Ballistics

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For other uses, see Ballistics (disambiguation).

Ballistics (gr. βάλλειν ('ba'llein'), "throw") is the science of mechanics that deals with the
flight, behavior, and effects of projectiles, especially bullets, gravity bombs, rockets, or
the like; the science or art of designing and accelerating projectiles so as to achieve a
desired performance.

A ballistic body is a body which is free to move, behave, and be modified in appearance,
contour, or texture by ambient conditions, substances, or forces, as by the pressure of
gases in a gun, by rifling in a barrel, by gravity, by temperature, or by air particles. A
ballistic missile is a missile only guided during the relatively brief initial powered phase
of flight and its course is subsequently governed by the laws of classical mechanics.

In the field of forensic science, forensic ballistics is the science of analyzing firearm
usage in crimes.

[edit] Gun ballistics

Gun ballistics is the study of projectiles from the time of shooting to the time of impact
with the target. Gun ballistics is often broken down into the following four categories,
which contain detailed information on each category:[1]

• Internal ballistics, the study of the processes originally accelerating the

projectile, for example the passage of a bullet through the barrel of a rifle;
• Transition ballistics, (sometimes called intermediate ballistics) the study of the
projectile's behavior when it leaves the barrel and the pressure behind the
projectile is equalized.
• External ballistics, the study of the passage of the projectile through space or the
air; and
• Terminal ballistics, the study of the interaction of a projectile with its target,
whether that be flesh (for a hunting bullet), steel (for an anti-tank round), or even
furnace slag (for an industrial slag disruptor).

[edit] Forensic ballistics

A forensic ballistics experiment

Forensic ballistics involves analysis of bullets and bullet impacts to determine the type.
Separately from ballistics information, firearm and tool mark examinations involve
analysing firearm, ammunition, and tool mark evidence in order to establish whether a
certain firearm or tool was used in the commission of a crime.

Rifling, which first made an appearance in the 15th century, is the process of making
grooves in gun barrels that imparts a spin to the projectile for increased accuracy and
range. Bullets fired from rifled weapons acquire a distinct signature of grooves, scratches,
and indentations which are of value for matching a fired projectile to a firearm.

The first firearms evidence identification can be traced back to England in 1835 when the
unique markings on a bullet taken from a victim were matched with a bullet mold
belonging to the suspect. When confronted with the damning evidence, the suspect
confessed to the crime.

The first court case involving firearms evidence took place in 1902 when a specific gun
was proven to be the murder weapon. The expert in the case, Oliver Wendell Holmes, had
read about firearm identification, and had a gunsmith test-fire the alleged murder weapon
into a wad of cotton wool. A magnifying glass was used to match the bullet from the
victim with the test bullet.

Calvin Goddard, physician and ex-army officer, acquired data from all known gun
manufacturers in order to develop a comprehensive database. With his partner, Charles
Waite, he catalogued the results of test-firings from every type of handgun made by 12
manufacturers. Waite also invented the comparison microscope. With this instrument, two
bullets could be laid adjacent to one another for comparative examination.

In 1925 Goddard wrote an article for the Army Ordnance titled "Forensic Ballistics" in
which he described the use of the comparison microscope regarding firearms
investigations. He is generally credited with the conception of the term "forensic
ballistics," though he later admitted it to be an inadequate name for the science.

In 1929 the St. Valentine's Day Massacre led to the opening of the first independent
scientific crime

Ballistic conduction is the unimpeded flow of charge or energy carrying particles over
relatively high distances in a material. Normally, transport of electrons (or holes) is
dominated by scattering events, which relax the carrier momentum in an effort to bring
the conducting material to equilibrium. Thus, ballistic transport in a material is
determined by how ballistically conductive that material is. Ballistic conduction differs
from superconductivity due to the absence of the Meissner effect in the material. A
ballistic conductor would stop conducting if the driving force is turned off, whereas in a
superconductor current would continue to flow after the driving supply is disconnected.

Ballistic conduction is typically observed in quasi-1D structures, such as carbon

nanotubes or silicon nanowires, because of extreme size quantization effects in these
materials. Ballistic conduction is not limited to electrons (or holes) but can also apply to
phonons. It is theoretically possible for ballistic conduction to be extended to other quasi-
particles, but this has not been experimentally verified.

Bullet
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This article is about firearms projectiles. For other uses, see Bullet (disambiguation).

Lead soft-point, boat-tailed, copper-jacketed bullets

A bullet is a hard projectile propelled by a firearm, sling, or air gun and is normally made
from metal. A bullet does not contain explosives, but damages the intended target by
tissue or mechanical disruption through impact or penetration. The word "bullet" is
sometimes erroneously used to refer to a cartridge, which is the combination of bullet,
casing (case or shell), gunpowder and primer. See ammunition. The Oxford English
Dictionary definition of a bullet is "a projectile of lead ... for firing from a rifle, revolver
etc." [1] However, bullets for air guns are not part of a cartridge

History

Lead sling bullets with a winged thunderbolt engraved on one side and the inscription
"take that" on the other side. 4th century BC. From Athens.
Matchlock musket balls, alleged to have been discovered at Naseby battlefield. From the
collection of Northampton Museum and Art Gallery.

The history of bullets far pre-dates the history of firearms. Originally, bullets were
metallic or stone balls used in a sling as a weapon and for hunting.

Eventually as firearms were developed these same items were placed in front of an
explosive charge of gun powder at the end of a closed tube. As firearms became more
technologically advanced, from 1500 to 1800, bullets changed very little. They remained
simple round (spherical) lead balls, called rounds, differing only in their diameter

The development of the hand culverin and matchlock arquebus brought about the use of
cast lead balls as projectiles. "Bullet" is derived from the French word "boulette" which
roughly means "little ball". The original musket bullet was a spherical lead ball two sizes
smaller than the bore, wrapped in a loosely-fitted paper patch which served to hold the
bullet in the barrel firmly upon the powder. (Bullets that were not firmly upon the powder
upon firing risked causing the barrel to explode, with the condition known as a "short
start".) The loading of muskets was, therefore, easy with the old smooth-bore Brown Bess
and similar military muskets. The original muzzle-loading rifle, on the other hand, with a
more closely fitting ball to take the rifling grooves, was loaded with difficulty,
particularly when the bore of the barrel was dirty from previous firings ("fouled"). For
this reason, early rifles were not generally used for military purposes. Early rifle bullets
required cloth or leather patches to grip the rifling grooves, and to hold the bullet securely
against the powder.

The first half of the nineteenth century saw a distinct change in the shape and function of
the bullet. In 1826, Delirque, a French infantry officer, invented a breech with abrupt
shoulders on which a spherical bullet was rammed down until it caught the rifling
grooves. Delirque's method, however, deformed the bullet and was inaccurate.

[edit] Pointed bullets

Among the first pointed or "conical" bullets were those designed by Captain John Norton
of the British Army in 1823. Norton's bullet had a hollow base which expanded under
pressure to engage with a barrel's "rifling" (internal grooves) at the moment of being
fired; the British Board of Ordnance rejected it because spherical bullets had been in use
for the last 300 years.

Renowned English gunsmith William Greener invented the Greener bullet in 1836. It was
very similar to Norton's bullet except that the hollow base of the bullet was fitted with a
wooden plug which more reliably forced the base of the bullet to expand and catch the
rifling. Tests proved that Greener's bullet was extremely effective but it too was rejected
for military use because, being two parts, it was judged as being too complicated to
produce.
Minié ball ammunition

The soft lead bullet that came to be known as the Minié ball, (or minnie ball) was first
introduced in 1847 by Claude Étienne Minié (1814? - 1879), a captain in the French
Army. It was nearly identical to the Greener bullet. As designed by Minié, the bullet was
conical in shape with a hollow cavity in the rear, which was fitted with a little iron cap
instead of a wooden plug. When fired, the iron cap would force itself into the hollow
cavity at the rear of the bullet, thereby expanding the sides of the bullet to grip and
engage the rifling. In 1855, the British adopted the Minié ball for their Enfield rifles.

It was in the American Civil War, however, that the Minié ball first saw widespread use.
Roughly 90% of the battlefield casualties in this war were caused by Minié balls fired
from rifles.

Between 1854 and 1857, Sir Joseph Whitworth conducted a long series of rifle
experiments, and proved, among other points, the advantages of a smaller bore and, in
particular, of an elongated bullet. The Whitworth bullet was made to fit the grooves of the
rifle mechanically. The Whitworth rifle was never adopted by the government, although it
was used extensively for match purposes and target practice between 1857 and 1866,
when it was gradually superseded by Metford's.

