A firearm is a device that can be used as a weapon that fires either single or multiple projectiles propelled at high velocity by the gases produced through rapid, confined burning of a propellant. A weapon is a Tool used either in Hunting, or attack or defence in Combat for the purpose of subduing enemy personnel or to destroy enemy weapons A projectile is any object propelled through space by the exertion of a force which ceases after launch This page is about the physical properties of gas as a state of matter Combustion or burning is a complex sequence of Exothermic chemical reactions between a Fuel and an Oxidant accompanied by the production of A propellant is a material that is used to move ("propel" an object This process of rapid burning is technically known as deflagration. Deflagration (Lat de + flagrare, "to burn down" is a technical term describing subsonic Combustion that usually propagates through Thermal conductivity In older firearms, this propellant was typically black powder, but modern firearms use smokeless powder, cordite, or other propellants. Gunpowder is a an explosive mixture of Sulfur, Charcoal and Potassium nitrate (also known as saltpetre/saltpeter that burns rapidly producing volumes Smokeless powder is the name given to a number of Propellants used in Firearms and Artillery which produce negligible smoke when fired unlike the older Cordite is a family of smokeless propellants developed and produced in the United Kingdom from 1889 to replace Gunpowder as a military propellant Most modern firearms (with the notable exception of smoothbore shotguns) have rifled barrels to impart spin to the projectile for improved flight stability. Smoothbore refers to a Firearm or Cannon which does not have a rifled barrel. A shotgun (also known as a scattergun) is a Firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number Rifling refers to the Helix -shaped pattern in the barrel of a Firearm, which imparts a spin to a Projectile around its long axis

Contents 1 Background 2 Small arms 2.1 Handgun 2.2 Long guns 2.3 Automatic weapons 2.3.1 Machine gun 2.3.2 Gatling gun 2.3.3 Submachine gun 2.3.4 Automatic rifle 3 Loading and firing mechanisms 3.1 Muzzle-loaded Cannon 3.2 Muzzleloader 3.2.1 Matchlock 3.2.2 Wheellock 3.2.3 Flintlock 3.2.4 Percussion cap 3.3 Cartridges 4 Repeating, semiautomatic, and automatic firearms 5 See also 6 References 7 Sources 8 External links

Background

The term 'gun' is often used as a synonym for firearm, but in specialist or military use has a restricted sense—referring only to an artillery piece with a relatively high muzzle velocity, such as a field gun, a tank gun, an anti-tank gun, or a gun used in the delivery of naval gunfire. A gun is a particular Weapon that propels Projectiles The projectile is generally fired through a hollow tube known as the gun's barrel. Artillery (from French artillerie) is a military Combat Arm which employs any apparātus machine A field gun is an Artillery piece Originally the term referred to smaller Guns that could accompany a field army on the march and when in combat could be A tank gun is the main armament of a Tank. Modern tank guns are large- Caliber high-velocity guns capable of firing Kinetic energy penetrators Anti-tank refers to any method of combating military Armored fighting vehicles notably Tanks The most common anti-tank systems Naval gunfire support (NGFS is the use of Naval artillery to provide Fire support for amphibious assault and other troops operating within their range Guns are distinct from howitzers and mortars, which have lower muzzle velocities and, typically, higher trajectories. A howitzer is a type of Artillery piece that is characterized by a relatively short barrel and the use of comparatively small explosive charges to propel projectiles A mortar is a muzzle-loading Indirect fire weapon that fires shells at low velocities short ranges and high-arcing ballistic trajectories Hand-held firearms, like rifles, carbines, pistols and other small firearms are rarely called "guns" in the restricted sense among specialists. A rifle is a Firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves ("rifling" cut into the barrel walls A carbine is a Firearm similar to a Rifle or Musket, but generally shorter and of lesser power Machine guns fire small caliber ammunition (generally 14. For other uses of the phrase see Machine Gun (disambiguation. 5 mm or smaller), and many machine guns are crew served firearms, requiring the services of more than one crewman, just like artillery guns. Generally, an automatic firearm designed for a single user is referred to as an automatic rifle. Automatic rifle is a term generally used to describe a Self-loading rifle chambered for a rifle cartridge capable of delivering both semi However, the US BATFE considers any firearm which dispenses more than one round with a single manipulation of the firing device to be a "machine gun" for regulatory purposes. The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (abbreviated ATF) is a specialized federal law enforcement and regulatory organization within the United Other terms, including "firearm" itself, have been defined in specialized ad hoc ways by various legislation.

In recent centuries, firearms have become the predominant weapons used by mankind. Modern warfare since the late Renaissance has relied upon firearms, with wide-ranging effects on military history and history in general. Modern warfare, although present in every Historical period of Military history, is generally used to refer to the concepts, methods and The Renaissance (from French Renaissance, meaning "rebirth" Italian: Rinascimento, from re- "again" and nascere Military history is a Humanities discipline within the scope of general historical recording of armed conflict in the history of humanity This created a whole new kind of battle, which molded modern-era armies.

For handguns and long guns, the projectile is a bullet, or in historical cannons, a cannonball. A bullet is a solid Projectile propelled by a Firearm or Air gun and is normally made from metal (usually Lead) The projectile is fired by the burning of the propellant, but in small arms rarely contains explosives itself. The use of expanding (e. g. hollow-point) small-arms ammunition in warfare is banned by the Hague Convention. For modern artillery the projectile is a shell, which almost always contains explosives. A shell is a payload-carrying Projectile, which as opposed to shot, contains an explosive or other filling though modern usage includes large solid projectiles

Until the mid-1800s, projectiles and propellant (black powder) were generally separate components used in a muzzle-loading firearm such as a rifle, pistol, or cannon. A muzzleloader is any Firearm into which the projectile and usually the Propellant charge is loaded from the muzzle of the Gun (i Sometimes for convenience a suitable amount of powder and a bullet were wrapped in a paper package, known as a cartridge. This evolved into the form of a tubular metal casing enclosing a primary igniter (primer) and the powder charge, with the projectile press-fit into the end of the casing opposite the primer. Cartridge ammunition was widely adopted, and as of the first World War it had become the primary form of ammunition for small arms, tanks, and artillery. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Mortars use a similar concept of encapsulation; however the projectile and casing are generally a single piece that is launched from the firearm. Some short-range naval guns use cased ammunition, but many battleship and cruiser main guns use a shell and separate bagged powder measures, which are selected according to the desired ballistic path.

