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161-552: The original 1848 Volcanic Repeating Rifle design by Hunt was revolutionary, introducing an early iteration of the lever action repeating mechanism and the tubular magazine still common today. However, Hunt's design was far from perfect, and only a couple of prototypes were developed; the only one known is currently in the Firearms Museum in Cody, Wyoming . Lewis Jennings patented an improved version of Hunt's design in 1849, and versions of

322-414: A competitive Olympic sport prior to World War I . For smoothbore weapons such as shotguns, small metallic balls known as shots are typically used, which is usually contained inside a semi-flexible, cup-like sabot called " wadding ". When fired, the wadding is launched from the gun as a payload-carrying projectile, loosens and opens itself up after exiting the barrel, and then inertially releases

483-421: A mag , is an ammunition storage and feeding device for a repeating firearm , either integral within the gun (internal/fixed magazine) or externally attached (detachable magazine). The magazine functions by holding several cartridges within itself and sequentially pushing each one into a position where it may be readily loaded into the barrel chamber by the firearm's moving action . The detachable magazine

644-493: A speedloader ; or the en bloc clip for M1 Garand rifles, among others. Use of the term "clip" to refer to detachable magazines is a point of strong disagreement. The earliest firearms were loaded with loose powder and a lead ball, and to fire more than a single shot without reloading required multiple barrels , such as in pepper-box guns, double-barreled rifles , double-barreled shotguns , or multiple chambers , such as in revolvers . The main problem with these solutions

805-460: A spring -loaded hammer to strike a percussion cap placed over a conical "nipple", which served as both an " anvil " against the hammer strike and a transfer port for the sparks created by crushing the cap, and was easier and quicker to load, more resilient to weather conditions, and more reliable than the preceding flintlocks. Modern primers are basically improved percussion caps with shock-sensitive chemicals (e.g. lead styphnate ) enclosed in

966-604: A "quad-column", can hold a large amount of ammunition. It is wider than a standard box magazine, but retains the same length. Casket magazines can be found on the Suomi KP/-31 , Hafdasa C-4 , Spectre M4 , QCW-05 and on 5.45×39mm AK rifle derivatives, and now the Kel-Tec CP33 as well. Magpul has been granted a patent for a STANAG -compatible casket magazine, and such a magazine was also debuted by SureFire in December 2010, and

1127-465: A brass case can be work-hardened to withstand the high pressures, and allow for manipulation via extraction and ejection without rupturing. The neck and body portion of a brass case is easily annealed to make the case ductile enough to allow reshaping so that it can be handloaded many times, and fire forming can help accurize the shooting. Steel casing is used in some plinking ammunition, as well as in some military training ammunition (mostly from

1288-604: A brass pin projecting from the side and struck by the hammer. This pin also afforded the means of extracting the cartridge case. This cartridge was introduced in England by Lang, of Cockspur Street, London, about 1845. In the American Civil War (1861–1865) a breech-loading rifle, the Sharps , was introduced and produced in large numbers. It could be loaded with either a ball or a paper cartridge . After that war, many were converted to

1449-475: A bullet attached to the top. Flobert then made what he called " parlor guns " for this cartridge, as these rifles and pistols were designed to be shot in indoor shooting parlors in large homes. These 6mm Flobert cartridges do not contain any powder. The only propellant substance contained in the cartridge is the percussion cap. In English-speaking countries, the 6mm Flobert cartridge corresponds to .22 BB Cap and .22 CB Cap ammunition. These cartridges have

1610-479: A bullet in a paper cartridge. Thick paper is still known as " cartridge paper " from its use in these cartridges. Another source states the cartridge appeared in 1590. King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden had his troops use cartridges in the 1600s. The paper formed a cylinder with twisted ends; the ball was at one end, and the measured powder filled the rest. This cartridge was used with muzzle-loading military firearms, probably more often than for sporting shooting,

1771-419: A confined space—such as the cartridge casing (reinforced by the chamber wall) occluded from the front by the projectile (bullet, or wadding containing shots / slug ) and from behind by the primer (supported by the bolt / breechblock ). When the pressure builds up high enough to overcome the crimp friction between the projectile and the case, the projectile separates from the case and gets propelled down

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1932-418: A container for the propellant powders and also serves 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 quantity of shot (pellets) or an individual slug for shotguns ), and align it with the barrel bore to

2093-600: A conventional detachable box, but it was non-detachable and only reloaded by using 20 round stripper clips . Box magazines may come in straight, angled, or curved forms depending if the cartridges are tapered rimmed/rimless or bottlenecked. Straight or slightly curved magazines work well with straight-sided rimless cartridges, angled magazines work well with straight-sided rimmed/rimless cartridges and curved magazines work well with rimmed/rimless tapered cartridges. Pistol magazines are often single- or double-stack with single-feed, which may be due to this design being slimmer at

2254-483: A crucial safety feature for hunting dangerous game: when empty the follower stops the bolt from engaging the chamber, informing the operator that the gun is empty before any attempt to fire. The first successful semi-automatic pistol was the Borchardt C-93 (1893) and incorporated detachable box magazines. Nearly all subsequent semiautomatic pistol designs adopted detachable box magazines. The Swiss Army evaluated

2415-563: A drum magazine's extra capacity is its added weight that, combined with the gun, can affect handling and prolonged use. Drum magazines can be more difficult to incorporate into combat gear compared to more regular, rectangular box magazines. Many drum-fed firearms can also load from conventional box magazines, such as the Soviet PPSh-41 submachine gun, RPK light machine gun, and the American Thompson submachine gun . The term "drum"

2576-401: A firing, the round is first inserted into a "ready" position within the chamber aligned with the bore axis (i.e. "in battery "). While in the chamber, the cartridge case obturates all other directions except the bore to the front, reinforced by a breechblock or a locked bolt from behind, designating the forward direction as the path of least resistance . When the trigger is pulled,

2737-666: A license for his patent, and this is how the S&;W Model 1 saw the light of day in 1857. The patent didn't definitely expire until 1870, allowing Smith & Wesson competitors to design and commercialize their own revolving breech-loaders using metallic cartridges. Famous models of that time are the Colt Open Top (1871–1872) and Single Action Army "Peacemaker" (1873). But in rifles, the lever-action mechanism patents were not obstructed by Rollin White's patent infringement because White only held

2898-403: A mixture of highly energetic gases and generates a very high pressure inside the case, often fire-forming it against the chamber wall. When the pressure builds up sufficiently to overcome the fastening friction between the projectile (e.g. bullet) and the case neck, the projectile will detach from the case and, pushed by the expanding high-pressure gases behind it, move down the bore and out

3059-426: A modern gun must not only load and fire the piece but also provide a method of removing the spent case, which might require just as many added moving parts. Many malfunctions occur during this process, either through a failure to extract a case properly from the chamber or by allowing the extracted case to jam the action. Nineteenth-century inventors were reluctant to accept this added complication and experimented with

3220-601: A patent concerning drilled cylinders and revolving mechanisms. Thus, larger caliber rimfire cartridges were soon introduced after 1857, when the Smith & Wesson .22 Short ammunition was introduced for the first time. Some of these rifle cartridges were used in the American Civil War, including the .44 Henry and 56-56 Spencer (both in 1860). However, the large rimfire cartridges were soon replaced by centerfire cartridges, which could safely handle higher pressures. In 1867,

3381-596: A relatively low muzzle velocity of around 700 ft/s (210 m/s). French gunsmith Benjamin Houllier improved the Lefaucheux pinfire cardboard cartridge and patented in Paris in 1846, the first fully metallic pinfire cartridge containing powder in a metallic cartridge. He also included in his patent claims rim and centerfire primed cartridges using brass or copper casings. Houllier commercialised his weapons in association with