About 1862 and later, W. E. Metford had carried out an exhaustive series of experiments
on bullets and rifling, and had invented the important system of light rifling with
increasing spiral, and a hardened bullet. The combined result of the above inventions was
that in December 1888 the Lee-Metford small-bore (0.303", 7.70 mm) rifle, Mark I,
(photo of cartridge on right) was finally adopted for the British army. The Lee-Metford
was the predecessor of the Lee-Enfield.

[edit] The modern bullet

.270 ammunition. Left to Right:
100-grain (6.5 g) - Hollow Point
115-grain (7.5 g) - FMJBT
130-grain (8.4 g) - Soft point,
150-grain (9.7 g) - round nose.

.303 inch (7.7 mm) centrefire, FMJ rimmed ammunition

The next important change in the history of the rifle bullet occurred in 1883, when Major
Rubin, director of the Swiss Laboratory at Thun, invented the copper jacketed bullet; an
elongated bullet with a lead core in a copper envelope or jacket.

The copper jacketed bullet allows much higher muzzle velocities than lead alone, as
copper has a much higher melting point, greater specific heat capacity, and is harder.
Lead bullets fired at high velocity may suffer surface melting due to hot gases behind and
friction with the bore.

European advances in aerodynamics led to the pointed spitzer bullet. By the beginning of
the twentieth century, most world armies had begun to transition to spitzer bullets. These
bullets flew for greater distances more accurately and carried more energy with them.
Spitzer bullets combined with machine guns increased the lethality of the battlefield
drastically.

The final advancement in bullet shape occurred with the development of the boat tail
which is a streamlined base for spitzer bullets. A vacuum is created when air strata
moving at high speed passes over the end of a bullet. The streamlined boat tail design
aims to eliminate this drag-inducing vacuum by allowing the air to flow alongside the
surface of the tapering end, thus eliminating the need for air to turn around the 90-degree
angle normally formed by the end of shaped bullets. The resulting aerodynamic
advantage is currently seen as the optimum shape for rifle technology. The spitzer boat-
tailed bullet ( Balle "D" ) was first introduced as standard ammunition in a military rifle
in 1901, for the French Lebel Mle 1886 service weapon.

[edit] Design
A modern cartridge consists of the following:
1. the bullet itself, which serves as the projectile;
2. the case, which holds all parts together;
3. the propellant, for example gunpowder or cordite;
4. the rim, part of the casing used for loading;
5. the primer, which ignites the propellant.

Bullet designs have to solve two primary problems. They must first form a seal with the
gun's bore. The worse the seal, the more gas, generated by the rapid combustion of the
propellant charge, leaks past the bullet, reducing the efficiency. The bullet must also
engage the rifling without damaging the gun's bore. Bullets must have a surface which
will form this seal without causing excessive friction. What happens to a bullet inside the
bore is termed internal ballistics. A bullet must also be consistent with the next bullet so
that shots may be fired precisely.

Once it leaves the barrel, it is governed by external ballistics. Here, the bullet's shape is
important for aerodynamics, as is the rotation imparted by the rifling. Rotational forces
stabilize the bullet gyroscopically as well as aerodynamically. Any asymmetry in the
bullet is largely cancelled as it spins. With smooth-bore firearms, a spherical shape was
optimum because no matter how it was oriented, it presented a uniform front. These
unstable bullets tumbled erratically, but the aerodynamic shape changed little giving
moderate accuracy. Generally, bullet shapes are a compromise between aerodynamics,
interior ballistics necessities, and terminal ballistics requirements. Another method of
stabilization is for the center of mass of the bullet to be as far forward as practical as in
the minnie ball or the shuttlecock. This allows the bullet to fly front-forward by means of
aerodynamics.

See Terminal ballistics and/or Stopping power for an overview of how bullet design
affects what happens when a bullet hits something, and how this is affected by its design.
What happens to the bullet is dictated as much by what it hits and how it hits, as by the
bullet itself (just like how its interaction with air was critical in external ballistics).
Bullets are generally designed to penetrate, deform, and/or break apart. For a given
material and bullet, which of these happens is determined especially by the strike
velocity.

Actual bullet shapes are many and varied, and an array of them can be found in any
reloading manual that sells bullet moulds. RCBS, one of many makers, offers many
different designs, starting with the basic round ball. With a mould, bullets can be made at
home for reloading one's own ammunition, where local laws allow. Hand-casting,
however, is only time- and cost-effective for solid lead bullets. Cast and jacketed bullets
are also commercially available from numerous manufacturers for hand loading and are
much more convenient than casting bullets from bulk lead.

[edit] Materials
Bullets for black powder, or muzzle loading firearms, were classically molded from pure
lead. This worked well for low speed bullets, fired at velocities of less than 300 m/s
(1000 ft/s). For slightly higher speed bullets fired in modern firearms, a harder alloy of
lead and tin or typesetter's lead (used to mold Linotype) works very well. For even higher
speed bullet use, jacketed coated lead bullets are used. The common element in all of
these, lead, is widely used because it is very dense, thereby providing a high amount of
mass — and thus, kinetic energy — for a given volume). Lead is also cheap, easy to
obtain, easy to work, and melts at a low temperature, making it easy to use in fabricating
bullets.

• Lead: Simple cast, extruded, swaged, or otherwise fabricated lead slugs are the
simplest form of bullets. At speeds of greater than 300 m/s (1000 ft/s) (common in
most handguns), lead is deposited in rifled bores at an ever-increasing rate.
Alloying the lead with a small percentage of tin and/or antimony serves to reduce
this effect, but grows less effective as velocities are increased. A cup made of
harder metal, such as copper, placed at the base of the bullet and called a gas
check, is often used to decrease lead deposits by protecting the rear of the bullet
against melting when fired at higher pressures, but this too does not solve the
problem at higher velocities.

• Jacketed Lead: Bullets intended for even higher-velocity applications generally

have a lead core that is jacketed or plated with cupronickel, copper alloys, or
steel; a thin layer of harder metal protects the softer lead core when the bullet is
passing through the barrel and during flight, which allows delivering the bullet
intact to the target. There, the heavy lead core delivers its kinetic energy to the
target. Full metal jacket bullets or Ball bullet have the front and sides of the bullet
completely encased in the harder metal jacket. Some bullet jackets do not extend
to the front of the bullet to aid in expansion and increase lethality. These are
called soft points or hollow point bullets. Steel bullets are often plated with
copper or other metals for additional corrosion resistance during long periods of
storage. Synthetic jacket materials such as nylon and Teflon have been used with
limited success.

• Armor Piercing: Jacketed designs where the core material is a very hard, high-
density metal such as tungsten, tungsten carbide, depleted uranium, or steel. A
pointed tip is often used, but a flat tip on the penetrator portion is generally more
effective.[2]

• Tracer: These have a hollow back, filled with a flare material. Usually this is a
mixture of magnesium perchlorate, and strontium salts to yield a bright red color,
although other materials providing other colors have also sometimes been used.
Tracer material burns out after a certain amount of time. Such ammunition is
useful to the shooter as a means of verifying how close the point of aim is to the
actual point of impact, and for learning how to point shoot moving targets with
rifles. This type of round is also used by all branches of the United States military
in combat environments as a signaling device to friendly forces. Normally it is
 loaded at a four to one ratio with ball ammunition and is intended to show where
you are firing so friendly forces can engage the target as well. The flight
characteristics of tracer rounds differ from normal bullets, decreasing in altitude
sooner than other bullets, because of increased aerodynamic drag.

• Incendiary: These bullets are made with an explosive or flammable mixture in the
tip that is designed to ignite on contact with a target. The intent is to ignite fuel or
munitions in the target area, thereby adding to the destructive power of the bullet
itself.

• Frangible: Designed to disintegrate into tiny particles upon impact to minimize

their penetration for reasons of range safety, to limit environmental impact, or to
limit the shoot-through danger behind the intended target. An example is the
Glaser Safety Slug.

• Non Toxic: Bismuth, tungsten, steel, and other exotic bullet alloys prevent release
of toxic lead into the environment. Regulations in several countries mandate the
use of non-toxic projectiles especially when hunting waterfowl. It has been found
that birds swallow small lead shot for their gizzards to grind food (as they would
swallow pebbles of similar size), and the effects of lead poisoning by constant
grinding of lead pellets against food means lead poisoning effects are magnified.
Such concerns apply primarily to shotguns, firing pellets (shot) and not bullets,
but reduction of hazardous substances (RoHS) legislation has also been applied to
bullets on occasion to reduce the impact of lead on the environment at shooting
ranges.

