1.
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
2.
Smith & Wesson Model 686
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The Smith & Wesson Model 686 is a six- or seven-shot double-action revolver manufactured by Smith & Wesson and chambered for the.357 Magnum cartridge. It will chamber and fire.38 Special cartridges, as the.357 Magnum was developed from the.38 Special, the magnum case is slightly longer to prevent magnum rounds from being chambered and fired in handguns chambered for the.38 Special. The 686 has been available with 2-1/2 in, barrel lengths as standard models and other barrel lengths either by special order from S&Ws Performance Center custom shop, or acquired from or built by after-market gunsmiths. The Performance Center made a number of 686 in.38 Super for competitive shooters. Smith & Wesson introduced the Model 686 in 1980 and it is the stainless steel version of the 586, which was a blued steel finish. It was chambered for.357 Magnum and.38 S&W Special +P calibers and they are available ported and unported with a choice of 6 or 7 round cylinders. The Model 686 is based on S&Ws K/L revolver frame, during the 1980s, Smith & Wesson developed its K/L-Frame line of.357 Magnums, the Model 581, Model 586, Model 681 and Model 686. The Models 581 and 681 have fixed sights, whereas the 586 and 686 use adjustable sights. S&W Model 686 S&W Model 686P S&W Model 686PP The Model 686 has a rear sight, and until 1992. They had Goncalo alves hardwood grips until 1994, when the grip was replaced by a rubber Hogue grip. Through the years, there have been variations on the Model 686. 5-inch, 3-inch, 4-inch, or 6-inch barrel, adjustable sights, 7-shot cylinder. As with all current Smith & Wesson revolvers, the 686 Plus now has a key lock integral to the frame of the gun, united States -Used by U. S. Border Patrol. Used by legacy U. S. Customs Service, Used by the legacy U. S. Immigration and Naturalization Service Used by U. S. Navy Special Operations during waterborne missions. Used by some police departments and by individual officers in larger departments. Luxembourg - Used by the Luxemburg Grand Ducal Police as duty weapon, in 1987, seven years after the release of the Model 686, there were reports of cylinder binding with some types of standard.357 Magnum ammunition for L-frame revolvers manufactured before August 1987
3.
.38 Special
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The.38 Smith & Wesson Special is a rimmed, centerfire cartridge designed by Smith & Wesson. It is most commonly used in revolvers, although some semi-automatic pistols, in other parts of the world, it is known by its metric designation of 9×29. 5mmR or 9. 1×29mmR. Noted for its accuracy and manageable recoil, the.38 Special remains the most popular cartridge in the world more than a century after its introduction. It is used for shooting, formal target competition, personal defense. Despite its name, the caliber of the.38 Special cartridge is actually. 357–.358 inches, except for case length, the.38 Special is identical to the.38 Short Colt.38 Long Colt, and.357 Magnum. This allows the.38 Special round to be fired in revolvers chambered for the.357 Magnum. Upon its introduction, the.38 Special was originally loaded with black powder and this.38 Special variant incorporated a 200 grains round-nosed lead Lubaloy bullet, the.38 Super Police. Remington-Peters also introduced a similar loading, testing revealed that the longer, heavier 200 grains. 357-calibre bullet fired at low velocity tended to keyhole or tumble upon impact, providing more shock effect against unprotected personnel. This cartridge was called the.38 S&W Super Police or the. 38/200, britain would later adopt the. 38/200 as its standard military handgun cartridge. In 1930, Smith & Wesson introduced a large frame.38 Special revolver with a 5-inch barrel and fixed sights intended for police use, the following year, a new high-power loading called the. That same year, Colt Firearms announced that their Colt Official Police would also handle high-speed.38 Special loadings, the. 38/44 high-speed cartridge came in three bullet weights,158 grains,150 and 110 grains, with either coated lead or steel jacket, metal-piercing bullets. The media attention gathered by the. 38/44 and its ammunition eventually led Smith & Wesson to develop a new cartridge with a longer case length in 1934—this was the.357 Magnum. During World War II, some U. S. aircrew were issued.38 Special S&W Victory revolvers as sidearms in the event of a forced landing, the new military.38 Special loading propelled its 158 grains bullet at a standard 850 ft/s from a 4-inch revolver barrel. During the war, many U. S. naval and marine aircrew were also issued red-tipped.38 Special tracer rounds using either a 120 or 158 gr bullet for emergency signaling purposes. In 1956, the U. S. Air Force adopted the Cartridge, Caliber.38, Ball M41, a military variant of the.38 Special cartridge designed to conform to the rules of land warfare. By 1961, a slightly revised M41.38 cartridge specification known as the Cartridge, Caliber.38 Ball, Special, a variant of the standard M41 cartridge with a semi-pointed, unjacketed lead bullet was later adopted for CONUS police and security personnel. At the same time.38 tracer cartridges were reintroduced by the US Navy, Marines, tracer cartridges in.38 Special caliber of different colors were issued, generally as part of a standard aircrew survival vest kit. A request for more powerful.38 Special ammunition for use by Air Police and security personnel resulted in the Caliber.38 Special, Ball, in 1972, the Federal Bureau of Investigation introduced a new.38 +P loading that became known as the FBI Load
4.
Handgun
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A handgun is a firearm designed to be handheld, in either one or both hands. This characteristic differentiates handguns as a class of firearms from long guns such as rifles. Major handgun subtypes are the revolver and pistol, other subtypes include derringers, the words pistol and handgun have overlapping variations, in meaning. Although handgun use often includes bracing with a hand, the essential distinguishing characteristic of a handgun is its facility for one-handed operation. The word pistol is often synonymous with the word handgun, some handgun experts make a technical distinction that views pistols as a subset of handguns. But UK/Commonwealth usage often does not make this distinction, handheld firearms were first made in China where gunpowder was first developed. By the 14th century, they existed in Europe as well, the first handheld firearms that might better be called pistols were made as early as the 15th century, but their creator is unknown. By the 18th century, the term came to be used often to refer to handheld firearms, previously there had been no such differentiation, and in fact Samuel Colts original patent was for a revolving-breech pistol. There is no equivalent for handgun in the Romance languages. The general types of handguns are listed below in their order of historical appearance, each type can be classified into many sub-types. Some of these types can also be classified using the general distinction between muzzle-loading firearms and breech-loading firearms. Single-shot pistols are the simplest possible form of pistols and are known to have existed in AD1365, the earliest handguns were single-shot, muzzle-loading guns with ignition provided by inserting a smoldering match cord into a touch hole. As such, they were nothing more than miniature cannon. Improvements followed in subsequent centuries, as types of locks were invented. In the matchlock, the separate match cord was affixed to a pivot which could be tripped by a trigger. In the wheellock, an analogous to that used in todays cigarette lighters replaced the smoldering match cord. In the 17th century, the flintlock, which strikes a flint against steel, the flintlock remained the standard method of small arms ignition around two hundred years. In the 19th century, percussion caps were developed, followed shortly by modern integrated-primer cartridges, an example of a single-shot pistol is the flare gun
5.
Cylinder (firearms)
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In firearms, the cylinder is the cylindrical, rotating part of a revolver containing multiple chambers. The cylinder revolves around an axis in the revolver to bring each individual chamber into alignment with the barrel for firing. Each time the gun is cocked, the cylinder indexes by one chamber, cylinders typically hold six cartridges, but some small frame revolvers only hold 5 cartridges, due to the smaller overall size of the gun and reduced space availability. The Nagant M1895 revolver has a 7 shot cylinder, the Webley-Fosbery Automatic Revolver has an 8-shot cylinder in.38 caliber, several models of.22 rimfire caliber revolvers have cylinders holding 9 or 10 rounds. As a general rule, cylinders are not designed to be detached from the firearm, rapid reloading is instead facilitated by the use of a speedloader or moon clip, although these only work on break-top and swing-out cylinder revolvers, for obvious reasons. The first generation of cartridge revolvers were converted caplock designs, in many of these, the pin on which the cylinder revolved was removed, and the cylinder taken from the gun for loading. Most revolvers using this method of loading are single action revolvers, because of this, many modern large caliber hunting revolvers tend to be based on the fixed cylinder design. The next method used for loading and unloading cartridge revolvers was the top break design, in a top break revolver, the frame is hinged at the bottom front of the cylinder. Releasing the lock and pushing the barrel down brings the cylinder up - this exposes the rear of the cylinder for reloading, fresh rounds are then placed into the cylinder, either one at a time or all at once with either a speedloader or a moon clip. The barrel and cylinder are then rotated back and locked in place, since the frame is in two parts, held together by a latch on the top rear of the cylinder, top break revolvers cannot handle high pressure or magnum-type rounds. Top break designs are largely extinct in the world of firearms, one of the most famous break top revolvers is the Webley service revolver, used by the British military from 1889-1963. The most modern method of loading and unloading a revolver is by means of the swing out cylinder, the cylinder is mounted on a pivot that is coaxial with the chambers, and the cylinder swings out and down. An extractor is fitted, operated by a rod projecting from the front of the cylinder assembly, when pressed, it will push all fired rounds free simultaneously. The cylinder may then be loaded, singly or again with a speedloader, closed, the pivoting part that supports the cylinder is called the crane, it is the weak point of swing-out cylinder designs. Lack of alignment between chamber and barrel is a condition, as it can impede the bullets transition from chamber to barrel. This gives rise to higher pressures in the chamber, bullet damage, the shock of firing can exert a great deal of stress on the crane, as in most designs the cylinder is only held closed at one point, the rear of the cylinder. Stronger designs, such as the Ruger Super Redhawk, use a lock in the crane as well as the lock at the rear of the cylinder and this latch provides a more secure bond between cylinder and frame, and allows the use of larger, more powerful cartridges. Swing out cylinders are rather strong, but not as strong as fixed cylinders, Firearm cylinders were first developed in the 16th century and, over time, had anywhere from three to twelve chambers bored into them
6.
Gun barrel
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A gun barrel is a part of firearms and artillery pieces. The hollow interior of the barrel is called the bore, a gun barrel must be able to hold in the expanding gas produced by the propellants to ensure that optimum muzzle velocity is attained by the projectile as it is being pushed out by the expanding gas. Modern small arms barrels are made of known and tested to withstand the pressures involved. Artillery pieces are made by various techniques providing reliably sufficient strength, early firearms were muzzle-loading, with powder, and then shot loaded from the muzzle, capable of only a low rate of fire. During the 19th century effective mechanical locks were invented that sealed a breech-loading weapon against the escape of propellant gases, the early Chinese, the inventors of gunpowder, used bamboo, a naturally tubular stalk, as the first barrels in gunpowder projectile weapons. Early European guns were made of iron, usually with several strengthening bands of the metal wrapped around circular wrought iron rings. The Chinese were the first to master cast-iron cannon barrels, early cannon barrels were very thick for their caliber. Bore evacuator Bore snake Cannon Muzzle Polygonal rifling Rifling Slug barrel Smoothbore
7.