A distinction is sometimes made between the projectile itself as the weapon and the firearm as a weapons platform. A weapons platform is generally any structure or system on which a Weapon can be mounted In some cases, the firearm can be used directly as a weapon without firing a projectile, although this is virtually always a secondary method of attack used in close combat. For example, arms such as rifles, muskets, and occasionally submachine guns can have bayonets affixed to them, becoming in effect a spear or pike. A submachine gun (SMG is a Firearm that combines the automatic fire of a Machine gun with the cartridge of a Pistol, and is A bayonet (from French baïonnette) is a Knife - Dagger - or spike-shaped Weapon designed to fit on or over the muzzle This is an article about a particle accelerator For uses of spear, see Spear or Spear (disambiguation. A pike is a Pole weapon, a very long thrusting Spear used two-handed and used extensively by Infantry both for attacks on enemy foot soldiers and as With some notable exceptions, the stock of a long gun can be used as a club. A stock, also known as a buttstock or shoulder stock, is present in many Firearms and some Crossbows (though a crossbow stock is properly a A club is an association of people united by a common interest or goal It is also possible to strike someone with the barrel of a firearm or grasp it by the barrel or grip and strike someone with the butt, which is informally called "pistol-whipping".

A problem for firearms is the accumulation of waste products from the partial combustion of propellants, metallic residue from the bullet itself, and small flecks of the cartridge case, known as fouling or gunshot residue. A propellant is a material that is used to move ("propel" an object These waste products can interfere with the internal functions of the firearm. As a result, regularly used firearms must be periodically partially disassembled, cleaned and lubricated to ensure the firearm’s reliability.

Firearms may sometimes be referred to as small arms. Small arms is a term used by the Armed forces to refer to Infantry Weapons such as the Firearms that an individual soldier can carry Small arms are firearms which can be carried by a single individual. According to international conventions governing the Laws of War, small arms are defined (with some exceptions) as firearms which fire a projectile not in excess of 15 mm (0. The law of war (also law of armed conflict, LOAC) is Law concerning acceptable practices relating to war 60 inches) in diameter. Small arms are aimed visually at their targets by hand using optical sights. The range of accuracy for small arms is generally limited to about one mile (1600 m), usually considerably less, although the current record for a successful sniper attack is slightly more than 1. READ DISCUSSION PAGE BEFORE MAKING ANY EDITS TO CAPTION BELOW http//en 5 miles (2. 4 km). Artillery guns are much larger than these firearms, mounted on a movable carriage, having bores of up to 18 inches (46 cm) and possibly weighing many tons. Artillery can be accurate at ranges of up to about 26 miles (42 km) and, with some notable exceptions (ex. tank guns), are aimed using altitude/azimuth settings. An Altazimuth or alt-azimuth mount is a simple Mount used for moving a Telescope, Camera, helostatic mirror, or solar panel Strictly speaking, such weapons are not firearms.

The direct ancestor of the firearm is the fire-lance, a gunpowder-filled tube attached to the end of a spear and used as a flamethrower; shrapnel was sometimes placed in the barrel so that it would fly out together with the flames. The fire lance ( or fire spear is one of the first gunpowder weapons in the world ^[1][2] The fire-lance had developed into the gun by the 1100s, the date of the earliest known depiction of a gun, a sculpture from a cave in Sichuan. ( Postal map spelling: Szechwan and Szechuan) is a province in western China with its capital in Chengdu. ^[3][4] The earliest European documentation of the gun is Walter de Milemete's De Nobilitatibus, Sapientiis, et Prudentiis Regum from 1326. The earliest Islamic documentation of gunpowder is from the work of the 13th century scientist Hasan al-Rammah. Gunpowder arrived in India by the mid-1300s, but could have been introduced by the Mongols perhaps as early as the mid-1200s. ^[5][6]

The Arabic engineer and chemist Hasan al-Rammah, in The Book of Military Horsemanship and Ingenious War Devices, described the earliest known recipes for an explosive gunpowder effect, some of which were almost identical to the ideal composition for explosive gunpowder used in modern times (75% saltpetre (KNO3), 10% sulfur, 15% carbon), such as the tayyar "rocket" (75 parts saltpetre, 8 sulfur, and 15 carbon, by weight) and the tayyar buruq "lightning rocket" (74 parts saltpetre, 10 sulfur, 15 carbon). An explosive material is a material that either is chemically or otherwise Energetically unstable or produces a sudden expansion of the material usually accompanied Sulfur or sulphur (ˈsʌlfɚ see spelling below) is the Chemical element that has the Atomic number 16 Carbon (kɑɹbən is a Chemical element with the symbol C and its Atomic number is 6 He states in his book that many of these recipes were known to his father and grandfather, hence dating back to at least the late 12th century. The earliest known military applications of these explosive gunpowder compositions were the explosive hand cannons first used by the Egyptians to repel the Mongols at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260. The hand cannon ( Arabic: midfa; Chinese: 手[[wikt 銃|銃]] as it was called was the first handheld portable This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. The Battle of Ain Jalut (or Ayn Jalut, in Arabic ar عين جالوت the "Eye of Goliath" or the "Spring of Goliath" took place on 3 September 1260 between ^[7][8]

The invention of torpedoes also occurred in the Muslim world, and were driven by a rocket system. The modern torpedo (historically called an automotive automobile locomotive or fish torpedo is a self-propelled explosive Projectile weapon launched above or below The term Muslim world (or Islamic world) has several meanings The works of Hasan al-Rammah in Syria in 1275 shows illustrations of a torpedo running on water with a rocket system filled with explosive materials and having three firing points. Syria ( سوريّة or) officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic ar الجمهورية العربية السورية ^[9] The first supergun was the Great Turkish Bombard, used by the troops of Mehmed II to capture Constantinople in 1453. For the arcade game hardware see SuperGun For the 1990s United Kingdom political scandal known as the "Supergun affair" see Arms-to-Iraq. The Great Turkish Bombard, also known as the Basilic, the Dardanelles Gun, the Hungarian Cannon, Muhammed's Great Gun and The Royal The Fall of Constantinople refers to the capture of the Byzantine Empire's capital by the Ottoman Empire on Tuesday May 29, 1453 (Julian Calendar Constantinople (Κωνσταντινούπολις Konstantinoúpolis, or gr ἡ Πόλις hē Polis, Latin: la CONSTANTINOPOLIS It had a 762 mm bore, and fired 680 kg (1500 lb) stones.

