Shotgun and Related Topics

Revolver

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Repeating handgun that has at least one barrel and uses a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing.

Firing a Smith & Wesson Model 686 .357 Magnum

A Smith & Wesson Model 1, 2nd issue; a two patent date variety shown next to a period box of .22 Short black powder cartridges

Colt Single Action Army, serial No. 5773, issued to 7th Cavalry during the Indian War period

Details of a Schmidt M1882, showing the hammer, chambers for the ammunition in the cylinder, and the mechanism to rotate the cylinder. Revolver of the Gendarmerie of Vaud, on display at Morges castle museum

An advertisement for Iver Johnson revolvers claimed they were safe enough for children to handle.

The LeMat Percussion Revolver, with 9 revolving chambers firing bullets and a center shotgun barrel firing lead shot, was used by the Confederate troops in the American Civil War.

LeMat Revolver, an unusual pinfire cartridge model

A fixed-cylinder Nagant M1895 with gate open for loading

From Top: Replica of 1849 vintage. .44 Colt Revolving Holster Pistol (Dragoon); Colt Single Action Army Model 1873; Ruger (New Model) Super Blackhawk- Mid and late 20th Century.

Colt Anaconda .44 Magnum double-action revolver

Enfield No. 2 Mk I* double-action-only revolver. Note the spurless hammer.

Smith & Wesson Model 625 for IPSC shooting

Smith & Wesson Model 625JM, as designed by Jerry Miculek.

Taurus .45 Colt/.410 bore Model 4510 'The Judge'

Belgian-made Lefaucheux revolver, c. 1860-1865

North American Arms (NAA) mini revolver in .22 LR. It can fold into its own grip for safe belt clip carry.

These include some models of rifles, shotguns, grenade launchers, and cannons.

A modern round consists of the following: 1. bullet, as the projectile; 2. cartridge case, which holds all parts together; 3. propellant, for example gunpowder or cordite; 4. rim, which provides the extractor on the firearm a place to grip the casing to remove it from the chamber once fired; 5. primer, which ignites the propellant.

Type of pre-assembled firearm ammunition packaging a projectile , a propellant substance (usually either smokeless powder or black powder) and an ignition device (primer) within a metallic, paper, or plastic case that is precisely made to fit within the barrel chamber of a breechloading gun, for the practical purpose of convenient transportation and handling during shooting.

A variety of rifle cartridges: (1).17 HM2 (2).17 HMR (3).22LR (4).22 Win Mag R/F.22 WMR (5).17/23 SMc (6)5mm/35 SMc (7).22 Hornet (8).223 Remington (9).223 WSSM (10).243 Win (11).243 Win Improved (Ackley) (12).25-06 Remington (13).270 Winchester (14).308 Win (15).30-06 Springfield (16).45-70 Government (17).50-90 Sharps

Three straight-walled cartridges (9×19mm Parabellum, .40 S&W and .45 ACP) on the left, three bottleneck cartridges (FN 5.7×28mm, 5.56×45mm NATO and .300 Winchester Magnum) in the center, and two polymer-cased 12-gauge shotshells on the right.

A large portion of the energy generated by the propellant is released as a muzzle blast and a bright flash, instead of transferring to the projectile

Percussion caps, the precursor of modern primers

Comparison of primer ignition between centerfire (left two) and rimfire (right) ammunitions

Flash hole profiles on Berdan (left) and Boxer (right) primers.

0.30–30 Winchester case, stages in the drawing process, book; from Hamilton

US Cartridges 1860–1875
(1) Colt Army 1860 .44 paper cartridge, Civil War
(2) Colt Thuer-Conversion .44 revolver cartridge, patented 1868
(3) .44 Henry rim fire cartridge flat
(4) .44 Henry rim fire cartridge pointed
(5) Frankford Arsenal .45 Colt cartridge, Benét ignition
(6) Frankford Arsenal .45 Colt-Schofield cartridge, Benét ignition

(From Left to Right): A .577 Snider cartridge (1867), a .577/450 Martini-Henry cartridge (1871), a later drawn brass .577/450 Martini-Henry cartridge, and a .303 British Mk VII SAA Ball cartridge.

