gun
[guhn]
Licensed from Columbia University Press
Lightweight automatic small-arms weapon chambered for relatively low-energy pistol cartridges and fired from the hip or shoulder. Submachine guns usually have box-type magazines that hold 10–50 cartridges, or occasionally drums holding more rounds. A short-range weapon, they are rarely effective at more than 200 yards (180 m). They can fire 650 or more rounds per minute and weigh 6–10 lbs (2.5–4.5 kg). Important types include the Thompson submachine gun, or tommy gun (patented 1920), the British Sten gun of World War II, and the later Israeli Uzi.
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Automatic weapon capable of rapid, sustained fire, usually 500–1,000 rounds per minute. Developed in the late 19th century by such inventors as Hiram Maxim, it profoundly altered modern warfare. The World War I battlefield was dominated by the belt-fed machine gun, which remained little changed into World War II. Modern machine guns are classified into three groups: the squad automatic weapon, chambered for small-calibre assault-rifle ammunition and operated by one soldier; the general-purpose machine gun, firing full-power rifle ammunition and operated by two; and the heavy machine gun, firing rounds of 12.7 mm (.5 in) or higher and often mounted on an armoured vehicle. Seealso submachine gun.
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Weapon consisting essentially of a metal tube from which a missile or projectile is shot by the force of exploding gunpowder or some other propellant. The term is often limited today to the so-called big guns, cannon larger than a howitzer or mortar. It may also be used to refer to military small arms such as the rifle, machine gun, and pistol, as well as to nonmilitary firearms such as the shotgun. Though the Chinese used gunpowder in warfare from the 9th century, guns were not developed until the Europeans acquired gunpowder in the 13th century. The earliest guns (circa 1327) resembled old-fashioned soda bottles; they apparently were fired by applying a red-hot wire to a touchhole drilled through the top. Separating the barrel and the powder chamber resulted in breechloaders, which continued to be used in naval swivel guns and fortress wallpieces well into the 17th century. Small arms, as distinguished from hand cannon, did not exist until the development of the matchlock in the 15th century. Seealso flintlock, wheel lock.
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Artillery piece fired from the ground or shipboard in defense against aerial attack. They were first used in combat in World War I, when field artillery were converted to antiaircraft use by mountings that enabled them to fire nearly vertically. Range finders and searchlights, developed in the 1920s and '30s, increased their effectiveness. Advances in World War II included rapid-firing and automatic weapons, radar for target tracking, and radio-operated fuses. British and U.S. forces used a 40-mm gun that fired ammunition to a height of 2 mi (3.2 km). Heavier guns, up to 120 mm, were used against high-flying bombers. For most of the war, the most effective was the German 88-mm Fliegerabwehrkanone; its abbreviated name, flak, became a universal term for antiaircraft fire. With the introduction of guided missiles in the 1950s and '60s, heavy antiaircraft guns were phased out, though lighter radar-guided automatic guns remained effective against low-flying aircraft and helicopters.
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A gun is a particular weapon that propels projectiles. The projectile is generally fired through a hollow tube known as the gun's barrel. The barrel's diameter, or caliber, determines the size of projectile used, which is usually designated in fractions of an inch or in millimeters. Differing from the musket, most modern guns are rifled, with a series of grooves spiraling along the barrel; exceptions include smoothbores on tanks, AFVs and some artillery.
Terminology
The term "gun" is first recorded in English in 1339 as gunne, "an engine of war that throws rocks, arrows or other missiles", suggested to be derived from Middle English gonnilde, "cannon", and in an Anglo-Latin reference, to a specific gun from a 1330 ordnance inventory of Windsor Castle"...una magna balista de cornu quae Domina Gunilda ...In non-military use it is often used synonymous with a "firearm", such as a personal handgun or pistol, or a hunting weapon.
The use of the term cannon is interchangeable with the gun as a word borrowed from the French language during the early 15th century, from Old French canon, itself a borrowing from the Italian cannone, a "large tube" augmentive of Latin canna "reed or cane".
In military use, the term "gun" refers to artillery ordnance that fires projectiles at high velocity, such as naval guns which in the modern navies are not called cannons, or the tank main gun. In military use, mortars and all hand-held firearms are excluded from the definition of guns because they do not require the accurate gunnery data calculations and training when engaging targets. Two exceptions to this include: the shotgun, which is a smoothbore hand-held firearm that fires a load of shot or a single projectile known as a slug, and the machine gun, which is a fully-automatic weapon mounted on a tripod or wheeled carriage and is almost always operated by a crew of two.
The word "gun" is also applied to some more or less vaguely gun-like or gun-shaped tools such as staple guns, nail guns, and glue guns.
In a gun-type fission weapon the "gun" is part of a nuclear weapon. The projectile is fissile material that is fired and captured inside the device. In the case of nuclear artillery, it should not be confused with the gun that fires the whole warhead. In a captive bolt gun the projectile is also caught within the mechanism. Such captive piston guns are often used to humanely stun farm animals for slaughter.
A gunner is a member of the team charged with the task of operating and firing a gun.
History and technology
Types of guns
Military and civilian handguns
Military firearms
Machine guns
- Gatling gun
- Mitrailleuse
- Machine gun
- General-purpose machine gun
- Heavy machine gun
- Light machine gun
- Medium machine gun
- Squad automatic weapon
- Minigun
Autocannon guns
Artillery guns
Tank guns
Hunting guns
Guns for training and entertainment
Weapons mistaken for guns
See also
Citations and notes
References
- Lee, R.G., Introduction to battlefield weapons, systems & technology, Royal Military College of Science, Shrivenham, UK, Brassey's Publishers, Oxford, 1981
External links
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Saturday October 11, 2008 at 11:31:01 PDT (GMT -0700)
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