By the 13th century, explosive projectiles were being used by the Mongols in their invasions of Japan. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. A set of scrolls commissioned by Takezaki Suenaga, a Japanese warrior who fought against the Mongols, depict the Mongol’s use of an exploding shell, known as a teppo. (1246-1314 was a retainer of the Higo Province, Japan who fought during both Mongol invasions in 1274 and 1293 In addition, several more explosive shells have been discovered off the coast of Japan where several ships of the Mongol fleet sank during their second invasion. ^[10]

While firearms were beginning to form throughout Southeast Asia, the spread of gunpowder and its uses in weaponry also came to Portugal and Morocco. Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic (República Portuguesa is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. Morocco (المغرب "al-Maghrib" officially the Kingdom of Morocco (المملكة المغربية is a country located in North Africa In 1415, the Portuguese invaded the Mediterranean port town of Ceuta. While it is difficult to confirm the use of firearms in the siege of the city, it is known that the Portuguese defended it thereafter with firearms, namely bombardas, colebratas, and falconetes. In 1419, Sultan Abu Sa’id led an army to reconquer the fallen city, and Moroccans brought cannons and used them in the assault on Ceuta. Finally, hand-held firearms and riflemen appear in Morocco, in 1437, in an expedition against the people of Tangiers. ^[11] It is clear that these weapons had developed into several different forms, from small guns to large artillery units. Artillery (from French artillerie) is a military Combat Arm which employs any apparātus machine

The artillery revolution in Europe caught on during the Hundred Years War and changed the way that battles were fought. The Hundred Years' War (Guerre de Cent Ans was a prolonged conflict lasting from 1337 to 1453 between two royal houses for the French throne vacant with the extinction of the senior In the following year, the English used a gunpowder weapon in a military campaign against the Scottish. However, at this time, the cannons used in battle were very small and not particularly powerful. Cannons were only useful for the defense of a castle, as demonstrated in the battle of Breteuil in 1356, when the besieged English used a cannon to destroy an attacking French assault tower. A castle is a defensive structure seen as one of the main symbols of the Middle Ages. By the end of the 14th century, cannons were only powerful enough to knock in roofs, and therefore could not penetrate castle walls. However, a major change occurred between 1420-1430, when artillery became much more powerful and could now batter strongholds and fortresses quite efficiently. Both the English, French, and Burgundians advanced in military technology, and as a result the traditional advantage that went to the defense in a siege was lost. The cannons during this period were elongated, and the recipe for gunpowder was improved to make it three times as powerful as before. ^[12] These changes led to the increased power in the artillery weapons of the time.

During the Hundred Years War, Joan of Arc encountered gunpowder weaponry several times. Joan of Arc (c 1412 Joan asserted that she had visions from God that told her to recover her homeland from English domination late in the Hundred Years' When she led the French against the English at the Battle of Tourelles, in 1429, she faced heavy gunpowder fortifications, and yet her troops prevailed in that battle. In addition, she led assaults against the English-held towns of Jargeau, Meung, and Beaugency, all with the support of large artillery units. When she led the assault on Paris, Joan faced stiff artillery fire, especially from the suburb of St. Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city Denis, which ultimately led to her defeat in this battle. In April 1430, she went to battle against the Burgundians, whose support was purchased by the English. At this time, the Burgundians had the strongest and largest gunpowder arsenal among the European powers, and yet the French, under Joan of Arc’s leadership, were able to beat back the Burgundians and defend themselves. ^[13] As a result, most of the battles of the Hundred Years War that Joan of Arc participated in were fought with gunpowder artillery.

Gunpowder use in artillery had spread as far as Europe by 1500. Cannons as well as small firearms were being used by this time, and as a result warfare changed dramatically during this period. Gunpowder weapons now had widespread use in battle from this point on.

Small arms

Handgun

The smallest of all small arms is the handgun (or pistol). There are three common types of handguns: single-shot pistols (more common historically), revolvers, and semi-automatic pistols. Single-shot Firearms are firearms that hold only a single round of Ammunition, and must be reloaded after each shot rEVOLVEr is the fourth studio album by Swedish metal band The Haunted. A semi-automatic pistol is a type of Handgun that can be fired in semi-automatic mode firing one cartridge for each pull of the trigger Revolvers have a number of firing chambers or "charge holes" in a revolving cylinder; each chamber in the cylinder is loaded with a single cartridge. Semi-automatic pistols have a single fixed firing chamber machined into the rear of the barrel, and a removable magazine so they can be used to fire more than one round. The Italian-made Mateba revolver is a rare "hybrid," a semi-automatic revolver. Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest The Mateba Autorevolver (also Mateba Model 6 Unica) is one of the few types of hybrid Automatic revolver handguns ever made Each press of the trigger fires a cartridge and rotates the cylinder so that the next cartridge may be fired immediately. The British firearms firm Webley also made an "automatic revolver" around the turn of the 20th century.

Handguns differ from rifles and shotguns in that they are smaller, lack a shoulder stock (though some pistols like the Luger and Browning Hi-Power accept a removable stock allowing its use as a carbine), are usually chambered for less-powerful cartridges, and are designed to be fired with one or two hands. The Browning Hi-Power is a single-action, 9 mm semi-automatic Pistol. A carbine is a Firearm similar to a Rifle or Musket, but generally shorter and of lesser power While the term "pistol" can be properly used to describe any handgun, it is common to refer to a single-shot or auto-loading handgun as a "pistol" and a revolver as a "revolver".

The term "automatic pistol" is sometimes used and is somewhat misleading in that the term 'automatic' does not refer to the firing mechanism, but rather the reloading mechanism. When fired, an automatic pistol uses recoil and/or propellant gases to automatically extract the spent cartridge and insert a fresh one from a magazine. Usually (but not always) the firing mechanism is automatically cocked as well. An automatic pistol fires one shot per trigger pull, unlike an automatic firearm such as a machine gun, which fires as long as the trigger is held down and there are unspent cartridges in the chamber or magazine. There are, however, some fully automatic handguns (often referred to as machine pistols) so, to avoid such ambiguity and confusion, either "semi-automatic" or "autoloader" is preferred when referring to a firearm that fires only one shot per trigger pull.

Prior to the 19th century, all handguns were single-shot muzzleloaders. With the invention of the revolver in 1818, handguns capable of holding multiple rounds became popular. Certain designs of auto-loading pistol appeared beginning in the 1870s and had largely supplanted revolvers in military applications by the end of WWI. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All By the end of the 20th century, most handguns carried regularly by military, police and civilians were semi-automatic, although revolvers were still widely used. A semi-automatic pistol is a type of Handgun that can be fired in semi-automatic mode firing one cartridge for each pull of the trigger Generally speaking, military and police forces use semi-automatic pistols due to their high magazine capacities (10 to 17 or, in some cases, over 25 rounds of ammunition) and ability to rapidly reload by simply removing the empty magazine and inserting a loaded one. Revolvers are very common among handgun hunters because revolver cartridges are usually more powerful than similar caliber semi-automatic pistol cartridges (which are designed for self-defense) and the strength, simplicity and durability of the revolver design is well-suited to outdoor use. Both designs are common among civilian gun owners, depending on the owner's intention (self-defense, hunting, target shooting, competitions, collecting, etc).