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3542-435: A round bullet and either brass or paper casing. The cartridge was loaded through the breech and fired with a needle. The needle-activated centerfire breech-loading gun would become a major feature of firearms thereafter. Pauly made an improved version, protected by a patent, on 29 September 1812. Probably no invention connected with firearms has wrought such changes in the principle of gun construction as those effected by

3703-427: A simple capsule, and the corresponding case has two small flash holes with a bulged bar in between, which serves as the "anvil" for the primer. Boxer primers, patented by Royal Artillery colonel Edward Mounier Boxer also in 1866, are more complex and have an internal tripedal "anvil" built into the primer itself, and the corresponding case has only a single large central flash hole. Commercially, Boxer primers dominate

3864-415: A single round of ammunition without manual reloading require some form of magazine designed to store and feed cartridges into the firearm's action. Magazines come in many shapes and sizes, with the most common type in modern firearms being the detachable box type. Most magazines designed for use with a reciprocating bolt firearm (tube fed firearms being the exception) make use of a set of feed lips which stop

4025-486: A single-feed design the top cartridge touches both lips and is commonly used in single-column box magazines, while a staggered feed magazine (sometimes called "double-feed" magazine, not to be confused with the firearm malfunction ) consists of a wider set of lips so that the second cartridge in line forces the top cartridge against one of the lips. The staggered-feed design has proven more resistant to jamming in use with double-column magazines than single-feed variants, since

4186-515: A small button-shaped capsule. In the early paper cartridges , invented not long after the percussion cap, the primer was located deep inside the cartridge just behind the bullet, requiring a very thin and elongated firing pin to pierce the paper casing. Such guns were known as needle guns , the most famous of which was decisive in the Prussian victory over the Austrians at Königgrätz in 1866. After

4347-495: A smaller hammer that had a hollow to fit on the nipple when released by the trigger. The shooter placed a percussion cap (now made of three parts of potassium chlorate , two of fulminate of mercury and powdered glass) on the nipple. The detonating cap thus invented and adopted brought about the invention of the modern cartridge case, and rendered possible the general adoption of the breech-loading principle for all varieties of rifles, shotguns, and pistols . This greatly streamlined

4508-420: A special feed cover. The 75 rounds of ammunition were evenly distributed in each side of the magazine with a central feed "tower" where the ammunition is fed to the bolt. The ammunition was fed by a spring force, with rounds alternating from each side of the double drum so that the gun would not become unbalanced. Pan magazines differ from other circular magazines in that the cartridges are stored perpendicular to

4669-413: A specific cartridge type is tightly controlled and few types are interchangeable in any way. Exceptions do exist but generally, these are only where a shorter cylindrical rimmed cartridge can be used in a longer chamber, (e.g., .22 Short in .22 Long Rifle chamber, .32 H&R Magnum in .327 Federal Magnum chamber, and .38 Special in a .357 Magnum chamber). Centerfire primer type (Boxer or Berdan, see below)

4830-417: A squib load obstructing the barrel will generate dangerously high pressure, leading to a catastrophic failure and potentially causing severe injuries when the gun blows apart in the shooter's hands. Actor Brandon Lee 's infamous accidental death in 1993 was believed to be caused by an undetected squib that was dislodged and shot out by a blank . Beginning in the 1860s, early metallic cartridges (e. g. for

4991-419: A steel frizzen , or a shock-sensitive brass or copper percussion cap ( caplock ) placed over a conical-shaped cone piece with a hollow pipe to create sparks . When the primer powder starts combusting, the flame is transferred through an internal touch hole called a flash hole to provide activation energy for the main powder charge in the barrel. The disadvantage Is that the flash pan cAN still be exposed to

Volcanic Repeating Arms - Misplaced Pages Continue

5152-539: A variety of caseless or self-consuming cartridges before finally accepting that the advantages of brass cases far outweighed this one drawback. The first integrated cartridge was developed in Paris in 1808 by the Swiss gunsmith Jean Samuel Pauly in association with French gunsmith François Prélat . Pauly created the first fully self-contained cartridges: the cartridges incorporated a copper base with integrated mercury fulminate primer powder (the major innovation of Pauly),

5313-451: A wadding, as the wadding obturates the bore better and typically slides less frictionally within the barrel. When a propellant is ignited and begins to combust , the resulting chemical reaction releases the chemical energy stored within. At the same time, a significant amount of gaseous products are released, which are highly energetic due to the exothermic nature of the reaction. These combustion gases become highly pressurized in

5474-596: A weapon called the “Volcanic 10” is unlocked as a pistol. The pistol is fired and reloaded as a revolver in the game, however, it holds 10 shots. The 2007 videogame " Fistful of Frags " also features the Volcanic pistol as a weapon. The Volcanic pistol is one of the many sidearms the player can get in the 2010 Western videogame Red Dead Redemption , as well as its 2018 sequel, Red Dead Redemption 2 , and its online multiplayer expansion, Red Dead Online . Magazine (firearms) A magazine , often simply called

5635-506: A wide range of national militaries. In 1890 the French adopted the 8mm Lebel Berthier rifles with 3-round internal magazines, fed from en bloc clips; the empty clips were pushed from the bottom of the action by the insertion of a loaded clip from the top. In the late 19th century, there were many short-lived designs, such as the M1895 Lee Navy and Gewehr 1888 , eventually replaced by

5796-518: Is a type of box magazine with another magazine placed in front. When firing, the bolt travels further back past the front section magazine until the rear section is empty, then uses the front section. Firearms using tandem magazines are the Special Purpose Individual Weapon (SPIW) and Gerasimenko VAG-73. The rotary (or spool) magazine consists of a cylindrical sprocket actuated by a torsion spring , with cartridges fitting between

5957-453: Is also likely that battlefield experience had proven the futility of this philosophy. One of the last new clip-fed, fixed-magazine rifles widely adopted that was not a modification of an earlier rifle was the M1 Garand . The M1 Garand was the first gas-operated semi-automatic rifle adopted and issued in large numbers as the standard service rifle of any military in the world. The M1 Garand

6118-414: Is called a dummy ; one that failed to ignite and shoot off the projectile is called a dud ; and one that ignited but failed to sufficiently push the projectile out of the barrel is called a squib . The cartridge was invented specifically for breechloading firearms. Prior to its invention, the projectiles and propellant were carried separately and had to be individually loaded via the muzzle into

6279-642: Is interchangeable, although not in the same case. Deviation in any of these specifications can result in firearm damage and, in some instances, injury or death. Similarly, the use of the wrong type of cartridge in any given gun can damage the gun, or cause bodily injury. Cartridge specifications are determined by several standards organizations, including SAAMI in the United States, and C.I.P. in many European states. NATO also performs its own tests for military cartridges for its member nations; due to differences in testing methods, NATO cartridges ( headstamped with

6440-479: Is known as its external ballistics , and its behavior upon impacting an object is known as its terminal ballistics . A bullet can be made of virtually anything (see below ), but lead is the traditional material of choice because of its high density, malleability , ductility , and low cost of production . However, at speeds greater than 300 m/s (980 ft/s), pure lead will melt more and deposit fouling in rifled bores at an ever-increasing rate. Alloying

6601-420: Is located: at the center of the case head ( centerfire ); or inside the rim ( rimfire ); or inside the walls on the fold of the case base that is shaped like a cup (cupfire); or in a sideways projection that is shaped like a pin ( pinfire ) or a lip (lipfire); or in a small bulge shaped like a nipple at the case base ( teatfire ). Only small-caliber rimfire cartridges and centerfire cartridges have survived into

