1.
Cartridge (firearms)
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Military and commercial producers continue to pursue the goal of caseless ammunition. A cartridge without a bullet is called a blank, One that is completely inert is called a dummy. Some artillery ammunition uses the same concept as found in small arms. In other cases, the shell is separate from the propellant charge. In popular use, the bullet is often misused to refer to a complete cartridge. The cartridge case seals a firing chamber in all directions excepting the bore, a firing pin strikes the primer and ignites it. The primer compound deflagrates, it does not detonate, a jet of burning gas from the primer ignites the propellant. Gases from the burning powder pressurize and expand the case to seal it against the chamber wall and these propellant gases push on the bullet base. In response to pressure, the bullet will move in the path of least resistance which is down the bore of the barrel. After the bullet leaves the barrel, the pressure drops to atmospheric pressure. The case, which had been expanded by chamber pressure. This eases removal of the case from the chamber, brass is a commonly used case material because it is resistant to corrosion. A brass case head can be work-hardened to withstand the pressures of cartridges. The neck and body portion of a case is easily annealed to make the case ductile enough to allow reforming so that it can be reloaded many times. Steel is used in some plinking ammunition, as well as in military ammunition. Steel is less expensive than brass, but it is not feasible to reload, Military forces typically consider small arms cartridge cases to be disposable, one-time-use devices. However, case weight affects how much ammunition a soldier can carry, conversely, steel is more susceptible to contamination and damage so all such cases are varnished or otherwise sealed against the elements. One downside caused by the strength of steel in the neck of these cases is that propellant gas can blow back past the neck
2.
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
3.
.17 Winchester Super Magnum
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.17 Winchester Super Magnum, is a rimfire rifle cartridge developed by the ammunition company Winchester in 2012. It descended from the.27 caliber nail gun blank by necking down the case to take a.17 caliber bullet. Initial loadings were with a 20 grain bullet, delivering muzzle velocities around 3000 ft/s, Winchester, in conjunction with Savage, introduced this cartridge at the 2013 SHOT Show. The brass case for this round is roughly 50% thicker than the 17 HMR, factory ammunition is available from Winchester, Federal American Eagle, and more recently Hornady. Hornady 17 Win Super Mag and Federal Ammunition American Eagle®17 Win, Super Magnum cartridges are currently only available with 20 grain polymer-tipped projectiles rated @3000 FPS at the muzzle. Currently, rifles firing the 17 WSM are the Savage B-Mag bolt action, ruger Model 77/17, Winchester 1885 Low Wall single shot, the Volquartsen semi-automatic, H-S Precision Pro Series 2000, and the semi-automatic Franklin Armory F-17. The F-17 is the first gas-operated rimfire firearm, designed to handle the pressures of this cartridge. Also recently Jard Inc. joined this list with their J7117 WSM AR15 rifle,4 mm caliber Table of handgun and rifle cartridges Super.17 WSM, Savage B-Mag Review
4.
.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
5.
.41 Remington Magnum
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While Keith had suggested a softer.41 Special cartridge as early as 1955, this idea was passed over in favor of the Magnum option, and the Special survives only as a custom wildcat cartridge. The powerful.44 Magnum, primarily a hunting round, was considered overkill for police use. In addition, the revolvers chambered for the.44 were considered too large, bulky, and heavy for police carry. As a result, the.41 Magnum load was released at an advertised 1500 ft/s, unfortunately, the police load as delivered was regarded as overpowered by most law enforcement agencies, many of whom were still using.38 Special revolvers. Additionally, Smith & Wesson simply adapted their large N-frame revolvers for the new cartridge, the Model 58, targeted for the law enforcement market, was introduced on July 10,1964. Weighing in at 41 ounces, the Model 58 compared unfavorably with other popular revolvers available at the time, Smith & Wesson produced a high-end, premium revolver in.41 Magnum caliber, the Model 57, almost identical to the.44 Magnum-chambered Model 29. Magnum Researchs Desert Eagle division produced a.41 Remington Magnum in their semi-automatic Mark VII, marshall and Sanow called the.41 Magnum one of our most unappreciated calibers. 10 mm caliber List of handgun cartridges Table of handgun and rifle cartridges Ballistics By The Inch. 41mag results Smith & Wesson Model 657
6.
