1.
Revolver
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A revolver is a repeating handgun that has a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers and at least one barrel for firing. Revolvers might be regarded as a subset of pistols, or as a subset of handguns. Though the term revolver usually only refers to handguns, other firearms may also have a revolving chamber and these include some models of grenade launchers, shotguns, and rifles. Most revolvers contain five or six rounds in the cylinder, though the original name was revolving gun, the short-hand revolver is universally used. The revolver allows the user to fire multiple rounds without reloading, each time the user cocks the hammer, the cylinder revolves to align the next chamber and round with the hammer and barrel, which gives this type of firearm its name. In a single-action revolver, the user pulls the back with his free hand or thumb. In a double-action revolver, pulling the trigger moves the back, then releases it. Loading and unloading a double-action revolver requires the operator to swing out the cylinder and insert the proper ammunition, the first guns with multichambered cylinders that revolved to feed one barrel were made in the late 16th century in Europe. They were expensive and rare curiosities, not until the 19th century would revolvers become common weapons of industrial production. One of the first was a flintlock revolver patented by Elisha Collier in 1814, the first percussion revolver was made by Lenormand of Paris in 1820 and the first percussion cap revolver was invented by the Italian Francesco Antonio Broccu in 1833. He received a prize of 300 francs for his invention, although he did not patent it, however, in 1835 a similar handgun was patented by Samuel Colt, who would go on to make the first mass-produced revolver. The first cartridge revolvers were produced around 1854 by Eugene Lefaucheux, revolvers soon became standard for nearly all uses. In the early 20th century, semi-automatic pistols were developed, which can hold more rounds, Automatic pistols also have a flat profile, more suitable for concealed carry. Automatic pistols have almost completely replaced revolvers in military and law enforcement use, revolvers still remain popular as back-up and off-duty handguns among American law enforcement officers and security guards. Also, revolvers are still common in the American private sector as defensive, in the development of firearms, an important limiting factor was the time it took to reload the weapon after it was fired. While the user was reloading, the weapon was useless, several approaches to the problem of increasing the rate of fire were developed, the earliest being multi-barrelled weapons which allowed two or more shots without reloading. Later weapons featured multiple barrels revolving along a single axis, the earliest examples of what today is called a revolver were made in Germany in the late 16th century. These weapons featured a barrel with a revolving cylinder holding the powder
2.
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
3.
.357 Magnum
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The.357 S&W Magnum, or simply.357 Magnum, is a revolver cartridge with a. 357-inch bullet diameter. It was created by Elmer Keith, Phillip B, Wesson of firearms manufacturers Smith & Wesson and Winchester. It is based upon Smith & Wessons earlier.38 Special cartridge, the.357 Magnum cartridge was introduced in 1934, and its use has since become widespread. This cartridge started the Magnum era of handgun ammunition, the.357 Magnum cartridge is notable for its stopping power. The.357 Magnum was collaboratively developed over a period in the early to mid-1930s by a group of individuals in a response to Colts.38 Super Automatic. Tests at the revealed that those vests defeated any handgun cartridge traveling at less than about 1,000 feet per second. Colts.38 Super Automatic just edged over that velocity and was able to penetrate car doors and vests that bootleggers and gangsters were employing as cover. Though.38 and.357 would seem to be different diameter chamberings, they are in fact identical, the.38 Special nomenclature relates to the previous use of heeled bullets, which were the same diameter as the case. Thus, the only difference in the two cartridges is a slight difference in length, solely for safety purposes. Much credit for the. 357s early development is given to hunter and experimenter Elmer Keith, the. 38-44 HV load used the. 38-Special cartridge loaded to a much higher velocity than standard. 38-Special ammunition. The. 38-44 revolvers were made by using a.44 Special size gun with the barrel bored to accept. 357-caliber bullets, since the frame, cylinder, and barrel were much stronger than the standard.38 Special components, it was capable of withstanding much higher pressures. The. 38-44 HV round, while no longer available, was in most cases the equal of the later.357 Magnum, which works at more than double the pressure of standard.38 Special. Elmer Keith also contributed the Keith-style bullet, which increased the mass of bullet located outside the cartridge, the Keith bullet also employed a large, flat meplat, thus enabling rapid energy transfer for greater wounding properties. At the same time, this design does not deform like a hollow point. These characteristics of the Keith bullet make it suitable for hunting applications as well as for target shooting. In order to reassert itself as the leading law-enforcement armament provider, Smith & Wesson developed the.357 Magnum, Wesson leading the effort within Smith & Wesson, along with considerable technical assistance from Phillip B. Sharpe, a member of the Technical Division staff of the National Rifle Association, the new round was developed from Smith & Wessons existing.38 Special round. It used a different powder load, and ultimately the case was extended by 1⁄8 inch, the case extension was more a matter of safety than of necessity
4.