French Army Fusil Gras mle 1874 metallic cartridge.

The 8 mm Lebel ammunition, developed in 1886, the first smokeless gunpowder cartridge to be made and adopted by any country.

Fired rimfire (left) and centerfire (right) cartridges. A rimfire firing pin produces a notch at the edge of the rim; a centerfire pin produces a divot in the center of the primer.

Schematic of a rimfire cartridge and its ignition

Slow motion shots (1/1,000,000-second exposures) showing shots and wadding separation after firing from a shotgun.

Two views of intact bean bag round and one view of the projectile

A cutaway showing a Japanese Navy 7.7 mm rimmed rounds as fired by the Type 92 and Type 97 machine guns—copies of Vickers and Lewis designs. The round is effectively interchangeable with .303 British.

A variety of common pistol cartridges. From left to right: 22 LR, .22 WMR, 5.7×28mm, 25 ACP, 7.62×25mm Tokarev, 32 ACP, 380 ACP, 9×19mm Parabellum, 357 SIG, 40 S&W, 45 GAP, 45 ACP, .38 Special, 357 Magnum, 45 Colt

CCI .22LR snake shot loaded with No. 12 shot

An example of caseless ammunition. This disassembled round, the 4.73×33mm, is used in the Heckler & Koch G11 rifle.

An assortment of snap caps of varying calibers

Rimless .380 ACP semi-automatic cartridge

The main defining component of the cartridge is the case, which gives the cartridge its shape and serves as the integrating housing for other functional components – it acts as a container for the propellant powders and also serve as a protective shell against the elements; it attaches the projectile either at the front end of the cartridge (bullets for pistols, submachine guns, rifles, and machine guns) or inside of the cartridge (wadding/sabot containing either a number of shot or an individual slug for shotguns), and align it with the barrel bore to the front; it holds the primer at the back end, which receives impact from a firing pin and is responsible for igniting the main propellant charge inside the case.

The Tsar Cannon with its massive bore and the stacked barrel-looking exterior

Gun barrel

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Crucial part of gun-type weapons such as small firearms, artillery pieces and air guns.

A female worker boring out the barrel of a Lee-Enfield rifle during WWI

The barrel of a 240 mm howitzer in use in 1944

A cartridge being chambered into a Springfield M1903.

Illustration of the various sections of a typical rifle chamber. The back end is to the left, and the front is to the right. — body (purple), shoulder (pink) and neck (green).

Closeup of barrel throat area. The chamber is to the left, and the muzzle is to the right. The freebore (cyan) and leade (dark grey) transition into rifled bore (pale grey), and the comparison between freebore diameter vs. rifling groove and land diameter.

The inside of a Rheinmetall 120 mm smoothbore tank gun (seen from the muzzle) of a Leopard 2A4

Muzzle of a SIG 550 rifle, equipped with a birdcage-type flash suppressor

Muzzle blast modulated by an A2-style flash suppressor

Production steps in the cold-hammer forging process to produce the barrels for a double-barrelled shotgun

In most firearms (rifles, shotguns, machine guns and pistols), the chamber is an integral part of the barrel, often made by simply reaming the rear bore of a barrel blank, with a single chamber within a single barrel.

Shotgun shell

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A 1908 depiction of a shotgun shell, showing a primitive felt wad to separate the powder (left) and shot (right)

Shotgun shell comparison (left to right): 12-gauge, 20-gauge, 16-gauge, 28-gauge, and .410 bore

M35 .410 shotgun shells for M-6 survival gun w/.22 long rifle for comparison

CCI .22LR snake shot loaded with #12 shot

Military Issue .45 ACP M15 "shot shell" on the far right.

A shotgun shell, shotshell or simply shell is a type of rimmed, cylindrical (straight-walled) cartridges used specifically in shotguns, and is typically loaded with numerous small, pellet-like spherical sub-projectiles called shot, fired through a smoothbore barrel with a tapered constriction at the muzzle to regulate the extent of scattering.

Pump action

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Repeating firearm action that is operated manually by moving a sliding handguard on the gun's forestock.

A Remington Model 760 .30-06 Springfield pump-action rifle.

