Why do I want to talk about guns? So that when you're debating the subject you can know what you're talking about.
Ever get tired of the NRA types digressing into stupid arguments over "clip" versus "magazine"? Well listen up then because I'm going to give you the ammunition (heh) to use in that situation.
In case you're wondering, I come down somewhere between "ban 'em all" and "give everyone a concealed carry permit" on the spectrum.
That's neither here no there, however. This is purely a technical look at terminology and what makes these things work. My goal is to inform and hopefully entertain.
First off, in the military a "gun" is an artillery piece. "This my rifle, this is my gun...."
What we're talking about are collectively referred to as "firearms" or "small arms". Specifically rifles, handguns (or pistols), shotguns and a few odds and ends.
Each one of those broad categories may have several subcategories. It can get confusing at times because some weapons may be hard to classify.
A little history. Firearms have been around for a very long time. The earliest ones go back to the 13th century and weren't good for much except scaring the enemy's horses.
By the 1600s advances in technology let firearms start to surpass the bow as the primary ranged weapon of armies. By the 1700s they became the primary infantry weapon, and still are to this day.
The simple reason for this is they work. Prior to firearms, all projectile weapons depended to some extent on the strength of the user. English longbowmen were muscular brutes who spent years developing the upper body strength to fire a powerful "war bow". A firearm, on the other hand, uses chemical energy to propel a projectile. Anyone strong enough to pick it up and handle the recoil can use one.
It took a lifetime to train a bowman, it took about a week to train a musketeer. When you're talking armies it's all about logistics. I'll see your 1,000 English longbowmen and raise you 10,000 musketeers. Oh, and I've got 10,000 more where those came from.
We'll probably be using guns until something better is invented. Then the NRA will have to change their name to the "National Phaser Association" or something.
Prior to the Civil War, firearms were primarily single-shot affairs that were loaded through the muzzle (front). Around the time of the Civil War we start to see the introduction of metallic "cartridges" that are still in use today. Metallic cartridges and "repeating" rifles saw some use in the Civil War but weren't widely adopted until later in the 1800s. Much of the technology used in today's firearms goes back to the late 1800s. In fact, many firearms sold today would look very familiar to a time traveler from 1900. Once again, we use it because it works.
Okay, time for some definitions. A modern firearm fires a "cartridge", unless it's a shotgun in which case it fires a "shell".
A cartridge, also sometimes called a "round", is a self-contained unit consisting of a metal casing. These are sometimes made of brass. After a session at the firing range you will be reminded to pick up your "spent brass".
The metal case contains the gunpowder charge, which is ignited by a primer. The primer is normally either in the center of the case (center-fire) or in the rim (rim-fire).
The primer contains a small amount of "sensitive" explosive. That doesn't mean its feelings are easily hurt. That means it will go off if struck by some mechanical device like a firing pin. This ignites the propellant, which forces the bullet out the barrel of the weapon.
Note that what we call the "bullet" is just the projectile. Some people mistakenly refer to "cartridges" as "bullets" which will immediately cause an NRA-type to derail the conversation. Don't go there.
A typical rifle cartridge. This is the popular .308 Winchester.
Bullets are made of lead and may have a copper "jacket". Some military ammunition may also have a steel core. They come in a variety of shapes depending on how much you want them to penetrate versus expanding when they hit something.
By the Geneva Conventions military ammunition is "full metal jacketed" (hence the movie title). Hollow-point bullets, once called "dum dum", bullets are made to expand when they hit something.
Cartridge naming can be very confusing. Most are designated by the diameter of the bullet, either in English or Metric units. Sometimes the same round will have a different civilian name than what the military calls it. For example a ".308" round is essentially the same as the "7.62 NATO" but not the same as the "7.62x39" or "7.62 short" round fired by the AK-47. Even the exact same round may come with different gunpowder loads and different bullets. This is common with popular hunting rounds so that the same weapon can be used to hunt larger or smaller game. Hence the term "loaded for bear".
Handguns
A handgun is just what it sounds like. They're fired from the hand, versus a rifle which is generally fired from the shoulder. They come in two main types: revolvers and semi-automatics.
A revolver carries its rounds in a revolving "cylinder" that contains multiple "chambers". The number of chambers may range from 5 to 7 or more but 6 is the most common. Hence the term "six shooter".