.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
5.
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
6.
Muzzle brake
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A muzzle brake or recoil compensator is a device connected to the muzzle of a firearm or cannon that redirects propellant gases to counter recoil and unwanted rising of the barrel during rapid fire. They have been used in forms for rifles and pistols to help control recoil. They are used on pistols for practical pistol competitions, and are usually called compensators in this context, the interchangeable terms muzzle rise, muzzle flip, or muzzle climb refer to the tendency of a handheld firearms front end to rise after firing. Firearms with less height from the line to the barrel centerline tend to experience less muzzle rise. The muzzle rises primarily because, for most firearms, the centerline of the barrel is above the center of contact between the shooter and the grip and stock. The reactive forces from the bullet and propellant gases exiting the muzzle act directly down the centerline of the barrel. If that line of force is above the center of the points, this creates a moment or torque rotational force that makes the firearm rotate. The M1946 Sieg automatic rifle had a muzzle brake that made the rifle climb downward. Muzzle brakes are simple in concept, such as the one employed on the 90 mm M3 gun used on the M47 Patton tank and this consists of a small length of tubing mounted at right angles to the end of the barrel. Brakes most often utilize slots, vents, holes, baffles, the strategy of a muzzle brake is to redirect and control the burst of combustion gases that follows the departure of a projectile. All muzzle brake designs share a basic principle, they partially divert combustion gases at a sideways angle. The momentum of the diverted gases thus does not add to the recoil, the angle toward which the gases are directed will fundamentally affect how the brake behaves. If gases are directed upward, they exert a downward force. Construction of a brake or compensator can be as simple as a diagonal cut at the muzzle end of the barrel to direct some of the escaping gas upward. On the AKM assault rifle, the brake also angles slightly to the right to counteract the movement of the rifle under recoil. Another simple method is porting, where holes or slots are machined into the barrel near the muzzle to allow the gas to escape, more advanced designs use baffles and expansion chambers to slow escaping gases. This is the principle behind a linear compensator. Ports are often added to the chambers, producing the long
7.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
8.
GIGN
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Groupe dintervention de la Gendarmerie nationale, commonly abbreviated GIGN, is the elite law enforcement and special operations unit of the French National Gendarmerie. Its missions include counter-terrorism, hostage rescue, surveillance of national threats, protection of government officials, GIGN was established in 1974 following the Munich massacre. GIGN shares jurisdiction of French territory with the National Police special-response units, GIGN is headquartered in Versailles-Satory near Paris. Although most of its operations take place in France, the unit, as a component of the French Armed Forces, many of its missions are secret, and members are not allowed to be publicly photographed. Since its formation, GIGN has been involved in over 1,800 missions and rescued more than 600 hostages, the unit came into prominence following its successful assault on a hijacked Air France flight at Marseille Marignane airport in December 1994. GIGN was formed in 1973 in the wake of the Munich massacre and it became operational in March 1974, under the command of then-lieutenant Christian Prouteau and performed its first mission ten days later. Another unit was created simultaneously within the Gendarmerie parachute squadron in Mont-de-Marsan in southwest France, gIGNs initial complement was 15, later increased to 32 in 1976,78 by 1986, and 120 by 2005. On 1 September 2007, a reorganization took place. In effect, GSIGN was renamed GIGN and its former components became forces of the new GIGN which now reached a total complement of 380 operators. More than a simple name swap, the new organization aimed at, reinforcing command and control functions providing better integration through common selection, common training, improving the units capability to handle complex situations such as mass hostage-takings similar to the Beslan crisis. In 2009, the Gendarmerie, while remaining part of the French Armed Forces, was attached to the Ministry of the interior, under the new command structure, GIGN gendarmes can still be engaged in military operations outside of France due to their military status. Coordination between GIGN and RAID, the police elite team, is handled by a joint organization called Ucofi. A leader/follower protocol has been established for use when both units need to be engaged jointly, leadership belonging to the operating in its primary areas of responsibility. Since its creation, the group has taken part in over 1800 operations, liberated over 600 hostages and arrested over 1500 suspects, the two fatalities in action were sustained when dealing with armed deranged persons. Arrest of dangerous or deranged armed persons, surveillance and observation of criminals and terrorists. GIGN is currently organized in six forces, under two headquarters, Intervention force, Approx,100 men, serving as the main assault unit of the GIGN. It is divided into four platoons (French, sections, two of which are on permanent alert and these platoons are further divided into individual teams of operators. Two of the sections are specialized in high altitude jumps
9.
