Weapon

A weapon, arm or armament is any implement or device that can be used with the intent to
inflict damage or harm. Weapons are used to increase the efficacy and efficiency of activities
such as hunting, crime, law enforcement, self-defense, and warfare. In broader context, weapons
may be construed to include anything used to gain a tactical, strategic, material or mental
advantage over an adversary or enemy target.

While ordinary objects – sticks, rocks, bottles, chairs, vehicles – can be used as weapons, many
are expressly designed for the purpose; these range from simple implements such as clubs, axes
and swords, to complicated modern firearms, tanks, intercontinental ballistic missiles, biological
weapons, and cyberweapons. Something that has been re-purposed, converted, or enhanced to
become a weapon of war is termed weaponized, such as a weaponized virus or weaponized
laser.

People have used weapons in warfare, hunting, self-defense, law enforcement, and criminal
activity. Weapons also serve many other purposes in society including use in sports, collections
for display, and historical displays and demonstrations. As technology has developed throughout
history, weapons have changed with it.

Major innovations in the history of weapons have included the adoption of different materials –
from stone and wood to different metals, and modern synthetic materials such as plastics – and
the developments of different weapon styles either to fit the terrain or to support or counteract
different battlefield tactics and defensive equipment.

The use of weapons is a major driver of cultural evolution and human history up to today, since
weapons are a type of tool which is used to dominate and subdue autonomous agents such as
animals and by that allow for an expansion of the cultural niche, while simultaneously other
weapon users (i.e., agents such as humans, groups, cultures) are able to adapt to weapons of
enemies by learning, triggering a continuous process of competitive technological, skill and
cognitive improvement (arms race).

The arms industry, also known as the arms trade, is a global industry which manufactures and sells
weapons and military technology, and is a major component of the military–industrial complex.

poducts of the arms industry include guns, artillery, ammunition, missiles, military aircraft, military
vehicles, ships, electronic systems, night-vision devices, holographic weapon sights, laser rangefinders,
laser sights, hand grenades, landmines and more.

Types of weapons
1. "Small arms", broadly speaking, are individual-service (i.e. for carry and operation by
individual infantrymen) kinetic projectile firearms. These include: handguns (revolvers,
pistols, derringers and machine pistols), muskets/rifled muskets, shotguns, rifles (assault
rifles, battle rifles, carbines, designated marksman rifles, short-barreled rifles, sniper
 rifles, etc.), submachine guns/personal defense weapons, squad automatic weapons and
light machine guns.
2. "Light weapons", broadly speaking, are infantry-portable weapons that are either crew-
served kinetic firearms, incendiary devices, or shoot explosive munitions. These include:
anti-materiel rifles/anti-tank rifles, general-purpose machine guns/medium machine guns,
unmounted heavy machine guns, portable flamethrowers, grenades, rifle
grenades/underslung grenade launchers, grenade launchers, automatic grenade launchers,
recoilless rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, man-portable anti-tank missiles, man-portable
air-defense systems and mortars under 100 millimetres (3.9 in) caliber.
3. "Heavy weapon" refers to any other weapon systems that are too cumbersome for foot
transportation and hence have to rely on fixed mounting platforms installed upon wheeled
frames/vehicles, vessels, aircraft or fortifications for effective operation. Many explosive
weapons, such as aircraft bombs, rocket systems, artillery and larger mortars, are
categorised as heavy weapons.

Small Arms and Light Weapons also include ammunition, explosives, hand grenades, land mines
and any other man portable weapons not listed above.

In contrast, the term "heavy weapons" generally refers to any other weapon systems that are too
cumbersome for foot transportation and hence have to rely on fixed mounting platforms installed
upon wheeled frames/vehicles, vessels, aircraft or fortifications for effective operation.

 aircraft weapons
 anti-aircraft weapons
 artillery
 flamethrowers
 firearms
 rifles
o bull pup firearms
o assault rifles
o battle rifles
o semi-automatic rifles
o multiple barrel firearms
o pistols
o semi-automatic pistols
o revolvers
o submachine guns
o carbines
o shotguns
 o bolt action rifles
o sniper rifles
o machine guns
o recoilless rifles
o grenade launchers
o rocket launchers
o blow forward firearms
o delayed blowback firearms
 missile weapons
 rockets