Pistol
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A pistol is a type of handgun. In some usage, the term refers to a subset of handguns. In other usage, the term is interchangeable with handgun, some handgun experts and dictionaries make a technical distinction that views pistols as a subset of handguns, others use the terms interchangeably. But UK/rest of Commonwealth usage does not always make this distinction, for example, the official designation of the Webley Mk VI revolver was Pistol, Revolver, Webley, No.1 Mk VI. The English word was introduced in ca.1570 from the Middle French pistolet, the etymology of the French word pistolet is disputed. The first suggestion derives the word from Czech píšťala, a type of hand-cannon used in the Hussite Wars during the 1420s, the Czech word was adopted in German as pitschale, pitschole, petsole, and variants. The second suggestion is less likely, the use of the word as a designation of a gun is not documented before 1605 in Italy, long after it was used in French, the Czech word is well documented since the Hussite wars in 1420s. Other suggestions include from Middle High German pischulle or from Middle French pistole, also it is suggested that early pistols were carried by cavalry in holsters hung from the pommel of a horses saddle. The most common types of pistol are the shot. Single shot handguns were mainly seen during the era of flintlock and musket weaponry where the pistol was loaded with a ball and fired by a flint striker. However, as technology improved, so did the single shot pistol, new operating mechanisms were created, and due to this, they are still made today. It is the oldest type of pistol, and is used to hunt wild game. Multi-barreled pistols were common during the time as single shot pistols. As designers looked for ways to increase fire rates, multiple barrels were added to all guns including pistols, one example of a multi-barreled pistol is the Ducks foot pistol, which generally had either four or eight barrels, although some 20th century models had three barrels. Around 1850, pistols such as the Jarre harmonica gun were produced that had a sliding magazine, the sliding magazine contained pinfire cartridges or speedloaders. The magazine needed to be moved manually in many designs, hence distinguishing them from semi-automatic pistols, with the development of the revolver in the 19th century, gunsmiths had finally achieved the goal of a practical capability for delivering multiple loads to one handgun barrel in quick succession. The semi-automatic pistol was the step in the development of the pistol. By avoiding multiple chambers—which need to be individually reloaded—semi-automatic pistols delivered faster rates of fire, an example of a modern blow back action semi-automatic pistol is the HK VP70
8.
Single-shot
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Single-shot firearms are firearms that hold only a single round of ammunition, and must be reloaded after each shot. The history of firearms began with designs, and many centuries passed before multi-shot designs became commonplace. The vast majority of firearms before the introduction of metallic cartridges in the 1860s were single-shot, however, multi-barrel, breech loading, revolving, and other multi-shot firearms had been experimented with for centuries. Notable pre-cartridge era single-shot firearms included matchlock, wheellocks, snaplock, doglock, miquelet locks, flintlock, muzzle loaders included Brown Bess muskets, Charleville muskets, Kentucky Rifles, dueling pistols, M1841 Mississippi Rifle, Springfield Model 1861 and many others. There were also breech loading pre-cartridge era single shots such as Hall rifles, Fergussion rifles, Sharps rifles, almost all of the early cartridge-fed rifles were single-shot designs, taking advantage of the strength and simplicity of single-shot actions. A good example is the trapdoor or Allin action used in early cartridge conversions of 1863 Springfield muzzleloading rifles. The conversion consisted of filing out the rear of the barrel, and attaching a folding bolt, the trapdoor, once loaded, the bolt was closed and latched in place, holding the round securely in place. The bolt contained a pin that used the existing percussion hammer. After firing, the act of opening the bolt would extract the fired case from the chamber. In 1866, the United States standardized on the. 50-70 cartridge, the trapdoor mechanism continued with the adoption of the Springfield 1873 rifle, chambered in the new. 45-70 cartridge. The Springfield stayed in service until 1893, when it was replaced by the Krag–Jørgensen bolt-action rifle, another muzzleloader conversion similar in concept to the Allin action was the British Snider–Enfield, also introduced in 1866, which hinged to the side rather than forward. Unlike the US Army, which kept its trapdoors for decades, martini–Henrys were the standard British rifles of the late Victorian era, and Martini–Enfield conversions continued in second-line service until the Second World War. Single-shot rifles were the tools of big-game hunters in the later 19th century. The single-shot big-game rifle would only be displaced by bolt action repeaters firing high-velocity smokeless-powder cartridges in the early 20th century. From about 1872 until the U. S. entry into World War I, during that golden age of match shooting, the most popular target rifles were made by Bullard, Stevens, Remington, Maynard, Ballard, Farrow, and Winchester. Calibers used by some of these rifles during matches ranged from the. 25/20. 32/40.33.35. 35-55. 38-55. 40-50. 40/70, but two calibers maintained consistency throughout their tenure during the single-shot era, the. 32-40 and the. 38-55 calibers. The minimum standard in the beginning of the sport had been 200 yard firing from the standing position. No rifle scopes, no rests, no prone positions
9.
Hammer (firearms)
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The hammer is the term given to the part of a firearm that converts stored up potential energy into the initial source of energy to fire a projectile. It is so called due to the fact that it resembles a hammer in both form and function, the hammer itself is a metal piece that forcefully rotates about a pivot point. In firearms, the weapon is held in a cocked state. When in this state, the hammer has been pulled back, once the hammer has been released, it snaps back into its unprimed position and strikes one of various mechanisms to ignite the gunpowder and fire the projectile. Many firearms in modern times employ a system wherein a hammer comes into contact with a firing pin after it has released from its primed state by the pull of the trigger. Many modern firearms have the ability by choice of the user or by design to automatically prime the hammer by pulling the trigger and these are often called double action triggers, for they both prime the hammer and release it in the same motion. Other modern weapons still allow the option for the user to manually prime the hammer, in doing so, the user reduces the pull force needed to discharge the weapon, for no additional work must be done to prime the hammer when firing. The issue quickly arose of how to ignite the gunpowder while maintaining the weapon’s aim at the target. Initially, the problem was solved by using a “slow match”, the smoldering end of the rope would then be manually brought into contact with the gunpowder through a touch hole in the barrel of the weapon when the user was ready to shoot. It proved difficult for the shooter to keep the weapon aimed and level as well as ignite the gunpowder with the slow match. The first step to a true hammer system arose shortly after the introduction of the slow match and it acted as an arm, known as a serpentine, that held the lit slow match. When the trigger was pulled, the arm would swing forward from its cocked state via potential energy stored in a spring and bring the lit match into contact with the gunpowder. The weapon could be utilized with increased accuracy, since the shooter could maintain both hands on the weapon, by 1509, the wheellock system arose to solve some difficulties of the matchlock system, though it was a very expensive system. The wheellock system used a piece of pyrite attached to an arm called a dogshead that would be brought into contact with a wheel that rotated when the trigger was pulled. This would, in turn, shower sparks upon the gunpowder, the wheellock represented a major advancement, for it removed the need for maintaining a continually lit slow match which could go out or give off the shooter’s location in a time of need. Following the introduction of the matchlock, the flintlock was introduced in the mid-1600s and this would also cause pieces of steel to flake off and ignite due to the friction thereby igniting the gunpowder. This method was far less expensive that the wheellock system. In 1822, the system was replaced with what can be called the first hammer system
10.
Ancillary weapon
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An ancillary weapon is a weapon used for secondary or auxiliary purpose, such as a bayonet, combat knife or an officers side arm. Some soldiers such as Special Forces soldiers whose main weapon is a rifle may also carry a pistol as a side arm. Such weapons are equipped with less firepower or force projection power than the primary weapon. Some other items of equipment not primarily intended as weapons have been used as improvised ancillary weapons in close quarters combat. During World War I, the shovel was also pressed into service as a melee weapon. In the close confines of a trench, rifles and fixed bayonets were often too long for effective use, from 1915, soldiers on both sides routinely sharpened the edges of entrenching shovels for use as weapons. In WW II, entrenching shovels were used in the brutal hand-to-hand fighting during the Battle of Stalingrad, many modern military vehicles, airplanes, and weapons are equipped with ancillary weapons, including tanks, jet fighters, bombers and even assault rifles. Police typically carry a handgun as their main weapon such as a Glock 9 mm. As well, they also carry weapons such as batons. In some jurisdictions, police are allowed to carry a handgun in case there is a malfunction or ammunition jam with the main duty weapon. These back-up guns are usually smaller in size and caliber than the main weapon, the small Kahr K9 is designed for use as a law enforcement back-up gun. The subcompact Kel-Tec P-32 is designed for use as a concealed carry back-up gun, law enforcement SWAT team members who carry a submachine gun or assault rifle as their main weapon may also carry a semi-automatic handgun as an ancillary weapon. In some jurisdictions, security guards such as armored car guards who can carry a pistol may have the right to carry a back-up gun. This second gun is another type of ancillary weapon
11.
Law enforcement in the United States
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Law enforcement in the United States is one of three major components of the criminal justice system of the United States, along with courts and corrections. Although each component operates semi-independently, the three form a chain leading from investigation of suspected criminal activity to administration of criminal punishment. Also, courts are vested with the power to make determinations regarding the conduct of the other two components. Law enforcement operates primarily through governmental police agencies, other duties may include the service and enforcement of warrants, writs, and other orders of the courts. Policing in the United States is conducted by close to 18,000 federal, state, local, every state has its own nomenclature for agencies, and their powers, responsibilities and funding vary from state to state. Both police and law enforcement agencies operate at the highest level and are endowed with police roles, the agencies have nationwide jurisdiction for enforcement of federal law. All federal agencies are limited by the U. S. Code to investigating matters that are explicitly within the power of the federal government. However, federal powers have become very broad in practice. The Department of Justice is responsible for most law enforcement duties at the federal level, the Department of Homeland Security is another branch with numerous federal law enforcement agencies reporting to it. U. S. Customs and Border Protection, U. S and it should be noted that the United States Coast Guard is assigned to the United States Department of Defense in the event of war. Command in such situations remains a complex and flexible issue, each of the United States 50 federated states retain their own police, military and domestic law-making powers. The US Constitution gives the government the power to deal with foreign affairs. For policing, this means if a non-federal crime is committed in a US state and the fugitive does not flee the state. Most states operate statewide government agencies that provide law enforcement duties, including investigations and they may be called state police or highway patrol, and are normally part of the state Department of Public Safety. In addition, the Attorney Generals office of state has its own state bureau of investigation. In Texas, the Texas Ranger Division fulfill this role though they have their history in the period before Texas became a state, in Colorado, for instance, the Department of Revenue has its own investigative branch, as do many of the state-funded universities. Also known as parishes and boroughs, county law enforcement is provided by sheriffs departments or offices, County police tend to exist only in metropolitan counties and have countywide jurisdiction. In some areas, there is a department which only handles minor issues such as service of papers
12.
Webley Revolver
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The Webley Revolver was, in various marks, a standard issue service pistol for the armed forces of the United Kingdom, and the British Empire and Commonwealth, from 1887 until 1963. The Webley is a revolver and breaking the revolver operates the extractor. The Webley Mk I service revolver was adopted in 1887 and the Mk IV, the Mk VI, introduced in 1915 during the First World War, is perhaps the best-known model. Firing large.455 Webley cartridges, Webley service revolvers are among the most powerful top-break revolvers ever produced. The.455 calibre Webley is no longer in military service, many Webley Mk VIs were converted to fire 45 ACP ammunition after the remaining.455 Webley ammunition dwindled. The British company Webley & Scott produced a range of revolvers from the mid 19th to late 20th centuries, as early as 1853 P. Webley and J. Webley began production of their first patented single action cap and ball revolvers. Later under the name of P. Webley and Son. Today, undoubtedly best-known are the range of revolvers, which were in service use across two World Wars and numerous colonial conflicts. The military was suitably impressed with the revolver, and it was adopted on 8 November 1887 as the Pistol, Webley, Mk I. The initial contract called for 10,000 Webley revolvers, at a price of £3/1/1 each, the Webley revolver went through a number of changes, culminating in the Mk VI, which was in production between 1915 and 1923. The large.455 Webley revolvers were retired in 1947, although the Webley Mk IV. 38/200 remained in service until 1963 alongside the Enfield No.2 Mk I revolver, the Webley Mk IV, chambered in. Demand exceeded production, which was already behind as the war began and this forced the British government to buy substitute weapons chambered in.455 Webley from neutral countries. America provided the Smith & Wesson 2nd Model Hand Ejector and Colt New Service Revolvers, rexach & Urgoite was tapped for an initial order of 500 revolvers, but they were rejected due to defects. The official service pistol for the British military during the Second World War was the Enfield No.2 Mk I. 38/200 calibre revolver, owing to a critical shortage of handguns, a number of other weapons were also adopted to alleviate the shortage. As a result, both the Webley Mk IV in. 38/200 and Webley Mk VI in.455 calibre were issued to personnel during the war. The Webley Mk VI and Mk IV revolvers were issued to British and Commonwealth Forces after the Second World War. An armourer stationed in West Germany recalled that by the time they were retired in 1963. This lack of ammunition was instrumental in keeping the Enfield and Webley revolvers in use so long, they were not wearing out because they were not being used
13.
