this proposal was not well received on Capitol Hill—Congress wanted a four-star general in charge to give SOF more clout. A number of retired officers and others testified in favor of the need for reform. By most accounts, retired Army Major General Richard Scholtes gave the most compelling reasons for change, after his formal testimony, Scholtes met privately with a small number of Senators to elaborate on the problems that he had encountered in Grenada. Both the House and Senate passed SOF reform bills, and these went to a committee for reconciliation. Senate and House conferees forged a compromise, the final bill, attached as a rider to the 1987 Defense Authorization Act, amended the Goldwater-Nichols Act and was signed into law in October 1986. Congress clearly intended to force DOD and the Administration to face up to the realities of past failures, DOD and the Administration were responsible for implementing the law, and Congress subsequently had to pass two additional bills to ensure proper implementation
2.
Sniper rifle
–
A sniper rifle is a man-portable, high precision, shoulder-fired rifle, for military or law enforcement use, designed to ensure more accurate shooting at longer ranges than other small arms. A typical sniper rifle is built for high levels of accuracy, fitted with a telescopic sight, the military role of a sniper dates back to the turn of the 18th century, but the true sniper rifle is a much more recent development. Some sniper rifles are based on the designs of standard rifles, the Whitworth rifle was arguably the first long-range sniper rifle in the world. His rifle was far more accurate than the Pattern 1853 Enfield, at trials in 1857, which tested the accuracy and range of both weapons, Whitworths design outperformed the Enfield at a rate of about three to one. Also, the Whitworth rifle was able to hit the target at a range of 2,000 yards, during the Crimean War, the first optical sights were designed for fitting onto the rifles. Much of this work was the brainchild of Colonel D. Davidson. This allowed a marksman to more accurately observe and target objects at a distance than ever before. The telescopic sight, or scope, was fixed and could not be adjusted. By the 1870s, the perfection of breech loading magazine rifles led to sniper rifles having effective ranges of up to a mile away from its target. During the Boer War, the latest breech-loading rifled guns with magazine, the British were equipped with the Lee–Metford rifle, while the Boers had received the latest Mauser rifles from Germany. In the open terrain of South Africa, the marksman was a component in battle. The Lovat Scouts was a British Army unit formed in 1899 that was renowned for the expert marksmanship, the men wore ghillie suits for camouflage and were expertly skilled in observation. Hesketh Hesketh-Prichard said of them that men never lived. After the Boer War, the Scouts became the first official unit in the British Army. It was not until World War I that sniper rifles began to be used regularly in battle. In Germany, these trained snipers were given rifles with telescopic sights, german gunsmiths fitted the scope above the barrel for optimal accuracy. During the War, the accuracy of the rifle was greatly improved. By the end of World War II snipers were reported to provide reasonable accuracy over 600 m with anything over this range being unpredictable
3.
Sniper
–
Sniping requires the development of basic infantry skills to a high degree of skill. A snipers training incorporates a variety of subjects designed to increase value as a force multiplier. The art of sniping requires learning and repetitively practicing these skills until mastered, a sniper must be highly trained in long range rifle marksmanship and field craft skills to ensure maximum effective engagements with minimum risk. The verb to snipe originated in the 1770s among soldiers in British India in reference to shooting snipe, the agent noun sniper appears by the 1820s. The term sniper was first attested in 1824 in the sense of the word sharpshooter, a somewhat older term is sharp shooter, a calque of 18th-century German Scharfschütze, in use in British newspapers as early as 1801. According to figures released by the United States Department of Defense, the average number of rounds expended by U. S. military snipers to kill one enemy soldier is 1.3 rounds. According to the United States Army, the soldier will hit a man-sized target 10 percent of the time at 300 meters using the M16A2 rifle. Graduates of the United States Army Sniper School are expected to achieve 90 percent first-round hits at 600 meters, different countries use different military doctrines regarding snipers in military units, settings, and tactics.50 BMG, like the Barrett M82, McMillan Tac-50, and Denel NTW-20. Soviet- and