Types of weapons
1 .By system/sector

2. by user

3 .By function

4 .By target

By system

a. Land-based weapon system

b. Aerospace systems

c. Aerospace systems

d. Cyber security industry

 By sector/system
Land-based weapon system

This category includes everything from light arms to heavy artillery, and the majority of
producers are small. Many are located in third world countries. International trade in handguns,
machine guns, tanks, armored personnel carriers, and other relatively inexpensive weapons is
substantial. There is relatively little regulation at the international level, and as a result, many
weapons fall into the hands of organized crime, rebel forces, terrorists, or regimes under
sanctions

Aerospace weapon systems

Encompassing military aircraft (both land-based and naval aviation), conventional missiles, and
military satellites, this is the most technologically advanced sector of the market. It is also the
least competitive from an economic standpoint, with a handful of companies dominating the
entire market. The top clients and major producers are virtually all located in the western world
and Russia, with the United States easily in the first place. Prominent aerospace firms include
Rolls Royce, HAL(Hindustan aeronautics limited) BAE Systems, Dassault Aviation, Sukhoi,
Mikoyan, EADS, Leonardo, Thales Group, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Boeing.
There are also several multinational consortia mostly involved in the manufacturing of fighter
jets, such as the Eurofighter. The largest military contract in history, signed in October 2001,
involved the development of the Joint Strike Fighter.

Naval systems

Some of the world's great powers maintain substantial naval forces to provide a global presence,
with the largest nations possessing aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines and advanced anti-air
defense systems. The vast majority of military ships are conventionally powered, but some are
nuclear-powered. There is also a large global market in second-hand naval vessels, generally
purchased by developing countries from Western governments.

Cybersecurity industry
The cybersecurity industry is becoming the most important defense industry as cyber attacks are
being deemed as one of the greatest risks to defense in the next ten years as cited by the NATO
review in 2013. Therefore, high levels of investment has been placed in the cybersecurity
industry to produce new software to protect the ever-growing transition to digitally run hardware.
For the military industry it is vital that protections are used for systems used for reconnaissance,
surveillance and intelligence gathering.
Nevertheless, cyber attacks and cyber attackers have become more advanced in their field using
techniques such as Dynamic Trojan Horse Network (DTHN) Internet Worm, Zero-Day Attack,
and Stealth Bot. As a result, the cybersecurity industry has had to improve the defense
technologies to remove any vulnerability to cyber attacks using systems such as the Security of
Information (SIM), Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFWs) and DDoS techniques.

As the threat to computers grows, the demand for cyber protection will rise, resulting in the
growth of the cybersecurity industry. It is expected that the industry will be dominated by the
defense and homeland security agencies that will make up 40% of the industry

By user
By user – What person or unit uses the weapon
 Personal weapons (or small arms) – designed to be used by a single person.
 Light weapons – 'man-portable' weapons that may require a small team to operate.
 Heavy weapons – artillery and similar weapons larger than light weapons (see SALW).
 Hunting weapon – used by hunters for sport or getting food.
 Crew served weapons – larger than personal weapons, requiring two or more people to
operate correctly.
 Fortification weapons – mounted in a permanent installation, or used primarily within a
fortification.
 Mountain weapons – for use by mountain forces or those operating in difficult terrain.
 Vehicle weapons – to be mounted on any type of combat vehicle.
 Railway weapons – designed to be mounted on railway cars, including armored trains.
 Aircraft weapons – carried on and used by some type of aircraft, helicopter, or other
aerial vehicle.
 Naval weapons – mounted on ships and submarines.
 Space weapons – are designed to be used in or launched from space.
 Autonomous weapons – are capable of accomplishing a mission with limited or no
human intervention.

By function
– The construction of the weapon and principle of operation

 Antimatter weapons (theoretical) would combine matter and antimatter to cause a

powerful explosion.
 Archery weapons operate by using a tensioned string and bent solid to launch a projectile.
 Artillery are firearms capable of launching heavy projectiles over long distances.
 Biological weapons spread biological agents, causing disease or infection.
 Chemical weapons, poisoning and causing reactions.
 Energy weapons rely on concentrating forms of energy to attack, such as lasers or sonic
attack.
  Explosive weapons use a physical explosion to create blast concussion or spread
shrapnel.
 Firearms use a chemical charge to launch projectiles.
 Improvised weapons are common objects, reused as weapons, such as crowbars and
kitchen knives.
 Incendiary weapons cause damage by fire.
 Non-lethal weapons are designed to subdue without killing.
 Magnetic weapons use magnetic fields to propel projectiles, or to focus particle beams.
 Melee weapons operate as physical extensions of the user's body and directly impact a
close target.
o Blade weapons, designed to pierce through flesh and cause bleeding.
o Blunt instruments, designed to break bones, concuss or produce crush injuries.
 Missiles are rockets which are guided to their target after launch. (Also a general term for
projectile weapons).
 Loitering munitions, designed to loiter over a battlefield, striking once a target is located.
 Nuclear weapons use radioactive materials to create nuclear fission and/or nuclear fusion
detonations.
 Primitive weapons make little or no use of technological or industrial elements.
 Ranged weapons (unlike melee weapons), target a distant object or person.
 Rockets use chemical propellant to accelerate a projectile.
 Suicide weapons exploit the willingness of their operator not surviving the attack.