The earliest revolvers were "single action". You had to cock the hammer before it would fire. These are what you've seen in every Western movie. Some people, myself included, like to shoot replicas of these. I guess I watched too many episodes of Gunsmoke and Bonanza back in the day.
Colt Single Action Army or "Peacemaker"
The hammer must be manually cocked for each round.
The rounds are loaded one at a time through a side port (not shown)
Note that the "six shooter" of cowboy lore was really a "five shooter". It was unsafe to carry a loaded round under the hammer so that chamber was left empty. Hollywood usually gets this wrong. Note that the "quick draw" holster was invented in the 1950s and the classic "showdown at high noon" as depicted by Hollywood probably never happened that way.
Hollywood gets a lot of things wrong and guns are no exception. They're in the entertainment business. If they made it realistic it would be boring.
Modern revolvers are "double action". Every time you pull the trigger it will go "bang". They can also be manually cocked and fired single-action for greater accuracy. These were favored by police departments up until the 1980s when they started switching over to semi-automatics.
A typical double-action revolver. This is a Smith and Wesson model 629 in .44 Magnum. Made famous by the "Dirty Harry" movies.
These will fire every time the trigger is pulled or they can be manually cocked for greater accuracy.
The advantages of these are simplicity, accuracy and reliability. They don't like dirt, however. That's why the military doesn't use them. They are also slower to reload than semi-automatics.
Semi-automatic pistols use the recoil energy from the round being fired to eject the spent cartridge and cycle the next one into the firing chamber. The rounds are generally contained in what's called a "magazine" (very important). The magazine may contain anywhere from 7 to 20+ rounds. A spent magazine can be quickly swapped out with a fresh one, giving these tremendous "firepower".
Some semi-automatics have to be cocked to fire the first round like the Colt Model 1911. Others, like the Beretta 92, will fire the first round double-action when the trigger is pulled. There are advantages and disadvantages to each. Just know that semi-automatics all work a little differently and it comes down to personal preference. Some will go "bang" when you pull the trigger and others require you to do something else first like cock the hammer or flip a safety.
Typical Semi-Automatic Pistol.
This is the Beretta 92 used by the US military.
With high-capacity magazines you can put a lot of lead downrange in a very short time with one of these. Disadvantages are the feed mechanism can sometimes jam or misfeed.
Handgun rounds are equally confusing with "9mm", ".38 Special", ".357 Magnum" and ".45 ACP" to name of few of the more popular ones. Mostly what matters is: how big the bullet is, and how much gunpowder is making it go. Bigger usually makes a bigger hole in something and the faster it's going means it will have that much more energy.
Gun writers and their fans will go into endless discussions about the "stopping power" of various rounds. From what I've learned, 9mm rounds bounce harmlessly off people's chests while .45 ACPs pick them up and deposit them somewhere in the next county.
Sometimes these arguments remind me of the "who's stronger Superman or the Hulk?" conversations I had as a kid. Just realize that if you get shot with a handgun you're likely to die. Even the little .22 that most people learn to shoot with can kill. Supposedly the Mob favored them for executions. Two or three shots behind the ear and it didn't make a lot of noise.
Rifles
A rifle is normally fired from the shoulder or sometimes (with much less accuracy) the hip. A rifle gets its name from the "rifling" in the barrel. A series of spiral grooves are cut into to the barrel to impart a spin on the bullet. Handguns have these as well (but not shotguns).
Generally speaking, rifles are much more powerful than handguns. I believe the Marines have a saying: "a handgun is for fighting your way to your rifle". Rifle bullets have a much higher "muzzle velocity" than handgun bullets. That means it's going much much faster when it comes out the barrel. They go further and generally hit harder when they get there. It's said that a trained WWII rifleman could hit a man-sized target at 1000 yards with "open sights" (no scope). Stray rifle bullets have been known to hit (and occasionally kill) people as far as a mile away. There's a reason we give these things to the infantry. They're very effective weapons.
If you know you're going to be in a gunfight, bring a rifle. And bring all your friends with rifles.
The most powerful and accurate rifles are generally bolt-action rifles. With the exception of the United States, these were the standard infantry rifles of WWII. They are still favored by hunters and snipers for their accuracy. A typical bolt-action rifle might hold 5 rounds in an internal magazine, which may be loaded from a "clip" (important). A clip is just a piece of metal that holds a set of cartridges together. It lets you load the magazine relatively quickly rather than feeding them in one at a time.