• Practice: Made from lightweight materials like rubber, Wax, wood, plastic, or
lightweight metal, practice bullets are intended for short-range target work, only.
Because of their weight and low velocity, they have limited range.

• Less Lethal, or Less than Lethal: Rubber bullets, plastic bullets, and beanbags are
designed to be non-lethal, for example for use in riot control. They are generally
low velocity and are fired from shotguns, grenade launchers, paint ball guns, or
specially-designed firearms and air gun devices.

• Blanks: Wax, paper, plastic, and other materials are used to simulate live gunfire
and are intended only to hold the powder in a blank cartridge and to produce
noise. The 'bullet' may be captured in a purpose-designed device or it may be
allowed to expend what little energy it has in the air. Some blank cartridges are
crimped or closed at the end and do not contain any bullet.

• Blended-Metal: Bullets made using cores made powdered metals other than lead
with binder. Sometimes sintered.

• Exploding: Similar to the incendiary bullet, this type of projectile is designed to

explode upon hitting a hard surface, preferably the bone of the intended target.Not
 to be mistaken for cannon rounds or grenade with fuze devices, these bullets have
only a cavity filled with a small amount of low explosive depending on the
velocity and deformation upon impact to detonate. Usually produced for hunting
airguns with the intent of increasing the bullets effectiveness.

[edit] Treaties
The Hague Convention prohibits certain kinds of ammunition for use by uniformed
military personnel against the uniformed military personnel of opposing forces. These
include projectiles which explode within an individual, poisoned and expanding bullets.
Nothing in these treaties prohibits incendiary bullets (tracers) or the use of prohibited
bullets on military equipment.

These treaties apply even to .22 LR bullets used in pistols, rifles and machine guns.
Hence, the High Standard HDM pistol, a .22 LR suppressed pistol, had special bullets
developed for it during World War II that were full metal jacketed, in place of the hollow-
point bullets that are more commonly used in .22 LR pistols.

[edit] Bullet abbreviations

ACC – Remington
Accelerator [3] (see
sabot)
AP – Armor Piercing
(has a steel or other
hard metal core)
BBWC – Bevel Base
Wadcutter
BEB – Brass Enclosed
Base
Blitz – Sierra BlitzKing
Bt – Boat-tail
BtHP – Boat-tail
Hollow Point
CB – Cast Bullet
CL, C-L – Remington
Core-Lokt
DEWC – Double
Ended Wadcutter
EVO, FTX – Hornady
LEVERevolution® Flex
Tip® eXpanding
FMJ – Full Metal
Jacket
FMC – Full Metal Case
FN – Flat Nose
FP – Flat Point
FST – Winchester Fail
JHC – Jacketed Hollow
Cavity
JHP – Jacketed Hollow
Point
JHP/sabot – Jacketed
Hollow Point/sabot
JSP – Jacketed Soft
Point
L – Lead
L-C – Lead Combat
L-T – Lead Target
LFN – Long Flat Nose
LFP – Lead Flat Point
LHP – Lead Hollow
Point
LRN – Lead Round
Nose
LSWC – Lead
Semiwadcutter
LSWC-GC – Lead
Semiwadcutter Gas
Checked
LWC – Lead Wadcutter
LTC – Lead Truncated
Cone
MC – Metal Cased
MHP – Match Hollow
Point
RNFP – Round Nose
Flat Point
RNL – Round Nosed
Lead
SJ – Semi-Jacketed
SJHP – Semi-Jacketed
Hollow Point
SJSP – Semi-Jacketed
Soft Point
SP – Soft Point
SP – Spire Point
Sp,SPTZ – Spitzer
SpHP – Spitzer Hollow
Point
SST – Hornady Super
Shock Tip
SSp – Semi-Spitzer
ST – Silver Tip
STHP – Silver Tip
Hollow Point
SWC – Semiwadcutter
SX – Super Explosive
SXT – Winchester
Ranger Supreme
Expansion Technology
TC – Truncated Cone
TMJ – Total Metal
Jacket
 Safe Talon MK – Sierra TNT – Speer TNT
GC – Gas Check MatchKing VMAX – Hornady V-
GD – Speer Gold Dot MRWC – Mid-Range Max
GDHP – Speer Gold Wadcutter VLD – Very Low Drag
Dot Hollow Point NP – Nosler Partition WC – Wadcutter
GS – Remington OTM – Open Tip WFN – Wide Flat Nose
Golden Saber Match WFNGC – Wide Flat
HBWC – Hollow Base OWC – Ogival Nose Gas Check
Wadcutter Wadcutter [4] WLN – Wide Long
HC – Hard Cast PB – Lead Bullet Nose
HP – Hollow Point PB – Parabellum X – Barnes X-Bullet
HPJ – High PL – Remington XTP – Hornady
Performance Jacketed Power-Lokt Extreme Terminal
HS – Federal Hydra- PSP – Plated Soft Point Performance
Shok PSP, PTDSP – Pointed
HST – Federal Hi-Shok Soft Point
Two RN – Round Nose
J – Jacketed
JFP – Jacketed Flat
Point

Cartridge (firearms)
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(Redirected from Cartridge (weaponry))

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From left: .50 BMG, .300 Win Mag, .308 Winchester, 7.62x39mm, 5.56x45mm NATO,
.22LR.

A cartridge, also called a round, packages the bullet, gunpowder and primer into a
single metallic case precisely made to fit the firing chamber of a firearm. The primer is a
small charge of impact-sensitive chemical that may be located at the center of the case
head (centerfire ammunition) or at its rim (rimfire ammunition). Electrically-fired
cartridges have also been made. Caseless ammunition has been made as well. A cartridge
without a bullet is called a blank; one that is completely inert is called a dummy

Design

.30-06 Springfield cartridge specifications. This is a rimless cartridge case. Measurements

are in inches.

The cartridge case seals a firing chamber in all directions except down the bore. A firing
pin strikes the primer, igniting it. The spark from the primer ignites the powder. Burning
gases from the powder expand the case to seal against the chamber wall. The projectile is
then pushed in the direction that releases this pressure, down the barrel. After the
projectile leaves the barrel the pressure is released, allowing the cartridge case to be
removed from the chamber.

An M4 Carbine, with an ejected case visible in mid-air.

Various cases of assorted common calibers.

Aluminum .44 caliber cases.

Automatic and semiautomatic firearms, which extract and eject the case automatically as
a part of their operation, sometimes damage the case in the process of ejection. Brass is a
commonly used material, as it is resistant to corrosion and ductile enough to be reformed
and reloaded several times. However, some low-quality "plinking" ammunition, as well
as some military ammunition (mainly from the former Soviet Union and China) is made
with steel cases because steel is less expensive than brass. As militaries typically consider
small arms cartridge cases to be a disposable, one-time-use affair, the lack of ductility is
inconsequential for this application, although the mass of the case affects how much
ammunition a soldier can carry. Some ammunition is also made with aluminum cases (see
picture).

Critical specifications include caliber, bullet weight, expected velocity, maximum

pressure, headspace, overall length and primer type. A minor deviation in many of these
specifications could result in damage to the firearm, and in extreme cases injury or death
of the user. The diameter of a bullet is measured either as a decimal fraction of an inch, or
in millimeters. The length of a cartridge case may also be designated in millimeters.

Where two numbers are together, the second number can contain a variety of meanings.
Frequently the first is the diameter (caliber) of the cartridge, and the second is the length
of the cartridge case. For example, the 7.62 x 51 mm uses a bore diameter of 7.62 mm
and has an overall case length of 51 mm. In the case of old black powder cartridges, the
second number typically refers to the powder charge. For example, the .50-90 Sharps is a
.50 caliber bullet (.512) with a nominal charge of 90 grains (5.8 g) of black powder with a
case length of 2.50 inches (64 mm).

One should be aware that cartridge nomenclature is inconsistent and unhelpful when
trying to determine dimensions, tolerances or indeed almost any other characteristic of a
given round. The .38 Special actually has a bullet diameter of 0.357 inches (9.1 mm)
(jacketed) or 0.358 inches (9.1 mm) (lead) while the case has a diameter of 0.380 inches
(9.7 mm). The .357 Magnum is a direct evolution of the .38 special, but differently
named, and no reference is made to the longer case. The .30-06 rifle round is a
(nominally) 0.3 inches (7.6 mm) caliber round designed in 1906; and the .303 British
round may vary wildly in actual dimensions (as do the surviving rifle chambers of its
era).