Handguns come in many shapes and sizes. For example, the "derringer" (a generic term based on the mid-19th century "Deringer" brand name) is a very small, short-barreled handgun, usually with one or two barrels but sometimes more (some 19th century derringers had four barrels) that have to be manually reloaded after being fired. The term derringer is a genericized misspelling of the last name of Henry Deringer, a famous maker of small Pocket pistols in the 1800s Carefully matched single-shot duelling pistols were used primarily in the 18th and 19th centuries to settle serious differences among "gentlemen": Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr are probably the most prominent Americans who used duelling pistols to settle their differences. Duel(ling pistols are Pistols of identical appearance reliability and accuracy that were used in a classical Duel. This article discusses Aaron Burr (1756-1836 the US politician Revolvers and auto-loading pistols are produced in a wide variety of sizes, with autoloaders generally categorized as one of four sizes: full-size, compact, sub-compact and ultra-compact. Each size has merits and shortcomings; a smaller handgun usually sacrifices ammunition capacity, recoil damping and/or long-range accuracy for increased concealability and ease of use by smaller-framed shooters. Fully automatic, relatively easily concealed machine pistols, such as the MAC-10, Glock 18, and the Beretta 93R, were a late 20th century development. A machine pistol is a Handgun -style magazine -fed and self-loading Firearm, capable of fully automatic or burst fire and normally chambered The MAC-10 ( Military Armament Corporation Model 10) is a highly compact blowback operated, Selective fire Submachine gun (technically Glock is the name of a family of Semi-automatic pistols designed and produced by the Austrian company Glock GmbH from Deutsch-Wagram, founded The Beretta Model 93R is a selective-fire Machine pistol made by the Italian Beretta company and derived from their semi-automatic Model 92.

Handguns are small and usually made to be carried in a holster, thus leaving both hands free. Small handguns can be easily concealed, thus making them a very common choice for personal protection. In the military, handguns are usually issued to those who are not expected to need more potent firearms, such as general and staff officers, and to those for whom there is no room for a full-sized rifle, such as vehicle crews. In this last role, they often compete with the carbine, a short, light rifle, which is also usually issued to airborne infantry because of its small size. A carbine is a Firearm similar to a Rifle or Musket, but generally shorter and of lesser power Handguns were historically issued to riflemen as a secondary weapon, however the reliability and firepower of the modern assault rifle (and the increasing amount and cost of equipment carried by a soldier) has made this practice less common as of the end of the 20th century. Outside the military, handguns are the usual armament for police and, where legal, for private citizens. Police are agents or agencies usually of the executive, empowered to enforce the law and to effect public and social order through the legitimatized use of force

Private citizens in most jurisdictions usually carry only concealed handguns in public except when hunting, since an unconcealed firearm would attract undue attention, and would therefore be less secure, although there are significant numbers of states in the US that permit open carry of handguns, sometimes subject to licensing or restrictions. In the United States, the number of states which permit concealed carry has recently grown to over 35, and several states have well over 200,000 permit holders. In the United States, carrying a concealed weapon ( CCW, also known as concealed carry) is the legal authorization for private citizens to carry Despite Second Amendment constitutional roots in the United States, the concept of citizens carrying a concealed firearm for self-defense is often a contentious political issue; see gun politics for more information. The Second Amendment (Amendment II to the United States Constitution is a part of the United States Bill of Rights that protects the pre-existing Gun politics is a set of legal issues surrounding the ownership use and regulation of firearms as well as safety issues related to firearms both through their direct use and through

Handguns are also used for many sporting purposes and hunting, although hunting usage is usually viewed as somewhat atypical due to the limited range and accuracy of handguns. Some hunters, however, do their hunting in areas of dense cover where long guns would be awkward, or they relish the increased challenge involved in handgun hunting due to the necessity of approaching the game animal more closely. Handgun ammunition is also generally less expensive than rifle cartridges, and is usually sufficient for many larger pest animals such as feral hogs, coyotes and wolves. Small-bore (e. g. . 22 caliber rimfire) handguns have long been very popular for competitive target shooting, partially due to the low cost of both the firearms and the ammunition, and there is also a rapidly growing number of sporting competitions for larger calibers, including "practical shooting", the guidelines of which usually require a handgun of caliber 9x19mm or greater. Practical shooting is a sport which challenges an individual's ability to shoot rapidly and accurately with a full power Handgun, Rifle, and/or Shotgun. The 9x19mm Parabellum is a pistol cartridge introduced in 1902 by the German weapons manufacturer Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken (DWM for their

Long guns

Most modern long guns are either rifles or shotguns. The term long gun is used to describe classes of Firearm and Cannon with longer barrels than other classes A rifle is a Firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves ("rifling" cut into the barrel walls A shotgun (also known as a scattergun) is a Firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number Historically, a long smoothbore firearm was known as a musket. A musket is a muzzle -loaded Smoothbore Long gun, which is intended to be fired from the shoulder A rifle has a rifled barrel that fires single bullets, while a shotgun fires packets of shot, a single slug, a sabot, or a specialty round (such as tear gas, bolo shell, or a breaching round). For other meanings see Slug (disambiguation A slug is a term used for a solid ballistic projectile A sabot (ˈseɪboʊ "saybow" or /ˈsæboʊ/ "sabbow" is a device used in a Firearm or Cannon to fire a Projectile, such as a A lachrymatory agent or lachrymator (from lacrima meaning "a tear " in Latin) (commonly referred to as tear gas) is a A Bolo shell usually refers to a type of Shotgun shell load The round is made of two or more slugs molded onto steel wire A breaching round or slug-shot is a Shotgun shell specially made for the purposes of Door breaching. Rifles have a very small impact area but a long range and high accuracy. Shotguns have a large impact area with considerably less range and accuracy. However, the larger impact area can compensate for reduced accuracy, since shot spreads during flight; consequently, in hunting, shotguns are used for flying game.

Rifles and shotguns are commonly used for hunting and often to defend a home or place of business. Usually, large game are hunted with rifles (although shotguns can be used), while birds are hunted with shotguns. Shotguns are sometimes preferred for defending a home or business due to their wide impact area, multiple wound tracks (when using buckshot), shorter range, and reduced penetration of walls, which significantly reduces the likelihood of unintended harm, although the handgun is also common.