Volcanic Repeating Arms - Misplaced Pages Continue

6762-424: Is much more common because of its ability to store more rounds), since a staggered column is actually two single side-by-side vertical columns offset by half of the diameter of a round. As the firearm cycles, cartridges are moved to the top of the magazine by a follower driven by spring compression to either a single-feed (center-feed) position or side-by-side (staggered-feed) positions. Box magazines may be integral to

6923-603: Is now sold as the MAG5-60 and MAG5-100 high capacity magazine (HCM) in 60 and 100 round capacities, respectively, in 5.56mm for AR-15 compatible with M4/M16/AR-15 variants and other firearms that accept STANAG 4179 magazines. Izhmash has also developed a casket magazine for the AK-12 . Desert Tech have also released the QMAG-53 compatible Quattro-15 lower receiver for the AR-15. A tandem magazine

7084-411: Is removed from the rifle. It operates reliably with cartridges of different lengths. It is insertable and removable at any time with any number of cartridges. These features allow the operator to reload the gun infrequently, carry magazines rather than loose cartridges, and to easily change the types of cartridges in the field. The magazine is assembled from inexpensive stamped sheet metal. It also includes

7245-471: Is sometimes applied to a belt box for a belt-fed machine gun, though this is just a case that houses a length of ammunition belt, not a drum magazine. [REDACTED] Media related to Drum magazines at Wikimedia Commons Before WWII the Germans developed 75-round saddle-drum magazines for use in their MG 13 and MG 15 machine guns. The MG 34 machine guns could also use saddle-drum magazine when fitted with

7406-589: Is sometimes colloquially referred to as a " clip ", although this is technically inaccurate since a clip is actually an accessory device used to help load ammunition into a magazine or cylinder. Magazines come in many shapes and sizes, from integral tubular magazines on lever-action and pump-action rifles and shotguns, that may hold more than five rounds, to detachable box magazines and drum magazines for automatic rifles and light machine guns , that may hold more than fifty rounds. Various jurisdictions ban what they define as " high-capacity magazines ". With

7567-841: Is that propellant gas can blow back past the neck and leak into the chamber. Constituents of these gases condense on the (relatively cold) chamber wall, and this solid propellant residue can make extraction of fired cases difficult. This is less of a problem for small arms of the former Warsaw Pact nations, which were designed with much looser chamber tolerances than NATO weapons. Aluminum-cased cartridges are available commercially. These are generally not reloaded, as aluminum fatigues easily during firing and resizing. Some calibers also have non-standard primer sizes to discourage reloaders from attempting to reuse these cases. Plastic cases are commonly used in shotgun shells , and some manufacturers offer polymer -cased centerfire pistol and rifle cartridges. As firearms are projectile weapons ,

7728-555: Is that they increase the bulk and/or weight of a firearm, over a firearm with a single barrel and/or single chamber. However, many attempts were made to get multiple shots from loading a single barrel through the use of superposed loads . While some early repeaters such as the Kalthoff repeater managed to operate using complex systems with multiple feed sources for ball, powder, and primer, easily mass-produced repeating mechanisms did not appear until self-contained cartridges were developed in

7889-415: Is to cover the bare lead in a protective powder coat , as seen in some rimfire ammunitions. Another solution is to encase a lead core within a thin exterior layer of harder metal (e.g. gilding metal , cupronickel , copper alloys or steel), known as a jacketing . In modern days, steel, bismuth , tungsten , and other exotic alloys are sometimes used to replace lead and prevent release of toxicity into

8050-450: Is wrapped around the bolt-action to save vertical space and ease loading from the side. The Krag-Jorgensen bolt-action rifle is the only firearm to use this type of magazine and it was adopted by the militaries of Denmark, Norway, and the United States in the late 19th century. Drum magazines are used primarily for light machine guns . In one type, a moving partition within a cylindrical chamber forces loose rounds into an exit slot, with

8211-479: The American Civil War . The Spencer used a tubular magazine located in the butt of the gun instead of under the barrel and it used new rimfire metallic cartridges. The Spencer was successful, but the rimfire ammunition did occasionally ignite in the magazine tube and destroy the magazine. It could also injure the user. The new bolt-action rifles began to gain favor with militaries in the mid-1880s and were often equipped with tubular magazines. The Mauser Model 1871

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8372-594: The Battle of the Little Bighorn , and being the basis for the iconic Winchester lever-action repeating rifle , which is still in production to the present day. The Henry and Winchester rifles would go on to see service with a number of militaries including Turkey. Switzerland and Italy adopted similar designs. The second magazine-fed firearm to achieve widespread success was the Spencer repeating rifle , which saw service in

8533-523: The Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company , Rollin White , had been the first in America to conceive the idea of having the revolver cylinder bored through to accept metallic cartridges ( circa 1852), with the first in the world to use bored-through cylinders probably having been Lefaucheux in 1845, who invented a pepperbox-revolver loaded from the rear using bored-through cylinders. Another possible claimant for

8694-674: The Luger pistol using a detachable box magazine in 7.65×21mm Parabellum and adopted it in 1900 as its standard sidearm. The Luger pistol was accepted by the Imperial German Navy in 1904. This version is known as Pistole 04 (or P.04). In 1908 the German Army adopted the Luger to replace the Reichsrevolver in front-line service. The Pistole 08 (or P.08) was chambered in 9×19mm Parabellum . The P.08

8855-526: The M1903 Springfield rifle and Gewehr 98 respectively. The Russian Mosin–Nagant , adopted in 1891, was an exception. It was not revolutionary; it was a bolt-action rifle, used a small-bore smokeless powder cartridge, and a fixed box magazine loaded from the top with stripper clips , all of which were features that were used in earlier military rifles. What made the Nagant stand out was that it combined all

9016-510: The M249 and other squad automatic weapons , can feed from both magazines and belts. Many of the first repeating rifles and shotguns , particularly lever-action rifles and pump-action shotguns, used magazines that stored cartridges nose-to-end inside of a spring-loaded tube that typically runs parallel underneath the barrel, or inside of the buttstock. Tubular magazines are also commonly used in .22 caliber bolt-action rimfire rifles, such as

9177-598: The Marlin Model XT . Tubular magazines and centerfire cartridges with pointed ( spitzer ) bullets present a safety issue: a pointed bullet may (through the forces of recoil or simply rough handling) strike the next round's primer and ignite that round, or even cause a chain ignition of other rounds, within the magazine. The Winchester Model 1873 used blunt-nosed centerfire cartridges as the .44-40 Winchester . Certain modern rifle cartridges using soft pointed plastic tips have been designed to avoid this problem while improving

9338-540: The Montigny mitrailleuse or the Snider–Enfield rifle ) were produced similarly to the paper cartridges, with sides made from thick paper, but with copper (later brass) foil supporting the base of the cartridge and some more details in it holding the primer. In the 1870s, brass foil covered all of the cartridge, and the technology to make solid cases, in which the metallic cartridges described below were developed, but before

9499-567: The Ruger American series, the semi-automatic Ruger 10/22 , the bolt-action Ruger 77/22 and the Steyr SSG 69 . A capsule magazine functions similar to a box magazine, but the spring and follower is stowed away when the magazine bottom is flipped open. The cartridges are loosely dumped into the magazine and spring-fed to the chamber when the bottom is closed. On the Krag-Jørgensen the magazine