Most high-powered guns have relatively small bullets moving at high speeds. This is
because while bullet energy increases in direct proportion to bullet weight, it increases in
proportion to the square of bullet velocity. Therefore, a bullet going twice as fast has four
times the energy (see physics of firearms). Bullet speeds are now limited by starting bore
pressures, which in turn are limited by the strength of materials and the weight of gun
people are willing to carry. Larger cartridges have more powder, and usually higher
velocities.
Of the hundreds of different designs and developments that have occurred, essentially
only two basic cartridge designs remain. All current firearms are either rimfire or
centerfire. US military small arms suppliers are still trying to perfect electronic firing,
which replaces the conventional firing pin and primer with an electrical ignition system
wherein an electrical charge ignites the primer.

[edit] Centerfire

Rimmed, centerfire .303 cartridge from WW II. Manufactured by Colonial Ammunition

Company, New Zealand.
Main article: Centerfire ammunition

A centerfire cartridge has a centrally located primer, which in most US made

ammunition, and in some (chiefly premium hunting and match ammunition)
manufactured in other countries, can be replaced, so that the expensive brass cartridge
case can be reused. Such a cartridge is said to be Boxer primed. Most European and
Asian military ammunition uses a non-replaceable Berdan primer, which prevents the
easy reuse of the case, because the anvil of the primer is an integral part of the case and
can be deformed by firing. With care, it can be reloaded. An irregular fighter might more
simply reload a Berdan-primed cartridge, since the new "primer" can be as simple as a bit
of tin can and a match head, without the multi-stage process required for making a Boxer
primer. US military ammunition is Boxer primed.

[edit] Rimfire

Main article: Rimfire ammunition

Rimfire cartridges, of which only the popular .22 LR remains in common use, were a
popular solution before the centerfire design was fully perfected. They can only be used
for fairly low powered cartridges, as the case has to be soft enough to be deformed by the
firing pin, which detonates the priming compound in the rim. In the past, 9 mm cartridges
were available, as well as .177, .25, etc. cartridges. BB and CB caps were common, as
well as .22 Short and .22 Long.

Today, .22 LR (Long Rifle)accounts for much of rimfire ammunition shot. Recently, a .17
HMR (nominally .172 caliber) rimfire cartridge was released, and has become extremely
popular among target shooters as well as small game hunters, due to its high velocity and
flat shooting characteristics. .22 LR rounds normally use a soft lead bullet, and can be
supersonic or subsonic. They are often copper-washed both for toxicity reasons and to
prevent barrel fouling. .22 Magnum cartridges typically contain copper jacketed lead
projectiles. The newer .17 rounds all feature bullets similar in construction to those found
in centerfire cartridges, such as copper jacketed lead.

[edit] Semi-automatic vs. Revolver Cartridges

Nearly every semi-automatic pistol cartridge is "rimless", or more explicitly has an inset
rim that the extractor engages. Revolver cartridges, on the other hand, have a rim at the
base of the case which seats into the cylinder block to keep the cartridge from moving too
far forward in the cylinder. Certain exceptions apply, namely for .45 caliber rimless
cartridges that are held in place at the inset with a half-moon clip, which keeps the
otherwise flush bullets held within contact distance of the firing pin. For a visual
comparison of similar-sized cartridges with different rims, see .380 ACP (semi-
automatic) vs. .38 Special (revolver.)

[edit] Cartridges in use

See also table of pistol and rifle cartridges by year

There is great variety in the length and diameter of cartridges for the different kinds and
calibers of rifles and pistols. The best cartridge for different purposes is subject to much
discussion. However, there are standard uses for certain calibers, and these are a reliable
guide to recommended uses.

It is important to note that equivalent caliber is by no means equivalent power. Generally

speaking, "stopping power" is determined by the weight of the bullet, the terminal
ballistics of the bullet – does it stay straight and in one piece, tumble, or "mushroom" on
impact – and the charge of gunpowder accelerating it.

The following list samples only a few very well-known cartridges; for a complete list, see
table of pistol and rifle cartridges by year. The list is roughly ordered by cartridge length.

[edit] Jacketing Of Cartridges' Bullets

A cutaway showing a Japanese Navy 7.7 mm rimed 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

• RNL - Round Nose Lead - An unjacketed lead bullet. Although largely supplanted
by jacketed ammunition, is still common for older revolver cartridges.

• FNL - Flat Nose Lead - Similar to the above, with a flattened nose. Common in
Cowboy Action Shooting loads.

• AP - Armor Piercing - A hard bullet made from steel or tungsten alloys in a

pointed shape typically covered by a thin layer of lead and/or a copper/brass
jacket. The lead and jacket are intended to prevent barrel wear from the hard core
materials. For metallic silhouette purposes, AP is slightly worse on unarmored
targets than FMJ. This is to indicate the hard AP projectiles' tendency not to
deform or reliably tumble/yaw.

• FMJ - Full Metal Jacket - Made with a lead core surrounded by a full covering of
brass, copper, or mild steel. These have very little deformation or expansion, but
will occasionally yaw/tumble.

• JSP - Jacketed Soft Point - In the late 1800s, the Indian Army arsenal at Dum
Dum, near Calcutta, developed a variation of the FMJ design where the jacket did
not cover the nose of the bullet. The soft lead nose was found to expand in flesh
while the remaining jacket still prevented lead fouling in the barrel. For metallic
silhouette purposes, JSP is roughly splitting the difference between FMJ and JHP.
It gives more penetration than JHP but has more stopping power than the FMJ.

• JHP - Jacketed Hollow Point - Soon after the invention of the JSP, Woolwich
Arsenal in Great Britain experimented with this design even further by forming a
hole or cavity in the nose of the bullet while keeping most of the exterior profile
intact. These bullets could theoretically deform even faster and expand to a larger
diameter than the JSP.
• Glaser Safety Slug - The Glaser Safety Slug dates back to the early 1970s. The
inventor, Colonel Jack Cannon named it for his friend Armin Glaser. Over the
years, the projectiles have evolved from crude, hand-produced examples to mass-
production; however, the basic concept has remained the same: copper jackets
filled with bird shot and covered by a crimped polymer endcap. Upon impact with
flesh, the projectile fragments, with the birdshot spreading like a miniature
shotgun pattern. The standard 'Blue' Glaser uses a rather fine birdshot which only
gives 5 to 6 inches (130–150 mm) of penetration in flesh. The 'Silver' Glaser adds
another 1 to 2 inches (30–50 mm) of penetration with the use of slightly larger
birdshot. Due to the much reduced penetration in flesh, some have theorized that
the Glaser would be ideal where over-penetration of a projectile could be
hazardous to bystanders. For instance, the Glaser may be stopped by an upraised
arm. However, for the same reasons, the Glaser’s terminal performance can vary
dramatically, producing impressive successes and equally spectacular failures
depending on the angle at which the target is struck. Glancing hits on hard
surfaces will result in fragmentation, reducing the risk of ricochets. However, the
Glaser can penetrate barriers such as drywall, plywood, and thin sheet metal if
struck directly.

• The Hague Accords - The Hague Accords ban the use of expanding projectiles
against the military forces of other nations. Some countries accept this as a
blanket ban against the use of expanding projectiles against anyone, while others[1]
use JSP and HP against non-military forces such as terrorists and criminals.

• 12 gauge/70 mm shotgun ammunition. They are listed from largest to smallest,

separating the list into non-armor piercing and armor piercing types. The
capacities are based on a 70 mm length hull.

000 Buck - 8 lead pellets (0.36 in/9.1 mm)

00 Buck - 9 lead pellets (0.33 in/8.4 mm)
0 Buck - 12 lead pellets (0.32 in/8.1 mm)
1 Buck - 16 lead pellets (0.30 in/7.6 mm)
4 Buck - 27 lead pellets (0.24 in/6.1 mm)
QB 8 - 8 pellets (Armor Piercing) - Quadrangle Buck is made from a steel cylinder
cut into two layers of four pie-shaped pieces per layer. The numerous sharp edges
enhance penetration at short ranges; however, the light weight and poor ballistic
shape limits its effective range.

Flechettes - 32 flechettes - Flechettes are essentially small steel darts with tiny fins
swaged into the rear.

