Action: Action refers to how the firearm is loaded and fired. Basically there are three major catagories of actions: single shot, semi-automatic, and full-automatic. Each is further subdivided. Action also refers to the assembly of bolt, bolt carrier, etc.
Ammunition (Ammo): A complete round containing a case, primer, powder, and bullet.
Armory: A place where weapons are stored or manufactured.
Arsenal: A place where weapons are stored or manufactured.
Assault rifle: A full-automatic or select-fire rifle firing a light to intermediate round. The assault rifle can be traced back to the Sturmgewehr 44 of WWII.
Assault weapon: A misnomer from hell and a bit redundant, nobody really knows what an assault weapon is or how to define it. The government and gun control groups have tried to define it as a semi-auto firearm with a detachable magazine and various features like bayonet lugs, pistol grips, flash suppressors, threaded barrels, or collapsable stocks.
Auto-loader: A term common to shotguns referring to a semi-auto firearm. The term causes confusion with "full-auto" when shortened to "Auto".
Automatic: A term common to pistols referring to a semi-auto firearm. The term causes confusion with "full-auto".
Ball ammunition: Also called an FMJ. A round where the bullet is completely encased in a jacket, usually made of copper or brass.
Blowback: A semi-auto or full-auto action in which the pressure of the burning gasses pushing the bullet down the barrel also push the action open on the firearm. Blowback is popular for pistols and some semi-auto rifles.
Bolt action: A single shot action where the operator must manually unlock the bolt (usually by lifting the bolt handle), move the bolt backwards, move it forwards, and relock the bolt for each shot. Most hunting rifles are bolt actions. There are bolt action shotguns and handguns.
Break action: A single shot action where the barrel must be unlocked from the stock and then is hinged open exposing the chambers and allowing for reloading. Many shotguns are break action, notably double barrelled shotguns. Some rifles are break action, normally big game rifles, and some handguns are break actions.
Breech (not "breach"): The back of the barrel closest to the shooter. As opposed to the muzzle.
Bullet: The projectile itself. Many confuse the bullet with the complete round.
Clip: A clip is a device used to load a magazine. People tend to get the two confused. A basic rule of thumb is that clips don't have springs, magazines do.
Compensator: A compensator is a specialized muzzle brake that directs burning gas upwards in an attempt to push the barrel down and help "compensate" for a firearm's natural tendancy to raise up (climb) during firing.
Cop killer bullet: A mythical handgun bullet designed to defeat non-metallic body armor. Despite much hoopla about the subject, none really exists. Some time ago, three people got together and made the infamous KTW bullet, designed to penetrate car doors. It was coated in Teflon, but only to protect the inside of the barrel. The Teflon did not improve the bullet's performance against body armor or metallic armor. More recently was the Black Rhino scare. A bullet touted to defeat body armor and then perform like a hollowpoint, something that is pretty much impossible, the entire Black Rhino event turned out to be a hoax. Winchester's Black Talon bullet is often confused with the Black Rhino bullet. The Black Talon was a simple hollowpoint bullet and was not able to defeat body armor.
Double action: A term common to handguns meaning that pulling the trigger accomplishes two actions: cocking the firearm and firing the firearm.
Firearm: A portable device designed to focus energy of a propellent in order to move a projectile in a chosen direction.
Flash suppressor: Flash suppressors are designed to reduce the amount of "flash" from fresh air mixing with unburned propellents at the end of a barrel. Flash suppressors can be useful to hunters at dusk and dawn and in inclement weather as the flash of unburned propellent can have the same effect on the eyes as a flash bulb.
FMJ: A Full Metal Jacket bullet. A derivative of the FMJ is the TMJ (Total Metal Jacket). Most FMJ bullets have an exposed core at the base of the bullet. A TMJ bullet does not have an exposed core.
Frangible bullet: A bullet designed to break apart on contact with denser media. Frangibles are outstanding defensive rounds and have the benefit of not ricocheting and not penetrating walls. Glaser makes one of the most well known frangibles.
Fully-automatic (Full-auto): A type of action where the firearm automatically fires, cycles through the process of unloading, and chambering a new round and firing the round as long as the trigger is held back. A machinegun. One pull, continuous shots.
Gas operated: A semi-auto or full-auto action in which some of the propellent gasses are siphoned off and used to work the action.
Gun: Guns are usually mounted weapons like the big guns on a battleship, the main gun on a tank, etc. The term gun is often misused to refer to firearms. The old military saying is, "This is my rifle (referring to their firearm). This is my gun (referring to their penis). This is for fighting (referring to the rifle). This is for fun (penis again)." Their penis, being attached (hopefully) at one end, would be considered mounted on something.