The RMB-93 pump action shotgun which has the barrel below the magazine tube

The Mossberg 590 pump action shotgun with the barrel over the tubular magazine.

Akkar Churchill SBS (Short Barrel Shotgun) pump action shotgun 12 inch barrel

The GM-94 Pump action 43mm Russian grenade launcher.

Pump-action is typically associated with shotguns, although it has been used in rifles and other firearms as well.

Lever action

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Type of action for repeating firearms that uses a manually operated cocking handle located around the trigger guard area that pivots forward to move the bolt via internal linkages, which will feed and extract cartridges into and out of the chamber, and cock the firing pin mechanism.

A modern reproduction of the Winchester Model 1887 lever-action shotgun

M1895 operating mechanism showing the lever in the forward (top) and rear (bottom) positions

Most lever-action firearms are rifles, but some lever-action shotguns and a few pistols have been made.

Bolt action

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Type of manual firearm action that is operated by directly manipulating the bolt via a bolt handle, which is most commonly placed on the right-hand side of the weapon .

A Kelbly rifle action bolt that has been oiled to run smoothly.

A US Marine extracts a fired cartridge from an M40A3 using a bolt-action mechanism

Close-up of the action on an SMLE Mk III rifle, showing the bolt head, magazine cut off, and charger clip guide.

Cutaway diagram of the Vetterli rifle's action.

Heym SR 30 (1998), straight pull action. Lock up is achieved by 6 ball bearings around the circumference of the bolt head. This mechanism was originally developed for biathlon rifles.

The majority of these firearms are rifles, but there are some bolt-action variants of shotguns and handguns as well.

Illustration of the effect that different types of chokes have on the spread ("pattern") of shotgun projectiles

Choke (firearms)

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Tapered constriction of a gun barrel at the muzzle end.

Greatly exaggerated illustration of different choke constrictions, German names:
A: Cylinder (no choke)
B: Improved cylinder
C: Glocken
D: Skeet
E: Full (normal)
F: Spitzbogen
G: Jug
H: Paradox

Left: Permanent choke. Center: Replaceable choke inserted into the muzzle. Right: Threaded barrel without choke insert. (For illustration only; a threaded barrel must never be fired without a properly inserted choke tube.)

Chokes are most commonly seen on shotguns, but are also used on some rifles, pistols, or even airguns.

A US Navy sailor fires a Mk 18 Mod 1 carbine at a target.

Firearm

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Any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual.

A Colt Single Action Army revolver, with hammer cocked back

A US Marine firing a Mossberg 500 shotgun

MG 42 general-purpose machine gun with retracted bipod

The Accuracy International Arctic Warfare series of sniper rifles is a standard issue in the armies of several countries, including those of Britain, Ireland, and Germany (shown).

Czechoslovak 7.65 mm submachine gun Škorpion vz. 61 designed in 1959.

Suomi M31 submachine with a 70-round drum magazine attached, 20- and 50-round box magazines.

The AK-47 is one of the most widely produced and used assault rifles in the world.

Hand cannon from the Chinese Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368)

The istinggar, a result of Indo-Portuguese gun-making traditions

A) The matchlock gun with button for trigger, which came to Lisbon from Bohemia, used by the Portuguese until the conquest of Goa in 1510. B) The Indo-Portuguese matchlock gun resulted from the combination of Portuguese and Goan gunmaking. C) The Japanese matchlock gun appeared as a copy of the first firearm introduced in the Japanese islands.

Hand cannon being fired from a stand, "Belli Fortis", manuscript, by Konrad Kyeser, 1400

Percussion cap and early bolt action form

Various Japanese (samurai) Edo period matchlocks (tanegashima)

A wheellock pistol mechanism from the 17th century

The French FAMAS, example of a bullpup rifle

The M4 carbine, a modern-day service rifle capable of being fired automatically. It is in service by the U.S. military and has a wide ability for customization.

Gun-related homicide and suicide rates in high-income OECD countries, 2010, ordered by total death rates (homicide plus suicide plus other gun-related deaths).

Most modern firearms (with the notable exception of smoothbore shotguns) have rifled barrels to impart spin to the projectile for improved flight stability.