There are a variety of types of rifles and shotguns based on the method they are reloaded. Bolt-action and lever-action rifles are manually operated. Manipulation of the bolt or the lever causes the spent cartridge to be removed, the firing mechanism recocked, and a fresh cartridge inserted. These two types of action are almost exclusively used by rifles. Slide-action (commonly called 'pump-action') rifles and shotguns are manually cycled by shuttling the foregrip of the firearm back and forth. This type of action is typically used by shotguns, but several major manufacturers make rifles that use this action.

Both rifles and shotguns also come in break-action varieties that do not have any kind of reloading mechanism at all but must be hand-loaded after each shot. Both rifles and shotguns come in single- and double-barreled varieties; however due to the expense and difficulty of manufacturing, double-barreled rifles are rare. Double-barreled rifles are typically intended for African big-game hunts where the animals are dangerous, ranges are short, and speed is of the essence. Very large and powerful calibers are normal for these firearms.

Rifles have been in nationally featured marksmanship events in Europe and the United States since at least the 18th century, when rifles were first becoming widely available. One of the earliest purely "American" rifle-shooting competitions took place in 1775, when Daniel Morgan was recruiting sharpshooters in Virginia for the impending American War of Independence. In this article the inhabitants of the thirteen colonies that supported the American Revolution are primarily referred to as "Americans" with occasional references to "Patriots" In some countries, rifle marksmanship is still a matter of national pride. Some specialized rifles in the larger calibers are claimed to have an accurate range of up to about one mile (1600 m), although most have considerably less. In the second half of the 20th century, competitive shotgun sports became perhaps even more popular than riflery, largely due to the motion and immediate feedback in activities such as skeet, trap and sporting clays.

In military use, bolt-action rifles with high-power scopes are common as sniper rifles, however by the Korean War the traditional bolt-action and semi-automatic rifles used by infantrymen had been supplanted by select-fire designs known as "automatic rifles" (see "Automatic Rifle" in the next section)

Automatic weapons

An automatic weapon is a firearm capable of firing multiple rounds with one pull of the trigger. The Korean War refers to a period of military conflict between North Korean and South Korean regimes with major hostilities lasting from June 25 1950 until the The Gatling gun was an early crank-operated weapon that may have been the first automatic weapon, though the modern trigger-actuated machine gun was not widely introduced until the First World War with the German "Spandau" and British Lewis gun. The Gatling gun is considered by some to have been the first Machine gun: although it did not automatically reload under its own power it was capable of firing continuously World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All The Maschinengewehr 08, or MG08, was the German Army 's standard Machine gun in World War I and is an almost direct copy of Hiram S The Lewis Gun is a pre- World War I era Squad automatic weapon / Machine gun of American design that was most widely used by the forces of the British Automatic weapons are largely restricted to military and paramilitary organizations, though many automatic designs are infamous for their use by organized crime.

Automatic firearms have long been available to US civilians, under increasingly restrictive conditions. Importation of machine guns for civilian sale in the US was banned by the Gun Control Act of 1968. The Gun Control Act of 1968, Pub L No 90-618 82 Stat 1213 (also known as GCA or GCA68, and codified as Chapter 44 of Title 18 United States Code The Hughes Amendment to the Firearm Owners Protection Act now prohibits US civilian ownership or transfer of automatic weapons unless they were registered before 1986-05-19. The Firearm Owners' Protection Act (FOPA, Pub L No 99-308 100 Stat Non-prohibited automatic weapons can be legally transferred to civilians who pay a substantial tax to the BATFE and pass a background investigation, although permission must be received from BATFE to move a machine gun between states. An extremely limited number of US citizens have special permits from the BATFE to buy, and even import, automatic weapons produced and registered after 1986. The use of such weapons is tightly restricted to the film industry under direct supervision of the master of arms holding the permit, and the weapons are often altered so they will not fire "factory" ammunition, but rather only special "light-primer" blank cartridges produced specifically for the film industry. A blank is a type of cartridge for a Firearm that contains Gunpowder but no Bullet or shot. This arrangement allows weapons first produced after 1986 to be used by actors in films and TV series filmed inside the US.

Machine gun

A machine gun is a fully automatic emplaceable weapon, generally separated from other classes of automatic weapon by the use of belt-fed ammunition (though some designs employ drum, pan or hopper magazines), generally in a rifle-inspired caliber ranging between 5.56mm NATO to as large as .50 BMG or larger for crewed or aircraft weapons. For other uses of the phrase see Machine Gun (disambiguation. 556x45mm NATO, standardized under STANAG 4172 is a Rifle cartridge. Although not widely fielded until World War I, early machine guns were being used by the military in the second half of the 19th century. They were primarily defensive firearms crewed by two men, mainly because of the difficulties involved in moving and placing them, and their inherent lack of accuracy. In contrast, light machine guns such as the FN Minimi are often wielded by a single infantryman. A light machine gun or LMG is a Machine gun that is generally lighter than other machine guns of the same period and is usually designed to be carried The Minimi (short for French: Mini Mitrailleuse; “mini machine gun” is a Belgian 5 They provide a large ammunition capacity and a high rate of fire and are typically used to give suppressing fire during infantry movement. Machine guns are also often mounted on vehicles or helicopters, and have often been used since World War I as offensive firearms in fighter aircraft and tanks (e. g. , for air combat or suppressing fire for ground troop support).

The definition of machine gun is different in US law. The National Firearms Act and Firearm Owners Protection Act define a "machine gun" in the United States code Title 26, Subtitle E, Chapter 53, Subchapter B, Part 1, § 5845 as: ". The National Firearms Act (" NFA " 73rd Congress, Sess The Firearm Owners' Protection Act (FOPA, Pub L No 99-308 100 Stat The United States of America —commonly referred to as the . . any firearm which shoots . . . automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger". "Machine gun" is therefore largely synonymous with "automatic weapon" in the US civilian parlance, covering all automatic firearms.