9660-461: The Sturmgewehr 44 assault rifle concept with its 30-round detachable magazine. After WWII, automatic weapons using detachable box magazines were developed and used by all of the world's armies. Today, detachable box magazines are the norm and they are so widely used that they are simply referred to as magazines or "mags" for short. All cartridge-based single-barrel firearms designed to fire more than

9821-556: The United Kingdom ) is a device that is used to store multiple rounds of ammunition together as a unit, ready for insertion into the magazine or cylinder of a firearm. This speeds up the process of reloading the firearm as several rounds can be loaded at once, rather than one round being loaded at a time. Several different types of clips exist, most of which are made of inexpensive metal stampings that are designed to be disposable, though they are often re-used. The first clips used were of

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9982-446: The War to End All Wars , military planners failed to recognize the importance of automatic rifles and detachable box magazine concept, and instead maintained their traditional views and preference for clip-fed bolt-action rifles . As a result, many promising new automatic rifle designs that used detachable box magazines were abandoned. An important development that took place during this war was

10143-453: The barrel chamber of a breechloading gun, for convenient transportation and handling during shooting. Although in popular usage the term "bullet" is often used to refer to a complete cartridge, the correct usage only refers to the projectile. Cartridges can be categorized by the type of primer. This can be accomplished by igniting a small charge of an impact -sensitive explosive compound or by an electric-sensitive chemical mixture that

10304-521: The en bloc system is that the firearm cannot be practically used without a ready supply of (mosty disposable) clips. Paul Mauser would solve this problem by introducing a stripper clip that functioned only to assist the user in loading the magazine quickly: it was not required to load the magazine to full capacity. He would continue to make improved models of rifles that took advantage of this new clip design from 1889 through 1898 in various calibers that proved enormously successful, and were adopted by

10465-550: The en bloc variety, developed by Ferdinand Mannlicher and first adopted by the Austro-Hungarian Army , which would be used Austro-Hungarians during the first world war in the form of the Mannlicher M1895 , derivatives of which would be adopted by many national militaries. The Germans used this system for their Model 1888 Commission Rifle , featuring a 5-round en bloc clip-fed internal box magazine. One problem with

10626-465: The former Soviet republics of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan), along with Russia and China. Steel is less expensive to make than brass, but it is far less corrosion-resistant and not feasible to reuse and reload. Military forces typically consider service small arms cartridge cases to be disposable, single-use devices. However,

10787-430: The gas seal , and are thus clumsy and inconvenient, severely restricting the practical rate of fire of the weapon, leaving the shooter vulnerable to the threat of close combat (particularly cavalry charges ) as well as complicating the logistics of ammunition. The primary purpose of using a cartridge is to offer a handy pre-assembled "all-in-one" package that is convenient to handle and transport, easily loaded into

10948-407: The gun barrel before firing, then have a separate ignitor compound (from a burning slow match , to a small charge of gunpowder in a flash pan , to a metallic percussion cap mounted on top of a "nipple" or cone), to serve as a source of activation energy to set off the shot. Such loading procedures often require adding paper/cloth wadding and ramming down repeatedly with a rod to optimize

11109-409: The gun barrel , imparting high kinetic energy from the propellant gases and accelerating the projectile to its muzzle velocity . The projectile motion driven by the propellant inside the gun is known as the internal ballistics . Because the main propellant charge are located deep inside the gun barrel and thus impractical to be directly lighted from the outside, an intermediate is needed to relay

11270-404: The handloader market due to the ease of depriming and the ability to transfer sparks more efficiently. Due to their small size and charge load, primers lack the power to shoot out the projectile by themselves, but can still put out enough energy to separate the bullet from the casing and push it partway into the barrel – a dangerous condition called a squib load . Firing a fresh cartridge behind

11431-399: The ignition . In the earliest black powder muzzleloaders , a fuse was used to direct a small flame through a touch hole into the barrel, which was slow and subjected to disturbance from environmental conditions. The next evolution was to have a small separate charge of finer gunpowder poured into a flash pan , where it could start a "priming" ignition by an external source, when ignited

11592-432: The muzzle at extremely high speed . After the bullet exits the barrel, the gases are released to the surroundings as ejectae in a loud blast , and the chamber pressure drops back down to ambient level . The case, which had been elastically expanded by high pressure, contracts slightly, which eases its removal from the chamber when pulled by the extractor . The spent cartridge, with its projectile and propellant gone but

11753-404: The sear disengages and releases the hammer / striker , causing the firing pin to impact the primer embedded in the base of the cartridge. The shock-sensitive chemical in the primer then creates a jet of sparks that travels into the case and ignites the main propellant charge within, causing the powders to deflagrate (but not detonate ). This rapid exothermic combustion yields

11914-733: The "Smith & Wesson Revolver Company" upon obtaining the licensing of the Rollin White rear loading cylinder patent. Winchester forced the insolvency of the Volcanic Arms Company in late 1856, took over ownership and moved the plant to New Haven, Connecticut , where it was reorganized as the New Haven Arms Company in April 1857. B. Tyler Henry was hired as plant superintendent when Robbins & Lawrence suffered financial difficulties and Henry left their employ. While continuing to make

12075-449: The "case neck ") has a noticeably smaller diameter than the main part of the case ("case body "), with a noticeably angled slope ("case shoulder ") in between; or a "straight-walled" one, where there is no narrowed neck and the whole case looks cylindrical . The case shape is meant to match exactly to the chamber of the gun that fires it, and the "neck", "shoulder", and "body" of a bottleneck cartridge have corresponding counterparts in

12236-589: The "expansive cartridge case". This invention has completely revolutionized the art of gun making, has been successfully applied to all descriptions of firearms and has produced a new and important industry: that of cartridge manufacture. Its essential feature is preventing gas from escaping the breech when the gun is fired, by means of an expansive cartridge case containing its own means of ignition. Previous to this invention shotguns and sporting rifles were loaded by means of powder flasks and shot bags or flasks, bullets, wads, and copper caps, all carried separately. One of

12397-411: The 1880s, it was far too expensive and time-consuming for mass production and the metallurgy was not yet perfected. To manufacture cases for cartridges, a sheet of brass is punched into disks. These disks go through a series of drawing dies . The disks are annealed and washed before moving to the next series of dies. The brass needs to be annealed to remove the work-hardening in the material and make

12558-541: The 19th century. The first successful mass-produced repeating weapon to use a "tubular magazine" permanently mounted to the weapon was the Austrian Army's Girandoni air rifle , first produced in 1779. The first mass-produced repeating firearm was the Volcanic Rifle which used a hollow bullet with the base filled with powder and primer fed into the chamber from a tube called a "magazine" with an integral spring to push

12719-447: The 5-round stripper clips). Helical magazines extend the drum magazine design so that rounds follow a spiral path around an auger-shaped rotating follower or drive member , allowing for large ammunition capacity in a relatively compact package (compared to a regular box magazine of similar capacity). Early helical magazine designs include that patented by an unidentified inventor through the patent agent William Edward Newton in 1857 and

12880-447: The AK-47. The detachable magazine quickly came to dominate post-war military rifle designs. Firearms using detachable magazines are made with an opening known as a magazine well into which the detachable magazine is inserted. The magazine well locks the magazine in position for feeding cartridges into the chamber of the firearm, and requires a device known as a magazine release to allow

13041-575: The British military musket (the Brown Bess ) in 1842, a quarter of a century after the invention of percussion powder and after an elaborate government test at Woolwich in 1834. The invention that made the percussion cap possible was patented by the Rev. A. J. Forsyth in 1807 and consisted of priming with a fulminating powder made of potassium chlorate , sulfur, and charcoal, which ignited by concussion. This invention