Colt Official Police
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The Official Police was also used by various U. S. and allied military forces during World War II. As the 20th Century began, the older.32 caliber revolvers which had been standard-issue for the majority of American police departments began to be phased out in favor of the larger-bore.38 caliber. In 1908 Colt introduced a sleek and modernized revolver they dubbed the Army Special, during the same period, revolvers began to fall out of favor with the U. S. Military, especially after the adoption on the U. S. Model of 1911 semi-automatic pistol. By 1927 the overwhelming sales of two models, the Army Special and Colt Police Positive, had assured Colt’s dominance of the law enforcement firearms market. Colt’s marketing strategy was further fine-tuned by making a few alterations to the Army Special revolver. The changes included adding checkering to the trigger, matting the topstrap of the frame, Colt also upgraded the quality of the gun’s finish from a dull blued finish to a highly polished blued surface. By 1933 the Colt sales catalog listed many law enforcement agencies as having adopted the OP as a sidearm, including the New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, in addition many state police organizations and even the Federal Bureau of Investigation chose the OP as their issue revolver. Many Official Police revolvers were also bought by the forces and militaries of various South American countries. These revolvers bore British military acceptance markings and had a 5 barrel, most of these OP revolvers were assembled from commercial-grade parts made before 1942. Commencing in 1941, small quantities of the.38 Colt Official Police were procured directly from the Defense Supplies Corporation, when government purchasing officials objected to production delays of the OP, as well as the unit cost, Colt responded by simplifying the gun. Instead of the bluing, the revolver was given a dull parkerized finish. In mid-1942 the Springfield Ordnance District was given control over procurement and distribution of the Commando, a few Commandos were shipped to the U. S. Maritime Commission and used as small arms equipment on U. S. merchant ships and ships provided to the Allies under Lend-Lease. Most Commando wartime production went to the Defense Supplies Corporation, for use by security and police forces, while approximately 1,800 Commandos were used by the U. S. Navy, with another 12,800 revolvers distributed to various military intelligence agencies. During the postwar period, Colt fell on difficult financial times, at Smith & Wesson, both output and new model civilian and police sales improved, and the sales margin gap between the two corporations progressively tightened. Finally in the 1960s S&W took over the lead, Colt announced the discontinuation of the Official Police in 1969, stating that competitive production of the design was no longer economically feasible. With a total production of over 400,000 pistols, the Official Police ranks as one of the most successful ever made. The Official Police was machined of fine carbon steel, with bright royal Colt blued as well as nickel-plated finishes, and was offered in 4,5 and 6 inches barrels. Built on Colt’s.41 or “I” frame, it was manufactured in a variety of chamberings including.22 LR. 32-20.41 Long Colt, and the most common and popular, the.38 Special
14.
Smith & Wesson Model 10
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In production since 1899, it is a six-shot double-action revolver with fixed sights. Over its long run it has been available with barrel lengths of 2 in,3 in,4 in,5 in. Barrels of 2.5 inches are also known to have made for special contracts. Some 6,000,000 of the type have been produced over the years, making it the most popular centerfire revolver of the 20th century. In 1899, the United States Army and Navy placed orders with Smith & Wesson for two to three thousand Model 1899 Hand Ejector revolvers chambered for the M1892.38 Long Colt U. S, in 1902 the.38 Military & Police was introduced, featuring substantial changes. These included major modification and simplification of the internal lockwork and the addition of a locking underlug on the barrel to engage the previously free-standing ejector rod, barrel lengths were 4,5,6, and 6.5 inches with a rounded butt. Serial numbers for the Military & Police ranged from number 1 in the series to 20,975, most of the early M&P revolvers chambered in.38 Special appear to have been sold to the civilian market. By 1904, S&W was offering the.38 M&P with a rounded or square butt, and 4-, 5-, heat treating of cylinders began in 1919. The S&W Model 10 military revolvers produced from 1942 to 1944 had serial numbers with a V prefix and it is noteworthy that early Victory Models did not always have the V prefix. Most Victory Models sent to Britain were fitted with 4-inch or 5-inchbarrels, the Victory Model was used by United States forces during World War II, being chambered in the well-known and popular.38 Special cartridge. Some of these remained in service well into the 1990s with units of the United States Armed Forces. Until the introduction of the Beretta M9 9mm pistol in 1990, U. S. Army helicopter crew members, criminal Investigation Division agents were issued.38 caliber revolvers with two inch barrels. The Victory Model remained in use with Air National Guard tanker, rechambering of. 38-200 cylinders to.38 Special results in oversized chambers, which may cause problems. Lee Harvey Oswald was carrying a re-chambered Victory Model when he was apprehended on November 22,1963, other distinguishing features of the Victory Model revolver are the lanyard loop at the bottom of the grip frame, and the use of smooth walnut grip panels. However some early models did use a grip, most notably the pre-1942 manufacture. After World War II, Smith & Wesson returned to manufacturing the M&P series, in 1957, Smith & Wesson adopted the convention of using numeric designations to distinguish their various models of handguns, and the M&P was renamed the Model 10. The M&P/Model 10 has been available in blued steel finish and nickel finish for most of its production run. The model has also offered throughout the years with both the round butt and square butt, i. e. grip patterns
15.
Smith & Wesson Model 29
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The Smith & Wesson Model 29 is a six-shot, double-action revolver chambered for the.44 Magnum cartridge and manufactured by the U. S. company Smith & Wesson. The Model 29 was offered with 3,4,5,6, 6½, 8⅜ and, later, other barrel lengths were available either by special order from Smith & Wessons Custom Shop or custom built by gunsmiths. The 5 barreled variant had a full length underlug, finish options available included a highly polished blued or nickel-plated surface. At the time of its introduction, the Model 29 was the most powerful production handgun and it was made famous by association with the fictional character Dirty Harry Callahan. The Model 29 will chamber and fire.44 Special cartridges, the Magnum case is slightly longer to prevent magnum rounds from being chambered and fired in handguns chambered for the.44 Special. Elmer Keiths achievements in maximizing the power and performance of the.44 Special was the inspiration, S&Ws production of a large N-frame revolver in.44 Magnum began in 1955, the Model 29 designation was applied in 1957. At the time of its introduction, the Model 29 was the most powerful production handgun, there were a number of custom calibers that were more powerful, as in the old Howdah pistols of the 19th century. After the movies release, retailers had trouble keeping the Model 29 in stock, the original Model 29 was superseded by the Model 29-1 in 1960, with modifications made to the ejector-rod screw. The Model 29-2 replaced it the year, with one screw that had secured the cylinder-stop spring being deleted. The barrel length was shortened from 6 1/2 to 6 in 1979 and these two versions are known as pinned and recessed. Pinned means that the barrels are screwed in, and secured by a pin driven through the frame, recessed denotes the rear of the bored cylinder holes being countersunk, so that, when loaded, the cartridge rims are fully enclosed by the cylinder. In 1982, the cost-cutting Model 29-3 dropped recessed cylinders and pinned barrels for crush-fit barrels, the -4 and -5, produced from 1988 and 1990 respectively had changes to improve durability for heavy use. In 1994 the 29-6 began production, now fitted as standard with rubber Monogrips from Hogue to replace the wooden items. The 29-7 started production in 1998 with changes to the mechanism, the firing pins attachment. Introduced in 1978, the Smith & Wesson Model 629 is a steel version of the Model 29. The 629 Classic variant features a full-length barrel underlug, other include the 629 Stealth Hunter. Some S&W model 29s were rebuilt by the AAI Corporation to make the Quiet Special Purpose Revolvers and this special ammunition was made by AAI. This pistol was developed from 1967 to 1971 to be used by rats in the Vietnam War
16.
Dirty Harry
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Dirty Harry is a 1971 American action thriller film produced and directed by Don Siegel, the first in the Dirty Harry series. Clint Eastwood plays the role, in his first outing as San Francisco Police Department Inspector Dirty Harry Callahan. The film drew upon the case of the Zodiac Killer as the Callahan character seeks out a similar vicious psychopath. Dirty Harry was a critical and commercial success and set the style for a genre of police films. It was followed by four sequels, Magnum Force in 1973, The Enforcer in 1976, Sudden Impact in 1983, in 2012, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant. A psychopathic serial killer calling himself Scorpio shoots a woman in a San Francisco swimming pool from a nearby rooftop. The chief of police and the mayor assign the inspector to the case, while in a local diner, Callahan observes a bank robbery in progress. He goes outside, wielding his Smith & Wesson Model 29 revolver, Callahan then challenges him, I know what you’re thinking, Did he fire six shots or only five. Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, but being this is a.44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question, Do I feel lucky. After the robber surrenders, he tells Callahan that he must know if the gun was still loaded, Callahan pulls the trigger, with the weapon pointed directly at the robber, and laughs, as it is revealed to be empty. Scorpio targets a gay male, but is interrupted by a police helicopter. Later that night, Callahan and his partner, Chico Gonzalez pursue a likely suspect. Following that, Callahan successfully halts a suicide attempt, after which he reveals that the origin of his nickname comes from the fact that he is given every dirty job to do. When Scorpio kills a black boy from another rooftop, the police believe the killer will next pursue a Catholic priest. Scorpio escapes, killing a police officer disguised as a priest, Scorpio then demands $200,000 for a teenage girl he has kidnapped, threatening to let her suffocate otherwise. The mayor decides to pay and tells Callahan to deliver the money with no tricks, but the inspector wears a covert listening device, brings a switchblade, and has his partner follow him. As Scorpio sends Callahan to various payphones throughout the city to make sure he is alone, Scorpio brutally beats Callahan and tells him hes going to kill him and let the girl die anyway, Gonzalez comes to his partners rescue but is wounded. Callahan stabs Scorpio in the leg, but the killer escapes without the money, the doctor who has treated Scorpios wound phones the police and tells Callahan and his new partner that he has seen Scorpio in Kezar Stadium
17.
Nagant M1895
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The Nagant M1895 Revolver is a seven-shot, gas-seal revolver designed and produced by Belgian industrialist Léon Nagant for the Russian Empire. The Nagant M1895 was chambered for a cartridge,7. The Nagant M1895 was adopted as the standard side arm for the Imperial Russian Army and police officers. Production began in Liège, Belgium, however Russia purchased the rights in 1898, and moved production to the Tula Arsenal in Russia. Until 1918 it was produced in two versions, a version for officers, and a cheaper single-action version for the ranks. It continued to be used after the Russian Revolution by the Red Army, the common Russian name for the revolver, наган became synonymous with the concept of the revolver in general and was applied to such weapons regardless of actual make or model. As early 1933 the M1895 had started to be replaced by the Tokarev semi-automatic pistol but was never fully replaced until the Makarov pistol in 1952. It was still produced and used in great numbers during World War II and remained in use with the Russian Railways, postal service, in the Russian Federation, it was only retired from use with postal security service in 2003, and from bailiff security service in 2009. Expensive revolvers such as Korth and Manurhin are hand-fitted, keeping the gap to a minimum, mass-produced revolvers such as Smith & Wesson may have a gap as large as 0.25 mm. The M1895 by contrast, has a mechanism which, as the hammer is cocked, first turns the cylinder and then moves it forward, the cartridge, also unique, plays an important part in sealing the gun to the escape of propellant gases. The bullet is seated, entirely within the cartridge case. The barrel features a conical section at its rear, this accepts the mouth of the cartridge. The Nagant M1895 was made in both single-action and double-action models before and during World War I, they are known colloquially as the “Privates model”, production of the single-action model seems to have stopped after 1918, with some exceptions, including examples made for target competition. Most single-action revolvers were converted to double-action, making original single-action revolvers rather rare. Whether fired in action or double action, the Nagant M1895 has a markedly heavy trigger pull. The M1895 revolver was used extensively by the Russian Imperial Army, in Russian service, it was known for its extreme sturdiness and ability to withstand abuse. As one former Imperial Russian officer stated, if anything went wrong with the M1895 and it was widely employed by the Bolshevik secret police, the Cheka, as well as its Soviet successor agencies, the OGPU and NKVD. Seven Nagant revolvers were used by communist revolutionaries to murder the Russian imperial family, in the police role, it was frequently seen with a cut-down barrel to aid in concealment by plainclothes agents
18.