.44 Magnum
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The.44 Remington Magnum, or simply.44 Magnum, and frequently.44 Mag, is a large-bore cartridge originally designed for revolvers. After its introduction, it was adopted for carbines and rifles. Despite the.44 designation, guns chambered for the.44 Magnum round, and its parent, the.44 Magnum is based on a lengthened.44 Special case, loaded to higher pressures for greater velocity. The.44 Magnum cartridge was the end result of years of tuned handloading of the.44 Special, the.44 Special, and other large-bore handgun cartridges, were being loaded with heavy bullets, pushed at higher than normal velocities for better hunting performance. One of these handloaders was Elmer Keith, a writer and outdoorsman of the 20th century, Elmer Keith settled on the.44 Special cartridge as the basis for his experimentation, rather than the larger.45 Colt. At the time, the selection of.44 caliber projectiles for handloaders was more varied, also, the.44 Special case was smaller in diameter than the.45 Colt case. In revolvers of the cylinder size, this meant the.44 caliber revolvers had thicker. This allowed higher pressures to be used with less risk of a burst cylinder, Keith encouraged Smith & Wesson and Remington to produce a commercial version of this new high-pressure loading, and revolvers chambered for it. Smith & Wessons first.44 Magnum revolver, the Model 29, was built on December 15,1955, julian Hatcher, and Elmer Keith received two of the first production models. Hatchers review of the new Smith & Wesson revolver and the.44 Magnum cartridge appeared in the March,1956 issue of the magazine, Smith & Wesson produced 3,100 of these revolvers in 1956. By the summer of 1956, Sturm, Ruger became aware of this project, Ruger began shipping their new revolver in late November,1956. The film Dirty Harry, prominently featuring the S&W M29, contributed to that models popularity, Ruger introduced its first long gun, a semi-automatic carbine called the Ruger Model 44 chambered for.44 Magnum, in 1959. Marlin followed soon after with a lever action Model 1894 in.44 Magnum, the. 38-40 Winchester and. 32-20 Winchester were also available in both carbines and revolvers, allowing the shooter to use one type of ammunition for both firearms. In 2006, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the.44 Magnum, Ruger introduced a special 50th anniversary Blackhawk revolver, the.44 Magnum delivers a large, heavy bullet with high velocity for a handgun. In its full-powered form, it produces so much recoil and muzzle blast that it is considered to be unsuitable for use as a police weapon. Rapid fire is difficult and strenuous on the hands, especially for shooters of smaller build or with small hands. Although marketed as a.44 caliber, the.44 Magnum, the.44 designation is a carryover from the early measurements of heeled bullets, used in the later 19th century. In those times, bullets were measured on the outside of the cartridge, not the inside of the cartridge
7.
Dan Wesson Firearms
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Dan Wesson Firearms, part of CZ-USA, is an American handgun manufacturer. The corporate headquarters is in Kansas City, Kansas, and the service and manufacturing plant is located in Norwich. Dan Wesson Firearms is known for its expertise and for some types of ammunition it has introduced over the years. Wesson II was the great-grandson of one of the founders of Smith & Wesson and he earned his degree in Material Science and Metallurgy and controlled the quality of his production strictly. After the purchase of Smith & Wesson by the Bangor-Punta manufacturing concern, Wesson set out to open his own manufacturing operation in order to produce high quality, American made revolvers for service as well as competition use. Dan Wesson Arms was incorporated in 1968, with its headquarters and production located in a school building in Monson. Wesson was aware of gunmaker Karl Lewis modular designs which had proposed during Lewis tenure with Browning. Wesson signed a agreement with Lewis, and began setting up the necessary machining and manufacturing equipment. The new Dan Wesson revolver proved to be accurate, though sales were limited - in large part due to the guns unorthodox appearance. After reworking the design to improve its aesthetics and correct some detail faults, Wesson introduced the model as the Model 15 in.357 Magnum. A large framed version in.44 Magnum caliber was introduced in 1980, later, Dan Wesson offered revolvers in stainless steel as well. Barrels and shrouds were constructed of chrome moly steel, despite the success of the revised design and new caliber offerings, Dan Wesson Arms experienced significant upheaval and ownership changes after Wessons death in 1978. The original Monson facility and production equipment became outdated, and production costs of the gun reduced profits, the company declared bankruptcy in 1990. The corporation was initially moved to Palmer Massachusetts, and the name was changed to Dan Wesson Firearms. In 1995, poor sales led to yet another bankruptcy, after which Bob Serva purchased the corporation and its assets, moving the group to Norwich, New York, where it is currently located. Seeking to diversify its line, the company introduced a popular series of high quality M1911A1-type pistols in various calibers. Dan Wesson revolvers also went back into limited production, though required a substantial investment in new CNC tooling. Despite increased sales, the company faced financial hardships
8.