13202-556: The British war office adopted the Eley – Boxer metallic centerfire cartridge case in the Pattern 1853 Enfield rifles, which were converted to Snider-Enfield breech-loaders on the Snider principle. This consisted of a block opening on a hinge, thus forming a false breech against which the cartridge rested. The priming cap was in the base of the cartridge and was discharged by a striker passing through

13363-701: The Jenning's patent design were built by Robbins & Lawrence Co. (under the direction of shop foreman Benjamin Tyler Henry ) and sold by C. P. Dixon. Horace Smith was also hired by Courtlandt Palmer to improve the Jennings Rifle, patenting the Smith-Jennings in 1851. It is estimated that fewer than 2000 of these two models were made until 1852, when financial troubles ceased production. In 1854, partners Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson joined with Courtlandt Palmer,

13524-682: The Mark II Lee-Metford , three years after the Schmidt-Rubin. The first pistol with a double-stack, staggered-feed magazine was the Mauser C96 although it was an integral design fed by stripper clips. The first detachable double-stack, single-feed magazine for pistols was probably the one patented by the American Elbert H. Searle in 1904 and adopted by Arthur Savage though he didn't apply it in practice to his designs until much later. One of

13685-491: The NATO cross) may present an unsafe combination when loaded into a weapon chambered for a cartridge certified by one of the other testing bodies. Bullet diameter is measured either as a fraction of an inch (usually in 1/100 or in 1/1000) or in millimeters. Cartridge case length can also be designated in inches or millimeters. Paper cartridges have been in use for centuries, with a number of sources dating their usage as far back as

13846-540: The United States, a number of states have passed laws that ban magazines which are defined as "high-capacity" by statute. High-capacity or large-capacity magazines are generally those defined by statute to be capable of holding more than 10 to 15 rounds, although the definitions will vary by state. Other nations impose restrictions on magazine capacity as well. In Canada, magazines are generally limited to 5 rounds for rifles and shotguns (with some exceptions) and 10 rounds for handguns (with some exceptions), depending on

14007-622: The Volcanic rifle and pistol, Henry began to experiment with the new rimfire ammunition, and modified the Volcanic lever action design to use it. The result was the Henry rifle . By 1866, the company once again reorganized, this time as the Winchester Repeating Arms company, and the name of Winchester became synonymous with lever action rifles. Set in 1875, Have Gun Will Travel Radio Episode "Landfall" aired November 08, 1959. A character offers Paladin use of his Jennings rifle. The Rider,

14168-415: The aerodynamic qualities of the bullet to match those available in bolt-action designs, therefore extending the effective range of lever-actions. The most popular type of magazine in modern rifles and handguns, a box magazine stores cartridges in a column, either one above the other or in staggered zigzag fashion. This zigzag stack is often identified as a double-column or double-stack (The double-stack

14329-504: The axis of rotation, rather than being parallel, and are usually mounted on top of the firearm. This type is used on the Lewis Gun , Vickers K , Bren Gun (only used in anti-aircraft mountings), Degtyaryov light machine gun , and American-180 submachine gun. A highly unusual example was found on the Type 89 machine gun fed from two 45-round quadrant-shaped pan magazines (each magazine held 9 of

14490-471: The base of the cartridge being ripped or bitten off by the soldier, the powder poured into the barrel, and the paper and bullet rammed down the barrel. In the Civil War era cartridge, the paper was supposed to be discarded, but soldiers often used it as a wad. To ignite the charge an additional step was required where a finer-grained powder called priming powder was poured into the pan of the gun to be ignited by

14651-404: The bore axis, contributing to accuracy. The front opening of the case neck, which receives and fastens the bullet via crimping , is known as the case mouth . The closed-off rear end of the case body, which holds the primer and technically is the case base , is called the case head as it is the most prominent and frequently the widest part of the case. There is a circumferential flange at

14812-590: The bored-through cylinder is a Frenchman by the name of Perrin, who allegedly produced in 1839 a pepperbox revolver with a bored-through cylinder to order. Other possible claimants include Devisme of France in 1834 or 1842 who claimed to have produced a breech-loading revolver in that period though his claim was later judged as lacking in evidence by French courts and Hertog & Devos and Malherbe & Rissack of Belgium who both filed patents for breech-loading revolvers in 1853. However, Samuel Colt refused this innovation. White left Colt, went to Smith & Wesson to rent

14973-420: The brass malleable again ready for the next series of dies. Manufacturing bullet jackets is similar to making brass cases: there is a series of drawing steps with annealing and washing. Critical cartridge specifications include neck size, bullet weight and caliber , maximum pressure, headspace , overall length, case body diameter and taper, shoulder design, rim type , etc. Generally, every characteristic of

15134-407: The breech (rear end) of the barrel, as well as preventing potential propellant loss, contamination or degradation from moisture and the elements. In modern self-loading firearms , the cartridge case also enables the action mechanism to use part of the propellant 's energy (carried inside the cartridge itself) and cyclically load new rounds of ammunition to allow quick repeated firing. To perform

15295-458: The breech block. Other European powers adopted breech-loading military rifles from 1866 to 1868, with paper instead of metallic cartridge cases. The original Eley-Boxer cartridge case was made of thin-coiled brass—occasionally these cartridges could break apart and jam the breech with the unwound remains of the case upon firing. Later the solid-drawn, centerfire cartridge case, made of one entire solid piece of tough hard metal, an alloy of copper, with

15456-576: The businessman who had purchased the Jennings and Smith-Jennings patent rights, and further improved on the operating mechanism, developing the Smith & Wesson Lever pistol, and a new Volcanic cartridge. Production was in the shop of Horace Smith in Norwich, Connecticut . The new cartridge improved upon the Hunt Rocket Ball with the addition of a primer. Originally using the name "Smith & Wesson Company",

15617-480: The cartridges being stored parallel to the axis of rotation. After loading of the magazine, a wound spring or other mechanism forces the partition against the rounds. In all models a single column is pushed by a follower through a curved path. From there the rounds enter the vertical riser either from a single or dual drums. Cylindrical designs such as rotary and drum magazines allow for larger capacity than box magazines, without growing to excessive length. The downside of

15778-517: The cartridges in to the action, thence to be loaded into the chamber and fired. It was named after a building or room used to store ammunition. The anemic power of the Rocket Ball ammunition used in the Volcanic doomed it to limited popularity. . The Henry repeating rifle is a lever-action , breech-loading , tubular magazine-fed repeating rifle , and was an improved version of the earlier Volcanic rifle. Designed by Benjamin Tyler Henry in 1860, it

15939-444: The case dimensions of a cartridge, this is usually referring to the cartridge's overall length (COL), which in turn dictates the minimal receiver size and operating space ( bolt travel) needed by the action , into either "mini-action", "short-action", "long-action" ("standard-action"), or " magnum -action" categories. The most popular material used to make cartridge cases is brass due to its good corrosion resistance . The head of

16100-436: The case head called a rim , which provides a lip for the extractor to engage. Depending on whether and how the rim protrudes beyond the maximum case body diameter, the case can be classified as either "rimmed", "semi-rimmed", "rimless", "rebated", or "belted". The shape of a bottleneck cartridge case (e.g. body diameter, shoulder slant angle and position, and neck length) also affects the amount of attainable pressure inside

16261-417: The case still containing a used-up primer, then gets ejected from the gun to clear room for a subsequent new round. A modern cartridge consists of four main components: the case , the projectile , the propellant , and the primer . 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