1903 Springfield Bolt-Action rifle.
This was the standard US military rifle from WWI through the 1930s. Note the .30-06 caliber rounds in their loading clips.
That's the last time you have to go off on a meaningless tangent over the difference between a clip and a magazine. You're welcome.
Bolt-action rifle being loaded via a "stripper" clip. The cartridges are pushed down into the magazine and then the clip is removed.
Lever-action rifles are what we all grew up watching John Wayne use in the westerns. These can fire more quickly than a bolt-action rifle but generally aren't as sturdy. That's why most armies never adopted them. They may carry up to 15 rounds in a tubular magazine under the barrel. They are chambered in everything from handgun cartridges like .44 Magnum up to very powerful hunting cartridges like the .444 Marlin. These rifles are relatively slow to reload because you have to feed the rounds in one at a time. They are still popular with hunters and people like me who like "cowboy" guns.
The famous Winchester 1873 lever action rifle.
"The gun that won the West"
(depending on which side you were on)
Carbines are short-barreled rifles that were originally developed for horse cavalry. They work the same as rifles and may fire a less powerful round than a full sized rifle. One example would be the M-1 Carbine that was frequently carried by officers or support troops during WWII. I have a Soviet Moisin-Nagant carbine from WWII that fires the same powerful 7.62 round that its full-sized brother does. The recoil knocked my wife on her behind the first time she fired it.
Semi-automatic rifles fire one round every time you pull the trigger. They come chambered for many different rounds. Technically these are not "assault rifles" although many look exactly like assault rifles. Just know that if you mistakenly call one an assault rifle in the wrong venue you will be dragged off into an endless tangent about "Sturmgewehrs" and "select fire". Don't be that guy. A true assault rifle is capable of fully automatic fire. More on that later.
AK-47 Rifle
Some of the spent gas from firing the weapon is cycled back through the tube on top of the barrel to operate the mechanism.
Most semi-automatic rifles are "gas operated" while most pistols are "recoil operated".
Not all semi-autos are equal in firepower, however. Some carry more rounds and can be reloaded more quickly than others.
For example: I have a weird Egyptian military rifle from the 1950s and 60s called a "Hakim". It fires a powerful 8mm Mauser (German WWII) cartridge. It holds ten rounds in a fixed magazine, which takes a little while to load. So you get ten fairly quick shots and then you have to spend some time reloading.
Something more modern like an AR-15 or a civilian AK-47 may have a 30-round magazine that can be quickly swapped for another. So with one of those you can fire 30 rounds very rapidly, and then quickly swap in another 30 rounds and go to town again. That's a lot of lead downrange in a very sort time. It may not be an assault rifle but it's assault-ish.
Now some folks will show you a picture of a semi-automatic hunting rifle with a 5-round fixed magazine and try to tell you an AR-15 is no different. While functionally they are very similar, in my humble opinion the high capacity detachable magazine gives the one much greater firepower than the other.
Now some people liked to call the 1996 "assault weapons" ban the "scary-looking gun ban". It did ban some silly things like bayonet attachments. When was the last time someone actually charged with a bayonet? It did one important thing, however. It limited magazines to 10 rounds. Of course everyone remembers how the country turned into a Stalinist dictatorship overnight after that law was passed. Note that I'm actually writing this from "Forced Labor Camp #10".
Political Officer's Note: Detainee #654 has had his writing privileges suspended until showing a more favorable attitude.
Okay, I'm back. Nothing like a few days of solitary confinement meditation on my crimes against the state to get the creative juices flowing.
Automatic Weapons
A true "assault rifle" is capable of fully automatic fire. Meaning it will fire multiple rounds for a single pull of the trigger. Some may even have a feature that fires a 3 or 4 round burst for a single pull of the trigger. A typical assault rifle would be the M-16 used by the US Army or the Russian AK-47.
A true assault rifle like this M-16A2 is capable of fully automatic fire. Even though it looks just like a civilian AR-15, the internal workings are different.
These came about after WWII when it was found that a surprising number of soldiers never fired their rifles, even in combat. The exception was the B.A.R gunner, who felt he could "hose down" an area with automatic fire.