.460 Rowland
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The.460 Rowland cartridge was designed, developed and trademarked by Johnny Ray Rowland, host of The Shooting Show. The purpose of the cartridge is to enable.44 Magnum power and performance in lightweight, high-capacity, Rowland worked with his friend and noted pistol-smith Jim Clark to develop the conversion. Rowland then collaborated with Starline Brass to finalize production of the casings. He first commercially distributed ammunition and conversions for the 1911 semi-automatic handgun in 1998, the company offers ammunition and conversions for various.45 ACP firearms. The slim-lined Smith and Wesson M&P, both size and compact, can also be converted. Companies authorized or licensed to offer 460 Rowland products are.460 Rowland LLC, Starline Brass, Underwood Ammunition, others are in evident violation of federal patent and trademark law. The.460 Rowland case is approximately 1/16 longer than a conventional.45 ACP case, but the overall length is the same. The purpose of the case length is to prevent the high pressure.460 Rowland from being chambered in a standard firearm chambered for the low pressure.45 ACP. Autoloaders converted to fire the.460 Rowland Cartridge require a properly designed compensator or ported barrel, ported barrels have proven viable in managing the power of the cartridge, but result in somewhat more muzzle flip and felt recoil. The cartridges can be more readily taken in and out of the slide —legal in restrictive states like California—without needing to secure the compensator to the barrel. High quality 1911s are manufactured by different companies and tolerances vary with each manufacturer. It is necessary to adjust recoil spring tensions and to identify specific magazines that work best in each gun and this must be done when converting a 1911 to fire the.460 Rowland cartridge. Without this compensation, slide or frame failure will likely result over time, the Ruger Blackhawk and Smith & Wesson Model 25/625 can also be chambered to fire the.460 Rowland. Converting these revolvers requires deepening the chambers and is effectively permanent, unless the owner has a replacement cylinder fitted. For several years Dan Wesson also made a specifically for the.460 Rowland. Rowland does not support demand for stock-looking.460 Rowland conversions. List of handgun cartridges.45 GAP.45 Winchester Magnum.45 Super.44 Magnum 11 mm caliber Authentic.460 Rowland Ballistics By The Inch.460 Rowland Results
9.
.327 Federal Magnum
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The.327 Federal Magnum is actually a super magnum having replaced the.32 H&R Magnum as the pinnacle of power in this diameter revolver cartridge. First introduced by Federal Cartridge company, the.327 Federal Magnum is an attempt to improve on the.32 H&R Magnum introduced in 1984. Like the.32 H&R Magnum, the.327 Federal Magnum is a lengthened, magnum version of the original.32 S&W cartridge, which dates back to 1878. The.32 S&W was a powder cartridge developed by the Union Metallic Cartridge Company with a case length of 0.61 in. In 1896, the.32 S&W Long was introduced, which had a length of 0.920 in. The introduction of the.32 H&R Magnum nearly a century later increased the length to 1.075 in and increased pressures from 15,000 psi to 21,000 CUP. However, the.32 H&R Magnum cartridge failed to attract much interest from gun owners, while felt recoil exceeds that of the.32 H&R magnum, revolvers in.327 Federal Magnum are much easier to control than equivalent models chambered in.357 Magnum. Comparing the two calibers, Chuck Hawks says, There is no doubt that, for most shooters, the.357 Mag. produces uncomfortable recoil and muzzle blast. ATK recoil figures for the.327 Mag. show free recoil energies of 3.08 ft·lbf. for the 85 grain JHP factory load,5.62 ft·lbf for the 115 grain JHP load and 5.58 ft·lbf for the 100 grain SP load. For comparison, ATK figures are 1.46 ft·lbf for the 85 grain.32 H&R Mag. load and 7.22 ft·lbf for the 125 grain.357 Mag. load. Revolvers in.327 Federal Magnum were initially offered by Charter Arms, Taurus, Ruger, the stainless steel Ruger SP101 was originally selected as the development platform for the new cartridge. Freedom Arms made a design, as did U. S. Fire Arms with its 8-shot Sparrowhawk, Ruger offered the double-action 6-shot SP101 and 7-shot GP100, and the full-sized single-action 8-shot Blackhawk, revolvers chambered in.327 Federal Magnum. A version of the Ruger SP101 with a 3 1/16 barrel chambered in the.327 Federal Magnum was released in January 2008, Ruger, U. S. Firearms, and Freedom Arms discontinued these models by the end of 2013. Smith & Wessons Model 632 has also been discontinued, in late 2014, Ruger introduced the smaller-framed Ruger Single-Seven, a 7-shot single-action.327 Federal Magnum revolver based on the Single-Six. In March,2015, Ruger re-introduced the SP101 in.327 Federal Magnum, the current version of the SP101 features fully adjustable sights and a longer 4.2 barrel. In September 2015, Ruger also introduced the LCR in.327 Federal Magnum, in early 2017, Henry Repeating Arms announced production of four new lever-action long guns, with shipping scheduled to begin in March. Firearms author Chuck Hawks suggests that lever-action carbines in.327 Mag, another similar cartridge is the.30 Carbine, which has been offered in Rugers single-action Blackhawk revolver line since 1968
10.