Russian-derived military doctrines include squad-level snipers, snipers have increasingly been demonstrated as useful by US and UK forces in the recent Iraq campaign in a fire support role to cover the movement of infantry, especially in urban areas. Military snipers from the US, UK, and other countries that adopt their military doctrine are typically deployed in two-man sniper teams consisting of a shooter and spotter, a common practice is for a shooter and a spotter to take turns in order to avoid eye fatigue. A sniper team would be armed with its long weapon. Sniper rifles are classified as crew-served, as the term is used in the United States military, a sniper team consists of a combination of one or more shooters with force protection elements and support personnel, such as a spotter or a flanker. Both spotter and flanker carries additional ammunition and associated equipment, the spotter detects, observes, and assigns targets and watches for the results of the shot. Using a spotting scope and/or rangefinder, the spotter will also read the wind by using physical indicators and it is not unusual for the spotter to be equipped with a notepad and a laptop computer specifically for performing these calculations. Law enforcement snipers, commonly called police snipers, and military snipers differ in ways, including their areas of operation. A police sharpshooter is part of an operation and usually takes part in relatively short missions. Police forces typically deploy such sharpshooters in hostage scenarios and this differs from a military sniper, who operates as part of a larger army, engaged in warfare. Sometimes as part of a SWAT team, police snipers are deployed alongside negotiators and an assault team trained for close quarters combat
4.
.338 Lapua Magnum
–
The.338 Lapua Magnum is a rimless, bottlenecked, centerfire rifle cartridge. It was developed during the 1980s as a high-powered, long-range cartridge for military snipers and it was used in the Afghanistan War and the Iraq War. As a result of this, it more widely available. The loaded cartridge is 14.93 mm in diameter and 93.5 mm long and it can penetrate better-than-standard military body armour at ranges up to 1,000 metres and has a maximum effective range of about 1,750 metres. British military issue overpressure.338 Lapua Magnum cartridges with a 91.4 mm overall length, in addition to its military role, it is increasingly used by hunters and civilian long-range shooting enthusiasts. In Namibia the.338 Lapua Magnum is legal for hunting Africas Big five game if the loads have ≥5,400 J muzzle energy, the.416 Rigby is an English big game cartridge that was designed to accommodate 325 MPa pressures. One of the disadvantages of these old cartridge cases, which were intended for firing cordite charges instead of modern smokeless powder, is the thickness of the sidewall just forward of the web, during ignition, the cartridges base, forward to the bolt face, is not supported. The case is back against the bolt face, which results in the stretching of the case. When the sidewall resists the outward expansion against the chamber, the pressure stretches the case, thereby increasing its length, RAI found that the BELL cases did not fulfill the requirements. Pressed by military deadlines RAI looked for another producer and contacted Lapua of Finland in 1984. RAI was forced to out of the program due to financial difficulties. Subsequently, Lapua of Finland put this cartridge into limited production, the. 338/416 rifle program was later canceled when the contractors were unable to make the cartridge meet the projects velocity target of 914 m/s for a 16.2 g bullet, due to weak brass cases. Lapua opted to redesign the. 338/416 cartridge, in the new case design, particular attention was directed toward thickening and metallurgically strengthening the cases web and sidewall immediately forward of the web. In modern solid head cases, the hardness of the brass is the factor that determines a cases pressure limit before undergoing plastic deformation. Lapua tackled this problem by creating a hardness distribution ranging from the head and web to the mouth as well as a strengthened case web and sidewall immediately forward of the web. This resulted in a very pressure resistant case, allowing it to operate at high pressure, Lapua also designed a 16. 2-gram.338 calibre Lock Base B408 full metal jacket bullet, modeled after its.30 calibre Lock Base bullet configuration. The result was the.338 Lapua Magnum cartridge which was registered with C. I. P. in 1989, with the procurement by the Dutch Army, the cartridge became NATO codified. The.338 Lapua Magnum fills the gap between weapons chambered for standard military rounds such as the 7. 62×51mm NATO and large, weighty rifles firing the.50 BMG cartridge
5.