By target
– The type of target the weapon is designed to attack

 Anti-aircraft weapons target missiles and aerial vehicles in flight.

 Anti-fortification weapons are designed to target enemy installations.
 Anti-personnel weapons are designed to attack people, either individually or in numbers.
 Anti-radiation weapons target sources of electronic radiation, particularly radar emitters.
 Anti-satellite weapons target orbiting satellites.
 Anti-ship weapons target ships and vessels on water.
 Anti-submarine weapons target submarines and other underwater targets.
 Anti-tank weapons are designed to defeat armored targets.
 Area denial weapons target territory, making it unsafe or unsuitable for enemy use or
travel.
 Hunting weapons are weapons used to hunt game animals.
 Infantry support weapons are designed to attack various threats to infantry units.
  Aerial Weapons
 Air Force Weapons
 Army Weapons
 Cannons
 Grenades
 Infantry Weapons
 Machine Guns
 Marine Corps Weapons
 Mortars
 Navy Weapons
 Rockets
 Nuclear

Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon (also called an atom bomb, nuke, atomic bomb, nuclear warhead, A-
bomb, or nuclear bomb) is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear
reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or from a combination of fission and fusion reactions
(thermonuclear bomb). Both bomb types release large quantities of energy from relatively small
amounts of matter.

The first test of a fission ("atomic") bomb released an amount of energy approximately equal to
20,000 tons of TNT (84 TJ). The first thermonuclear ("hydrogen") bomb test released energy
approximately equal to 10 million tons of TNT (42 PJ). Nuclear bombs have had yields between
10 tons TNT (the W54) and 50 megatons for the Tsar Bomba (see TNT equivalent). A
thermonuclear weapon weighing little more than 2,400 pounds (1,100 kg) can release energy
equal to more than 1.2 million tons of TNT (5.0 PJ). A nuclear device no larger than traditional
bombs can devastate an entire city by blast, fire, and radiation. Since they are weapons of mass
destruction, the proliferation of nuclear weapons is a focus of international relations policy.
Nuclear weapons have been deployed twice in war, by the United States against the Japanese
cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 during World War II.

Types of Nuclear weapon

There are two basic types of nuclear weapons: those that derive the majority of their energy
from nuclear fission reactions alone, and those that use fission reactions to begin nuclear fusion
reactions that produce a large amount of the total energy output.

Fission weapons

All existing nuclear weapons derive some of their explosive energy from nuclear fission
reactions. Weapons whose explosive output is exclusively from fission reactions are commonly
referred to as atomic bombs or atom bombs (abbreviated as A-bombs). This has long been
noted as something of a misnomer, as their energy comes from the nucleus of the atom, just as it
does with fusion weapons.

In fission weapons, a mass of fissile material (enriched uranium or plutonium) is forced into
supercriticality—allowing an exponential growth of nuclear chain reactions—either by shooting
one piece of sub-critical material into another (the "gun" method) or by compression of a sub-
critical sphere or cylinder of fissile material using chemically-fueled explosive lenses. The latter
approach, the "implosion" method, is more sophisticated than the former.

A major challenge in all nuclear weapon designs is to ensure that a significant fraction of the fuel
is consumed before the weapon destroys itself. The amount of energy released by fission bombs
can range from the equivalent of just under a ton to upwards of 500,000 tons (500 kilotons) of
TNT (4.2 to 2.1×106 GJ).

All fission reactions generate fission products, the remains of the split atomic nuclei. Many
fission products are either highly radioactive (but short-lived) or moderately radioactive (but
long-lived), and as such, they are a serious form of radioactive contamination. Fission products
are the principal radioactive component of nuclear fallout. Another source of radioactivity is the
burst of free neutrons produced by the weapon. When they collide with other nuclei in the
surrounding material, the neutrons transmute those nuclei into other isotopes, altering their
stability and making them radioactive.