Norway
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The Antarctic Peter I Island and the sub-Antarctic Bouvet Island are dependent territories and thus not considered part of the Kingdom. Norway also lays claim to a section of Antarctica known as Queen Maud Land, until 1814, the kingdom included the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Iceland. It also included Isle of Man until 1266, Shetland and Orkney until 1468, Norway has a total area of 385,252 square kilometres and a population of 5,258,317. The country shares a long border with Sweden. Norway is bordered by Finland and Russia to the north-east, Norway has an extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea. King Harald V of the Dano-German House of Glücksburg is the current King of Norway, erna Solberg became Prime Minister in 2013, replacing Jens Stoltenberg. A constitutional monarchy, Norway divides state power between the Parliament, the Cabinet and the Supreme Court, as determined by the 1814 Constitution, the kingdom is established as a merger of several petty kingdoms. By the traditional count from the year 872, the kingdom has existed continuously for 1,144 years, Norway has both administrative and political subdivisions on two levels, counties and municipalities. The Sámi people have an amount of self-determination and influence over traditional territories through the Sámi Parliament. Norway maintains close ties with the European Union and the United States, the country maintains a combination of market economy and a Nordic welfare model with universal health care and a comprehensive social security system. Norway has extensive reserves of petroleum, natural gas, minerals, lumber, seafood, the petroleum industry accounts for around a quarter of the countrys gross domestic product. On a per-capita basis, Norway is the worlds largest producer of oil, the country has the fourth-highest per capita income in the world on the World Bank and IMF lists. On the CIAs GDP per capita list which includes territories and some regions, from 2001 to 2006, and then again from 2009 to 2017, Norway had the highest Human Development Index ranking in the world. It also has the highest inequality-adjusted ranking, Norway ranks first on the World Happiness Report, the OECD Better Life Index, the Index of Public Integrity and the Democracy Index. Norway has two names, Noreg in Nynorsk and Norge in Bokmål. The name Norway comes from the Old English word Norðrveg mentioned in 880, meaning way or way leading to the north. In contrasting with suðrvegar southern way for Germany, and austrvegr eastern way for the Baltic, the Anglo-Saxon of Britain also referred to the kingdom of Norway in 880 as Norðmanna land. This was the area of Harald Fairhair, the first king of Norway, and because of him
10.