Remington Arms
–
Remington Arms Company, LLC is an American manufacturer of firearms and ammunition in the United States. It was founded in 1816 by Eliphalet Remington in Ilion, New York, as E. Remington, Remington is Americas oldest gun maker and Its Americas oldest factory that still makes its original product-guns. It is the only U. S. company which produces both firearms and ammunition domestically and is the largest U. S. producer of shotguns, Remington has also developed or adopted more cartridges than any other gun maker or ammunition manufacturer in the world. Additionally its products are distributed in over 60 foreign countries, making its distribution base, Remington Arms is part of the Freedom Group, which is owned by Cerberus Capital Management. Remington built a new plant in Huntsville, Alabama which is now building Modern Sporting Rifles, the Remington company was founded in 1816. Eliphalet Remington II believed he could build a gun than he could buy. Farming communities in the region were famous for their skills and self-sufficiency. Remingtons father was a blacksmith, and wanted to expand his business into rifle barrel production, local residents often built their own rifles to save on costs, but purchased the barrel. Remingtons father sent him to a barrel maker in a major city to purchase a barrel. At the time, the method was to heat and wrap long flat bars of iron around a rod of the caliber desired. By heating and hammering the coiled bars around the central rod, after the young man returned home, his family added a successful barrel making operation to his fathers forge, in Ilion Gorge, New York. Remington began designing and building a rifle for himself. At age 23, he entered a match, though he only finished second. Before Remington left the field day, he had received so many orders from other competitors that he was now officially in the gunsmithing business. By 1828, the moved to nearby Ilion, New York. On March 7,1888, ownership of E. Remington & Sons left possession of the Remington family and was sold to new owners, Marcellus Hartley, at this time the name was formally changed to the Remington Arms Company. The Bridgeport site became the home of Remingtons ammunition plant, in 1912, Remington and Union Metallic Cartridge Company were combined into a single entity, called Remington UMC. In 1915, the plant at Ilion was expanded, and with this expansion became basically the same plant as today, during World War I, Remington produced arms under contract for several Allied powers
6.
Milliradian
–
A milliradian, often called a mil or mrad, is an SI derived unit for angular measurement which is defined as a thousandth of a radian. Mils are used in adjustment of firearm sights by adjusting the angle of the sight compared to the barrel, Mils are also used for comparing shot groupings, or to compare the difficulty of hitting different sized targets at different distances. Using optics with mil markings in the one can make a range estimation of a known size target, or vice versa to determine a target size if the distance is known. In such applications it is useful to use a unit for target size that is a thousandth of the unit for range, for instance by using the metric units millimeters for target size and meters for range. This coincides with the definition of the milliradian where the arc length is defined as 1/1000 of the radius, a common adjustment value in firearm sights is 1 cm at 100 meters which equals 10 mm/100 m = 1/10 mil. The true definition of a milliradian is based on a circle with a radius of one. There are other definitions used for mapping and artillery which are rounded to more easily be divided into smaller parts. The milliradian was first used in the mid nineteenth century by Charles-Marc Dapples, degrees and minutes were the usual units of angular measurement but others were being proposed, with grads under various names having considerable popularity in much of northern Europe. However, Imperial Russia used a different approach, dividing a circle into equilateral triangles, around the time of the start of World War I, France was experimenting with the use of milliemes for use with artillery sights instead of decigrades. The United Kingdom was also trialing them to replace degrees and minutes and they were adopted by France although decigrades also remained in use throughout World War I. The United States, which copied many French artillery practices, adopted mils, before 2007 the Swedish defence forces used streck which is closer to the milliradian but then changed to NATO mils. After the Bolshevik Revolution and the adoption of the system of measurement the Red Army expanded the 600 unit circle into a 6000 mil one. Hence the Russian mil has a different origin than those derived from French artillery practices. In the 1950s, NATO adopted metric units of measurement for land, Mils, meters, and kilograms became standard, although degrees remained in use for naval and air purposes, reflecting civil practices. The approximation error by using the linear formula will increase as the angle increases. New shooters are often explained the principle of subtensions in order to understand that a milliradian is an angular measurement, subtension is the physical amount of space covered by an angle and varies with distance. Thus, the corresponding to a mil varies with range. Subtensions always change with distance, but a mil is always a mil regardless of distance, therefore ballistic tables and shot corrections are given in mils thereby avoiding the need of mathematical calculations
7.