.32 H&R Magnum
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The.32 H&R Magnum is a rimmed cartridge designed for use in revolvers. It was developed in 1984 as a joint venture between Harrington & Richardson and Federal Cartridge, the.32 H&R Magnum is produced by lengthening the.32 S&W Long case by.155, to 1.075. The.32 H&R Magnum offers substantially more performance than other.32 caliber handgun cartridges, such as the.32 ACP and its higher velocity offers a flat trajectory, while the light weight of the bullets results in low recoil. The older. 32-20 Winchester was extremely popular in the Winchester lever- and Colt single-actions, available at the turn of the century, the.32 H&R offers near duplicate performance. Penetration is also increased compared to the.38 special with bullets of the same weight, max pressure for the.32 H&R Mag is set at 21,000 CUP by SAAMI. The.327 Federal Magnum is based on the.32 H&R Magnum, though the.32 H&R was not designed with a particular task in mind, it is fairly well suited to small game hunting. It is also an acceptable self-defense cartridge and it is not generally considered a good plinking cartridge, due to high cost and poor availability of ammunition, but reloading can mitigate those issues. Many handgun hunters use the.22 Winchester rimfire magnum with great success in hunting small to small-medium game, up to coyote in size. The.32 H&R magnum offers increased stopping power due to its heavier bullets and larger caliber, in 2013, Hornady introduced a.32 H&R magnum Critical Defense cartridge designed for self-defense. It propels an 80 grain FTX, bullet at 1,150 fps muzzle velocity, buffalo Bore offers +P rated cartridges with either a 100 gr JHP or a 130 gr. Longer cartridges are unsafe in short chambers, so more powerful.32 H&R Magnum cartridges should never be loaded into arms designed for the.32 S&W or.32 S&W Long, american Derringer, Bond Arms, and Cobra Firearms offer derringers in.32 H&R Magnum. Thompson Center Arms offered their Contender pistol in it as well, Marlin offers the Model 1894CB lever-action rifle in.32 H&R Magnum. Unlike other Marlin 1894s, the 1894CB loads from the front of the tubular 10-shot magazine, like their Model 39A rimfire rifle, and has a faster, 10% shorter throw lever action
11.
.357 Remington Maximum
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The.357 Maximum, formally known as the.357 Remington Maximum or the.357 Max, is a super magnum handgun cartridge originally developed by Elgin Gates as the wildcat.357 SuperMag. The.357 Maximum was introduced into production as a joint-venture by Remington Arms Company. Shortly thereafter, Dan Wesson Firearms and Thompson/Center Arms introduced firearms in this cartridge, united Sporting Arms chambered it in their Silhouette series single-action revolvers. It is a.357 Magnum case lengthened 0.300 inches, based on the.357 Magnum cartridge, a revolver or single-shot pistol designed for the.357 Max can fire.357 Magnum.38 Special.38 Long Colt, and.38 Short Colt rounds. Intended primarily as a cartridge, such high velocity and energy levels have hunting applications. SAAMI pressure level for this cartridge is set at 48,000 pounds per square inch CUP, single shot pistols and rifles are still available in this caliber, and remain popular among handloaders. Unprimed brass is still produced every few years by Remington, guns designed for the.357 Maximum were built on a larger frame than their predecessors. 9 mm caliber List of handgun cartridges
12.
.460 S&W Magnum
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The.460 S&W Magnum round is a powerful revolver cartridge designed for long-range handgun hunting in the Smith & Wesson Model 460 revolver. The.460 S&W round is a lengthened, more powerful version of the popular.454 Casull, itself a longer and more powerful version of the.45 Colt. Consequently, firearms that fire.460 S&W are usually capable of firing the less powerful.454 Casull.45 Colt and.45 Schofield rounds, for instance, some lever-action firearms are designed to handle cartridges within a certain length and bullet profile range. The reverse, however, does not apply.45 Schofield.45 Colt, the length of the.460 S&W was intended to fully use the overall length of the S&W X frame cylinder thereby increasing its powder capacity. The.460 cartridge achieves high velocities by operating at chamber pressures normally reserved for magnum rifle cartridges, Smith & Wesson says that the.460 S&W is the highest velocity revolver cartridge in the world, firing bullets at up to 2409 ft/s. For comparison, Hornadys 9249 load for the.500 S&W Magnum cartridge offers a bit more energy at the muzzle, achieving 2,868 ft lbf by driving a 300 grain FTX bullet at 2,075 ft/s. Buffalo Bores loading for the.500 S&W Magnum cartridge offers much less energy at the muzzle, achieving only 2,579 ft lbf by driving a 440 grain.500 caliber bullet at 1625 ft/s
13.