Norwegian Police Service
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The Norwegian Police Service is the Norwegian civilian police agency. It consists of a central National Police Directorate, seven specialty agencies, the government agency is subordinate to the Ministry of Justice and Public Security and has 13,000 employees, of which 8,000 are police officers. The police service dates to the 13th century when the first sheriffs were appointed, as the first city in Norway to do so, Trondheim had a chief of police appointed in 1686, and Oslo established a uniformed police corps in 1859. The directorate is led by National Police Commissioner Odd Reidar Humlegård, Police districts were introduced in 1894, with the current structure dating from 2003. Each police district is led by a chief of police and is subdivided into several police stations in towns and cities, the Governor of Svalbard acts as chief of police for Svalbard. Norwegian police officers do not carry firearms, but keep their Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine guns, the Norwegian Prosecuting Authority is partially integrated with the police. Several other national responsibilities are under the command of Oslo Police District, such as the Emergency Response Unit, the Police Security Service is separate from the National Police Directorate. The police force in Norway was established during the 13th century, originally the 60 to 80 sheriffs were predominantly used for writ of execution and to a less degree police power. In the cities the duties were taken care of by a gjaldker. The sheriffs were originally subordinate to the sysselmann, but from the 14th century they became subordinate to the bailiff. In the cities the police authority was transferred directly to the bailiff, by the mid-17th century there were between 300 and 350 sheriffs. With the introduction of the monarchy in 1660 and subsequent strengthening of the civil service. The bailiffs as such part of the police structure, with their superiors. The first titled chief of police was hired in Trondheim in 1686, thus creating the first police district, chiefs of police were hired in Bergen in 1692, Christiania in 1744 and Christianssand in 1776. From the 19th century, deputies were hired in larger areas to assist the sheriffs, following the democratization in 1814, the Ministry of Justice was created in 1818 and has since had the primary responsibility for organizing the police force. The 19th century saw an increase in the number of chiefs of police. Christiania established the countrys first uniformed corps of constables in 1859, similar structures were soon introduced in many other cities. From 1859 the municipalities would finance the wages of the deputies and constables, the first organized education of police officers started in Christiania in 1889
11.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
12.
Luxembourg
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Luxembourg /ˈlʌksəmbɜːrɡ/, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east and its culture, people and languages are highly intertwined with its neighbours, making it essentially a mixture of French and Germanic cultures. It comprises two regions, the Oesling in the north as part of the Ardennes massif. With an area of 2,586 square kilometres, it is one of the smallest sovereign states in Europe, Luxembourg had a population of 524,853 in October 2012, ranking it the 8th least-populous country in Europe. As a representative democracy with a monarch, it is headed by a Grand Duke, Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg. Luxembourg is a country, with an advanced economy and the worlds highest GDP per capita. Luxembourg is a member of the European Union, OECD, United Nations, NATO, and Benelux, reflecting its political consensus in favour of economic, political. The city of Luxembourg, which is the capital and largest city, is the seat of several institutions. Luxembourg served on the United Nations Security Council for the years 2013 and 2014, around this fort, a town gradually developed, which became the centre of a state of great strategic value. In the 14th and early 15th centuries, three members of the House of Luxembourg reigned as Holy Roman Emperors, in the following centuries, Luxembourgs fortress was steadily enlarged and strengthened by its successive occupants, the Bourbons, Habsburgs, Hohenzollerns and the French. After the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, Luxembourg was disputed between Prussia and the Netherlands and this arrangement was revised by the 1839 First Treaty of London, from which date Luxembourgs full independence is reckoned. In 1842 Luxembourg joined the German Customs Union, the King of the Netherlands remained Head of State as Grand Duke of Luxembourg, maintaining a personal union between the two countries until 1890. At the death of William III, the throne of the Netherlands passed to his daughter Wilhelmina and this allowed Germany the military advantage of controlling and expanding the railways there. In August 1914, Imperial Germany violated Luxembourgs neutrality in the war by invading it in the war against France and this allowed Germany to use the railway lines, while at the same time denying them to France. Nevertheless, despite the German occupation, Luxembourg was allowed to maintain much of its independence, in 1940, after the outbreak of World War II, Luxembourgs neutrality was again violated when the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany entered the country, entirely without justification. A government in exile based in London supported the Allies, sending a group of volunteers who participated in the Normandy invasion. Luxembourg was liberated in September 1944, and became a member of the United Nations in 1945. Luxembourgs neutral status under the constitution formally ended in 1948, in 2005, a referendum on the EU treaty establishing a constitution for Europe was held
France – Used by GIGN during amphibious operations.[3]
Norway – The 3"-barreled version with Goncalo alves hardwood-grip was used as a sidearm in the alien immigrant-branches of the Norwegian Police Service by individual plainclothes officers during the early 90's.
United States – Used by U.S. Border Patrol.[4] Used by legacy U.S. Customs Service.[5] Used by the legacy U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service[6] Used by U.S. Navy Special Operations during waterborne missions.[7] Used by some smaller police departments and by individual officers in larger departments, especially in marine environments.[8]
Luxembourg – Used by the Luxembourg Grand Ducal Police as duty weapon.[citation needed]