Action (firearms)
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In firearms terminology, an action is the mechanism that handles the ammunition or the method by which that mechanism works. Breech-loading weapons have actions, actions are not present on muzzleloaders. The mechanism that fires a muzzle-loader is called the lock, actions can be categorized in several ways, including single action versus double action, break action versus bolt action, and others. The term action can also short, long, and magnum if it is in reference to the length of the rifle’s receiver. The short action rifle usually can accommodate a cartridge length of 2.8 in or smaller, the long action rifle can accommodate a cartridge of 3.34 in, and the magnum action rifle can accommodate cartridges of 3.6 in, or longer in length. Manual operation is a term describing any type of firearm action that is loaded one shot at a time by the user rather than automatically. For example, break action is a form of operation using a simple hinge mechanism that is manually unlatched by the operator. These are actions wherein the breechblock lowers or drops into the receiver to open the breech, there are two principal types of dropping block, the tilting block and the falling block. In a tilting or pivoting block action, the breechblock is hinged on a pin mounted at the rear, when the lever is operated, the block tilts down and forward, exposing the chamber. The best-known pivoting block designs are the Peabody, the Peabody–Martini, the original Peabody rifles, manufactured by the Providence Tool Company, used a manually cocked side-hammer. The 1871 Martini–Henry which replaced the trapdoor Snider–Enfield was the standard British Army rifle of the later Victorian era, charles H. Ballards self-cocking tilting-block action was produced by the Marlin Firearms Company from 1875, and earned a superlative reputation among long-range Creedmoor target shooters. Surviving Marlin Ballards are today highly prized by collectors, especially those mounted in the elaborate Swiss-style Schützen stocks of the day. A falling-block action is a firearm action in which a solid metal breechblock slides vertically in grooves cut into the breech of the weapon. Examples of firearms using the falling block action are the Sharps rifle, in a rolling block action the breechblock takes the form of a part-cylinder, with a pivot pin through its axis. The operator rotates or rolls the block to open and close the breech, it is a simple, rugged, a break action is a type of firearm where the barrel are hinged and can be broken open to expose the breech. The earliest metallic-cartridge breechloaders designed for military issue began as conversions of muzzle-loading rifle-muskets. The upper rear portion of the barrel was filed or milled away, an internal angled firing pin allowed the re-use of the rifles existing side-hammer. The Allin action made by Springfield Arsenal in the US hinged forward, france countered in 1866 with its superior Chassepot rifle, also a paper-cartridge bolt action
19.
Grenade launcher
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A grenade launcher is a weapon that fires a specially-designed large-caliber projectile, often with an explosive, smoke or gas warhead. Today, the term refers to a class of dedicated firearms firing unitary grenade cartridges. The most common type are man-portable, shoulder-fired weapons issued to individuals, Grenade launchers can either come in the form of standalone weapons or attachments mounted to a parent firearm, usually a rifle. Larger crew-served automatic grenade launchers such as the Mk 19 are mounted on tripods or vehicles, some armored fighting vehicles also mount fixed arrays of short range, single-shot grenade launchers as a means of defense. These devices usually fire smoke grenades to conceal the vehicle behind a screen, though can also be loaded with chaff, flares. Vehicle-mounted smoke grenade launchers are known as smoke dischargers. The earliest devices which could conceivably be referred to as grenade launchers were slings, a new method of launching grenades was developed during the First World War and used throughout the Second. The disadvantage of this method is that when a soldier wants to launch a grenade, if they are surprised by a close-range threat while preparing to fire the grenade, they have to reverse the procedure before they can respond with rifle fire. Due to the lack of a barrel, rifle grenades also tend to be difficult to fire accurately compared to underbarrel or standalone designs. One of the first examples of a dedicated breech-loading launcher for unitary explosive grenade rounds was the M79 grenade launcher, the goal for the M79 was the production of a device with greater range than a rifle grenade but more portable than a mortar. Such single-shot devices were replaced in military service with underbarrel grenade launchers. Single shot launchers are still commonly used in riot control operations. This reduces the weight the soldier must carry by eliminating the grenade launchers buttstock, underbarrel 40mm grenade launchers generally have their own trigger group, to fire, one simply changes grips, disengages the safety, and pulls the trigger. In Western systems, the barrel slides forward or pivots to the side to allow reloading, soviet/Russian launchers are instead loaded from the muzzle, with the cartridge casing affixed to the projectile in the style of a mortar shell. Modern launchers often have the option of mounting more sophisticated aiming systems, such as ballistic rangefinders, one AAI submission for SPIW mounted a simple single-action, single-shot breech-loading underbarrel grenade launcher in lieu of the required semi-automatic multi-shot device. With refinement, this was adopted as the M203 grenade launcher in 1968, a variety of lengths of M203 are available along with numerous parts kits to fit it to various rifles aside from the AR15 pattern weapons it was designed for. A variant of the weapon, the M320 Grenade Launcher Module, was salvaged from the failed XM8 program. Further developments led to the GP series of grenade launchers, an automatic grenade launcher or grenade machine gun is a crew-served support weapon which fires explosive rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine
20.
Shotgun
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Shotguns come in a wide variety of sizes, ranging from 5. A shotgun is generally a smoothbore firearm, which means that the inside of the barrel is not rifled, preceding smoothbore firearms, such as the musket, were widely used by armies in the 18th century. The direct ancestor to the shotgun, the blunderbuss, was used in a similar variety of roles from self-defense to riot control. It was often used by cavalry troops because of its shorter length and ease of use. In the 19th century, however, these weapons were replaced on the battlefield with breechloading rifled firearms. The military value of shotguns was rediscovered in the First World War, since then, it has been used in a variety of roles in civilian, law enforcement, and military applications. The shot pellets from a spread upon leaving the barrel, and the power of the burning charge is divided among the pellets. In a hunting context, this makes shotguns useful primarily for hunting birds, however, in a military or law enforcement context, the large number of projectiles makes the shotgun useful as a close quarters combat weapon or a defensive weapon. Militants or insurgents may use shotguns in asymmetric engagements, as shotguns are commonly owned civilian weapons in many countries, shotguns are also used for target shooting sports such as skeet, trap, and sporting clays. These involve shooting clay disks, known as clay pigeons, thrown in various ways, shotguns come in a wide variety of forms, from very small up to massive punt guns, and in nearly every type of firearm operating mechanism. The common characteristics that make a unique center around the requirements of firing shot. These features are the typical of a shotgun shell, namely a relatively short, wide cartridge, with straight walls. Ammunition for shotguns is referred to in the USA as shotgun shells, shotshells, the term cartridges is standard usage in the United Kingdom. The shot is fired from a smoothbore barrel, another configuration is the rifled slug barrel. The typical use of a shotgun is against small and fast moving targets, the spreading of the shot allows the user to point the shotgun close to the target, rather than having to aim precisely as in the case of a single projectile. The disadvantages of shot are limited range and limited penetration of the shot, which is why shotguns are used at short ranges, and typically against smaller targets. Larger shot sizes, up to the case of the single projectile slug load, result in increased penetration. Aside from the most common use against small, fast moving targets, First, it has enormous stopping power at short range, more than nearly all handguns and many rifles
21.
Rifle
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A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called lands, which contact with the projectile. When the projectile leaves the barrel, this spin lends gyroscopic stability to the projectile and prevents tumbling and this allows the use of aerodynamically-efficient bullets and thus improves range and accuracy. The word rifle originally referred to the grooving, and a rifle was called a rifled gun, the word rifle is now used for any long hand-held aimed device activated by a trigger, such as Air rifles and the Personnel halting and stimulation response rifle. Rifles are used in warfare, hunting and shooting sports, formerly, rifles only fired a single projectile with each squeeze of the trigger. Modern rifles are capable of firing more than one round per trigger squeeze, some fire in an automatic mode. Thus, modern automatic rifles overlap to some extent in design, in fact, many light machine guns are adaptations of existing automatic rifle designs. A militarys light machine guns are chambered for the same caliber ammunition as its service rifles. Generally, the difference between a rifle and a machine gun comes down to weight, cooling system. Modern military rifles are fed by magazines, while machine guns are generally belt-fed, many machine guns allow the operator to quickly exchange barrels in order to prevent overheating, whereas rifles generally do not. Most machine guns fire from a bolt in order to reduce the danger of cook-off. Machine guns are often crewed by more than one soldier, the rifle is an individual weapon, the term rifle is sometimes used to describe larger crew-served rifled weapons firing explosive shells, for example, recoilless rifles. In many works of fiction a rifle refers to any weapon that has a stock and is shouldered before firing, the origins of rifling are difficult to trace, but some of the earliest practical experiments seem to have occurred in Europe during the 15th century. Archers had long realized that a twist added to the feathers of their arrows gave them greater accuracy. This might also have led to a increase in accuracy. Rifles were created as an improvement in the accuracy of smooth bore muskets, the black powder used in early muzzle-loading rifles quickly fouled the barrel, making loading slower and more difficult. Since musketeers could not afford to take the time to stop and clean their barrels in the middle of a battle, rifles were limited to use by sharpshooters, muskets were smoothbore, large caliber weapons using ball-shaped ammunition fired at relatively low velocity. Due to the high cost and great difficulty of manufacturing, and the need to load readily from the muzzle
22.
Revolver cannon
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A revolver cannon is a type of autocannon, commonly used as an aircraft gun. It uses a cylinder with chambers, like those of a revolver handgun. Some examples are also power-driven, to speed the loading process. Unlike a Gatling gun, a revolver cannon has only a barrel, thus its spun weight is lower. Automatic revolver cannon have been produced by different manufacturers. An early precursor was the Puckle gun of 1718, a flintlock revolver gun. The design idea was impractical, far ahead of what 18th century technology could achieve, during the 19th century, Elisha Collier and later Samuel Colt used the revolver action to revolutionize handguns. The Confederate States of America used a single 2-inch, 5-shot revolver cannon with manually rotated chambers during the Siege of Petersburg, the gun was captured in Danville, VA by Union forces on April 27,1865. In 1905, C. M. Clarke patented the first fully automatic, gas-operated rotary chamber gun, clarkes patent came as reciprocating-action automatic weapons like the Maxim gun and the Browning gun were peaking in popularity. In 1932, the Soviet ShKAS machine gun,7, some 150,000 ShKAS weapons were produced for arming Soviet military aircraft through 1945. Around 1935, Silin, Berezin and Morozenko worked on a 6000 rpm 7.62 mm aircraft machine gun using revolver design, called SIBEMAS and it was not until the mid-1940s that the first practical revolver cannon emerged. The archetypal revolver cannon is the Mauser MK213, from which almost all current weapons are derived, in the immediate post-war era, Mauser engineers spread out from Germany and developed similar weapons around the world. Both the British and French made outright copies of the 30 mm versions of the MK213, as the ADEN and DEFA, respectively. The American M39 cannon used the 20 mm version, re-chambered for a slightly longer 102 mm cartridge, several generations of the basic ADEN/DEFA weapons followed, remaining largely unchanged into the 1970s. Around that time, a new generation of weapons developed, based on the proposed NATO25 mm caliber standard, a leading example is the Mauser BK-27. In the 1980s, the French developed the GIAT30, a newer generation power-driven revolver cannon, the Rheinmetall RMK30 modifies the GIAT system further, by venting the gas to the rear to eliminate recoil. The largest to see service is the Rheinmetall Millennium 35 mm Naval Gun System, Soviet revolver cannon are less common than Western ones, especially on aircraft. A mechanism for a Soviet revolver-based machine gun was patented in 1944, the virtually unknown Rikhter R-23 was fitted only to some Tu-22 models, but later abandoned in favor of the two-barrel, linear action Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-23 in the Tu-22M
23.