Slug - Slugs may be made of solid lead, copper, or a composite. Slugs are
stabilized in flight by rifling in the gun tube, by means of integral rifling, or fin-
stabilized. Solid or hollow-point slugs are available but, due to the relatively low
velocity, hollow-point slugs have relatively low expansion.
 Baton - Rubber batons. Used for training.

[edit] Calibers
Ammunition types are listed numerically.

• .22 Long Rifle or .22LR cartridge is often used for target shooting and the hunting
of small game such as squirrel, although because of its small size, self-defense
handguns chambered in .22 rimfire (despite its name, it is often fired in pistols
and revolvers in addition to rifles), though far less effective than centerfire
handguns, can be concealed in situations where a larger handgun could not. It is
the most commonly fired small arms cartridge, primarily because rimfire
ammunition is much cheaper to produce than centerfire and because the recoil
from the small .22" projectile being accelerated to relatively low velocities is very
mild.

• 9 mm can refer to a variety of pistol cartridges, but most commonly it means the
9x19mm Parabellum round. It is used in a variety of semi-automatic handguns
and submachine guns.

• .30 US Carbine - In 1940, the US Army's Ordnance Department approached

Winchester with a light rifle concept. This was to bridge the difference between
the .45 ACP and the .30-06. For the cartridge, Winchester recommended a rimless
version of their .32 Winchester Self-Loading sized down for 0.308 inches
(7.8 mm) projectiles. The resulting cartridge tossed a 110-grain (7.1 g) projectile
at nearly 2,000 feet per second (610 m/s) from a carbine-length barrel.

• .300 Whisper subsonic - Made by necking-up the .221 Remington Fireball case to
0.308 inches (7.8 mm) and using a 240-grain (16 g) Sierra MatchKing, this
cartridge will fit and feed from 5.56x45mm NATO magazines. The Whisper is
subsonic with about as much power and weight as .45 ACP, but in a thinner bullet
which dramatically increases armor penetration.

• .300 Winchester Magnum - A long range sniping round, it is favored by US Navy

SEALS and the German Bundeswehr. While not in the same class as the .338
Lapua, it has roughly the same power as 7 mm Remington Magnum, and easily
exceeds the performance of 7.62x51mm NATO.

• .308 Winchester - the commercial name of a centerfire cartridge based on the

military 7.62x51mm NATO round. Two years prior to the NATO adoption of the
7.62x51mm NATO T65 in 1954, Winchester (a subsidiary of the Olin
Corporation) branded the cartridge and introduced it to the commercial hunting
market as the .308 Winchester. Winchester's Model 70 and Model 88 rifles were
subsequently chambered for the new cartridge. Since then, the .308 Winchester
has become the most popular short-action big-game hunting cartridge worldwide.
 It is also commonly used for civilian targets, military sniping and police
sharpshooting.

• .338 Lapua (8.6x70mm or 8.58x71mm) - Originally designed as a long range

sniping cartridge to bridge the ballistic gap between the .300 Winchester Magnum
and the .50 BMG. It is a specialized rimless centerfire cartridge developed for
sniper rifles. The .338 Lapua is a dual purpose anti-personnel and anti-materiel
round for long-range shooting. In addition, with its increased popularity it is being
used by big-game hunters and long-range competition shooters.

• .338 Whisper subsonic - Made by necking-up the 7 mm Remington BenchRest

case to 0.338 inches (8.6 mm) and using a 300-grain (19 g) Sierra MatchKing,
this cartridge will fit and feed from 7.62x51mm NATO magazines.

• .357 Magnum - Using a lengthened and strengthened version of the .38 Special
case, the .357 Magnum was rapidly accepted by hunters and law enforcement. At
the time of its introduction, it was claimed to easily pierce the body panels of
automobiles and crack engine blocks.

• .357 SIG - Designed to produce .357 Magnum revolver ballistics in a self-loading

pistol, the .357 SIG is roughly a .40 S&W case necked down to 0.355 inches
(9.0 mm).

• .376 Steyr - Roughly a shortened 9.3x64mm Brenneke case necked up for

0.375 inches (9.5 mm) projectiles. The cartridge is loaded to give performance
approaching that of the .375 Holland & Holland.

• .40 S&W - Roughly a shorter cased version of the 10x25mm Norma.

• .40 S&W subsonic - Roughly a shorter cased version of the 10x25mm Norma,
this round loses about 20% of its energy when subsonic. This round is a step up in
power from the 9x19mm subsonic, and has beaten out the parent 10x25mm
subsonic in popularity.

• .408 Chey Tac - is based on the .400 Taylor Magnum, which is based on a
modified .505 Gibbs, necked down to 0.408 inches (10.36 mm).

• .44 Magnum - A high powered pistol cartridge designed primarily for hunting.

• .440 Cor-bon - The .440 Cor-bon is derived by necking down a .50 Action
Express case down to accept the same .429-inch (10.9 mm) projectiles used in .44
Magnum cartridges. The 240-grain (16 g) .429-inch (10.9 mm) projectile has
equal sectional density to the 325-grain (21.1 g) .500-inch (12.7 mm) of the .50
AE. However, with equal powder charges, the .440 Cor-bon can launch the 240-
grain (16 g) projectile much faster than the 325 grains (21.1 g) projectile from the
.50 AE. This equals greater energy and penetration against hard and soft targets.
• .45 ACP - The standard US pistol round for about a century. Typical .45 ACP
loads are subsonic, making them ideal for suppressed weapons.

• .45 SAA - A more powerful .45 caliber round with a lengthened shell designed for
the Colt Single Action Army. Other .45 caliber single action revolvers also
chamber this round.

• .454 Casull - A very high powered pistol cartridge designed for taking the largest
game animals.

• .45-70 Government - Adopted by the US Army in 1873 as their standard service

rifle cartridge. Most commercial loadings of the cartridge are constrained by the
possibility that someone may attempt to fire a modern loading in one of the 1873-
vintage rifles. However, current production rifles from Marlin, Ruger, and
Browning can accept pressures nearly twice as high as the original black powder
specs.

• .50 Action Express (AE) - A very high powered pistol cartridge, exceeding the .44
Magnum, the cartridge's combination of high velocity and mass results in very
favorable penetration characteristics against hard cover and certain types of body
armor.

• 4.6x30mm H&K - H&K's answer to the 5.7x28mm FN. Based on H&K's

experimental 4.6x36mm cartridge for the HK36 ACR in the early 1970s, even
retaining its unique Löffelspitz (spoon-nose) projectile.

• 4.73x33mm H&K caseless - This revolutionary round, developed for Heckler &
Koch G11, encases the bullet in a combustible material. There is no brass holding
the cartridge together and the "powder" is completely burned upon firing.

• 5.45x18mm Soviet - Similar to a necked down 6.35x16mm Browning (.25 ACP)

and producing exterior ballistics equal to a .22 rimfire, 5.45x18mm cartridge
possesses an impressive ability to defeat body armor.

• 5.45x39mm Soviet - The Soviet's response to the 5.56x45mm NATO cartridge.

• 5.56x45mm Steyr Flechette - Introduced for the US Army's ACR trials, the Steyr
cartridge uses a plastic case with a small caliber flechette pulled by a 5.56 mm
diameter sabot. The flechette is launched at a high velocity and the narrow
projectile offers excellent penetration.

• 5.56x45mm NATO - Adopted by the US military in the 1960s, it later became the
NATO standard assault rifle cartridge in the early 80s, displacing the 7.62x51mm.
It is a military adaptation of the .223 Remington, a common cartridge for
varminting and small game hunting.
• 5.7x28mm FN - The small high velocity cartridge appears much like a miniature
rifle round. The 5.7 mm FN cartridge has amazing armor penetration due to its
small projectile size and speed, yet has much less recoil than many pistol rounds.

• 7 mm Remington Magnum - A long-range hunting cartridge.

• 7.62x39mm - The standard Soviet/ComBloc rifle cartridge from the mid-1940s to

the mid-1970s, it is easily one of the most widely distributed cartridges in the
world due to the distribution of the ubiquitous Kalashnikov AK-47 series.