Early versions, like the M-14 of the 1950s fired a powerful cartridge capable of great accuracy over long range. These were almost impossible to control when fired on full auto. My dad trained on the M-14 and he said the thing was a beast to fire full auto.
The solution was a rifle with a medium powered cartridge like the 5.56 NATO or the Russian 7.62 "short". A modern assault rifle like the M-16 is accurate to medium ranges and relatively controllable when set to "rock and roll".
These are considered to be Class III firearms and are heavily regulated by the federal govt. You can own one, but it's gonna cost you - a lot. You'll also have the feds crawling further up your behind than you probably ever wanted. These are generally rich person's toys due to the great expense and rarely if ever used in crimes.
Some semi-automatic rifles can be converted to fully automatic (highly illegal) but I believe it requires a skilled machinist to do so. So the NRA types are partly right in this case. A rifle may externally look just like a military M-16 but internally it may be very different. It will still have an awful lot of firepower however.
A true "machine gun" at least in military terms is a larger weapon and generally mounted on a vehicle or fired from a tripod. My B-52 had four .50 caliber machine guns in the tail. Even 160 feet behind me I could feel them when they were fired. Machine guns are generally (but not always) belt fed weapons. Some are small enough to be carried by one person, like Rambo, but are still best fired from a prone position resting on a bipod. I got to carry an M-60 machine gun once and they're very heavy.
M60 "light" machine gun mounted on a vehicle. You can carry one of these but they're heavy. It helps to be built like Rambo.
Browning M2 .50 caliber heavy machine gun. Sometimes called a "Ma Deuce". This was the standard armament of many WWII fighter planes and even my B-52G.
A submachine gun is somewhere between an assault rifle and a handgun. They normally fire a handgun cartridge like the 9mm. The MP40s used by the Germans in every WWII movie would be one an example of a submachine gun. The Thompson favored by gangsters in the 1930s would be another. These tend to be short-ranged weapons and not very accurate. They're favored for clearing houses or bunkers in urban warfare. For civilian use you can purchase a semi-automatic version of these. Once again it's difficult (but not impossible) to convert the semi-autos to fully automatic.
A typical submachine gun. This is a Heckler and Koch MP5. These generally fire pistol ammunition. Usually 9mm or .45 ACP. At close range they are devastating but are easily outranged by rifles.
In Europe you will see police sometimes armed with submachine guns. Especially the national police forces like the Italian Carabinieri.
I've fired a few of these and they can be difficult to control. The recoil causes the muzzle to climb during sustained fire. Best practice is to fire a 3-4 round burst and then re-aim the weapon. Hollywood usually gets this wrong, but then they tend to err on the "entertaining" side of the equation.
Shotguns
A shotgun differs from rifle in that it has a smooth bore. Instead of a bullet a shotgun fires a number of pellets. These may be large or small depending on what is being hunted. The pellets spread out when they come out of the muzzle. At close range these are devastating weapons. At longer ranges the spread of the pellets makes them less effective.
The Remington 870 is a popular pump shotgun. The magazine is under the barrel.
Hollywood loves these for the distinctive "ka chunk!" sound of the pump action.
Shotgun shells are even more confusing. They are measured in "gauge". The thing to remember about gauge, is smaller numbers are bigger. A "12 gauge" shotgun shell is bigger than a "20 gauge". They also vary in the size and number of projectiles. To make it even more confusing, a shotgun can fire a single large "slug" which is similar to a bullet.
Shot shells are tailored to the game being hunted. "Bird shot" consists of a lot of tiny little pellets while "buck shot" pellets are roughly the size of a .30 caliber bullet. A 12 gauge shell loaded with "#00 double-ought buckshot" contains eight (I believe) .30 caliber pellets. At close range buckshot does fearsome damage. Fortunately Dick Cheney was firing bird shot that day or his friend would probably be missing his head (messy).
The most common types of shotgun are: single-shot, double-barrel, pump action (Hollywood's favorite) or semi automatic. A pump action or semi automatic shotgun may carry up to seven shells in a tubular magazine under the barrel.
Shotguns are favored by American police departments and also have seen limited military use. In WWI, for example, they were popular for clearing trenches.
Whew. That's a lot of material. Hopefully this has been somewhat informative.