Sako TRG
–
Sako TRG-22/42 sniper rifles were developed by the Finnish firearm manufacturer SAKO of Riihimäki. The rifles are available with olive green, desert tan/coyote brown, dark earth or black stocks. Normally muzzle brakes are fitted to reduce recoil, jump and flash, the Sako factory TRG muzzle brakes vent sideways and are detachable. Generally TRGs are outfitted with a Zeiss or Schmidt & Bender PM II telescopic sight with fixed power of magnification or with variable magnification. Variable telescopic sights can be used if the operator more flexibility to shoot at varying ranges. In 1989 Sako Ltd. introduced the TRG-21 precision rifle as a rifle model chambered for the.308 Winchester cartridge. Subsequently, a sniper rifle with a 20 mm longer scaled up magnum action emerged as the TRG-41 in order to take advantage of the.338 Lapua Magnum cartridge. Similarly, a variant of this model, again using the same bolt. Even though the TRG-21 obtained its origins from the successful Sako TR-6 target rifle, the evolution of this design continues to the present and can be found in Sakos most recent hunting rifle offerings, the Sako 75 and the Sako 85. To make the TRG system more suitable for use, Sako upgraded and improved the TRG-21/41 design in the late 1990s. Some TRG accessories like the muzzle brake and bipod were also improved and this resulted in the TRG-22/42 rifle system. Around 2011 an American Sako vendor commissioned a limited production run of TRG-22 rifles chambered for the.260 Remington cartridge. In 2013 the TRG system was upgraded and improved based on customer requirements. Further the bolt handle and its attachment to the body were ruggedized. These general 2013 upgrades are backwards compatible with older TRG rifles, Sako never totally forgot the target rifle origins of the TRG system. The necessary accessories to attach sighting components such as match grade peep sights or target aperture sights, the rifle is commonly seen in long-range competition where it has done very well. Besides civilian target shooting the TRG system can and is used for hunting. The TRG system’s purposive design features, reliability in conditions and consistent accuracy performance have made it a popular, though expensive
8.
Desert Tech SRS
–
The Desert Tech Stealth Recon Scout is a bolt-action sniper rifle developed by the American firearm manufacturer Desert Tech. It was unveiled at the 2008 SHOT Show and it is known for its bullpup design, which makes the rifle just as accurate as other rifles with similar barrel lengths, but as compact as an assault rifle or submachine gun. The gun is also lightweight, weighing 10.5 lbs at its lightest, the Stealth Recon Scout is notably unusual in that it is one of the few sniper rifles that is a bullpup bolt-action layout. This gives the rifle a relatively compact design, claimed to be 11 inches shorter than conventional sniper rifles, because of the bullpup layout, the magazine and bolt are behind the pistol grip, and therefore the operation is slightly different from most other conventional designs. This layout also shifts more weight to the rear of the rifle, the sling points are balanced with the centerline of the weapon to ensure it lies flat when slung. It features an adjustable cheekrest, and a raised, contoured buttpad helps to seat it more securely into the shooters shoulder, the SRS is fed from a five-round box magazine, and uses a 22–26 in match fluted, free floated barrel. While the barrel is standard with a brake, it can be removed to allow access to a threaded muzzle for the attachment of a suppressor. The rifle is guaranteed to have a standard 0.5 MOA accuracy, the rifle is constructed of polymer, aluminum, and steel. The handguard and upper receiver use a Picatinny rail system for attaching accessories such as a bipod or a telescopic sight, the safety can be operated without removing the users hand from the pistol grip, and the magazine release can be operated with one hand. There is also a variant of the SRS rifle that is called the SRS Covert, it shares all the same features of the SRS. The short barreled version of the rifle as stated by the manufacturer is to give users and it uses 16 and 18 barrels in some of the above-mentioned calibers. Stealth Recon Scout SRS-A1 Stealth Recon Scout Covert SRS-A1 Covert Georgia - Designated marksman rifle of the Georgian Armed Forces, also used by law enforcement and state security agencies
9.