• 7.62x42mm - Outwardly similar to the Nagant revolver cartridge, the 7.62x42mm

Soviet's case contains not only propellant and a projectile, but a piston
sandwiched between the two. When the propellant is ignited, the expanding gas
presses the piston forward to expel the projectile. However, the piston remains
trapped inside the case, effectively sealing off the escape of propellant gas. The
lack of expelled gas and a subsonic projectile results in no firing signature other
than the mechanism of the parent weapon. The 7.62 × 42 mm is credited with a
maximum effective range of 50 m, and the SP-4 armor-piercing cartridge can only
defeat a helmet or body armor out to 25 m.

• 7.62x51mm NATO - This was the standard NATO rifle round until its
replacement by the 5.56x45mm. It is currently NATO's standard sniper rifle and
medium machine gun cartridge. In the 1950s it was the standard NATO cartridge
for rifles, but recoil and weight proved problematic for the new battle rifle designs
such as the FN FAL.

• .30-06, (7.62x63mm) was the standard US Army rifle cartridge for the first half of
the 20th century. It is a full-power rifle cartridge suitable for hunting most North
American game.

• 7.62x54mmR - The standard Russian rifle round from the 1890s to the mid-1940s.
The "R" stands for rimmed. The 7.62x54R rifle cartridge is a Russian design
dating back to 1891. Originally designed for the Mosin-Nagant rifle, it was used
during the late Tsarist era and throughout the Soviet period, in machine guns and
rifles such as the SVT-40. The Winchester Model 1895 was also chambered for
this cartridge per a contract with the Russian government. It is still in use by the
Russian military in the Dragunov and other sniper rifles and some machine guns.
The round is colloquially known as the "7.62 Russian". The name is sometimes
confused with the "7.62 Soviet" round, which refers to the 7.62 × 39 cartridge
used in the SKS and AK-47 rifles.

• 7.65x17mm Browning SR (.32 ACP) - A very small pistol round. However, it was
the predominant police service cartridge in Europe until the mid-1970s. The "SR"
stands for semi-rimmed, meaning cartridge case has small rim and usual groove.
• 7.92x57mm Mauser - The standard German service rifle cartridge from 1888 to
1945, the 7.92x57mm (aka 8 mm Mauser) has seen wide distribution around the
globe through commercial, surplus, and military sales.

• 9x19mm Parabellum - Invented for the German military at the turn of the century,
the wide distribution of the 9x19mm Parabellum cartridge made it the logical
choice for the NATO standard pistol and SMG round.

• 9x21mm Russian - The 9x21mm Russian cartridge is roughly a lengthened

version of the 9x18mm Makarov/PMM.

• 9x23mm Winchester - Roughly a 9x19mm case lengthened by 4 mm, the

9x23mm Winchester has its roots in IPSC competition shooting. John Ricco of CP
Bullets had developed the '9x23mm Super' case as an alternative to the .38 Super
ACP, whose cases varied dramaticly in strength. The .38 Super case also has the
disadvantage of a vestigial semi-rim, which can interlock in magazines. Not to be
confused with the externally similar 9x23mm Bergmann-Bayard (aka 9 mm
Largo), Ricco's case could be safely loaded to nearly double the chamber pressure
of the older cartridges. Since Olin/Winchester produced the cases for Ricco, they
saw the commercial potential for using the case in a loaded cartridge.
Unfortunately, Olin/Winchester tried to cut Ricco out of his potential royalties
from sale of the new 9x23mm Winchester. The resulting lawsuit (won by Ricco)
and the poor marketing of 9x23mm pistols by Colt has led to tepid commercial
acceptance. Despite these troubles, the 9x23mm Winchester comes closer to the
goal of matching .357 Magnum ballistics than the more popular .357 SIG.

• 9x30mm Grom - The 9x30mm Grom (Thunder) is roughly similar in dimensions

and performance to the commercially unsuccessful 9 mm Winchester Magnum.

• 9x39mm Soviet subsonic - The 9x39mm Soviet is roughly a 7.62x39mm Soviet

case necked up for a heavy 9 mm rifle projectile. There are competitive loadings
from Nikolai Zabelin and Yuri Folov, each optimized for specific roles.

• 10x25mm Norma - Originally designed for the ill-fated Bren Ten pistol, the
cartridge gained another lease on life when it was briefly promoted by the US
FBI.

• .50 BMG (12.7x99mm BMG) - Originally designed to pierce tank armor in the
First World War, the cartridge still serves an anti-materiel round against light
armor. It is used in heavy machine guns and high-powered sniper rifles. Such
rifles are intended for destroying military matériel such as sensitive parts of
grounded aircraft and armored transports. Civilian shooters use them for long-
distance target-shooting.

• 14.5x114mm - Also originally designed to pierce tank armor, now used in KPV
heavy machine gun.
[edit] History
The original cartridge for military small arms dates from 1586. It consisted of a charge of
powder and a bullet in a paper tube. Thick paper is still known as cartridge paper from
its use in these cartridges.

This cartridge was used with the muzzle-loading military firearm, the base of the
cartridge being ripped or bitten off by the soldier, the powder poured into the barrel, and
the bullet then rammed home. Before the invention of the firelock or flintlock, about
1635, the priming was originally put into the pan of the wheellock and snaphance
muskets from a flask containing a fine-grained powder called serpentine powder.

The evolving nature of warfare required a firearm which could be fired 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 weapon. 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 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 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 which 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, sulphur and charcoal,
which exploded by concussion. This invention 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 by a perforated nipple, and by replacing the cock or hammer
which held the flint by a smaller hammer with a hollow to fit on the nipple when released
by the trigger. On the nipple was placed the copper cap containing the detonating
composition, now made of three parts of potassium chlorate, two of fulminate of mercury
and one of powdered glass. 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 the reloading procedure and paved the way for semi- and fully-automatic
firearms.

But 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 be reloaded once it has been fired,
adopting brass cartridge cases brought in the problem of extraction and ejection. The
mechanism of a modern gun not only must load and fire the piece but also must remove
the spent case, which may require just as many moving parts. Many malfunctions involve
this process, either through failure to extract a case properly from the chamber or by
allowing it to jam the action. Nineteenth-century inventors were reluctant to accept this
added complication and experimented with a variety of self-consuming cartridges before
finally accepting that the advantages of brass cases far outweighed their one drawback.

[edit] Integrated paper cartridges

Chassepot paper cartridge (1866).

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:[2] the cartridges incorporated a copper base with integrated
mercury fulminate primer powder (the major innovation of Pauly), a paper casing and a
round bullet.[3] The cartridge was loaded through the breech and fired with a needle. The
needle-activated central-fire breech-loading gun would become a major feature of
firearms thereafter.[4] Pauly made an improved version which was protected by a patent
on 29 September 1812.[2]

Probably no invention connected with firearms has wrought such changes in the principle
of gun construction as those effected by the "expansive cartridge case". This invention
has completely revolutionized the art of gunmaking, 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 the preventing gas escaping the breech when the
weapon 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 flasks, bullets, wads and copper caps, all carried separately. One
of the earliest efficient modern cartridge case was the pin-fire cartridge, developed by
French gunsmith Casimir Lefaucheux in 1836.[5]. It consisted of a thin weak shell made
of brass and paper which expanded by the force of the explosion, fitted perfectly into 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 exploded by means of 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 1855. Later in 1846, M.Houiller, another Paris gunsmith, improved on the
system by introducing a fully metallic cartridge in 1847.[6]
A diagram of a Dreyse needle gun cartridge, showing the paper cartridge case, the sabot,
and acorn-shaped bullet.

As a result of the relatively low pressures involved, cartridges used in modern shotguns
have changed very little since the invention of the center-fire primer. The only changes
are that the cases may be made of paper, plastic, and/or metal; the wadding between
powder and shot is now made of modern materials; and the end of the cartridge case is
more precisely fitted to the breech chamber, which ranges in modern shotguns from .410-
inch (10.4 mm) bore to various gauges, 10 gauge being the largest still used in modern
shoulder-held shotguns (smaller gauges have industrial uses). Gauge is measured by the
number of equal-sized balls that can be formed from a pound of pure lead; a 12-gauge
shotgun has a bore of 0.729 inches (18.5 mm), which is the diameter of a 1⁄12-pound (38 g)
ball of lead; a 10 gauge fits one of 10 balls produced from a pound (460 g) of lead
(.775 inches/19.7 millimetres bore).

Rifle cartridges, on the other hand, have undergone significant changes as the pressures
involved have increased. In the case of military rifles the breech-loading cartridge case
was first adopted in principle by the Prussians about 1841 in the needle-gun breech-
loader. In this a conical bullet rested on a thick wad, behind which was the powder, the
whole being enclosed in strong lubricated paper. The detonator was in the hinder surface
of the wad, and fired by a needle driven forward from the breech, through the base of the
cartridge and through the powder, by the action of a spiral spring set free by the pulling
of the trigger.