Gatling gun
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The Gatling gun is one of the best-known early rapid-fire spring loaded, hand cranked weapons and a forerunner of the modern machine gun. Invented by Richard Gatling, it is known for its use by the Union forces during the American Civil War in the 1860s, which was the first time it was employed in combat. Later, it was used again in military conflicts, such as the Boshin War, the Anglo-Zulu War. It was also used by militias and the National Guard in episodes of the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, specifically in Pittsburgh, the Gatling guns operation centered on a cyclic multi-barrel design which facilitated cooling and synchronized the firing-reloading sequence. Each barrel fired a shot when it reached a certain point in the cycle, after which it ejected the spent cartridge, loaded a new round. This configuration allowed higher rates of fire to be achieved without the barrels overheating, the Gatling gun was designed by the American inventor Dr. Richard J. Gatling in 1861 and patented on November 4,1862. Gatling wrote that he created it to reduce the size of armies and so reduce the number of deaths by combat and disease, although the first Gatling gun was capable of firing continuously, it required a person to crank it, therefore it was not a true automatic weapon. The Maxim gun, invented and patented in 1883, was the first true fully automatic weapon, nonetheless, the Gatling gun represented a huge leap in firearm technology. The latter were used during and after the Napoleonic Wars. This negated much of the advantage of their rate of fire per discharge. In comparison, the Gatling gun offered a rapid and continuous rate of fire without having to be reloaded by opening the breech. The original Gatling gun was a weapon which used multiple rotating barrels turned by a hand crank. The US Army adopted Gatling guns in several calibers, including.42 caliber. 45-70.50 caliber,1 inch, the. 45-70 weapon was also mounted on some US Navy ships of the 1880s and 1890s. The Gatling gun was first used in warfare during the American Civil War, twelve of the guns were purchased personally by Union commanders and used in the trenches during the siege of Petersburg, Virginia. Eight other Gatling guns were fitted on gunboats, the gun was not accepted by the American Army until 1866, when a sales representative of the manufacturing company demonstrated it in combat. On July 17,1863, Gatling guns were used to over-awe New York anti-draft rioters. Two were brought by a National Guard unit from Philadelphia to use against strikers in Pittsburgh. Gatling guns were not used at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, also known as Custers Last Stand
24.
Rotary cannon
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The loading, firing, and unloading functions are performed simultaneously in different barrels as they rotate, and the rotation also permits the barrels some time to cool. The rotating barrel cluster on most Gatling-type guns is powered by a force such as an electric motor. The cyclic multi-barrel design synchronizes the firing/reloading sequence, each barrel fires a single shot when it reaches a certain point in the cycle, after which the spent cartridge is ejected and then a new round loaded. During the cycle, the barrel transfers some heat to the surrounding air, due to the size and weight of rotary cannons, they are typically mounted on aircraft or ships. The Gatling gun was the first gun to use rotating barrels and it was designed by the American inventor Dr. Richard J. Gatling in 1861 and patented in 1862. Hand cranked and hopper fed, it could fire at a rate of 200 rounds per minute, the Gatling gun was a field weapon, first used in warfare during the American Civil War and subsequently by European and Russian armies. The design was improved, by 1876 the Gatling gun had a theoretical rate of fire of 1,200 rounds per minute. By 1893, the M1893 Gatling gun was capable of a rate of fire of some 800–900 rounds per minute. All models of Gatling guns were declared obsolete by the U. S. Army in 1911, after the Gatling gun was replaced in service by newer recoil- or gas-operated non-rotating machine guns, the approach of using multiple rotating barrels fell into disuse for many decades. However, some examples were developed during the years but only existed as prototypes. During World War I, Imperial Germany was working on the Fokker-Leimberger, after World War II, the U. S.30 and.50 caliber machine gun cartridges previously employed, and thus capable of destroying aircraft with only a few hits on target. In June 1946, the General Electric Company was awarded a U. S. military defense contract to develop a gun with a high rate of fire which GE termed Project Vulcan. While researching prior work, ordnance engineers recalled the experimental electrically driven Gatling weapons of the turn of the 20th century, in 1946, a Model 1903 Gatling gun borrowed from a museum was set up with an electric motor drive and test-fired by General Electric engineers. The 40-year-old design briefly managed a rate of fire of 5,000 rounds per minute, in 1949 General Electric began testing the first model of its modified Gatling design, now called the Vulcan Gun. The first prototype was designated the T45 and it fired.60 in ammunition at about 2,500 rounds per minute, from six barrels driven by an electric motor. In 1950, GE delivered ten initial model A.60 cal, thirty-three model C T45 guns were delivered in 1952 in three calibers.60 cal. 20mm, and 27mm, for additional testing, after extensive testing, the T171 20mm gun was selected for further development. In 1956, the T171 20mm gun was standardized by the U. S. Army, one of the main reasons for the resurgence of the electrically or hydraulically powered multiple-barrel design is the weapons tolerance for continuous high rates of fire
25.
Minigun
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The M134 Minigun is a 7. 62×51mm NATO, six-barrel rotary machine gun with a high rate of fire which can also fire at a high sustained rate. It features Gatling-style rotating barrels with a power source, normally an electric motor. The Minigun is used by branches of the U. S. military. Versions are designated M134 and XM196 by the United States Army, Minigun refers to a specific model of weapon that General Electric originally produced, but the term minigun has popularly come to refer to any externally powered rotary-style gun of rifle caliber. The term is used loosely to refer to guns of similar rates of fire and configuration regardless of power source. The ancestor to the modern minigun was made in the 1860s, richard Jordan Gatling replaced the hand-cranked mechanism of a rifle-caliber Gatling gun with an electric motor, a relatively new invention at the time. Patent #502,185 on July 25,1893, despite Gatlings improvements, the Gatling gun fell into disuse after cheaper, lighter-weight, recoil and gas operated machine guns were invented, Gatling himself went bankrupt for a period. During World War I, several German companies were working on externally powered guns for use in aircraft, of those, the best-known today is perhaps the Fokker-Leimberger, an externally powered 12-barrel rotary gun using the 7. None of these German guns went into production during the war, the British also experimented with this type of split-breech during the 1950s, but they were also unsuccessful. In the 1960s, the United States Armed Forces began exploring modern variants of the electric-powered, although helicopters had mounted single-barrel machine guns, using them to repel attackers hidden in the dense jungle foliage often led to barrels overheating or cartridge jams. In order to develop a weapon with a reliable, higher rate of fire. The resulting weapon, designated M134 and known popularly as the Minigun, the gun was originally specified to fire at 6,000 rpm, but this was later lowered to 4,000 rpm. Other famous gunship airplanes were the Douglas AC-47 Spooky, the Fairchild AC-119, the U. S. government had procured some 10,000 miniguns during the Vietnam War. By 1975, production of spare parts had ceased with the Army in possession of a large inventory, by 1985, there were few spares left in the inventory. Units that received miniguns could not maintain them, so by the 1990s only Task Force 160, around 1995, the 160th SOAR began acquiring spare miniguns. Industry had a difficult time reproducing parts according to the blueprints, so models that were being procured were mechanically unreliable. This resulted in using a batch of working and unreliable weapons. This fact was unknown to the 160th SOAR, and the use of miniguns that would not work shook the confidence in the system
26.
Electric motor
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An electric motor is an electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. The reverse of this is the conversion of energy into electrical energy and is done by an electric generator. In normal motoring mode, most electric motors operate through the interaction between an electric motors magnetic field and winding currents to generate force within the motor, small motors may be found in electric watches. General-purpose motors with highly standardized dimensions and characteristics provide convenient mechanical power for industrial use, the largest of electric motors are used for ship propulsion, pipeline compression and pumped-storage applications with ratings reaching 100 megawatts. Electric motors may be classified by electric power source type, internal construction, application, type of motion output, perhaps the first electric motors were simple electrostatic devices created by the Scottish monk Andrew Gordon in the 1740s. The theoretical principle behind production of force by the interactions of an electric current. The conversion of energy into mechanical energy by electromagnetic means was demonstrated by the British scientist Michael Faraday in 1821. A free-hanging wire was dipped into a pool of mercury, on which a permanent magnet was placed, when a current was passed through the wire, the wire rotated around the magnet, showing that the current gave rise to a close circular magnetic field around the wire. This motor is often demonstrated in experiments, brine substituting for toxic mercury. Though Barlows wheel was a refinement to this Faraday demonstration. In 1827, Hungarian physicist Ányos Jedlik started experimenting with electromagnetic coils, after Jedlik solved the technical problems of the continuous rotation with the invention of the commutator, he called his early devices electromagnetic self-rotors. Although they were used only for instructional purposes, in 1828 Jedlik demonstrated the first device to contain the three components of practical DC motors, the stator, rotor and commutator. The device employed no permanent magnets, as the fields of both the stationary and revolving components were produced solely by the currents flowing through their windings. His motor set a record which was improved only four years later in September 1838 by Jacobi himself. His second motor was powerful enough to drive a boat with 14 people across a wide river and it was not until 1839/40 that other developers worldwide managed to build motors of similar and later also of higher performance. The first commutator DC electric motor capable of turning machinery was invented by the British scientist William Sturgeon in 1832, following Sturgeons work, a commutator-type direct-current electric motor made with the intention of commercial use was built by the American inventor Thomas Davenport, which he patented in 1837. The motors ran at up to 600 revolutions per minute, and powered machine tools, due to the high cost of primary battery power, the motors were commercially unsuccessful and Davenport went bankrupt. Several inventors followed Sturgeon in the development of DC motors but all encountered the same battery power cost issues, no electricity distribution had been developed at the time
27.
Matchlock
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The matchlock was the first mechanism, or lock, invented to facilitate the firing of a hand-held firearm. The classic European matchlock gun held a burning slow match in a clamp at the end of a curved lever known as the serpentine. The flash from the primer travelled through the touch hole igniting the charge of propellant in the gun barrel. On release of the lever or trigger, the spring-loaded serpentine would move in reverse to clear the pan, for obvious safety reasons the match would be removed before reloading of the gun. Both ends of the match were usually kept alight in case one end should be accidentally extinguished. Earlier types had only an S-shaped serpentine pinned to the stock either behind or in front of the flash pan, most matchlock mechanisms mounted the serpentine forward of the flash pan. The serpentine dipped backward, toward the firer, to ignite the priming and this is the reverse of the familiar forward-dipping hammer of the flintlock and later firearms. A later addition to the gun was the rifled barrel and this made the gun much more accurate at longer distances but did have drawbacks, the main one being that it took much longer to reload because the bullet had to be pounded down into the barrel. As the match was often extinguished after its relatively violent collision with the pan, this type fell out of favour with soldiers. An inherent weakness of the matchlock was the necessity of keeping the match constantly lit, the match was steeped in potassium nitrate to keep the match lit for extended periods of time. Being the sole source of ignition for the powder, if the match was not lit when the gun needed to be fired, the mechanism was useless, and this was chiefly a problem in wet weather, when damp match cord was difficult to light and to keep burning. Another drawback was the match itself. At night, the match would glow in the darkness, possibly revealing the carriers position, the distinctive smell of burning match-cord was also a giveaway of a musketeers position. It was also dangerous when soldiers were carelessly handling large quantities of gunpowder with lit matches present. This was one reason why soldiers in charge of transporting and guarding ammunition were amongst the first to be issued self-igniting guns like the wheellock, the matchlock was also uneconomical to keep ready for long periods of time. To maintain a single sentry on guard duty with a matchlock. The matchlock first appeared in Europe, in the mid-15th century, the first dated illustration of a matchlock mechanism dates to 1475 and by the 16th century they were universally used. During this time the latest tactic in using the matchlock was to line up and this volley would be much more effective than single soldiers trying to hit individual targets
28.