M2010 Enhanced Sniper Rifle
–
The M2010 Enhanced Sniper Rifle, formerly known as the XM2010 and M24 Reconfigured Sniper Weapon System, is a sniper rifle developed by PEO Soldier for the United States Army. It is derived from the M24 Sniper Weapon System and replaced the existing M24s, after winning a competitive bidding process, Remington was awarded the production contract for up to 3,600 weapons. The Army had anticipated fielding upgraded weapons to deployed U. S. Army Snipers near the end of December 2010, but later expected fielding would happen in January 2011. The U. S. Army developed the system so that the effective range would help snipers in engagements in mountainous. The general penalties for using bigger, more powerful magnum rifle ammunition compared to smaller, standard rifle cartridges are increases in recoil, jump, flash, weight, and barrel wear. The M2010 Enhanced Sniper Rifle differs from 7. 62×51mm NATO chambered M24 Sniper Weapon System in that M2010 sniper weapons are, barreled to a 24 in long,1 in 10 inch twist rate hammer-forged free floating barrel. Fitted with a new assembly that maximizes the amount of physical adjustments for the sniper to provide a better user customized fit. Fitted with a detachable box magazine. The 10 in Titan-QD Fast-Attach suppressor eliminates 98 percent of muzzle flash,60 percent of recoil, fitted with a Leupold Mark 46. The application of advanced corrosion resistant coatings throughout the system, according to Remington Arms each rifle is tested to meet the requirement to fire ≤1 MOA/0.28 mrad before being released for fielding. In 2009 the U. S. government purchased MK248 MOD1.300 Winchester Magnum match-grade ammunition for use in.300 Winchester Magnum sniper rifles like the U. S. Navy Mk13 SWS or reconfigured M24 SWSs. According to the U. S. Navy this ammunition should increase the effective range of. In January 2014, the U. S. Department of Defense annual testing report found that the older A191 or MK248 Mod 0. Live fire tests were conducted in March 2013 against ballistics gelatin, light material barriers and this was the first time the Pentagon’s Director, Operational Test and Evaluation tested the round, which can hit targets out to 1,200 m. The U. S. Army issued three XM2010s to snipers at the United States Army Sniper School on 18 January 2011 and began using the rifle in combat in Afghanistan in March 2011. The XM2010s.300 Win Mag round extends the engagement range over the M24 from 800 meters to 1,200 meters, enhancing lethality and standoff. The Barrett M107.50 caliber rifle can hit targets past 2,000 meters and this was acceptable for material targets, but not individual personnel. The XM2010 addressed the problem and gave increased range over the M24, Remington had been awarded a $28 million on 20 September 2010 to rebuild 3,600 M24 rifles, but only 250 had been ordered to be changed by the time the first XM2010s were fielded
10.
Mk 14 Enhanced Battle Rifle
–
The Mk 14 Enhanced Battle Rifle is an American selective fire military designated marksman rifle chambered for the 7. 62×51mm NATO cartridge. These EBRs are made with the intention of carrying out both designated marksman and close combat roles in combat, since 2010, the U. S. Army has made available two M14 EBR-RI rifles per infantry platoon for units deploying to Afghanistan. The M14 EBR-RI has a standard weight 22. 0-inch barrel and lugged GI flash hider, the creation of the Mk 14 Mod 0 EBR began in 2000 after a request by United States Navy SEALs for a more compact M14 battle rifle. Mike Rock collaborated with engineer Jim Ribordy to make the new rifle, tests showed that their rifle was effective, but had excessive noise problems. In 2003, Ron Smith and Smith Enterprise, Inc. created its own version of the M14 EBR, United States Navy SEALs were the first forces to be armed with the EBR in 2004, followed by the U. S. Coast Guard. United States Marine Corps units were also considering the EBR, the rifle has seen limited service outside of the U. S. primarily with the Australian SASR in their Afghanistan deployment. The weapon takes the standard M14 action and replaces the standard 22. 0-inch barrel with an 18. 0-inch barrel, a paddle-type bolt stop similar to that of the M4 carbine is used on the rifle. The EBR chassis system stock is made up entirely of lightweight aircraft alloy, a Wind Talker suppressor can be mounted on the DC Vortex flash hider, though the U. S. military did not adopt one to active service. Several configurations are available on the Mk 14 Mod 0 EBR, others had included the capability of adding two different scopes or sights on the Picatinny rails, for more precision or zoom level. Following the development of the Mk 14 Mod 0 EBR, several variants of the M14 rifle utilizing the Sage Chassis System have been developed and fielded by various branches of the U. S. military. The civilian version created by Smith Enterprise Inc. is also known as the MK14 SEI, the Sage EBR chassis stock is available in a carbine variant known as the M14ALCS/CV. The carbine variant is known as the MK14 Mod 1. Others include Fulton Armory, firing in semi-automatic mode instead of fully automatic, users have praised the weapon for its ergonomics, low recoil, and low cost, as well as having the option of various optics and accessories. It could change all surplus M14s into modern battle rifles, australia, Used by the Special Air Service Regiment in anti-Taliban operations. Armed Forces List of battle rifles
11.