16422-414: The case, which in turn influences the accelerative capacity of the projectile. Wildcat cartridges are often made by reshaping the case of an existing cartridge. Straight-sided cartridges are less prone to rupturing than tapered cartridges , in particular with higher pressure propellant when used in blowback-operated firearms. In addition to case shape, rifle cartridges can also be grouped according to

16583-409: The chamber known as the "chamber neck", "chamber shoulder", and "chamber body". Some cartridges, like the .470 Capstick , have what is known as a "ghost shoulder" which has a very slightly protruding shoulder, and can be viewed as a something between a bottleneck and straight-walled case. A ghost shoulder, rather than a continuous taper on the case wall, helps the cartridge to line up concentrically with

16744-491: The clips to hold them in place so they would not fall out while the weapon was being transported or fired. A STANAG magazine or NATO magazine is a type of detachable magazine proposed by NATO in October 1980. Shortly after NATO's acceptance of the 5.56×45mm NATO rifle cartridge, Draft Standardization Agreement ( STANAG ) 4179 was proposed in order to allow NATO members to easily share rifle ammunition and magazines down to

16905-686: The contained shots as a hail of sub-projectiles. Shotgun shots are usually made from bare lead, though copper/ zinc – coated steel balls (such as those used by BB guns ) can also be used. Lead pollution of wetlands has led to the BASC and other organizations campaigning for the phasing out of traditional lead shot. There are also unconventional projectile fillings such as bundled flechettes , rubber balls , rock salt and magnesium shards, as well as non-lethal specialty projectiles such as rubber slugs and bean bag rounds . Solid projectiles (e.g. slugs , baton rounds , etc.) are also shot while contained within

17066-417: The earlier features in a form that was to last virtually unchanged from its issue by Russia in 1894 through World War II and with its sniper rifle variants still in use today. A feature of many late 19th and early 20th century bolt-action rifles was the magazine cut-off, sometimes called a feed interrupter. This was a mechanical device that prevented the rifle from loading a round from the magazine, requiring

17227-417: The earliest efficient modern cartridge cases was the pinfire cartridge , developed by French gunsmith Casimir Lefaucheux in 1836. It consisted of a thin weak shell made of brass and paper that expanded from the force of the explosion. This fit perfectly in the barrel and thus formed an efficient gas check. A small percussion cap was placed in the middle of the base of the cartridge and was ignited by means of

17388-447: The entire stripper clip into the hopper magazine. The Japanese Type 11 light machine gun was the only weapon system that used a hopper magazine. This light machine gun was fed by standard 6.5×50mmSR Arisaka stripper clips that were used by riflemen armed with the Type 38 bolt action rifle . The hopper is located on the left side of the receiver and held 6 of the 5-round clips, for a total of 30 rounds of ammunition. The hopper magazine

17549-737: The environment. In armor-piercing bullets , very hard and high-density materials such as hardened steel , tungsten , tungsten carbide , or depleted uranium are used for the penetrator core. Non-lethal projectiles with very limited penetrative and stopping powers are sometimes used in riot control or training situations, where killing or even wounding a target at all would be undesirable. Such projectiles are usually made from softer and lower-density materials, such as plastic or rubber . Wax bullets (such as those used in Simunition training) are occasionally used for force-on-force tactical trainings , and pistol dueling with wax bullets used to be

17710-478: The firearm or removable: There are, however, exceptions to these rules. The Lee–Enfield rifle had a detachable box magazine only to facilitate cleaning. The Lee–Enfield magazine did open, permitting rapid unloading of the magazine without having to operate the bolt-action repeatedly to unload the magazine. Other designs, like the Breda Modello 30 , had a fixed protruding magazine from the right side that resembled

17871-403: The firearm. Cartridge (firearms) A cartridge , also known as a round , is a type of pre-assembled firearm ammunition packaging a projectile ( bullet , shot , or slug ), a propellant substance ( smokeless powder , black powder substitute , or black powder ) and an ignition device ( primer ) within a metallic , paper , or plastic case that is precisely made to fit within

18032-456: The firing mechanism. The evolving nature of warfare required a firearm that could load and fire more rapidly, resulting in the flintlock musket (and later the Baker rifle), in which the pan was covered by furrowed steel. This was struck by the flint and fired the gun. In the course of loading, a pinch of powder from the cartridge would be placed into the pan as priming, before the rest of the cartridge

18193-617: The first double-stack, single-feed box magazines was patented in November 1888 by an English inventor called Joseph James Speed of Waltham Cross. Another was patented in May 1887 by the Austro-Hungarian Karl Krnka. The bolt-action Krag–Jørgensen rifle, designed in Norway in 1886, used a unique rotary magazine that was built into the receiver. Like Lee's box magazine, the rotary magazine held

18354-406: The flame passed through a small hole in the side of the barrel to ignite the main gunpowder charge. The last evolution was to use a small metallic cap filled with a shock sensitive explosive compound that would ignite with a hammer strike. The source of ignition could be a burning slow match ( matchlock ) placed onto a touch hole , a piece of pyrite ( wheellock )/ flint ( flintlock ) striking

18515-405: The front; it holds the primer at the back end, which receives an impact from a firing pin and is responsible for igniting the main propellant charge inside the case. While historically paper had been used in the earliest cartridges , almost all modern cartridges use metallic casing. The modern metallic case can either be a "bottleneck" one, whose frontal portion near the end opening (known as

18676-543: The gunsmiths Blanchard or Charles Robert. In the United States, in 1857, the Flobert cartridge inspired the .22 Short , specially conceived for the first American revolver using rimfire cartridges, the Smith & Wesson Model 1 . A year before, in 1856, the LeMat revolver was the first American breech-loading firearm, but it used pinfire cartridges, not rimfire. Formerly, an employee of

18837-448: The increased use of semi-automatic and automatic firearms , the detachable magazine became increasingly common. Soon after the adoption of the M1911 pistol, the term "magazine" was settled on by the military and firearms experts, though the term " clip " is often used in its place (though only for detachable magazines, never fixed). The defining difference between clips and magazines is

18998-869: The individual soldier level. The U.S. M16 rifle magazine was proposed for standardization. Many NATO members subsequently developed or purchased rifles with the ability to accept this type of magazine. However, the standard was never ratified and remains a "Draft STANAG". The STANAG magazine concept is only an interface, dimensional, and control (magazine latch, bolt stop, etc.) requirement. Therefore, it not only allows one type of magazine to interface with various weapon systems, but also allows STANAG magazines to be made in various configurations and capacities. The standard STANAG magazines are 20, 30, and 40 round box magazines, but there are many other designs available with capacities ranging from one round to 60 and 100 round casket magazines, 90 round snail-drum magazines , and 100 round and 150 round double-drum magazines. In

19159-607: The internal magazine of the Evans Repeating Rifle , patented in the late 1860s. This type of magazine is used by the Calico M960 , PP-19 Bizon , CS/LS06 and KBP PP90M1 . The North Korean military uses a 100- to 150- round helical magazine in the Type 88 assault rifle. Helical magazines offer substantially more ammunition carriage; however, they are inherently complex designs. As such, they can be difficult to load and may decrease

19320-470: The invention of Schmeisser's Cone in 1916 by Hugo Schmeisser which allowed high-capacity double-stack, single-feed box magazine using guns to function reliably although it wasn't implemented on any of his designs until after World War One . The first reliable high-capacity double-stack, staggered-feed box magazine was developed by an American designer called Oscar V. Payne for the Thompson submachine gun around