.454 Casull
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The.454 Casull is a firearm cartridge, developed as a wildcat cartridge in 1957 by Dick Casull and Jack Fullmer. It was first announced in November 1959 by Guns & Ammo magazine, the basic design was a lengthened and structurally improved.45 Colt case. The wildcat cartridge finally went mainstream in 1997, when Ruger began chambering its Super Redhawk in this caliber, Taurus followed with the Raging Bull model in 1998 and the Taurus Raging Judge Magnum in 2010. The.45 Schofield and.45 Colt cartridges can fit into the. 454s chambers, the.454 Casull was finally commercialized in 1998, when SAAMI published its first standards for the cartridge. The round is one of the most powerful handgun cartridges in production, the.454 Casull generates almost 5 times the recoil of the.45 Long Colt, and about 75% more recoil energy than the.44 Magnum. It can deliver a 250 grain bullet with a velocity of over 1,900 feet per second. One Buffalo Bore loading drives a heavier 300 grain JFN bullet at 1,650 ft/s for 1,813 ft-lb of muzzle energy, the.454 Casull round is primarily intended for hunting medium or large game, metallic silhouette shooting, and bear protection. The.460 Smith & Wesson Magnum cartridge introduced in 2005 is basically a lengthened.454 Casull cartridge and has the diameter as a.45 Colt or.454 Casull. Therefore, revolvers chambered for the.460 S&W will also chamber the.454 Casull, the.45 Colt, List of cartridges by caliber List of handgun cartridges Table of handgun and rifle cartridges
14.
.45 Colt
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The.45 Colt or.45 Long Colt cartridge is a handgun cartridge dating to 1872. It is a black-powder revolver round developed for the Colt Single Action Army revolver and this cartridge was adopted by the U. S. Army in 1873 and served as an official US military handgun cartridge for 14 years. Colt began work on the revolver in 1871, and submitted a sample to the U. S. Army in late 1872, the revolver was accepted for purchase in 1873. The cartridge is an inside lubricated type, the rebated heel type bullet design of its predecessor, the.44 Colt, was eliminated, since it was an outside lubricated type, which would pick up dirt and grit during handling. The.45 Colt replaced the.50 caliber Model 1871 Remington single shot pistol, while the Colt remained popular, the Smith & Wesson M1875 Army Schofield Revolver was approved as an alternate which created a logistic problem for the Army. Adoption of the.45 M1887 Military Ball Cartridge resolved the Armys ammunition logistic problems, the M1887 Govt round was replaced by the.38 Long Colt in 1892. In 1909, the.45 M1909 round was issued along with the.45 Colt New Service revolver and this round was never loaded commercially, and is almost identical to the original.45 Colt round, except having a larger diameter rim. The rim is large enough that it cannot be loaded in adjacent chambers in the rod-ejector Colt model, the.45 Colt remains popular with renewed interest in Cowboy Action Shooting. The modern.45 Colt bullet has changed as well, and it is now.451 inches in diameter for jacketed bullets, the.45 Colt became the basis for other rounds, such as the.454 Casull. The.45 Colt originally was a cartridge, but modern loadings use smokeless powder. The original black-powder loads called for 28 to 40 grains of powder behind a 230-to-255-grain lead bullet. These loads developed muzzle velocities of up to 1,050 ft/s, because of this power and its excellent accuracy, the.45 Colt was the most-used cartridge at the time of its introduction, succeeding the.44 WCF. The.45 Colt at that time did not enjoy the. 44-40s advantage of a Winchester rifle chambered for it, the rumor was that early.45 Colt cartridges had a very minimal rim, and would not eject reliably. Currently manufactured brass has a rim of adequate diameter for such uses, modern Winchesters, Marlins and replicas have remedied this omission almost 100 years after the fact, and the.45 Colt is now available in modern lever-action rifles. While this has one of numerous arguments to explain the lack of a rifle chambered in.45 Colt, in fact. It required the expiration of those original patents for the.45 Colt to become available in a rifle, todays standard factory loads develop around 400 ft·lbf of muzzle energy at about 860 ft/s, making it roughly equivalent to modern.45 ACP loads. There are Cowboy Action Shooting loads which develop muzzle velocities of around 750 ft/s, cartridges of the World states that.45 Colt should never be loaded to more than 800 fps. Some handloads and factory manufactured cartridges put this round in the class as the.44 Magnum using special revolvers
15.
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
16.
.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
17.
Sturm, Ruger & Co.