In the American Civil War (1861-65) a breechloading 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 the use of metal cartridges. The development by
Smith and Wesson (amongst many others) of revolver handguns that used metal
cartridges helped to establish cartridge firearms as the standard in the USA by the 1870s
although many continued to use percussion revolvers well after that.

[edit] Full metal cartridges

(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 first commercially successful all-metal cartridges were rimfire cartridges. The first of
these was the .22 BB Cap, introduced around 1845. This was followed by the .22 Short in
1857. Larger caliber rimfires were soon introduced. Some of these were used in the
American Civil War, including the .44 Henry and 56-56 Spencer. However, the large
rimfires were soon replaced by centerfire cartridges, which could safely handle higher
pressures.

In 1867 the British war office adopted the Eley-Boxer metallic central-fire cartridge case
in the 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 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 casing upon firing. Later the solid-drawn, central-fire cartridge case, made
of one entire solid piece of tough hard metal, an alloy of copper, with a solid head of
thicker metal, has been generally substituted.

The 8 mm Lebel ammunition, developed in 1886, the first smokeless gunpowder

cartridge to be made and adopted by any country.

Central-fire cartridges with solid-drawn metallic cases containing their own means of
ignition are almost universally used in all modern varieties of military and sporting rifles
and pistols.

Around 1870, machined tolerances had improved to the point that the cartridge case was
no longer necessary to seal a firing chamber. Precision-faced bolts would seal as well,
and could be economically manufactured.

[edit] Reloading
Some shooting enthusiasts reload their spent brass cartridges. By using a press and a set
of dies, one can reshape, deprime, reprime, recharge the case with gunpowder, and seat
and crimp a new bullet. One can do this at about half the cost of purchasing factory
ammunition. It also allows one to use different weights and shapes of bullets, as well as
varying the powder charge which affects accuracy and power. Enthusiasts usually only
reload boxer primed cartridges as the process is more easily automated than berdan
priming.

See also: Handloading

[edit] Caseless ammunition

Main article: Caseless ammunition

In 1989, Heckler & Koch, a prominent German firearms manufacturer, began making
press releases about the G11 assault rifle, which shot a 4.73x33 square caseless round.
The round was mechanically fired, with an integral primer.

In 1993 Voere of Austria began selling a gun and caseless ammunition. Their system used
a primer, electronically-fired at 17.5 ± 2 volts. The upper and lower limits prevent fire
from either stray currents or static electricity. The direct electrical firing eliminates the
mechanical delays associated with a striker, reducing reaction time (lock time), and
allowing for easier adjustment of the rifle trigger.

In both cases, the "case" was molded directly from solid nitrocellulose, which is itself
relatively strong and inert. The bullet and primer were glued into the propellant block.

[edit] Trounds
Main article: Dardick tround

The Tround (Triangular Round) was a unique type of cartridge designed in 1958 by
David Dardick, for use in specially designed Dardick 1100 and Dardick 1500 open-
chamber firearms. As their name suggests, Trounds were triangular in cross-section, and
were made of plastic or aluminium, with the cartridge completely encasing the powder
and projectile. The Tround design was also produced as a cartridge adaptor, to allow
conventional .38 Special and .22 Long Rifle cartridges to be used with the Dardick
firearms.

[edit] Blank ammunition

Main article: Blank (cartridge)
Blank cartridges:

• 7.62x51mm NATO (left)

• 9x19mm Parabellum (right).

A blank is a charged cartridge that does not contain a projectile — the opening where the
projectile would be held is crimped shut or sealed with some material that will disperse
rapidly upon leaving the barrel, in order to contain the propellant. This sealing material
can still potentially cause harm at extremely close range. Blanks are used in training, but
do not always cause a weapon to behave in an identical way to when using live
ammunition; recoil will almost always be far weaker, and some automatic weapons will
only cycle correctly when the weapon is fitted with a blank-firing adaptor to confine gas
pressure within the barrel in order to operate the gas system. Blanks may also be used to
launch a rifle grenade, although later systems used a "bullet trap" design that captures a
bullet from a conventional round, speeding deployment. This also negates the risk of
mistakenly firing a live bullet into the rifle grenade, causing it to explode instead of
propelling it forward. Blanks may also be used in dedicated launchers for propelling a
grapnel, rope line or flare, or for a training lure for training gun dogs. The propellant
cartridges used in a heavier variety of nail gun are essentially rimfire blanks.

[edit] Drill rounds

23x152mm cartridge, drill round

Drill rounds are inert versions of cartridges used for education and practice during
military training. Other than the lack of propellant, they are the same size as normal
cartridges and will fit into the mechanism of a weapon in the same way as a live
cartridge. To distinguish them from live rounds they are marked distinctively. Several
forms of markings may be used; eg setting coloured flutes in the cartridge, drilling holes
through the cartridge, colouring the bullet or cartridge, or a combination of these. In the
case of centrefire drill rounds the primer will often be absent, its mounting hole in the
base left open. Because they are mechanically identical to live rounds, which are intended
to be loaded once, fired and then discarded, drill rounds have a tendency to become
significantly worn and damaged with repeated passage through magazines and firing
mechanisms, and need to be frequently inspected to ensure they are not so degraded as to
become unusable - for example the casings can become torn or misshapen and snag on
moving parts, or the bullet can become separated and stay in the breech when the
cartridge is ejected.

[edit] See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Pistol and rifle cartridges

• Ammunition
• Ammunition box
• Antique guns
• Bullet
• List of handgun cartridges
• List of rifle cartridges
• Nitrocellulose
• Percussion cap
• Simunition
• Table of pistol and rifle cartridges by year

Gun
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This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please improve this article if you can. (April 2008)
This article is about the projectile weapon. For other uses, see Gun (disambiguation).

In military parlance, a gun is a muzzle or breech-loaded projectile-firing weapon. There

are various definitions depending on the nation and branch of service. A "gun" may be
distinguised from other firearms in being a crew served weapon such as a howitzer or
mortar, as opposed to a small arm like a rifle or pistol, but there are exceptions, such as
the USAF's GUU5/P. At one time, Land-based Artillery tubes were called Cannon and
Sea-based Naval Cannon were called Guns. The term "gun" morphed into a generic term
for any tube launched projectile firing weapon used by sailors including boarding parties
and Marines.

In modern parlance, a gun is a projectile weapon using a hollow, tubular barrel with a
closed end—the breech—as the means for directing the projectile as well as other
purposes—an expansion chamber for propellant, stabilizing the projectile's trajectory,
aiming, etc.—and assumes a generally, flat trajectory for the projectile.

The generic form of a trigger-initiated, hand-held, and hand-directed tool with an

extending bore has additionally been applied to implements resembling guns in either
form or concept. Examples of this application include items such as staple guns, nail
guns, and glue guns. Occasionally, this tendency is ironically reversed, such as the case of
the American M3 submachine gun which carries the nickname "Grease Gun".

The projectile may be a simple, single-piece item like a bullet, a casing containing a
payload like a shotshell or explosive shell, or complex projectile like a sub-caliber
projectile and sabot. The propellant may be air, an explosive solid, or an explosive liquid.
Some variations like the Gyrojet and certain other types combine the projectile and
propellant into a single item.

Most guns are described by the type of barrel used, the means of firing, the purpose of the
weapon, the caliber, or the commonly accepted name for a particular variation.

Barrel types include rifled—a series of spiraled grooves or angles within the barrel—
when the projectile requires an induced spin to stabilize it and smoothbore when the
projectile is stabilized by other means or is undesired or unnecessary. Typically, interior
barrel diameter and the associated projectile size is a means to identify gun variations.
Barrel diameter is reported in several ways. The more conventional measure is reporting
the interior diameter of the barrel in decimal fractions of the inch or in millimeters. Some
guns—such as shotguns—report the weapon's gauge or—as in some British ordnance—
the weight of the weapon's usual projectile.

