- Assault Rifle – This refers to a selective-fire rifle which usually fires low to medium power ammunition. While traditional rifles used bolt action, modern day assault rifles have a fully automatic or burst fire mode. This is what qualifies them as an assault rifle, however, these fully automatic rifles also have a semi-automatic option. A semi-automatic rifle is not considered an assault rifle.
- Bolt Action – This term is used to denote rifles that fire only one round at a time. The user has to manually pull back the bolt mechanism in such rifles to unload the fired shell, and then load the next round in the chamber.
- Semi Automatic – This term in firearms refers to guns which fire only one bullet for every time the trigger is pulled. However, the self-loading mechanism present in this type of gun also readies the next round immediately after the shot is fired and the shell is ejected.
- Automatic – This term relates to a gun that continuously fires bullets until the trigger is released or the magazine is emptied.
- Caliber – This refers to the measurement of the inner diameter of a handgun or rifle’s barrel and is generally measured in millimeters or fractions of an inch. This can also indicate the size of ammo a gun can fire.
- Clip – A clip refers to a metal tool used to hold ammo in a line in order to help quickly load into internal or fixed magazines as opposed to one bullet at a time. This tool is usually geared towards automatic and semi-automatic guns.
- Casing – This term stands for the containment unit of a round which holds the shot or bullet and the gunpowder. Casings are also commonly referred to as shells, particularly in the case of rifles and shotguns.
- Magazine – This term refers to the container that holds the bullet cartridges under a spring pressure that supplies ammunition to the gun’s chamber. They are usually detachable and are available in a variety of sizes to suit different needs.
- Round – This term refers to a full unit of ammo which includes the casing, the primer, the propellant, and the bullet. A round is also known as a cartridge.
- Hollow Point – This term refers to the bullets that have a concave nose, typically designed to amplify expansion as well as to maximize damage to the target.
- Buckshot – This term refers to a specific type of ammunition used with shotguns. A buckshot is a bullet containing medium to large sized pellets that fire out of the shell in a large spread. These are usually used for hunting large game.
- Gauge – This refers to the measurement of the inner diameter of a shotgun’s barrel. This measurement can also denote the size of lead balls the shotgun can fire.
- Recoil – This term refers to the backward force exerted by the gun onto the user when the shot is fired. Also known as the gun’s kick, recoil is more forceful when bullets are heavier and the shots are taken at a faster pace.
- Scope – This term refers to the magnifying attachment that is equipped to a gun in order to see and aim at farther targets more easily. They’re most commonly used in long-range rifles and semi-autos.
- Silencer – This term refers to the suppressor unit attached at the barrel’s end to reduce the explosive sound made by the fired shot. They are commonly used in rifles and handguns, and are strictly controlled under the federal law.
- Blank – This refers to a round of ammunition that has no bullets or shots in it. Instead, the cartridges only gunpowder in them in order to create a flash and a blunt explosive sound.
- AR-15 –This is an abbreviation for ArmaLite Rifle-15, a lightweight and semi-automatic modern rifle which comes in a lot of variants and models. The rifle was designed by Eugene Stoner and Leroy James Sullivan in 1957.
- ACP – This term stands for Automatic Colt Pistol, a handgun cartridge that was designed by John Browning in 1905 to be used in semi-automatic pistols. ACP rounds come in different bullet weights, from 68 grains to 300 grains.
- AK-47 – This is an abbreviation that refers to an assault rifle which was designed by Mikhail Kalashnikov in 1947. The term AK here stands for Avtomat Kalashnikova (automatic Kalashnikov) name after its designer, while the number 47 denotes the year it was originally made.
- Ballistics – Ballistics is the discipline and study of trajectories and physics as it relates to projectiles and firearms. Experts studying ballistics can help to understand how a bullet was fired and what effects it caused.
- Point Blank – This refers to the distance at which one can aim a gun at the target without having to worry about the bullet’s trajectory. Traditionally used in archery, the term means that the shooter is standing so close that missing the target is almost impossible.
All the Firearm Terms you Need Know
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Jul