History of the firearm
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The firearm was invented in China during the 13th century for usage as a signaling and celebration device and remained so for hundreds of years. After the Chinese invented black powder during the 9th century and these inventions were later transmitted to the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. The direct ancestor of the firearm is the lance, the prototype of the gun. The fire lance was invented in China during the 10th century and is the predecessor of all firearms, the earliest known depiction of a gunpowder weapon is the illustration of a fire-lance on a mid-10th century silk banner from Dunhuang. The Dean Shoucheng Lu, an account of the siege of Dean in 1132, the proportion of saltpeter in the propellant was increased to maximize its explosive power. To better withstand that explosive power, the paper, and bamboo of which fire-lance barrels were originally made came to be replaced with metal. And to take advantage of that power, the shrapnel came to be replaced by projectiles whose size. The earliest depiction of a gun is a sculpture from a cave in Sichuan dating to the 12th century of a Chinese figure carrying a vase-shaped bombard with flames, the Arabs obtained firearms in the 14th century. English Privy Wardrobe accounts list ribaldis, a type of cannon, in the 1340s, around the late 14th century in Italy, smaller and portable hand-held cannons or Schioppo were developed, creating in effect the first smooth-bore personal firearm. In the late 15th century, the Ottoman Empire used firearms as part of its regular infantry, the earliest surviving firearm in Europe was found in Otepää, Estonia and it dates to at least as early 1396. During the early age, these hand-held cannons evolved into the flintlock rifle, then the breech loader. In 1500 the Imperial-Spanish army had equipped units with handguns called arquebusiers and they had handguns which were more accurate, lighter, and portable than their 12th-century brothers from Europe. They were used in the Battle of Pavia in 1525 and proved to have dominated over King Francis I knights. The Battle of Cerignola in 1503 was largely won by Spain through the use of matchlock firearms, early firearms had to be cocked and caught by the sear, which holds the hammer back, before each shot. As ignition devices, matchlocks, wheel locks, snaplock, flintlocks, the paper cartridge was introduced in 1586, and the bayonet came to use in 17th century France. Hand grenades, thrown by grenadiers, appeared around the same time, the Springfield Armory in Springfield, Massachusetts became important to the history of firearms during the 1850s, when it debuted the Springfield rifle. Springfield rifles were among the very first breech-loading rifles, starting production in 1865, by that time, metallurgy had developed sufficiently so that brass could be worked into fixed ammunition. Fixed ammunition combined a primer, the charge, and the projectile in a water-resistant brass cartridge case
29.
Samuel Colt
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Samuel Colt was an American inventor and industrialist from Hartford, Connecticut. He founded Colts Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company, and made the production of the revolver commercially viable. Colts first two ventures were producing firearms in Paterson, New Jersey and making underwater mines, both ended in disappointment. But his business expanded rapidly after 1847, when the Texas Rangers ordered 1,000 revolvers during the American war with Mexico, during the American Civil War, his factory in Hartford supplied firearms both to the North and the South. Later, his firearms were prominent during the settling of the western frontier, Colt died in 1862 as one of the wealthiest men in America. Colts manufacturing methods were at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution and his use of interchangeable parts helped him become one of the first to use the assembly line efficiently. Moreover, his use of art, celebrity endorsements, and corporate gifts to promote his wares made him a pioneer in the fields of advertising, product placement. Samuel Colt was born in Hartford, Connecticut, to Christopher Colt, a farmer who had moved his family to the city after he became a businessman, and Sarah Colt, born Caldwell. His mothers father, Major John Caldwell, had been an officer in the Continental Army, Sarah died from tuberculosis when Samuel was six years old, and his father remarried two years later, to Olivia Sargeant. Samuel had three sisters, one of whom died during her childhood and his oldest sister, Margaret, died of tuberculosis at 19 and the other, Sarah Ann, later committed suicide. One brother, James, became a lawyer, another, Christopher, was a textile merchant. Colt, a man of many occupations, killed a creditor in 1841 in New York City, was convicted of the murder, at age 11, Colt was indentured to a farmer in Glastonbury, where he did chores and attended school. Here he was introduced to the Compendium of Knowledge, an encyclopedia that he preferred to read rather than his Bible studies. Its articles on Robert Fulton and gunpowder motivated Colt throughout his life and he discovered that other inventors in the Compendium had accomplished things that were once deemed impossible, and he wanted to do the same. In 1829, at the age of 15, Colt began working in his fathers textile plant in Ware, Massachusetts, where he had access to tools, materials, sent to boarding school, he amused his classmates with pyrotechnics. In 1830, a July 4 accident caused a fire ended his schooling. On a voyage to Calcutta on board the brig Corvo, he noticed that regardless of which way the ships wheel was spun and he later said that this gave him the idea for the revolver. On the Corvo, Colt made a model of a pepperbox revolver out of scrap wood
30.
Capstan (nautical)
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A capstan is a vertical-axled rotating machine developed for use on sailing ships to apply force to ropes, cables, and hawsers. The principle is similar to that of the windlass, which has a horizontal axle, both device and word are considered Spanish inventions. In its earliest form, the capstan consisted of a timber mounted vertically through a structure which was free to rotate. Levers, known as bars, were inserted through holes at the top of the timber, a rope wrapped several turns around the drum was thus hauled upon. A rudimentary ratchet was provided to hold the tension, the ropes were always wound in a clockwise direction. Capstans evolved to consist of a drum or barrel mounted on an iron axle. Two barrels on a common axle were used frequently to allow men on two decks to apply force to the bars, later capstans were made entirely of iron, with gearing in the head providing a mechanical advantage when the bars were pushed counterclockwise. One form of capstan was connected by a shaft and gears to an anchor windlass on the deck below, on riverine vessels, the capstan was sometimes cranked by steam power. Modern capstans are powered electrically, hydraulically, pneumatically, or via an internal combustion engine, typically, a gearbox is used which trades reduced speed, relative to the prime mover, for increased torque. In yachting terminology, a winch functions on the principle as a capstan. However, in applications, the term winch generally implies a machine which stores the rope on a drum. Hydraulically powered capstans were used in railway goods yards for shunting. One example was Broad Street goods station in London, the yard was on a deck above some warehouses, and the deck was not strong enough to carry a locomotive, so ropes and capstans were used instead
31.
Ratchet and pawl
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A ratchet is a mechanical device that allows continuous linear or rotary motion in only one direction while preventing motion in the opposite direction. Ratchets are widely used in machinery and tools, though something of a misnomer, ratchet is also often used to refer to ratcheting socket wrenches, a common tool with a ratcheting handle. A ratchet consists of a gear or linear rack with teeth. The teeth are uniform but asymmetrical, with each tooth having a slope on one edge. Because the ratchet can only stop backward motion at discrete points and this backward motion—which is limited to a maximum distance equal to the spacing between the teeth—is called backlash. In cases where backlash must be minimized, a smooth, toothless ratchet with a friction surface such as rubber is sometimes used. The pawl bears against the surface at an angle so that any backward motion will cause the pawl to jam against the surface, since the backward travel distance is primarily a function of the compressibility of the high friction surface, this mechanism can result in significantly reduced backlash
32.
Sales
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A sale is the exchange of a commodity or money as the price of a good or a service. Sales is activity related to selling or the amount of goods or services sold in a time period. The seller or the provider of the goods or services completes a sale in response to an acquisition, appropriation, requisition or an interaction with the buyer at the point of sale. There is a passing of title of the item, and the settlement of a price, the seller, not the purchaser generally executes the sale and it may be completed prior to the obligation of payment. In common law countries, sales are governed generally by the common law, a person or organization expressing an interest in acquiring the offered item of value is referred to as a potential buyer, prospective customer or prospect. Buying and selling are understood to be two sides of the coin or transaction. Both seller and buyer engage in a process of negotiation to consummate the exchange of values, the exchange, or selling, process has implied rules and identifiable stages. It is implied that the process will proceed fairly and ethically so that the parties end up nearly equally rewarded. Sometimes, sellers have to use their own experiences when selling products with appropriate discounts, from a management viewpoint it is thought of as a part of marketing, although the skills required are different. Sales often forms a separate grouping in a structure, employing separate specialist operatives known as salespersons. Selling is considered by many to be a sort of persuading art, selling is the profession-wide term, much like marketing defines a profession. Recently, attempts have been made to understand who is in the sales profession. There are many articles looking at marketing, advertising, promotions, two common terms used to describe a salesperson are Farmer and Hunter. The reality is that most professional sales people have a little of both, a hunter is often associated with aggressive personalities who use aggressive sales technique. In terms of sales methodology a hunter refers to a person whose focus is on bringing in and this process is called sales capturing. An example is a commodity such as a long distance sales person, shoe sales person. Their job is to find and convert buyers, a sales farmer is someone who creates sales demand by activities that directly influence and alter the buying process. Many believe that the focus of selling is on the agents involved in the exchange between buyer and seller
33.
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
34.
Arsenal
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An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury or armory are mostly regarded as synonyms, although differences in usage exist. A sub-armory is a place of storage or carrying of weapons and ammunition. From Italian, arsenale, and French, arsenal, from Arabic, دار تعبئة, dār a-tabiya, in a second-class arsenal, the factories would be replaced by workshops. The situation of an arsenal should be governed by strategic considerations. If of the first class, it should be situated at the base of operations and supply, secure from attack, not too near a frontier, the importance of a large arsenal is such that its defences would be on the scale of those of a large fortress. The usual subdivision of branches in a great arsenal is into storekeeping, under construction, Gun factory, carriage factory, laboratory, small-arms factory, harness and tent factory, powder factory, etc. In a second-class arsenal there would be instead of these factories. Frederick Taylor introduced command and control techniques to arsenals, including the U. S. s Watertown Arsenal, armorer Dresden Armory Halifax Armoury Harpers Ferry Armory Kremlin Armoury Royal Arsenal Royal Armouries Springfield Armory Zeughaus Magazine
35.
Machinist
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A machinist is a person who uses machine tools to make or modify parts, primarily metal parts. This process of machining is accomplished by using tools to cut away excess material much as a woodcarver cuts away excess wood to produce his work. In addition to metal, the parts may be made of other kinds of materials. The goal of these operations is to produce a part that conforms to a set of specifications, or tolerances. Within the title machinist are other specialty titles that refer to skills that may be more highly developed to meet the needs of a particular job position. Some examples of these specialty titles are fitter, turning hand, mill hand, and grinder. Also, there are titles that are related but actually are a development of machinist skills such as tool and die maker, tool maker, trim die maker, die sinker, patternmaker. These latter titles are more commonly found in specialized areas of industry. A fitter and turner refers to a person who manufactures mechanical parts, a machinist is usually called upon when a part needs to be produced from a material by cutting. Such a part may be unique or may be needed in the thousands and this could include a machinery part for a production line or anything that can be made from metal or plastic. Producing a part will often require several steps and more than one machine tool, each machine tool plays a specific role in cutting away excess material. When large numbers of parts are needed, production planning is required to plan the most logical workflow through a series of machines. Computer numerical controlled machines are a special tool that can machine a large variety of shapes. CNC machines are becoming the standard due to their speed, precision, flexibility, production runs consisting of large numbers of parts are more cost effective and commonly referred to as production work in the trade. Conversely, small production runs are sometimes referred to as prototype or jobbing work, production engineers use blueprints and engineering drawings to produce detailed specifications of the part, especially its geometry, then decide on a strategy to make it. Machine tools are then configured by the machinist or toolsetter and production commences, the machinist works with the quality department to ensure the specifications are maintained in the finished product. Large commercial organizations often staff machinists on site in a mode to ensure continuing operations of the production machinery. The labor cost for this role is significantly lower costs involved with production shutdowns
36.
Caplock
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Forsyth patented his ignition system in 1807. However, it was not until after Forsyths patents expired that the percussion cap system was developed. The caplock offered many improvements over the flintlock, the caplock was easier to load, more resistant to weather, and was much more reliable than the flintlock. Many older flintlock weapons were converted into caplocks so that they could take advantage of this increased reliability. The caplock mechanism consists of a hammer, similar to the used in a flintlock, and a nipple. The nipple contains a tube which goes into the barrel, the percussion cap contains a chemical compound called mercuric fulminate or fulminate of mercury, whose chemical formula is Hg2. It is made from mercury, nitric acid and alcohol, when the trigger releases the hammer, it strikes the cap, causing the mercuric fulminate to explode. The flames from this explosion travel down the tube in the nipple and enter the barrel, where they ignite the main powder charge
37.