Types of guns
Colt Python .357 Magnum revolver

Marlin Model 1894C — a carbine in .357 Magnum

Military firearms

• Long gun
o Arquebus
o Blunderbuss
o Musket
 Musketoon
 Wall gun
 Grenade launcher
o Personal defense weapon
o Rifle
 Lever action rifle
 Bolt action rifle
 Assault rifle
 Battle rifle
 Carbine
 Service rifle
 Sniper rifle
o Shotgun
 Combat shotgun
 Semi-automatic shotgun
o Submachine gun
o Tu Huo Qiang

Machine guns

• Gatling gun
• Mitrailleuse
• Machine gun
o General-purpose machine gun
o Heavy machine gun
o Light machine gun
o Medium machine gun
o Squad automatic weapon
• Minigun
• .50 BMG
• Submachine gun
• Metal storm
Autocannon

• Autocannon
• Chain gun

Artillery guns

• Artillery gun
o Carronade
o Howitzer

Tank guns

• Tank gun
• .50 BMG

Hunting guns

• Elephant gun
• Express rifle
• Shotgun
• Muzzleloader
• Breechloader

Guns for training and entertainment

• Airsoft gun
• BB gun
• Paintball gun
• Spud gun
• Water gun

Gunshot residue
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Gunshot residue (GSR) are principally composed of burnt and unburnt particles from
the explosive primer, the propellant, as well as components from the bullet, the cartridge
case and the firearm used. There are authors who use other definitions, such as cartridge
discharge residue (CDR) or firearm discharge residue (FDR).
In 1971 Boehm presented some micrographs of GSR particles found during the
examination of bullet entrance holes using a scanning electron microscope. If the
scanning electron microscope is equipped with an X-ray microanalysis, the chemical
elements present in such particles, mainly lead, antimony and barium, can be identified.

In 1979 Wolten et al. proposed a classification of GSR following compositional criteria,

morphology and size. Four compositions were considered “characteristic”: lead,
antimony and barium; barium, calcium and silicon; antimony and barium. The authors
proposed some rules about the chemical elements which could also be present in these
particles.

Wallace and McQuillan published a new classification of the GSR particles in 1984. They
called “unique” particles the ones containing lead, antimony and barium, or the ones
containing antimony and barium. Also for Wallace and McQuillan in these particles only
some chemical elements could be present.

In the latest ASTM Standard Guide for GSR analysis by Scanning Electron
Microscopy/Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometry particles containing lead, antimony
and barium, and respecting some rules related to the morphology and to the presence of
other elements are considered characteristic of GSR. The most definitive method to
determine if a particle is characteristic of or consistent with GSR is by its elemental
profile. An approach to the identification of particles characteristic of or consistent with
GSR is to compare the elemental profile of the recovered particulate with that collected
from case-specific known source items, such as the recovered weapon, cartridge cases or
victim-related items whenever necessary.

Particle analysis by scanning electron microscope equipped with an X-ray microanalysis

can be the most powerful tool for forensic scientists to determine the proximity to a
discharging firearm and/or the contact with a surface exposed to GSR (firearm, spent
cartridge case, target hole), if proper attention is paid to avoid secondary gunshot residue
transfer from officers onto subjects or items to be tested for GSR, and to avoid
contamination in the laboratories.

Organic gunshot residue can be analysed by analitical techniques such as

Chromatography, Capillary Electrophoresis, Mass Spectrometry.

Physics of firearms
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From the viewpoint of physics (dynamics, to be exact), a firearm, as for most weapons, is
a system for delivering maximum destructive energy to the target with minimum delivery
of energy on the shooter. The momentum delivered to the target however cannot be any
more than that (due to recoil) on the shooter. This is because the momentum imparted to
the bullet is equal to that imparted to the gun-shooter system.

Firearm energy efficiency

From a thermodynamic point of view, a firearm is a special type of piston engine, or in
general heat engine where the bullet has a function of piston. The Energy conversion
efficiency of a firearm strongly depends on its construction, especially on its caliber and
barrel length. However, for illustration, here is the energy balance of a typical small
firearm for .300 Hawk ammunition [1] :

• Projectile motion 32%

• Barrel friction 2%
• Hot gases 34%
• Barrel heat 30%
• Unburned propellant 1%.

which is comparable with a typical piston engine.

Higher efficiency can be unachieved in longer barrel firearms because they have better
volume ratio. However, the efficiency gain is less than corresponding to the volume ratio,
because the expansion is not truly adiabatic and burnt gas becomes cold faster because of
exchange of heat with the barrel. Large firearms (such as cannons) achieve smaller
barrel-heating loss because they have better volume-to-surface ratio. High barrel diameter
is also helpful because lower barrel friction is induced by sealing compared to the
accelerating force. The force is proportional to the square of the barrel diameter while
sealing needs are proportional to the perimeter by the same pressure.

[edit] Force
Assuming the gun and shooter are at rest, the force on the bullet is equal to that on the
gun-shooter. This is due to Newton's third law of motion (For every action, there is an
equal and opposite reaction). Consider a system where the gun and shooter have a
combined mass M and the bullet has a mass m. When the gun is fired, the two systems
move away from one another with new velocities V and v respectively. But the law of
conservation of momentum states that the magnitudes of their momenta must be equal:

Since force equals the rate of change in momentum and the initial momenta are zero, the
force on the bullet must therefore be the same as the force on the gun/shooter.

Hollywood depictions of firearm victims being thrown through plate-glass windows are
inaccurate. Were this to be the case, the shooter would also be thrown backwards with
equal force. Gunshot victims frequently fall or collapse when shot; this is less a result of
the momentum of the bullet pushing them over, but is primarily caused by physical
damage or psychological effects, perhaps combined with being off-balance. This is not
the case if the victim is hit by heavier projectiles such as 20 mm cannon shell, where the
momentum effects can be enormous; this is why very few such weapons can be fired
without being mounted on a weapons platform or involve a recoilless system (e.g. a
recoilless rifle).

[edit] Velocity
From Eq. 1 we can write for the velocity of the gun/shooter: V = mv/M. This shows that
despite the high velocity of the bullet, the small bullet-mass to shooter-mass ratio results
in a low recoil velocity (V) although the force and momentum are equal.

[edit] Kinetic Energy

However, the smaller mass of the bullet, compared that of the gun-shooter system, allows
significantly more kinetic energy to be imparted to the bullet than to the shooter. The
kinetic energy for the two systems are for the gun-shooter system and for
the bullet. The energy imparted to the shooter can then be written as:

If we now write for the ratio of these energies we have:

The ratio of the kinetic energies is the same as the ratio of the masses (and is independent
of velocity). Since the mass of the bullet is much less than that of the shooter there is
more kinetic energy transferred to the bullet than to the shooter. Once discharged from
the weapon, the bullet's energy decays throughout its flight, until the remainder is
dissipated by colliding with a target (e.g. deforming the bullet and target).

[edit] Transfer of Energy

When the bullet strikes, its high velocity and small frontal cross-section means that it will
exert large stresses in any object it hits. This usually results in it penetrating any soft
object, such as flesh. The energy is then dissipated in the wound track formed by the
passage of the bullet. See terminal ballistics for a fuller discussion of these effects.

Bulletproof vests work by dissipating the bullet's energy in another way; the vest's
material, usually Aramid (Kevlar or Twaron), works by presenting a series of material
layers which catch the bullet and spread its imparted force over a larger area, hopefully
bringing the round to a stop before it can penetrate into the body. While the vest can
prevent a bullet from penetrating, the wearer will still be affected by the kinetic energy of
the bullet, which can produce serious internal injuries.

Trajectory
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For other uses, see Trajectory (disambiguation).

A trajectory is the path a moving object follows through space. The object might be a
projectile or a satellite, for example. It thus includes the meaning of orbit - the path of a
planet, an asteroid or a comet as it travels around a central mass. A trajectory can be
described mathematically either by the geometry of the path, or as the position of the
object over time.

In control theory a trajectory is a time-ordered set of states of a dynamical system (see

e.g. Poincaré map). In discrete mathematics, a trajectory is a sequence of
values calculated by the iterated application of a mapping f to an element x of its source.

Vaporific effect
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Vaporific effect is a flash fire resulting from the impact of high velocity projectiles with
metallic objects. Impacts produces particulate matter originating from either the
projectile, the target, or both. Particles heated from the force of impact can burn in the
presence of air (oxidizer). An explosion can result from the mixture of metal-dust and air,
the resulting dust explosion causing significant overpressure within metallic enclosures
(aircraft, vehicles, metallic enclosures, etc). The vaporific effect is particularly
pronounced when these enclosures are constructed of pyrophoric metals (metals that react
upon contact air, such as aluminium, magnesium, or their alloys. Depleted uranium is a
pyrophoric material used in kinetic penetrator ammunition.