Gatling gun

A Gatling gun is a type of machine gun distinguished by the use of multiple rotating barrels. The Gatling gun is considered by some to have been the first Machine gun: although it did not automatically reload under its own power it was capable of firing continuously It is actually one of the first belt-fed automatic designs, being originally mounted on a cannon chassis and operated by a crank. With the advent of the simpler, more compact single-barrel machine gun the Gatling gun faded from use, however it regained popularity as of the Vietnam War as an armament for fighters and helicopters, as its configuration lowers the rate of fire per barrel and also cools the barrels as they rotate, allowing for a very high rate of fire without barrel overheating. The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, or the Vietnam Conflict, occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia Modern Gatling designs are generally operated using hydraulics or electric motors. The most common gatling design in the US arsenal is the M61 Vulcan cannon used on a variety of US and NATO fighter aircraft. The M61 Vulcan is a 20 mm Hydraulically or Pneumatically driven six- barreled air-cooled The Vulcan and similar gatling guns are also mounted on some armored military vehicles, and on naval vessels as a missile defense system. Personal-sized designs such as the Minigun exist and feature in several action movies including Terminator 2 and Predator, but in reality they are virtually never seen as unmounted personal weapons, the high rate of fire (with accompanying recoil), mechanical complexity and heavy weight making them impractical compared to a light machine gun. The minigun is a multi-barrel Machine gun with a high rate of fire (several thousand Rounds per minute) employing Gatling -style rotating barrels and an Terminator 2 Judgment Day, commonly abbreviated as T2, is a 1991 action / Science fiction film directed co-written Predator is a 1987 science fiction, action and Horror film directed by John McTiernan, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger

Submachine gun

A submachine gun is a magazine-fed firearm, usually smaller than other automatic firearms, that fires pistol-caliber cartridges; for this reason submachine guns are also commonly called machine pistols especially when referring to handgun-sized designs such as the MAC-10 and Glock 18. A submachine gun (SMG is a Firearm that combines the automatic fire of a Machine gun with the cartridge of a Pistol, and is Well-known examples are the Israeli Uzi, the British Sten, and the German H&K MP5, all of which use the 9 mm Parabellum, the US's Thompson submachine gun which fires . The 9x19mm Parabellum is a pistol cartridge introduced in 1902 by the German weapons manufacturer Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken (DWM for their The Thompson submachine gun is an American Submachine gun that became infamous during the Prohibition era 45 ACP, and the Belgian FN P90 PDW which fires a 5.7x28mm cartridge. A personal defense weapon (often abbreviated PDW) is a compact semi-automatic or fully-automatic Firearm similar in most respects to a Submachine gun The 57x28 mm cartridge is a small caliber cartridge for Pistols Submachine guns Personal defense weapons and Carbines developed by Because of their small size and limited projectile penetration compared to high-power rifle rounds, submachine guns are commonly favored by military, paramilitary and police forces for close-quarters use such as inside buildings, in urban areas or in trench complexes.

Automatic rifle

An automatic rifle is a magazine-fed long gun, wielded by a single infantryman, that is chambered for rifle cartridges and capable of automatic fire. Automatic rifle is a term generally used to describe a Self-loading rifle chambered for a rifle cartridge capable of delivering both semi The Browning Automatic Rifle was the first US infantry weapon of this type, and was generally used for suppressive or support fire in the role now usually filled by the light machine gun. The BAR (short for Browning Automatic Rifle is a family of American 7 A light machine gun or LMG is a Machine gun that is generally lighter than other machine guns of the same period and is usually designed to be carried In answer, the German forces fielded the Sturmgewehr 44 during WWII, a light automatic rifle firing a reduced power "intermediate cartridge". World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including This design was to become the model for the "assault rifle" subclass of automatic weapons. An assault rifle is a Selective fire Rifle or Carbine (not to be confused with a semi-automatic only replica firing Ammunition with muzzle After WWII, the M14 (a gas-actuated select-fire design that replaced the M1 Garand) was introduced in the US, followed by the M16A1 assault rifle which was widely used in the Vietnam War. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including The M1 Garand (formally the United States Rifle Caliber.30 M1) was the first Semi-automatic rifle to be generally issued to the infantry in any nation M16 (more formally United States Rifle II Caliber 556 mm M16) is the U An assault rifle is a Selective fire Rifle or Carbine (not to be confused with a semi-automatic only replica firing Ammunition with muzzle The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, or the Vietnam Conflict, occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia Also soon after WWII, the Automat Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifle was fielded by the USSR and other Communist allies including the Eastern Bloc, China, North Korea, and North Vietnam. The AK-47 (contraction of Russian Автомат Калашникова образца 1947 года; Avtomat Kalashnikova obraztsa 1947 goda; "Kalashnikov's An assault rifle is a Selective fire Rifle or Carbine (not to be confused with a semi-automatic only replica firing Ammunition with muzzle The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 Variants of both of the M16 and AK-47 are still in wide international use today, though other automatic rifle designs have since been introduced. A smaller version of the M16A2, the M4 carbine, is widely used by tank and vehicle crews, airbornes, support staff, and in other scenarios where space is limited. The IMI Galil, an Israeli-designed weapon similar to the AK-47, is in use by Israel, Italy, Myanmar, the Philippines, Peru, and Columbia. The Galil ( is a family of Israeli small arms designed by Yisrael Galili and Yaacov Lior produced by Israel Military Industries Ltd (now Israel Weapon Swiss Arms AG of Switzerland produces the Sig 550 assault rifle used by France, Chile, and Spain among others, and Steyr Mannlicher produces the AUG, a bullpup rifle in use in Austria, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Saudi Arabia among other nations. SIG SAUER ( SIGARMS until October 2007 is the US representative of Swiss/German manufacturing firm Swiss Arms AG, which was split off of The SG 550 is an Assault rifle manufactured by Swiss Arms AG (formerly Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft) of Neuhausen, Switzerland The Austrian firm Steyr-Mannlicher is a Firearms manufacturer based in the city of Steyr. The AUG is an Austrian 556 mm Assault rifle, designed in the early 1970s by Steyr Mannlicher GmbH & Co KG (formerly Steyr-Daimler-Puch

Loading and firing mechanisms

Muzzle-loaded Cannon

The cannon is loaded with gunpowder and the cannonball through the muzzle, while a fuse is placed at the rear. | NOTE Throughout this article "cannon" is used as BOTH the || singular and plural This fuse is lighted, causing the gunpowder to ignite and propel the cannonball. Most cannons were land- or ship-based guns, although hand cannons also existed. In military use, the standard cannon was tremendously powerful, while hand cannon was somewhat useless. In the late 19th century, the muzzle-loaded cannon was made obsolete by the breech-loaded artillery piece with a rifled barrel, however muzzle-loading cannons were the principal military artillery as late as the American Civil War. Causes of the war See also Origins of the American Civil War, Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War The coexistence of a slave-owning South

Muzzleloader

Muzzle-loading muskets (smooth-bored long guns) were among the first small arms developed. A muzzleloader is any Firearm into which the projectile and usually the Propellant charge is loaded from the muzzle of the Gun (i The firearm was loaded through the muzzle with gunpowder, optionally some wadding and then a bullet (usually a solid lead ball, but musketeers could shoot stones when they ran out of bullets). Greatly improved muzzleloaders (usually rifled instead of smooth-bored) are manufactured today and have many enthusiasts, many of whom hunt large and small game with their guns. Muzzleloaders have to be manually reloaded after each shot; a skilled archer could fire multiple arrows faster than most early muskets could be reloaded and fired, although by the mid-18th century, when muzzleloaders became the standard small armament of the military, a well-drilled soldier could fire six rounds in a minute using prepared cartridges in his musket. Before then, effectiveness of muzzleloaders was hindered by both the low reloading speed and, before the firing mechanism was perfected, the very high risk posed by the firearm to the person attempting to fire it.