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Sturm, Ruger & Co. Inc. is an American, Southport, Connecticut–based firearm manufacturing company, better known by the shortened name Ruger. The company was founded in 1949 by Alexander McCormick Sturm and William B, Ruger and has been publicly traded since 1969. Ruger produces bolt-action, semi-automatic, and single-shot rifles, shotguns, semi-automatic pistols, Sturm, Ruger & Company was founded by William B. Ruger and Alexander McCormick Sturm in 1949 in a small rented shop in Southport. Ruger is a dominant manufacturer in the.22 LR rimfire rifle market in the U. S. due primarily to the sales of its Ruger 10/22 semiautomatic rifle, the 10/22 is very popular due to being relatively inexpensive and of good quality. As a result, a wealth of after-market accessories and parts were available for it. The availability and variety of after-market parts makes it possible to build a 10/22 using only these parts, Ruger similarly dominates the.22 rimfire semi-automatic pistol market with the Ruger MK II and Ruger MK III, descendants of the Ruger Standard pistol. Like the 10/22, the MkII is supported with a variety of after-market accessories. The 22/45 is similar to the Ruger Standard family of pistols but features a different grip angle, Ruger Casting has plants in Newport, New Hampshire and Prescott, Arizona, making ferrous, ductile iron and commercial titanium castings. Ruger Golf makes steel and titanium castings for golf clubs made by a number of different brands, Sturm, Ruger stock has been publicly traded since 1969, and became a New York Stock Exchange company in 1990. After Alex Sturm’s death in 1951, William B, Ruger continued to direct the company until his death in 2002. From 1949 through 2004, Ruger manufactured over 20 million firearms, and currently offers models for hunting, target shooting, self-defense, collecting, and law enforcement. Sturm, Ruger & Co. is headquartered in Southport, Connecticut, and maintains manufacturing facilities in Newport, New Hampshire, Prescott, Arizona, and Mayodan, North Carolina. Rugers subsidiaries are Ruger Precision Metals LLC in Earth City, Missouri, Pine Tree Castings in Newport, New Hampshire, and Ruger Sportswear & Accessories in Mayodan, North Carolina. Of the total 2,288 makers of civilian firearms operating in the United States from 1986–2010, Ruger was ranked the number one U. S. firearms manufacturer from 2008–2011. In 2011, Ruger manufactured 1,114,687 firearms, as their promotion, the company has set a new goal of 2 million firearms produced per year. From 2009 to 2012, Ruger was the top-seller of handguns, list of modern armament manufacturers TALO Distributors Wilson, R. L. Ruger & His Guns, A History of the Man, the Company and Their Firearms. Sturm, Ruger & Co official site Ruger Official History
18.
Remington Arms
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Remington Arms Company, LLC is an American manufacturer of firearms and ammunition in the United States. It was founded in 1816 by Eliphalet Remington in Ilion, New York, as E. Remington, Remington is Americas oldest gun maker and Its Americas oldest factory that still makes its original product-guns. It is the only U. S. company which produces both firearms and ammunition domestically and is the largest U. S. producer of shotguns, Remington has also developed or adopted more cartridges than any other gun maker or ammunition manufacturer in the world. Additionally its products are distributed in over 60 foreign countries, making its distribution base, Remington Arms is part of the Freedom Group, which is owned by Cerberus Capital Management. Remington built a new plant in Huntsville, Alabama which is now building Modern Sporting Rifles, the Remington company was founded in 1816. Eliphalet Remington II believed he could build a gun than he could buy. Farming communities in the region were famous for their skills and self-sufficiency. Remingtons father was a blacksmith, and wanted to expand his business into rifle barrel production, local residents often built their own rifles to save on costs, but purchased the barrel. Remingtons father sent him to a barrel maker in a major city to purchase a barrel. At the time, the method was to heat and wrap long flat bars of iron around a rod of the caliber desired. By heating and hammering the coiled bars around the central rod, after the young man returned home, his family added a successful barrel making operation to his fathers forge, in Ilion Gorge, New York. Remington began designing and building a rifle for himself. At age 23, he entered a match, though he only finished second. Before Remington left the field day, he had received so many orders from other competitors that he was now officially in the gunsmithing business. By 1828, the moved to nearby Ilion, New York. On March 7,1888, ownership of E. Remington & Sons left possession of the Remington family and was sold to new owners, Marcellus Hartley, at this time the name was formally changed to the Remington Arms Company. The Bridgeport site became the home of Remingtons ammunition plant, in 1912, Remington and Union Metallic Cartridge Company were combined into a single entity, called Remington UMC. In 1915, the plant at Ilion was expanded, and with this expansion became basically the same plant as today, during World War I, Remington produced arms under contract for several Allied powers
19.