19481-477: The late 14th and early 15th centuries. Historians note their use by soldiers of Christian I, Elector of Saxony and his son in the late 16th century, while the Dresden Armoury has evidence dating their use to 1591. Capo Bianco wrote in 1597 that paper cartridges had long been in use by Neapolitan soldiers. Their use became widespread by the 17th century. The 1586 round consisted of a charge of powder and

19642-421: The lead with a small percentage of tin or antimony can reduce such fouling, but grows less effective as velocities are increased. A cup made of harder metal (e.g. copper), called a gas check , is often placed at the base of a lead bullet to decrease lead deposits by protecting the rear of the bullet against melting when fired at higher pressures, but this too does not work at higher velocities. A modern solution

19803-442: The lower end of the power spectrum, although due to the low manufacturing cost some of them (e.g. .22 Long Rifle ) are among the most popular and prolific ammunitions currently being used. Centerfire primers are a separately manufactured component, seated into a central recess at the case base known as the primer pocket , and have two types: Berdan and Boxer. Berdan primers, patent by American inventor Hiram Berdan in 1866, are

19964-630: The magazine aligned horizontally over the barrel. Rather than being positioned laterally to the barrel like with the aforementioned examples, ammunition is positioned vertically with the bullet facing downward at a 90-degree angle relative to the barrel where it is fed into a rotary chamber before firing. The AR-57 , also known as the AR Five-seven, is an upper receiver for the AR-15 rifle lower receiver, firing FN 5.7×28mm rounds from standard FN P90 magazines. Another form of box magazine, sometimes referred to as

20125-498: The magazine through recoil or simply rough handling. This remains a concern with lever-action firearms today. Two early box magazine patents were the ones by Rollin White in 1855 and William Harding in 1859. A detachable box magazine was patented in 1864 by the American Robert Wilson. Unlike later box magazines this magazine fed into a tube magazine and was located in the stock of the gun. Another box magazine, closer to

20286-506: The magazine to be separated from the firearm. The Lee–Metford rifle, developed in 1888, was one of the first rifles to use a detachable box magazine, and the spare one could be optionally worn on soldier equipment , although with the adoption of the Short Magazine Lee–Enfield Mk I this became only detachable for cleaning and not swapped to reload the weapon. However, the first completely modern removable box magazine

20447-509: The magazine. One of the first detachable box magazines with a double-stack staggered-feed was the Schmidt-Rubin of 1889. Other examples include the patent of Fritz von Stepski and Erich Sterzinger of Austria-Hungary in May 1888 and the British patents by George Vincent Fosbery in 1883 and 1884. James Paris Lee is sometimes claimed to have invented the double-stack, staggered-feed detachable box magazine but he didn't design one until 1892 for

20608-453: The mainstream primer designs, while the pinfire also still exists but only in rare novelty miniature guns and a few very small blank cartridges designed as noisemakers. In rimfire ammunitions, the primer compound is moulded integrally into the interior of the protruding case rim , which is crushed between the firing pin and the edge of the barrel breech (serving as the "anvil"). These ammunitions are thus not reloadable , and are usually on

20769-409: The mass of the cartridges can affect how much ammunition a soldier can carry, so the lighter steel cases do have a logistic advantage. Conversely, steel is more susceptible to contamination and damage so all such cases are varnished or otherwise sealed against the elements. One downside caused by the increased strength of steel in the neck of these cases (compared to the annealed neck of a brass case)

20930-438: The metallic cartridge was invented, the primer was relocated backward to the base of the case, either at the center of the case head ( centerfire ), inside the rim ( rimfire ), inside a cup-like concavity of the case base (cupfire), in a pin-shaped sideways projection ( pinfire ), in a lip-like flange ( lipfire ), or in a small nipple-like bulge at the case base ( teat-fire ). Today, only the centerfire and rimfire have survived as

21091-404: The modern day. Military and commercial producers continue to pursue the goal of caseless ammunition . Some artillery ammunition uses the same cartridge concept as found in small arms . In other cases, the artillery shell is separate from the propellant charge. A cartridge without a projectile is called a blank ; one that is completely inert (contains no active primer and no propellant)

21252-535: The modern type though non-detachable, was patented in Britain (No. 483) by Mowbray Walker, George Henry Money and Francis Little in 1867. James Paris Lee patented a box magazine which held rounds stacked vertically in 1875, 1879 and 1882 and it was first adopted by Austria in the form of an 11mm straight-pull bolt-action rifle, the Mannlicher M1886 . It also used a cartridge clip which held 5 rounds ready to load into

21413-428: The name was changed to "Volcanic Repeating Arms Company" in 1855, with the addition of new investors, one of which was Oliver Winchester . The Volcanic Repeating Arms Company obtained all rights for the Volcanic designs (both rifle and pistol versions were in production by this time) as well as the ammunition, from the Smith & Wesson Company. Wesson remained as plant manager for 8 months before rejoining Smith to found

21574-510: The narrowing of a magazine tube to a single-feed induces extra friction which the magazine springs needs to overcome. Some magazine types are strongly associated with certain firearm types, such as the fixed "tubular" magazine found on most modern lever-action rifles and pump-action shotguns. A firearm using detachable magazines may accept a variety of types of magazine, such as the Thompson submachine gun , most variations of which would accept box or drum magazines. Some types of firearm, such as

21735-527: The new assault rifle developed by the Germans. The SKS used a fixed magazine, holding ten rounds and fed by a conventional stripper clip. It was a modification of the earlier AVS-36 rifle, shortened and chambered for the new reduced power 7.62×39mm cartridge. It was rendered obsolete for military use almost immediately by the 1947 introduction of the magazine-fed AK-47 assault rifle, though it remained in service for many years in Soviet Bloc nations alongside

21896-616: The outside, making it difficult (or even impossible) to fire the gun in rainy or humid conditions as wet gunpowder burns poorly. After Edward Charles Howard discovered fulminates in 1800 and the patent by Reverend Alexander John Forsyth expired in 1807, Joseph Manton invented the precursor percussion cap in 1814, which was further developed in 1822 by the English-born American artist Joshua Shaw , and caplock fowling pieces appeared in Regency era England. These guns used

22057-405: The presence of a feed mechanism in a magazine, typically a spring-loaded follower, which a clip lacks. A magazine has four parts as follows: a spring, a spring follower, a body and a base. A clip may be made of one continuous piece of stamped metal and have no moving parts. Examples of clips are moon clips for revolvers; "stripper" clips such as what is used for military 5.56 ammo, in association with

22218-450: The projectile is the effector component of the cartridge, and is actually responsible for reaching, impacting, and exerting damage onto a target. The word "projectile" is an umbrella term that describes any type of kinetic object launched into ballistic flight , but due to the ubiquity of rifled firearms shooting bullets, the term has become somewhat a technical synonym for bullets among handloaders . The projectile's motion in flight

22379-459: The reliability of feeding the weapon. The hopper magazine is a very unusual design. Unlike many other types of magazine-fed machine guns, which commonly used either box magazines or belts to feed ammunition into the firearm's action, the hopper magazine functioned differently. It would use stripper clips from an infantryman or machine gunner to supply ammunition for the machine gun to operate. This could be accomplished at any time, by just dropping

22540-448: The reloading procedure and paved the way for semi- and full-automatic firearms. However, this big leap forward came at a price: it introduced an extra component into each round – the cartridge case – which had to be removed before the gun could be reloaded. While a flintlock, for example, is immediately ready to reload once it has been fired, adopting brass cartridge cases brought in the problems of extraction and ejection. The mechanism of

22701-532: The rifle ready to be quickly reloaded. The M14 rifle , which was based on incremental changes to the Garand action, switched to a detachable box magazine. However, the M14 with magazine attached could also be loaded via 5-round stripper-clips. The Soviet SKS carbine, which entered service in 1945, was something of a stopgap between the semi-automatic service rifles being developed in the period leading up to World War II, and