One interesting solution to the reloading problem was the "Roman Candle Gun". This was a muzzleloader in which multiple charges and balls were loaded one on top of the other, with a small hole in each ball to allow the subsequent charge to be ignited after the one ahead of it was ignited. It was neither a very reliable nor popular firearm, but it enabled a form of "automatic" fire long before the advent of the machine gun. ^[14]

Matchlock

Matchlocks were the first and simplest small arms firing mechanisms developed. The Matchlock was the first mechanism or "lock" invented to uncomplicate the firing of a hand-held firearm Using the matchlock mechanism, the powder in the gun barrel was ignited by a piece of burning cord called a "match". The match was wedged into one end of an S-shaped piece of steel. As the trigger (often actually a lever) was pulled, the match was brought into the open end of a "touch hole" at the base of the gun barrel, which contained a very small quantity of gunpowder, igniting the main charge of gunpowder in the gun barrel. The match usually had to be relit after each firing.

Wheellock

The wheellock action, a successor to the matchlock, predated the flintlock. Wheellock, wheel-lock or wheel lock, is a mechanism for firing a Firearm. Despite its many faults, the wheellock was a significant improvement over the matchlock in terms of both convenience and safety, since it eliminated the need to keep a smoldering match in proximity to loose gunpowder. It operated using a small wheel much like that on cigarette lighters which was wound up with a key before use and which, when the trigger was pulled, spun against a flint, creating the shower of sparks that ignited the powder in the touch hole. A lighter is a portable device used to create a Flame. It consists of a metal or plastic container filled with lighter fluid (usually Naphtha or liquid Butane Supposedly invented by Leonardo da Vinci, the Italian Renaissance man, the wheel lock action was an innovation that was not widely adopted. Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci ( April 15 1452 – May 2 1519 was an Italian Polymath, having been a scientist Mathematician, Engineer Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest A polymath ( Greek polymathēs, πολυμαθής "having learned much" is a person whose knowledge is not restricted to one subject area

Flintlock

The flintlock action was a major innovation in small arms design. Flintlock is the general term for any Firearm based on the flintlock mechanism The spark used to ignite the gunpowder in the touch hole was supplied by a sharpened piece of flint clamped in the jaws of a "cock" which, when released by the trigger, struck a piece of steel called the "frizzen" to create the necessary sparks. The frizzen is an "L" shaped piece of steel hinged at the rear used in Flintlock Firearms. (The spring loaded arm that holds a piece of flint or pyrite is referred to as a cock because of its resemblance to a rooster. ) The cock had to be manually reset after each firing, and the flint had to be replaced periodically due to wear from striking the frizzen. (See also flintlock mechanism, snaphance, miquelet) The flintlock was widely used during the 18th and 19th centuries in both muskets and rifles. Flintlock is the general term for any Firearm based on the flintlock mechanism Snaphance or Snaphaunce is a particular type of mechanism for firing a gun (or a gun using that mechanism This is about firearms For the militia see Miquelet (militia Miquelet (miguelet is a modern convention largely used by and for the benefit of the English speaking

Percussion cap

Percussion caps (caplock mechanisms), coming into wide service in the 19th century, were a dramatic improvement over flintlocks. The percussion cap, introduced around 1830, was the crucial invention that enabled muzzle-loading firearms to fire reliably in any weather The caplock mechanism or "percussion" lock was the successor of the Flintlock mechanism in Firearm technology and used a Percussion cap struck With the percussion cap mechanism, the small primer charge of gunpowder used in all preceding small arms was replaced by a completely self-contained explosive charge contained in a small brass "cap". The cap was fastened to the touch hole of the gun (extended to form a "nipple") and ignited by the impact of the gun's "hammer". (The hammer is roughly the same as the cock found on flintlocks except that it doesn't clamp onto anything. ) In the case of percussion caps the hammer was hollow on the end to fit around the cap in order to keep the cap from fragmenting and injuring the shooter.

Once struck, the flame from the cap in turn ignited the main charge of gunpowder, as with the flintlock, but there was no longer any need to charge the touch hole with gunpowder, and even better, the touch hole was no longer exposed to the elements. As a result, the percussion cap mechanism was considerably safer, far more weatherproof, and vastly more reliable (cloth-bound cartridges containing a premeasured charge of gunpowder and a ball had been in regular military service for many years, but the exposed gunpowder in the entry to the touch hole had long been a source of misfires). All muzzleloaders manufactured since the second half of the 19th century use percussion caps except those built as replicas of the flintlock or earlier small arms.

Cartridges

A major innovation in small arms and light artillery came in the second half of the 19th century when ammunition, previously delivered as separate bullets and powder, was combined in a single metallic (usually brass) cartridge containing a percussion cap, powder, and a bullet in one weatherproof package. A cartridge (also known as a "round" packages the Bullet, Gunpowder and primer into a single metallic case precisely made to fit the The main technical advantage of the brass cartridge case was the effective and reliable sealing of high pressure gasses at the breech, as the gas pressure forces the cartridge case to expand outward, pressing it firmly against the inside of the gun barrel chamber. This prevents the leakage of hot gas which could injure the shooter. The brass cartridge also opened the way for modern repeating arms, by uniting the bullet, gunpowder and primer into one assembly.

Before this, a "cartridge" was simply a premeasured quantity of gunpowder together with a ball in a small cloth bag (or rolled paper cylinder), which also acted as wadding for the charge and ball. This early form of cartridge had to be rammed into the muzzleloader's barrel, and either a small charge of gunpowder in the touch hole or an external percussion cap mounted on the touch hole ignited the gunpowder in the cartridge. Cartridges with built-in percussion caps (called "primers") continue to this day to be the standard in firearms. In cartridge-firing firearms, a hammer (or a firing pin struck by the hammer) strikes the cartridge primer, which then ignites the gunpowder within. The primer charge is at the base of the cartridge, either within the rim (a "rimfire" cartridge) or in a small percussion cap embedded in the center of the base (a "centerfire" cartridge). As a rule, centerfire cartridges are more powerful than rimfire cartridges, operating at considerably higher pressures than rimfire cartridges. Centerfire cartridges are also safer, as a dropped rimfire cartridge has the potential to discharge if its rim strikes the ground with sufficient force to ignite the primer. This is practically impossible with most centerfire cartridges.

