Military Terminology
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This article is considered to be a candidate for deletion.
(This is another one of those "I know this so I'm gonna write a wiki page about it" articles that are probably reliable, but they have nothing to do with the "Swarm Cycle", the Swarm Universe, or the stories that we write about the Swarm War. It is solely about current items found on Earth in the "Real World" and as such teaches us nothing that we can't get from Wikipedia. This particular article belongs in "GunNutWiki.GunsNAmmo.com". It adds nothing to the Swarm Cycle Wiki. As such, it is a member of the "Useless" Category and is a prime candidate for deletion. -ZM)
Just a few terms that might need explaining. Feel free to add your own.
Cannon: a big gun to shoot things. Generally shoots a solid shot, or an explosive shell. Could be an old muzzle loader on a sailing ship, the main gun on a tank, or a piece of artillery. Also called a gun.
Canon: In fiction, canon is the material accepted as part of the story in an individual universe of that story. There are other meanings regarding religion, art, philosopy, etc. but the fiction concept is what we are concerned with. So, the different types of space drives that the confederacy uses, the weapons, used, the rules about concubine treatment; these are all aspects of canon for our Swarm Cycle Universe.
Bullet : The thing that comes flying out of a firearm and hurts people. This term is also used for the stones or other projectiles from a sling, slinshot or even an airgun. The term is often incorrectly used in place of 'Cartridge', which is what you load into a fiream and which contains case, powder, primer and a bullet.
Round: Short for round of ammunition. The same thing as a 'Cartridge'. Note that before metal casing were perfected, Cartridges were generally just a roll of paper with the fixings inside.
Slug. Same thing as a bullet. The part that hurts the target. A shotgun slug is a special bullet for shotguns that would generally be used instead of shot pellets for special uses. (door breaching, deer hunting, etc)
Shell: Either a projectile which is fired from artillery and well, blows up, OR the casing for a round of shotgun ammo. (The part that holds the powder shot, etc)
Shot: In shotgun ammunition, these are the projectiles that spread out and potentially damage the target.
Lock and load: Various meanings in the past. Currently "Lock the bolt back and place one magazine into the magazine well of the weapon" and "Load one round into the breach by releasing the bolt" essentially it means load and prepare to shoot. Generally the command will be given in more than one phase. i.e. "Lock" followed later by 'Load'. You might not want rounds of ammo in the chamber/breech while you are (in a helicopter/climbing a wall/running/ etc) because accidents happen.
Breech: The back end of a gun barrel. the 'safer' end. The round or cartridge goes in here.
Chamber: A specific area of a breech loading weapon that holds the round. It may be a different diameter than that of the barrel.
Caliber and Gauge: Caliber is the diameter of the BULLET fired from a firearm. There are a couple of different numbering systems and hundreds (at least) of different calibers available for firearms.
Metric.Numbers like 9 mm mean the barrel has a nominal diameter of 9 millimeters.
Imperial: Numbers such as .22 or 22 are decimal numbers giving fractions of an inch. leading decimal points are often dropped
Gauge: Shotgun diameters are different. Smaller numbers are bigger diameters. The gauge number is supposedly the number of lead balls of the diameter of the barrel that would weigh one pound. So, a 12 gauge would have a diameter such that 12 balls of that diameter would weigh one pound. Exception is the .410 guage which is in thousands of an inch. In actuallity, shotgun barrels have differnt diameters even when the same gauge, so the numbers are not exact.
Single shot: The firearm holds one round. It can only be fired once before it must be reloaded
Single action: the trigger pull only does one thing, release the hammer, which fires the weapon. the Hammer must be pulled back seperately for each shot. The hammer pull also advances the cylinder. (note, This is what most old revolvers were like, If you see the cowboy pointing the gun at the sky after every shot, he is positioning it so he can get his thumb on the hammer and get leverage to pull it back)
Double action: the trigger pull CAN do two things. One, it advances the cylinder as it pulls the hammer back. (this can be done seperately by pulling the hammer itself back) Then the hammer is released.
Note that some semiautomatic weapons have a double action trigger, Some don't. If it is a double action the trigger can pull back the hammer and then release it to fire the weapon. These weapons genrally have a non exposed hammer or a decocking release.
Semiautomatic. the weapon generally has a seperate clip which holds the rounds. as the weapon is fired, it ejects the used brass and the barrel slides back due to gas pressure. Then springs propel it forward. in the process, it catches the next round in the clip and loads it into the chamber. Also, the action has cocked the hammer again. Another pull of the trigger will fire it again. One shot is fired per pull.
Automatic: the weapon has an action that is similar to the semiautomatic. However, there is nothing stopping the hammer from falling as long as the trigger is depressed. So, it fires again and again, until the trigger is released, or the clip runs out of ammunition.
Autoburst: Some modern Automatic weapons have a mechanism that prevents the weapon from continuously firing. Insted, it will fire several rounds and then stop until the trigger is released and pulled again. the number of rounds is generlly 3 or 5 and some weapons have a setting on the safety that can chose the number. Typically assault rifles have a 'safe' setting' a semi' setting and an 'autoburst' setting.
Clip: this is a box or strip of metal that holds several rounds of ammunition for loading into the Magazine of a firearm. If the device has a spring in it that advances the rounds, it is a magazine.
Magazine: an internal area of a firearm that contains the ammunition and advances this ammunition as the weapon is fired. It has a spring system that does the work of placing the rounds in position for the weapon to grab and use the individual rounds
: also, a type of clip that has a spring that advances the ammunition. Most semi auto pistols and rifles use something like this.
Handgun: a firearm designed to be handheld, in either one or both hands. Includes Pistols, Revolvers, Derringers, machine Pistols and others. Pistol and Handgun are often used interchangeably as the name for the class. British and American English have slightly different rules for which name to use. The main distinction of a handgun is that it can reasonably be expected to be fired with one hand.
LongGun: Rifles, carbines and shotgun. Usually fired from a shoulder position.
Machine Pistol: A weapon that looks like a pistol of the semiautomatic type. However, it is capable of selective fire (auto burst) or full automatic fire. May have an foldable or attachable front hand grip or rear stock. Some weapons of this type will only fire in full auto with the stock added.
Submachine Gun: this is a fully automatic carbine that fires pistol type cartridges. Short ranged compared to a rifle, it is considered a close combat weapon. Classic examples are the "Tommy Gun" (the inventor also invented the name of 'sub machine gun'), Uzis, M3 'Grease guns', the MAC10 carried by 'Snake Plissken' in Escape from New York', MP5s and others.
Assault Rifle: A rifle with Selective fire, (semi auto and either auto burst or full auto) in an 'intermediate caliber'. Not a full power round like a 30-06, but it is a rifle round and generally has several hundred meters of range. Assault rifles were designed to let the rifleman carry lots of ammo and have short to medium range combat capabilities. Classic examples are the Sig-44 (German, WWII) American M-16s and the newer M-4s, the Russian AK-47, Austrian Steyr AUGs, British SA-80 and lots of other weapons.
Battle Rifle: Very similar to the assault rifle, but in full power calibers. Examples are the M-14, the FN-Fal, HK-G3, and the OLD BAR from WWI
Machine Gun: Uses a full power cartridge or a heavier round. Full automatic only and capable of SUSTAINED fire. may use a magazine or a belt depending upon the type of weapon.
See Also
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