22862-467: The rounds side-by-side, rather than end-to-end. Like most rotary magazines, it was loaded through a loading gate one round at a time, this one located on the side of the receiver. While reliable, the Krag–Jørgensen's magazine was expensive to produce and slow to reload. It was adopted by only three countries, Denmark in 1889, the United States in 1892, and Norway in 1894. A clip (called a charger in

23023-449: The same time as Schmeisser's Cone. As World War II loomed, most of the world's major powers began to develop submachine guns fed by 20- to 40-round detachable box magazines. However, of the major powers, only the United States would adopt a general-issue semi-automatic rifle that used detachable box magazines: the M1 carbine with its 15-round magazines. As the war progressed the Germans developed

23184-428: The shooter to manually load each individual round as he fired, saving the rounds in the magazine for short periods of rapid fire when ordered to use them. Most military authorities that specified them assumed that their riflemen would waste ammunition indiscriminately if allowed to load from the magazine all the time. By the mid-20th century, most manufacturers deleted this feature to save costs and manufacturing time; it

23345-459: The title character of Edward M. Erdelac's Judeocentric Lovecraftian weird west series Merkabah Rider , carries a Volcanic pistol inlaid with gold and silver and bearing various Solomonic talismans and wards, including a jeweled Tree of Sephiroth on the handle. It also features as one of the weapon cards in the Spaghetti Western -themed card game Bang! . In the 2005 videogame “ Gun ”,

23506-403: The tooth bar of the sprocket, which is mounted on a spindle parallel to the bore axis and rotates each round sequentially into the feeding position. Rotary magazines may be fixed or detachable, and are usually of low capacity, generally 5 to 10 rounds, depending on the caliber used. John Smith patented a rotary magazine in 1856. Another rotary magazine was produced by Sylvester Roper in 1866 and

23667-504: The top which can simplify the design of the pistol frame with regards to grip thickness. The FN P90 , Kel-Tec P50 , and AR-57 personal defense weapons use horizontally mounted feeding systems. The magazine sits parallel to the barrel, fitting flush with the top of the receiver, and the ammunition is rotated 90 degrees by a spiral feed ramp before being chambered. The Heckler & Koch G11 , an experimental assault rifle that implements caseless ammunition , also functions similarly with

23828-442: The use of metal cartridges. The development by Smith & Wesson (among many others) of revolver handguns that used metal cartridges helped establish cartridge firearms as the standard in the United States by the late 1860s and early 1870s, although many continue to use percussion revolvers well after that. Most of the early all-metallic cartridges were of the pinfire and rimfire types. The first centerfire metallic cartridge

23989-482: The user depresses the slide stop, throwing the slide forward, stripping a round from the top of the magazine stack and chambering it. In single-action pistols this action keeps the hammer cocked back as the new round is chambered, keeping the gun ready to begin firing again. During World War One, detachable box magazines found favor, being used in all manner of firearms, such as pistols, light-machine guns, submachine guns, semi-automatic and automatic rifles. However, after

24150-458: The vertical motion of the cartridges out of the magazine but allow one cartridge at a time to be pushed forward (stripped) out of the feed lips by the firearm's bolt into the chamber. Some form of spring and follower combination is almost always used to feed cartridges to the lips which can be located either in the magazine (most removable box magazines) or built into the firearm (fixed box magazines). There are also two distinct styles to feed lips. In

24311-534: Was also used in the weapons by Anton Spitalsky and the Savage Model 1892 . Otto Schönauer first patented a spool magazine in 1886 and his later design, patented in 1900, was used on bolt-action rifles produced at least until 1979, among them Mannlicher–Schönauer adopted by the Greek Army in 1903. The M1941 Johnson rifle also uses a rotary magazine. The design is still used in some modern firearms, most notably

24472-439: Was designed with a series of mechanical teeth activated by a cam track on the gas piston to pull cartridges off each clip and into the action. After the fifth and final round from each stripper clip was fed and fired, the empty clip would then fall out the bottom of the hopper magazine and the next fully loaded stripper clip would then be dropped into place for feeding. There is a spring-loaded follower that applied pressure on top of

24633-415: Was fed by a special eight-round en bloc clip. The clip itself was inserted into the rifle's magazine during loading, where it was locked in place. The rounds were fed directly from the clip, with a spring-loaded follower in the rifle pushing the rounds up into feeding position. When empty, the bolt would lock open, and a spring would automatically eject the empty clip with a distinctive pinging sound, leaving

24794-404: Was gradually developed, and used, first in a steel cap, and then in a copper cap, by various gunmakers and private individuals before coming into general military use nearly thirty years later. The alteration of the military flint-lock to the percussion musket was easily accomplished by replacing the powder pan with a perforated nipple and by replacing the cock or hammer that held the flint with

24955-419: Was invented by Jean Samuel Pauly in the first decades of the 19th century. However, although it was the first cartridge to use a form of obturation , a feature integral to a successful breech-loading cartridge, Pauly died before it was converted to percussion cap ignition. Frenchman Louis-Nicolas Flobert invented the first rimfire metallic cartridge in 1845. His cartridge consisted of a percussion cap with

25116-540: Was one of the first firearms to use self-contained metallic cartridges . The Henry was introduced in 1860 and was in production until 1866 in the United States by the New Haven Arms Company . It was adopted in small quantities by the Union Army in the American Civil War and was favored for its greater firepower than the standard issue carbine . Many later found their way Westward and was famed both for its use at

25277-599: Was originally a single-shot action that added a tubular magazine in its 1884 update. The Norwegian Jarmann M1884 was adopted in 1884 and also used a tubular magazine. The French Lebel Model 1886 rifle also used 8-round tubular magazine. Tubular magazines remain common on many makes and models of shotgun. The military cartridge was evolving as the magazine rifle evolved. Cartridges evolved from large-bore cartridges (.40 caliber/10 mm and larger) to smaller bores that fired lighter, higher-velocity bullets and incorporated new smokeless propellants . The Lebel Model 1886 rifle

25438-505: Was patented in 1908 by Arthur Savage for the Savage Model 99 (1899), although it was not implemented on the 99 until 1965. James Paris Lee’s patent of November 4, 1879, Number 221,328 would have been before Arthur Savage's magazine. Lee's magazine was also used on the Remington Lee model 1899 factory sporting rifle. Other guns did not adopt all of its features until his patent expired in 1942: It has shoulders to retain cartridges when it

25599-416: Was rammed down the barrel, providing charge and wadding. Later developments rendered this method of priming unnecessary, as, in loading, a portion of the charge of powder passed from the barrel through the vent into the pan, where it was held by the cover and hammer. The next important advance in the method of ignition was the introduction of the copper percussion cap . This was only generally applied to

25760-472: Was the first rifle and cartridge to be designed for use with smokeless powder and used an 8 mm wadcutter -shaped bullet that was drawn from a tubular magazine. This would later become a problem when the Lebel's ammunition was updated to use a more aerodynamic pointed bullet. Modifications had to be made to the centerfire case to prevent the spitzer point from igniting the primer of the next cartridge inline in

25921-402: Was the usual side arm for German Army personnel in both World Wars . The M1911 semi-automatic pistol set the standard for most modern handguns and likewise the mechanics of the handgun magazine. In most handguns the magazine follower engages a slide-stop to hold the slide back and keep the firearm out of battery when the magazine is empty and all rounds fired. Upon inserting a loaded magazine,

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