Muzzleloader
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A muzzleloader is any firearm into which the projectile and usually the propellant charge is loaded from the muzzle of the gun. This is distinct from the popular modern designs of breech-loading firearms. The term muzzleloader applies to both rifled and smoothbore type muzzleloaders, and may refer to the marksman who specializes in the shooting of such firearms. The firing methods, paraphernalia and mechanism further divide both categories as do caliber, modern mortars use a shell with the propelling charge and primer attached at the base. Both the modern mortar and the mortar were used for high angle fire. However, the fact that the mortar is not loaded in separate steps may make its definition as a muzzleloader a matter of opinion, muzzleloading can apply to anything from cannons to pistols but in modern parlance the term most commonly applies to black powder small arms. It usually, but not always, involves the use of a propellant and projectile. The gunpowder used is typically black powder or black powder substitutes like Pyrodex, typically two types of gunpowder were needed, as the priming powder for the pan was finer than the coarse powder used for the main charge behind the ball. Wadding, is made from felt, paper, cloth or card and has different uses. In smooth bore muskets and most rifles used prior to cartridges being introduced in the late nineteenth century. On most naval cannons, one piece of wadding was used to hold the powder in place, another was used to act as a plug to stop the shot rolling out because of the swaying of the ship. The measuring stage for the charge of gunpowder could be avoided by carrying a number of pre-measured charges in small containers of wood, metal or cloth. These were known by names, including chargers or apostles as 12 were often carried. For most of the time muzzleloaders were in use, a round ball, the shooter would bite off the end of the paper cartridge with his teeth and pour the powder into the barrel followed by the ball encased in the paper wrapping. The projectiles and wads were then pushed down into the breech with a ramrod until they were seated on the propellant charge. Priming powder was carried in a separate priming flask and poured into the priming pan. After the gunpowder and projectile or shot charge were placed in the barrel a ramrod was used to pack everything down at the base of the barrel. Muzzleloading firearms generally use round balls, cylindrical conical projectiles, in some types of rifles firing round ball, a lubricated patch of fabric is wrapped around a ball which is slightly smaller than the barrel diameter
38.
Gunpowder
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Gunpowder, also known as black powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate, the sulfur and charcoal act as fuels, and the saltpeter is an oxidizer. Black powder firearms are in limited use today in hunting, shooting, Black powder has been replaced for most industrial uses by high explosives such as dynamite. Black powder is assigned the UN number UN0027 and has a class of 1. 1D. It has a point of approximately 427–464 °C. The specific flash point may vary based on the composition of the gunpowder. Gunpowders specific gravity is 1. 70–1.82 or 1. 92–2.08, Gunpowder is classified as a low explosive because of its relatively slow decomposition rate and consequently low brisance. Low explosives deflagrate at subsonic speeds, whereas high explosives detonate, ignition of the powder packed behind a bullet must generate enough pressure to force it from the muzzle at high speed, but not enough to rupture the gun barrel. Gunpowder thus makes a good propellant, but is suitable for shattering rock or fortifications. Gunpowder was widely used to fill artillery shells and in mining and civil engineering to blast rock until the half of the 19th century. Black powder is used as a delay element in various munitions where its slow-burning properties are valuable. The spread of gunpowder across Asia from China is widely attributed to the Mongols, the earliest record of a written formula for gunpowder appears in the 11th century Song dynasty text, Wujing Zongyao. This discovery led to the invention of fireworks and the earliest gunpowder weapons in China, in the centuries following the Chinese discovery, gunpowder weapons began appearing in the Muslim world and Europe. The technology spread from China through the Middle East or Central Asia, the earliest Western accounts of gunpowder appear in texts written by English philosopher Roger Bacon in the 13th century. The most ardent protagonists were Nathaniel Halhad, Johann Backmann, Quintin Craufurd, however, due to lack of sufficient proof, these theories have not been widely accepted. A major problem confronting the study of the history of gunpowder is ready access to sources close to the events described. The translation difficulty has led to errors or loose interpretations bordering on artistic licence, early writings potentially mentioning gunpowder are sometimes marked by a linguistic process where old words acquired new meanings. For instance, the Arabic word naft transitioned from denoting naphtha to denoting gunpowder, saltpeter was known to the Chinese by the mid-1st century AD and there is strong evidence of the use of saltpeter and sulfur in various largely medicinal combinations
39.
Percussion cap
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The percussion cap, introduced circa 1820, was the crucial invention that enabled muzzleloading firearms to fire reliably in any weather. This gave rise to the caplock or percussionlock system, before this development, firearms used flintlock ignition systems that produced flint-on-steel sparks to ignite a pan of priming powder and thereby fire the guns main powder charge. Flintlocks were prone to misfire in wet weather, and many flintlock firearms were later converted to the more reliable percussion system, the percussion cap is a small cylinder of copper or brass with one closed end. Inside the closed end is an amount of a shock-sensitive explosive material such as fulminate of mercury. The percussion cap is placed over a hollow metal nipple at the end of the gun barrel. Pulling the trigger releases a hammer strikes the percussion cap. The flame travels through the nipple to ignite the main powder charge. Percussion caps were, and still are, made in sizes for pistols and larger sizes for rifles. While the metal percussion cap was the most popular and widely used type of primer, accordingly, several manufacturers developed alternative, auto-priming systems. The Maynard tape primer, for example, used a roll of paper much like todays toy cap gun. The Maynard tape primer was fitted to some firearms used in the mid-nineteenth century, other disc or pellet-type primers held a supply of tiny fulminate detonator discs in a small magazine. Cocking the hammer automatically advanced a disc into position, however, these automatic feed systems were difficult to make with the manufacturing systems in the early and mid-nineteenth century and generated more problems than they solved. While it had a number of problems, it was used by the Prussians. In the 1850s, the cap was first integrated into a metallic cartridge. By the late 1860s, breech-loading metallic cartridges had made the percussion cap system obsolete, today, reproduction percussion firearms are popular for recreational shooters and percussion caps are still available. Most percussion caps now use non-corrosive compounds such as lead styphnate, the percussion cap replaced the flint, the steel frizzen, and the powder pan of the flint-lock mechanism. It was only applied to the British military musket in 1842. The first percussion firearm produced for the US military was the carbine version of the M1819 Hall rifle
40.
Rifling
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In firearms, rifling consists of helical grooves in the internal surface of a guns barrel, which impart a spin to a projectile around its long axis. This spin serves to stabilize the projectile, improving its aerodynamic stability. Rifling is often described by its twist rate, which indicates the distance the rifling takes to complete one revolution, such as 1 turn in 10 inches. A shorter distance indicates a faster twist, meaning that for a given velocity the projectile will be rotating at a spin rate. Barrels intended for long, small-diameter bullets, such as the ultra-low-drag, 80-grain 0.223 inch bullets, extremely long projectiles such as flechettes may require high twist rates, these projectiles must be inherently stable, and are often fired from a smoothbore barrel. Muskets were smoothbore, large caliber weapons using ball-shaped ammunition fired at low velocity. Due to the high cost and great difficulty of manufacturing, and the need to load readily from the muzzle. Consequently, on firing the ball bounced off the sides of the barrel when fired, barrel rifling was invented in Augsburg, Germany in 1498. In 1520 August Kotter, an armourer of Nuremberg, Germany improved upon this work, though true rifling dates from the mid-16th century, it did not become commonplace until the nineteenth century. The most successful weapons using rifling with black powder were breech loaders such as the Queen Anne pistol, the grooves most commonly used in modern rifling have fairly sharp edges. More recently, polygonal rifling, a throwback to the earliest types of rifling, has become popular, polygonal barrels tend to have longer service lives because the reduction of the sharp edges of the land reduces erosion of the barrel. Supporters of polygonal rifling also claim higher velocities and greater accuracy, polygonal rifling is currently seen on pistols from CZ, Heckler & Koch, Glock, Tanfoglio, and Kahr Arms, as well as the Desert Eagle. Such guns have achieved significant increases in velocity and range. Examples include the South African G5 and the German PzH2000, gain-twist rifling begins with very little change in the projectiles angular momentum during the first few inches of bullet travel after ignition during the transition from chamber to throat. This enables the bullet to remain undisturbed and trued to the case mouth. After engaging the rifling the bullet is progressively subjected to accelerated angular momentum as burning powder propels it down the barrel. By only gradually increasing the rate, torque is spread along a much longer section of barrel. Gain-twist rifling was used as early as the American Civil War, colt Army and Navy revolvers both employed gain-twist rifling
41.
Smoothbore
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A smoothbore weapon is one that has a barrel without rifling. Smoothbores range from handheld firearms to powerful tank guns and large artillery mortars, the majority of shotguns are smoothbores and the term can be synonymous. Early firearms had smooth barrels that fired projectiles without significant spin, to minimize inaccuracy-inducing tumbling during flight their projectiles required stable shape, such as a sphere. However, the Magnus effect causes even spheres rotating randomly during flight to curve when spinning on any axis not parallel to the direction of travel, rifling a barrel with spiral grooves or polygonal rifling imparts a stabilizing gyroscopic spin to a projectile that prevents tumbling in flight. Not only does this more than counter Magnus-induced drift, but it allows a longer, heavier round to be fired from the same caliber barrel, artillery weapons were smoothbore until the middle 19th century, and smoothbores continued in limited use until the 1890s. Early rifled artillery pieces were patented by Joseph Whitworth and William Armstrong in the United Kingdom in 1855, in the United States, rifled small arms and artillery were gradually adopted during the American Civil War. However, heavy coast defense Rodman smoothbores persisted in the US until circa 1900 due to the tendency of the Civil Wars heavy Parrott rifles to burst, some smoothbore firearms are still used. A shotgun fires multiple, round shot, firing out of a barrel would impart centrifugal forces that result a doughnut-shaped pattern of shot. While this may be acceptable at close ranges this is not desirable at longer ranges, the cannon made the transition from smoothbore firing cannonballs to rifled firing shells in the 19th century. However, to penetrate the thick armor of modern armored vehicles many modern tank guns have moved back to smoothbore. These fire a long, thin kinetic-energy projectile, too long in relation to its diameter to develop the necessary spin rate through rifling. Instead, kinetic energy rounds are produced as fin-stabililzed darts, not only does this reduce the time and expense of rifling barrels it also reduces the need for replacement due to barrel wear. The first tank with a gun was the Soviet T-62. Today all main battle tanks field them except the British Challenger 2, while the 73 mm gun of the early Soviet infantry fighting vehicles BMP-1 and BMD-1 was a smoothbore, their more recent successors BMP-3 and BMD-4 use a rifled 100 mm gun. The Russian navy conducted experiments with large-caliber smoothbore naval guns, which were halted by budget cuts, the armour-piercing gun evolution has also shown up in small arms, particularly the now abandoned U. S. The ACR rifles used smoothbore barrels to fire single or multiple flechettes, rather than bullets, per pull of the trigger, to long range, flat trajectory. Just like kinetic-energy tank rounds, flechettes are too long and thin to be stabilized by rifling, the ACR program was abandoned due to reliability problems and poor terminal ballistics. Mortar barrels are typically muzzle-loading smoothbores, since mortars fire bombs that are dropped down the barrel and must not be a tight fit, a smooth barrel is essential
42.