United States Armed Forces
–
The United States Armed Forces are the federal armed forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, from the time of its inception, the military played a decisive role in the history of the United States. A sense of unity and identity was forged as a result of victory in the First Barbary War. Even so, the Founders were suspicious of a permanent military force and it played an important role in the American Civil War, where leading generals on both sides were picked from members of the United States military. Not until the outbreak of World War II did a standing army become officially established. The National Security Act of 1947, adopted following World War II and during the Cold Wars onset, the U. S. military is one of the largest militaries in terms of number of personnel. It draws its personnel from a pool of paid volunteers. As of 2016, the United States spends about $580.3 billion annually to fund its military forces, put together, the United States constitutes roughly 40 percent of the worlds military expenditures. For the period 2010–14, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute found that the United States was the worlds largest exporter of major arms, the United States was also the worlds eighth largest importer of major weapons for the same period. The history of the U. S. military dates to 1775 and these forces demobilized in 1784 after the Treaty of Paris ended the War for Independence. All three services trace their origins to the founding of the Continental Army, the Continental Navy, the United States President is the U. S. militarys commander-in-chief. Rising tensions at various times with Britain and France and the ensuing Quasi-War and War of 1812 quickened the development of the U. S. Navy, the reserve branches formed a military strategic reserve during the Cold War, to be called into service in case of war. Time magazines Mark Thompson has suggested that with the War on Terror, Command over the armed forces is established in the United States Constitution. The sole power of command is vested in the President by Article II as Commander-in-Chief, the Constitution also allows for the creation of executive Departments headed principal officers whose opinion the President can require. This allowance in the Constitution formed the basis for creation of the Department of Defense in 1947 by the National Security Act, the Defense Department is headed by the Secretary of Defense, who is a civilian and member of the Cabinet. The Defense Secretary is second in the chain of command, just below the President. Together, the President and the Secretary of Defense comprise the National Command Authority, to coordinate military strategy with political affairs, the President has a National Security Council headed by the National Security Advisor. The collective body has only power to the President
12.
Gun barrel
–
A gun barrel is a part of firearms and artillery pieces. The hollow interior of the barrel is called the bore, a gun barrel must be able to hold in the expanding gas produced by the propellants to ensure that optimum muzzle velocity is attained by the projectile as it is being pushed out by the expanding gas. Modern small arms barrels are made of known and tested to withstand the pressures involved. Artillery pieces are made by various techniques providing reliably sufficient strength, early firearms were muzzle-loading, with powder, and then shot loaded from the muzzle, capable of only a low rate of fire. During the 19th century effective mechanical locks were invented that sealed a breech-loading weapon against the escape of propellant gases, the early Chinese, the inventors of gunpowder, used bamboo, a naturally tubular stalk, as the first barrels in gunpowder projectile weapons. Early European guns were made of iron, usually with several strengthening bands of the metal wrapped around circular wrought iron rings. The Chinese were the first to master cast-iron cannon barrels, early cannon barrels were very thick for their caliber. Bore evacuator Bore snake Cannon Muzzle Polygonal rifling Rifling Slug barrel Smoothbore
.jpg)