Firearm Parts and Function

• The handle used to hold a gun is called the grip.
• Firing pins ignite a cartridge's primer from the pivoting mechanical part of a firearm, which is the hammer.
• A sight aids the eye when aiming the barrel of a firearm.
• A magazine is a device designed to hold cartridges for feeding into the firing mechanism.
• Projectiles exit the barrel through the muzzle.
• A semi-automatic pistol contains the breechblock and portions of the firing mechanism and houses the barrel in the slide.
• The part of a gun that a bullet is fired through is the barrel.
• A trigger is a finger-operated lever to fire a gun.
• A trigger guard surrounds the trigger of a firearm to protect it from accidental discharge.
• In semi-automatic firearms, the slide remains in its rearmost position and locks open when fired until the magazine is empty, this condition is called the slide lock.
• A magazine release is a button or lever used to release the magazine from the gun.
• A slug is a cylindrical projectile, usually of bore diameter, designed to be discharged from a shotgun.
• Stopping power is the ability of the round to stop a target.
• An ejector rod is a metal rod used to help with the removal of cartridges.
• A revolver stores ammunition in the cylinder that rotates as the action is cocked.
• A trigger lock is a locking device on a firearm to render it unable to be fired.
• The breechblock is part of the firearm action that closes the breech of a weapon at firing.
• Skeet is competitive shotgun shooting at 'clay pigeons" thrown from two locations.
• Headspace is the space for the cartridge between the face of the breechblock and the part of the chamber that keeps the cartridge from going forward.
• Zero is adjusting sights for a specific range by firing trial shots.
• A primer is a small metal cup containing a tiny explosive charge that is sensitive to impact; it is detonated by the striking of a firing pin in the firearm.

Key People in firearms Design

• John Marlin: Born in Connecticut in 1836 and manufactured his own line of revolvers and derringers, and served as a tool and die maker apprentice.
• Horace Smith: Partnered with Courtlandt Palmer, to develop the first repeating rifle, the volcanic.
• Daniel Wesson: Credited with the invention of the explosive bullet used to kill whales, and developed one of the first repeating rifles, the volcanic rifle.
• Arthur Savage: Inventor of the Savage model 99, a famously innovative lever-action rifle which remained in production for over 100 years.
• John Garand: Designing of the first successful semi-automatic rifle.
• Eliphalet Remington: Introduced America's first gun barrel made from solid steel; also introduced a breech-loading gun that superseded the muzzle-loading rifle, and the popular beal revolver.
• Samuel Colt: One of the first industrialists to employ the assembly line due to interchangeable parts and commercially viable mass-production of revolvers for the first time.
• John Moses Browning: Son of a mormon gunsmith, he developed varieties of military firearms; one of his most successful designs includes the M1911 pistol.
• Benjamin Tyler Henry: An American Gunsmith and manufacturer that invented the first reliable lever-action repeating rifle.
• Earle Harvey: Designed of the T25, which eventually led to the development and manufacture of the M14 rifle.

Firearm Terminology

• The action loads, fires, and ejects a cartridge in a firearm.
• Ammunition is one or more loaded cartridges consisting of a primed case, propellant, and projectile
• A barrel is a metal tube that fired a projectile or shot charge.
• The base is that portion of a cartridge case containing the primer.
• Ballistics is the study of a projectile in motion.
• Black powder is the old form of gunpowder that was invented over a thousand years ago.
• The bolt is the locking and cartridge head supporting mechanism of some firearm designs, containing the firing pin, extractor, and sometimes ejector.

Parts of the Gun

• Rifling is the inside of the barrel
• Brass is a slang term sometimes used for fired cartridge cases
• The breech is the end of the barrel attached to the action.
• The breech face is the area around the firing pin against the head of the cartridge or shotshell during firing.
• Buckshot consists of lead or steel pellets, ranging in diameter from .20" to .36", is normally loaded in shotshell.
• The bullet is the projectile
• Bullet wipe is the discolored area on the immediate periphery of a bullet hole caused by lubricant, lead, smoke, bore debris, or jacket material
• The buttstock is the portion of the gun that is held or shouldered.
• Caliber is the bore's diameter measured from land to land (expressed in hundredths of an inch or millimeters).
• A cannelure is a groove around the circumference of a bullet or cartridge case.
• A cartridge is a unit of ammunition made up of a cartridge case, primer, powder, and bullet.
• A cartridge case serves as the container for all the other components that comprise a cartridge.
• Centerfire: The cartridge contains the primer in the center of the case head, where it is struck by the firing pin of the action.

Bullet Shapes

• Round Nose: has a blunted end
• Hollow point: has a hole that expands when a target is struck
• Jacketed: lead surrounded by another metal, which allows the bullet to penetrate a target more easily.
• Wadcutter has a flattened front.
• Semi-Wadcutter is intermediate between a round-nose and Wadcutter.

Misc

• Bullet, round, or load can be used to identify a bullet
• Crimping, lubrication, and identification are three uses of the cannelure
• Cartridge case can be called a shell, shell casing brass, or a hull
• Ammunition, round, and load can describe a cartridge

Three Main Types of Ammunition

• Rimfire
• Centerfire
• Shot-shell

Three Types of Ballistics

• Interior - within the firearm
• Exterior - after the projectile leaves the barrel.
• Terminal - impact on a target.

Black Powder

• Nitrate
• Charcoal
• Sulfur

Rifling

• Smooth-bore weapons typically shotguns; do not have rifling.
• Most handguns and rifles have rifling.