Nearly all contemporary firearms load cartridges directly into their breech. A breech-loading weapon is a Firearm (a Rifle, a Gun etc in which the Bullet or shell is inserted or loaded at the rear of the Some additionally or exclusively load from a magazine that holds multiple cartridges. A magazine is an Ammunition storage and feeding device within or attached to a repeating Firearm. A magazine is usually a box or cylinder that is designed to be reusable and is detachable from the gun. Some magazines, such as that of the M1 Garand rifle and most centerfire hunting rifles, are internal to the firearm, and are loaded by using a clip, which is a device that holds the ammunition by the rim of the case. A clip is a device that is used to store multiple rounds of ammunition together as a unit ready for insertion into the magazine of a repeating Firearm. In most cases, a magazine and a clip are different in that the former's function is to feed ammunition into the firearm's breech, while the latter's is to refill a magazine with ammunition.

Repeating, semiautomatic, and automatic firearms

Many small arms are "single shot" firearms: i. e. , each time a cartridge is fired, the operator must manually re-cock the firearm and load another cartridge. The classic single-barreled shotgun is a good example. A firearm that can load multiple cartridges as the firearm is re-cocked is considered a "repeating firearm" or simply a "repeater". A lever-action rifle, a pump-action shotgun, and most bolt-action rifles are good examples of repeating firearms. A firearm that automatically re-cocks and reloads the next round with each trigger pull is considered a semi-automatic firearm. An automatic (or "fully automatic") firearm is one that automatically re-cocks, reloads, and fires as long as the trigger is depressed. Many modern military firearms have a selective-fire option, which is a mechanical switch that allows the firearm be fired either in the semi-automatic or fully automatic mode. In the current M16A2 and M16A4 variants of the US-made M16, continuous fully automatic fire is not possible, having been replaced by an automatic burst of three cartridges. M16 (more formally United States Rifle II Caliber 556 mm M16) is the U

The first "rapid firing" firearms were usually similar to the 19th century Gatling gun, which would fire cartridges from a magazine as fast as and as long as the operator turned a crank. Eventually, the "rapid" firing mechanism was perfected and miniaturized to the extent that either the recoil of the firearm or the gas pressure from firing could be used to operate it (which made the firing mechanisms truly "automatic"). Automatic rifles such as the Browning Automatic Rifle were in common use by the military during the early part of the 20th century, and automatic rifles that fired handgun rounds, known as submachine guns, also appeared in this time.

Submachine guns were originally about the size of carbines. Because they fire pistol ammunition, they have limited long-range use, but in close combat can be used in fully automatic in a controllable manner due to the light recoil of the pistol ammunition. They are also extremely inexpensive and simple to build in time of war, enabling a nation to quickly arm its military. In the latter half of the 20th century, submachine guns were being miniaturized to the point of being only slightly larger than some large handguns. The most widely used submachine gun at the end of the 20th century was the Heckler & Koch MP5. The MP5 is actually designated as a "machine pistol" by Heckler & Koch (MP5 stands for Maschinenpistole 5, or Machine Pistol 5), although some reserve this designation for even smaller submachine guns such as the MAC-10, which are about the size and shape of pistols.

Nazi Germany brought the world's attention to what eventually became the class of firearm most widely adopted by the military: the assault rifle (see Sturmgewehr 44). Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers An assault rifle is a Selective fire Rifle or Carbine (not to be confused with a semi-automatic only replica firing Ammunition with muzzle An assault rifle is usually slightly smaller than a military rifle such as the K98k. The Karabiner 98 Kurz (often abbreviated Kar98k or K98k) was a Bolt-action Rifle adopted as the standard infantry rifle in 1935 by the Generally, assault rifles have mechanisms that allow the user to select between single shots, fully automatic bursts, or fully automatic fire. Universally, civilian versions of military assault rifles are strictly semiautomatic.

The cartridge fired by these rifles is midway in power between a pistol cartridge and a high-power rifle round, which gives the soldier the close-in burst ability of a submachine gun with the more precision long-range shooting of a high-power rifle round. Soviet engineer Mikhail Kalashnikov quickly adapted the concept to the AK-47, which has become the world's most widely used assault rifle. Lieutenant General Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov (Михаи́л Тимофе́евич Кала́шников Mihail Timofeevič Kalašnikov) (born November In United States, John Garand, adapted the assault rifle design to produce the M14, which was used by the US military until the 1960s. The significant recoil of the M14 when fired in full automatic mode was seen as a problem as it reduced accuracy, and in the 1960s it was replaced by Eugene Stoner's AR-15, which also marked a switch from the high-powered but heavy . Eugene Morrison Stoner (Born November 22, 1922 in Gosport, Indiana; died in Palm City Florida) AR-15 (for Ar malite model 15, often mistaken for A utomatic R ifle is the common name for the widely-owned semi-automatic 30-caliber rifle used by the US military since before World War I to the much smaller but far lighter and light recoiling . 223-caliber rifle. The military later designated the AR-15 to the "M16". The civilian version of the M16 continues to be known as the AR-15 and looks exactly like the military version, although it lacks the mechanism that permits fully automatic fire.

Modern designs call for compact weapons retaining firepower. The bullpup design, by mounting the magazine behind the trigger, unifies the accuracy and firepower of the traditional assault rifle with the compact size of the submachine gun (though submachine guns are still used); examples are the French FAMAS or the British SA80. Bullpup is a Firearm configuration in which the action and magazine are located behind the trigger The FAMAS (Fusil d'Assaut de la Manufacture d'Armes de Saint-Étienne or "Saint-Étienne arms factory assault rifle" is a Bullpup Assault rifle designed The SA80 ( Small Arms for the 1980s) is a family of 556 mm small arms designed and produced (until 1988 by the Royal Small Arms Factory at

Recently, smaller but powerful ammunition types have been introduced, as to allow personal defence weapons to penetrate ballistic armour. A personal defense weapon (often abbreviated PDW) is a compact semi-automatic or fully-automatic Firearm similar in most respects to a Submachine gun Such designs are the basis for the FN P90 and Heckler & Koch MP7. Caseless ammunition is another trend, (an example is the German Heckler & Koch G11). Caseless ammunition as a type of Small arms Ammunition eliminates the cartridge case that typically holds the Primer, propellant and projectile The Heckler & Koch G11 is a non-production prototype Bullpup Assault rifle developed during the 1970s and 1980s by the Gesellschaft für Hülsenlose Gewehrsysteme The flechette is yet another improvement over traditional ammunition, allowing for extreme penetration abilities and a very flat trajectory. The French word fléchette means "little arrow" or Dart projectile of steel that is sharp and pointed with a vaned tail for stable flight

See also

References

Sources

External links

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