Thompson/Center Arms
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Thompson/Center Arms is an American firearms company based in Springfield, Massachusetts. The company is best known for its line of interchangeable-barrel, single-shot pistols, Thompson/Center also manufactures muzzle-loading rifles and is credited with creating the resurgence of their use in the 1970s. In the 1960s, Warren Center developed an unusual break-action, single-shot pistol that later known as the Contender in his basement workshop. Meanwhile, the K. W. Thompson Tool Company had been searching for a product to manufacture year-round, in 1965, Warren Center joined the K. W. Thompson Tool Company, and together, they announced Warren Centers Contender pistol in 1967. As K. W. Thompson Tool began marketing Centers Contender pistol, then, in 1970, Thompson/Center created the modern black powder industry, introducing Warren Centers Hawken-styled black powder muzzle-loader rifle. On January 4,2007, Thompson/Center was purchased by Smith & Wesson, on December 8,2010, Smith & Wesson announced that the original Rochester, New Hampshire plant would be closed and manufacturing was transferred to Springfield, Massachusetts. Thompson/Centers success came with the emergence of long range hunting, target shooting. Their break-action, single-shot design brought rifle-like accuracy and power in a handgun, the Contender, first introduced in 1967, is a break-action, single-shot pistol or rifle with a number of unique features. The first unique feature is the way the barrel is attached to the frame, by removing the fore-end, a large hinge pin is exposed, by pushing this hinge pin out, the barrel can be removed. Since the sights and extractor remain attached to the barrel in the Contender design, a barrel of another caliber can be installed and pinned in place, the fore-end replaced, and the pistol is ready to shoot with a different barrel and pre-aligned sights. This allowed easy changes of calibers, sights, and barrel lengths, the Encore was released in 1983. The Encore uses a different trigger mechanism, designed to be stronger than the original Contenders, the Encore uses a considerably larger and stronger frame than the Contender, and accordingly, is found in over 86 cartridges - ranging from.22 Hornet to the huge.416 Rigby. There has even been one pistol-length stainless barrel made in.600 Nitro Express, the Encore barrel list also includes shotgun barrels in 28,20, and 12 gauge, and muzzleloading barrels in.45.50 caliber, and 12 gauge using #209 shotgun primers. In 2007, Encore rimfire barrels became available in 22 LR and 17 HMR, an upgraded T/C Encore is called the Pro Hunter which generally includes stocks with rubber Flex Tech inserts and are stainless or carbon steel with weather shielding. There are other differences among the rifles including the breech plug on muzzleloader versions. The original Contender, now known as the generation one Contender, was replaced by the G2 Contender soon after the Encore came out, the G2 Contender is essentially dimensionally the same as the original Contender, but uses an Encore style trigger group. Unlike the original Contender, dry-firing of the G2 Contender is possible only in the center hammer position, also, unlike the original Contender, the break-action does not need to be opened/closed to practice dry-firing, provided the hammer is lowered between dry firing shots. The adjustability of G2 Contender triggers is also different from the original G1 Contender
20.
Thompson/Center Contender
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The Thompson/Center Contender is a break-action single-shot pistol or rifle that was introduced in 1967 by Thompson/Center Arms. It can be chambered in calibers from.22 Long Rifle to. 45-70 Government, warren Center, working in his basement shop in the 1960s, developed a unique, break-action, single-shot pistol. In 1965, Center joined the K. W. Thompson Tool Company, as K. W. Thompson Tool began marketing Centers Contender pistol, the company name was changed to Thompson/Center Arms Company. The most unusual feature of the Contender is how the barrel is attached to the frame, by removing the fore-end, a large hinge pin is exposed, by pushing this hinge pin out, the barrel can be removed. Since the sights and extractor remain attached to the barrel in the Contender design, a barrel of another caliber or length can be installed and pinned in place, the fore-end replaced, and the pistol is ready to shoot with a different barrel and pre-aligned sights. This allowed easy changes of calibers, sights, and barrel lengths, the initial baseline design of the Contender had no central safe position on the hammer, having only centerfire and rimfire firing pin positions, each being selectable through using a screwdriver. Three variants of the original Contender design were developed, distinguished easily by the hammer design. The first variant has a push button selector on the hammer for choosing rimfire vs, some of the very earliest Contenders, those requiring a screwdriver to switch the firing pin between rimfire and centerfire, had smooth sides, without the cougar etched on the sides. Unlike the later G2 Contender, the original Contender may be safely dry-fired to allow a shooter to become familiar with the trigger pull, the break-action only has to be cycled, while leaving the hammer in the second notch position, to practice dry-firing. G2s with switchable firing pins can be safely dry-fired with the only in the safety position. Barrels have been made in lengths of 6,8 3/4,10,12,14,16, heavier recoiling cartridge barrels have been made with integral muzzle brakes. Barrels for the original Contender may be used on the later-released G2 Contender, the earliest barrels, from early 1967 to late 1967, were all octagonal with a flat bottom lug, and were available in only 10 and 8 3/4 inch lengths. The next group of barrels, from late 1967 to 1972, were available in 6,8 3/4, later, round barrels were added in a wider variety of lengths, including 10,12, and 14. Likewise, round barrels in heavier barrel configurations, known as Super 14 pistol and Super 16 pistol barrels, carbine barrels in 16 and 21 inches were added for the Contenders. Various barrels have sometimes included ejectors as well as extractors, or extractors, only, as well as containing either a flat bottom lug, barrels have been made available in either blued or stainless configurations, to match the finish available on Contender receivers. Unlike most other actions, the break-action design does not require the barrels to be specially fitted to an individual action. Since the sights are mounted on the barrel, they remain sighted-in, Pistol grips, butt stocks and fore-ends have been made available in stained walnut, or in recoil reducing composite materials. Different pistol fore-ends are required for the octagonal versus the round versus the bull barrels, the fore-ends have had an assortment of either one or two screw attachment points, used for attaching the fore-ends to the barrel with its matching one or two attachment points
21.