Handgun: Any firearm designed to be shot with one hand. Handguns are usually divided into pistols, revolvers, and single shots
Hollowpoint bullet: A bullet with a small cavity in the front. HPs are designed to expand on contact with denser media. Contrary to popular myth, they are not illegal and many police departments use them. They are excellent self-defense bullets and hunting bullets. They have an added benefit in that they do not ricochet as badly as FMJs nor do they over penetrate targets like FMJs do.
Laser sight: A small laser mounted on a firearm that sends out a small, narrow beam of light, usually red, on to the target.
Long gun: Rifles and shotguns. Any firearm long enough to require two hands to shoot.
Machinegun: A full-auto firearm. Machineguns have been controlled by the federal government since 1934 and none made after 1986 can be owned. Machineguns trace back to the Maxim gun of 1883 and even to some firearms used in the Civil War, though multi-barrel arms like the Gatling gun are older (1862) and can be traced back to designs by Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519).
Machinepistol: A pistol sized machinegun.
Magazine: Magazines hold the ammunition for the firearm. They may be detachable or affixed to the firearm.
Muzzle: The front of the barrel furthest from the shooter.
Muzzle brake: A device at the end of the barrel designed to vent propellent in such a way that felt recoil is reduced. A very usefull item. If properly designed, a muzzle brake will also aid accuracy because the propellent will not rush past the back end of the bullet as it leaves the barrel. When propellent rushes past the back end of the bullet, it can cause turbulance that affects the bullet's stability and accuracy.
Pistol: A semi-auto handgun. The term pistol used to refer to all handguns, so it is often used in a confusing manner.
Pump action: A single shot action where the firearm is cycled by pumping a movable piece of stock back and forth. Pumps are popular for shotguns and can be found on some rifles.
Recoil: For every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction. In this case, the action is that of pushing the bullet down the barrel. The reaction is the bullet pushing the firearm backwards.
Recoil operated: A semi-auto action where the recoil is put to use cycling the action of the firearm.
Red-dot sight: Often confused with a laser sight, a red-dot sight does not send out a beam of light. Instead, it relies on a small red light reflected off the backside of a mostly transparent mirror, creating the illusion of a dot projected on the target.
Revolver: A type of handgun that has a revolving part called a cylinder that functions as a magazine and the chamber for the ammunition.
Rifle: A firearm designed for shooting with both hands having a relatively long barrel, and firing a single projectile (as opposed to a shotgun). It gets its name from the fact that the inside of the barrel has spiral grooves called rifling that are used to spin the bullet in much the same fashion as a quarterback puts a spin on a football when he throws it. This stabilizes the bullet, making it more accurate.
Saturday Night Special: Another term that causes much confusion. The term "Saturday night special" can be traced back to the phrase, "Hotter than a Niggertown Saturday night." Since most people of African heritage could not afford air-conditioning, things in the black neighborhoods could be very warm and uncomfortable.This was then combined with the term "hot" as in "hot potato", meaning something uncomfortable to hold onto to refer to items that were "hot" as in stolen or had been used in a crime and that if you were caught with, you could be in trouble. The term really means any item that is stolen or has been used in a crime. It is similar to the term "five finger discount" and "midnight auto supply."
Semi-automatic (Semi-auto): An action similar to full-auto, except that the firearm does not continue to fire. In semi-auto firearms, the bullet is shot, and the firearm cycles through unloading and reloading, but another pull of the trigger is required to shoot again. One pull, one shot.
Select-fire: A mode of operation unique to assault rifles. Select-fire means that by simply operating a lever or switch, the shooter can choose between full-auto or semi-auto actions.
Shotgun: A firearm designed to be shot with both hands that shoots a group of projectiles called shot. Shotguns are used for hunting birds and small game, but can be loaded with very large shot for larger animals or can be set up for shooting one very large projectile called a slug.
Single action: As opposed to double action. A term used mostly with handguns that indicates pulling the trigger performs only one action: firing the round. The firearm must be cocked by another means.
Single shot: Any one of several actions that require the shooter to do something other than pull the trigger to shoot again. The operator must manually unload and reload.
Silencer: A silencer is really a suppressor, but it will be used with subsonic ammunition or it will slow the bullet down to subsonic velocities.
Sub-machinegun: A small rifle or carbine sized machinegun, but firing pistol ammunition instead of rifle ammunition.
Suppressor: A suppressor (not a flash suppressor) muffles the sound of the gases escaping from the end of the barrel. If supersonic bullets are used, there will still be noise caused by the minature sonic boom from the bullet.