Colt 1851 Navy Revolver
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The Colt Revolving Belt Pistol of Naval Caliber, later known as the Colt 1851 Navy or Navy Revolver, is a cap and ball revolver that was designed by Samuel Colt between 1847 and 1850. Colt first called this Revolver Ranger model, but the designation Navy quickly took over, after the Civil War revolvers using fixed metallic cartridges came into widespread use. The Colt Navy remained in production until 1873, being replaced in the Colt line with what would become the manufacturers most famous handgun, as the factory designation implied, the Navy revolver was suitably sized for carrying in a belt holster. It became very popular in North America at the time of Western expansion, Colts aggressive promotions distributed the Navy and his other revolvers across Europe, Asia, and Africa. The cylinder of this revolver is engraved with a scene of the victory of the Second Texas Navy at the Battle of Campeche on May 16,1843, the engraving was provided by Waterman Ormsby. Despite the Navy designation, the revolver was purchased by civilians. The.36 caliber round ball weighs 80 grains and. A very small number of Navy revolvers were produced in.34 caliber, another rarity in the 1851 Navy production is the.40 caliber model, probably 5 were made 1858 for testing by the U. S. Navy Bureau of Ordnance. Sighting consists of a brass cone front sight pressed into the muzzle end of the top barrel flat with a notch in the top of the hammer. In spite of the crudity of the sighting arrangement, these revolvers. A small number of Model 1851 Navy revolvers was converted, using front-loaded, famous Navy users included Wild Bill Hickok, John Henry Doc Holliday, Richard Francis Burton, Ned Kelly, Bully Hayes, Richard H. Barter, Robert E. Lee, Nathan B. Use continued long after more modern cartridge revolvers were introduced, canadian issue 1851 Colts are stamped in the wooden grip upside down with letters U_C or L_C, a letter code for the unit, and the number of the weapon in that unit. E. g. U_C D21 This decodes as Upper Canada, D = Toronto Cavalry Troop, percussion Pistols and Revolvers, History, Performance and Practical Use. Famous Firearms of the Old West, From Wild Bill Hickoks Colt Revolvers to Geronimos Winchester, hounshell, David A. Sixguns, The Standard Reference Work. Roberts, Gary L. Doc Holliday, The Life and Legend, wilson, R. L. Colt, An American Legend. New York, London, Atabras, A Division of Abbeville Publishing Group
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Colt Army Model 1860
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The Colt Army Model 1860 is a muzzle-loaded cap & ball. 44-caliber single-action revolver used during the American Civil War made by Colts Manufacturing Company. It was used as an arm by cavalry, infantry, artillery troops. The Colt 1860 Army uses the same frame as the.36 caliber 1851 Navy revolver. The frame is relieved to allow the use of a cylinder that enables the Army to be chambered in.44 caliber. The barrel on the 1860 Army has a cone that is visibly shorter than that of the 1851 Navy. Another distinguishing feature of the Colt 1860 Army, first introduced on the Colt 1855 Sidehammer Revolver, is the loading lever. More than 200,000 were manufactured from 1860 through 1873, Colts biggest customer was the US Government with no less than 129,730 units being purchased and issued to the troops. The weapon was a single-action, six-shot weapon accurate up to 75 to 100 yards, the rear sight was a notch in the hammer, only usable when the revolver was fully cocked. The Colt. 44-caliber “Army Model was the most widely used revolver of the Civil War and it had a six-shot, rotating cylinder, and fired a 0. The percussion cap, when struck by the hammer, ignited the powder charge, when fired, balls had a muzzle velocity of about 900 feet per second, although this depended on how much powder it was loaded with. The unfluted cylinder was rebated, meaning that the rear of the cylinder was turned to a smaller diameter than the front, the barrel was rounded and smoothed into the frame, as was the Navy Model. The frame, hammer, and rammer lever were case-hardened, the remainder blued, grips were of one-piece walnut, a distinguishing feature of the Model 1860 was that its frame had no top strap, or no component running above the cylinder. Instead, its strength came from the frame and the massive fixed cylinder pin. This made the gun slimmer and lighter than its competitor, the Remington Model 1858. The fixed cylinder pin also meant that the barrel had to be removed to remove the cylinder, unlike the Model 1858, according to importer Cimarron Arms Company, this was called the Texas Model because a number of them came into Texas shortly after secession. The goal was to use of silver spring steel of controlled carbon content and greater strength. Fluted cylinders had the patent date of Sept.10,1850 stamped in one of the flutes. Rebated cylinders above serial number 8000 were roller indented with a Texas Navy and Mexican battle scene, military 1860s had elongated screw lugs on the side of the frame to mount a detachable shoulder stock
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Colt Pocket Percussion Revolvers
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The family of Colt Pocket Percussion Revolvers evolved from the earlier commercial revolvers marketed by the Patent Arms Manufacturing Company of Paterson, NJ. The.31 caliber carried over into Samuel Colts second venture in the trade in the form of the Baby Dragoon-a small revolver developed in 1847–48. The Baby Dragoon was in development with Colts other revolvers and, by 1850. It is a brother of the more famous Colts Revolving Belt Pistol of Naval Caliber introduced the same year. In 1855 Colt introduced another pocket percussion revolver, the Colt 1855 Sidehammer, the Pocket Model revolvers all have a traditional Colt-style frame, generally with brass grip straps and trigger guard, and a case-hardened steel frame. In appearance, the frames are almost identical to the larger 1851 Navy and.44 caliber 1860 Army Models, with the exception of being smaller, and so having a proportionately larger trigger guard. The most obvious difference is that the Pocket Police had a fluted 5-shot cylinder, while most Army Models were unfluted, later, the Navy Model was increased in bore size by rebating the frame and enlarging the cylinder, and became the 1860 Army Model. With the success of project, the.31 caliber of the 1849 Model was similarly increased to.36, using the same method, creating the Pocket Police. Those without loading levers are called the Wells Fargo Model although Wells Fargo records show no.31 caliber revolvers ever purchased by that company. Previously, it wasnt thought that the frame could handle the power of the.44 round. The stronger steels made this sacrifice unnecessary, the Pocket Navy was a version similarly up-sized to.36 caliber, but which retained the octagonal barrel and traditional loading lever of the earlier pocket mode. Between 1862 and 1873, Colt records document production of 19,000 of the Pocket Navies, relative to the.31 Pocket Revolvers, the period of manufacture was short and overall numbers were further limited by a fire at the Colt Factory in 1862 and War production concerns. Richard Francis Burton was a devotee of Colt Revolvers and carried a selection of them on his mid-eastern journeys including the trip to Somalia and Ethiopia in 1855. A Pocket model receives prominent mention, Other anecdotal accounts indicate that Bloody Bill Anderson, the Pocket Revolvers, both original and Replica are somewhat more challenging to shoot at moderate range than the larger Colt-type revolvers. The small size makes for a small and slender grip, the thinness and round cross-section of the grip make it easy for the gun to shift in the shooters grasp, and the sights are very small and difficult to see, compared to modern weapons. Point of impact is generally a foot or more above point of aim at 25 yards, in the guns intended purpose this creates little problem. A shooter need only point the weapon at the center of the torso, and fire, and the ball will hit somewhere in the chest region, all in all, for a weapon designed mostly as a relatively close-range defensive weapon, it was quite suitable for its era. HTML formatting by Steve Thomas,2003 Shumaker, P. L, variations of the Old Model Pocket Pistol 1849 to 1872 Alhambra California, Borden Publishing Company,1966 Wilson, R. L
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American Civil War
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The American Civil War was an internal conflict fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865. The Union faced secessionists in eleven Southern states grouped together as the Confederate States of America, the Union won the war, which remains the bloodiest in U. S. history. Among the 34 U. S. states in February 1861, War broke out in April 1861 when Confederates attacked the U. S. fortress of Fort Sumter. The Confederacy grew to eleven states, it claimed two more states, the Indian Territory, and the southern portions of the western territories of Arizona. The Confederacy was never recognized by the United States government nor by any foreign country. The states that remained loyal, including border states where slavery was legal, were known as the Union or the North, the war ended with the surrender of all the Confederate armies and the dissolution of the Confederate government in the spring of 1865. The war had its origin in the issue of slavery. The Confederacy collapsed and 4 million slaves were freed, but before his inauguration, seven slave states with cotton-based economies formed the Confederacy. The first six to declare secession had the highest proportions of slaves in their populations, the first seven with state legislatures to resolve for secession included split majorities for unionists Douglas and Bell in Georgia with 51% and Louisiana with 55%. Alabama had voted 46% for those unionists, Mississippi with 40%, Florida with 38%, Texas with 25%, of these, only Texas held a referendum on secession. Eight remaining slave states continued to reject calls for secession, outgoing Democratic President James Buchanan and the incoming Republicans rejected secession as illegal. Lincolns March 4,1861 inaugural address declared that his administration would not initiate a civil war, speaking directly to the Southern States, he reaffirmed, I have no purpose, directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the United States where it exists. I believe I have no right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. After Confederate forces seized numerous federal forts within territory claimed by the Confederacy, efforts at compromise failed, the Confederates assumed that European countries were so dependent on King Cotton that they would intervene, but none did, and none recognized the new Confederate States of America. Hostilities began on April 12,1861, when Confederate forces fired upon Fort Sumter, while in the Western Theater the Union made significant permanent gains, in the Eastern Theater, the battle was inconclusive in 1861–62. The autumn 1862 Confederate campaigns into Maryland and Kentucky failed, dissuading British intervention, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which made ending slavery a war goal. To the west, by summer 1862 the Union destroyed the Confederate river navy, then much of their western armies, the 1863 Union siege of Vicksburg split the Confederacy in two at the Mississippi River. In 1863, Robert E. Lees Confederate incursion north ended at the Battle of Gettysburg, Western successes led to Ulysses S. Grants command of all Union armies in 1864
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LeMat Revolver
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It saw service with the armed forces of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War of 1861–65 and the Army of the Government of National Defense during the Franco-Prussian War. This unique sidearm was also known as the Grape Shot Revolver and it was developed in New Orleans in 1856 by Jean Alexander Le Mat, whose manufacturing effort was backed by P. G. T. Beauregard, who became a general in the Confederate States Army. Fewer than 100 were made by John Krider of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1859 and it is estimated that 2,900 were produced in Liége, Belgium and Paris, France. The European made pistols were shipped through Birmingham, England, where they were proofmarked, approximately 900 revolvers were shipped to the Confederate States Army and 600 to the Confederate States Navy through Bermuda to avoid the Southern Naval Blockade. The distinguishing characteristic of LeMats revolver is that its 9-shot cylinder revolves around a central barrel of larger caliber than the chambers in the cylinder proper. LeMat originally chambered his pistol for.40 caliber revolver bullets, with a.60 smooth-bore barrel, and had a jointed ramrod, LeMat hoped to market his adaptable revolver as a primary sidearm for dragoons and other mounted troops. He entered into a partnership with P. G. T, Beauregard in April 1859 to market his handgun to the U. S. Army. Beauregard, besides being LeMats cousin, was one of the first U. S. Army officers to resign, Confederate gun runners were able to slip shipments of the gun through the Union naval blockade and it is estimated that about 2,500 made it into Confederate service. In addition to General Beauregard and Colonel LeMat, LeMat’s revolver was used by such famous Confederate officers as Major Generals Braxton Bragg, stuart, Richard H. Anderson, and Major Henry Wirz. Confederate Major General J. E. B, stuart was known to favor the LeMat revolver. General Beauregards personal engraved LeMat, which he carried throughout the war, is preserved at the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, the LeMat revolver was manufactured from 1856 to 1865, with approximately 2,900 being produced. The first models were manufactured by John Krider of Philadelphia, with the model being produced by Charles Frederic Girard. Quality concerns prompted LeMat to consider production at the Birmingham Small Arms Company in Birmingham, England, LeMat revolvers from France were shipped to the Confederate States forces via the United Kingdom, and all firearms landed in the UK were required to be proofed. S. The original revolver, constructed of blued steel with grips of checkered walnut, was not considered to be an accurate weapon although it was deadly at close range. Civil War cavalrymen, particularly in the South, preferred to carry pistols, as it was faster to draw another loaded weapon than it was to try to reload a cap. After the introduction of cartridge-firing firearms, the LeMat system appeared in pinfire, a centerfire version in 12mm Perrin or 11mm Chamelot-Delvigne, with a 24 gauge shot barrel, was made in later years in Belgium. While having better sales than its relative, the centerfire LeMat also had no real commercial success due to the invention of the double-action system. With both weapons, loading was accomplished via a gate located at the 4 oclock position for the cylinder