.44 Special
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The.44 Special or.44 S&W Special is a smokeless powder center fire metallic cartridge developed by Smith & Wesson in 1907 as the standard chambering for their New Century revolver, introduced in 1908. On the late 19th Century American frontier, large. 44- and. 45-caliber cartridges were considered the epitome of handgun ammunition for self-protection and hunting. Black-powder rounds such as the.44 American.44 Russian. 44-40 Winchester, and.45 Colt enjoyed a reputation for effective terminal ballistics, accuracy. At the start of the 20th Century, Smith & Wesson decided to celebrate by introducing a new revolver design which they called the New Century. Smith & Wesson wished to pair their new design with a worthy new ammunition chambering. At the time, smokeless powder was state of the art in ammunition technology, older black-powder ammunition was in the process of being converted to smokeless. Due to the energy density of the early semi-smokeless powders. Smith & Wesson addressed this issue by lengthening the.44 Russian cartridge case by 0. 190-inch, the resulting design, which S&W called the.44 Special, had a case length of 1. 16-inch. Nevertheless, the.44 Special retained its progenitors reputation for accuracy, the SAAMI maxiumum pressure standard for the 44 SW special is 15,500 PSI. Led by articles in firearms periodicals penned by gun writers such as Elmer Keith and Skeeter Skelton, a loose cadre of enthusiastic fans who called themselves the.44 Associates formed. Elmer Keith, one of the most famous and popular firearms related authors at the time, developed a number of classical heavy handloads for the.44 Special, many are still highly regarded today. He also championed the concept of higher powered big-bore revolvers with Smith & Wesson and Remington Arms, eventually leading to the development of the.357.41, and.44 Magnums. Keiths suggested designation for the proposed.44 caliber round was the.44 Special Magnum, nonetheless, the new cartridge was developed directly from the.44 Special design by simply lengthening the older case by.125 inch. Remingtons stated rationale for the making of this change was to preclude higher pressured Magnum loads from being chambered in.44 Special revolvers. The hype and excitement surrounding the introduction of the.44 Magnum in the mid-1950s eclipsed the.44 Special, as a result, gunmakers offered fewer revolver models chambered in.44 Special for several years. This makes the.44 Special cartridge an attractive alternative for reduced velocity target shooting and plinking
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.44 Russian
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The.44 Russian, also known as the.44 S&W Russian, is a black-powder center-fire metallic revolver cartridge developed by Smith & Wesson in 1870. The.44 Russian design marked the first use of an internally lubricated bullet in modern firearm ammunition. However, Gorloff had some reservations about the standard.44 S&W American chambering of the pistol which, Smith & Wesson did so by reducing the diameter of the.44 bullet to.430 and adding lubrication grooves to its base. This evolutionary improvement became an archetype, influencing future cartridge designs.44 American and produced a muzzle velocity of roughly 750 ft/s. As a result of changes, the.44 Russian generated a much higher chamber pressure of 12,000 copper units of pressure compared to the older.44 American round which generated only 6-8,000 CUP. To prevent the new ammunition from being fired in.44 American revolvers with disastrous results. In 1872, while in the US, Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich visited the Smith & Wesson factory to review the progress of the Russian order. The American gun maker made him the gift of an engraved presentation Model 3 valued at more than $400, over 131,000 S&W Model 3 revolvers were eventually sold to the Russian Army. In addition to the S&W made revolvers, Belgian, Spanish, the.44 Russian chambering became a hit in the domestic market as well, gaining a reputation as the first American revolver cartridge offering inherent accuracy. In time it set records, eventually becoming known as an established target round, enabling skilled shooters to achieve 3-inch groups at 50 yards, notable for the time. The.44 Russian was the precursor for two very important later handgun cartridges which were based on its design, the.44 Special in 1907, a number of ammunition companies still manufacture. Ammunition 200 grain lead round nose, flat point Additionally, Starline Brass makes new, unprimed cartridge cases in.44 Russian for handloaders