The most commonly used fissile materials for nuclear weapons applications have been uranium-
235 and plutonium-239. Less commonly used has been uranium-233. Neptunium-237 and some
isotopes of americium may be usable for nuclear explosives as well, but it is not clear that this
has ever been implemented, and their plausible use in nuclear weapons is a matter of dispute.

Fusion weapons

The other basic type of nuclear weapon produces a large proportion of its energy in nuclear
fusion reactions. Such fusion weapons are generally referred to as thermonuclear weapons or
more colloquially as hydrogen bombs (abbreviated as H-bombs), as they rely on fusion
reactions between isotopes of hydrogen (deuterium and tritium). All such weapons derive a
significant portion of their energy from fission reactions used to "trigger" fusion reactions, and
fusion reactions can themselves trigger additional fission reactions.
 Only six countries—United States, Russia, United Kingdom, China, France, and India—have
conducted thermonuclear weapon tests. Whether India has detonated a "true" multi-staged
thermonuclear weapon is controversial. North Korea claims to have tested a fusion weapon as of
January 2016, though this claim is disputed. Thermonuclear weapons are considered much more
difficult to successfully design and execute than primitive fission weapons. Almost all of the
nuclear weapons deployed today use the thermonuclear design because it is more efficient.

Thermonuclear bombs work by using the energy of a fission bomb to compress and heat fusion
fuel. In the Teller-Ulam design, which accounts for all multi-megaton yield hydrogen bombs,
this is accomplished by placing a fission bomb and fusion fuel (tritium, deuterium, or lithium
deuteride) in proximity within a special, radiation-reflecting container. When the fission bomb is
detonated, gamma rays and X-rays emitted first compress the fusion fuel, then heat it to
thermonuclear temperatures. The ensuing fusion reaction creates enormous numbers of high-
speed neutrons, which can then induce fission in materials not normally prone to it, such as
depleted uranium. Each of these components is known as a "stage", with the fission bomb as the
"primary" and the fusion capsule as the "secondary". In large, megaton-range hydrogen bombs,
about half of the yield comes from the final fissioning of depleted uranium.

Virtually all thermonuclear weapons deployed today use the "two-stage" design described above,
but it is possible to add additional fusion stages—each stage igniting a larger amount of fusion
fuel in the next stage. This technique can be used to construct thermonuclear weapons of
arbitrarily large yield, in contrast to fission bombs, which are limited in their explosive force.
The largest nuclear weapon ever detonated, the Tsar Bomba of the USSR, which released an
energy equivalent of over 50 megatons of TNT (210 PJ), was a three-stage weapon. Most
thermonuclear weapons are considerably smaller than this, due to practical constraints from
missile warhead space and weight requirements.

Fusion reactions do not create fission products, and thus contribute far less to the creation of nuclear
fallout than fission reactions, but because all thermonuclear weapons contain at least one fission stage,
and many high-yield thermonuclear devices have a final fission stage, thermonuclear weapons can
generate at least as much nuclear fallout as fission-only weapons

Other Types of Nuclear weapon

There are other types of nuclear weapons as well. For example, a boosted fission weapon is a
fission bomb that increases its explosive yield through a small number of fusion reactions, but it
is not a fusion bomb. In the boosted bomb, the neutrons produced by the fusion reactions serve
primarily to increase the efficiency of the fission bomb. There are two types of boosted fission
bomb: internally boosted, in which a deuterium-tritium mixture is injected into the bomb core,
and externally boosted, in which concentric shells of lithium-deuteride and depleted uranium are
layered on the outside of the fission bomb core.

Some nuclear weapons are designed for special purposes; a neutron bomb is a thermonuclear
weapon that yields a relatively small explosion but a relatively large amount of neutron radiation;
such a device could theoretically be used to cause massive casualties while leaving infrastructure
mostly intact and creating a minimal amount of fallout. The detonation of any nuclear weapon is
accompanied by a blast of neutron radiation. Surrounding a nuclear weapon with suitable
materials (such as cobalt or gold) creates a weapon known as a salted bomb. This device can
produce exceptionally large quantities of long-lived radioactive contamination. It has been
conjectured that such a device could serve as a "doomsday weapon" because such a large
quantity of radioactivities with half-lives of decades, lifted into the stratosphere where winds
would distribute it around the globe, would make all life on the planet extinct.

In connection with the Strategic Defense Initiative, research into the nuclear pumped laser was
conducted under the DOD program Project Excalibur but this did not result in a working
weapon. The concept involves the tapping of the energy of an exploding nuclear bomb to power
a single-shot laser that is directed at a distant target.

During the Starfish Prime high-altitude nuclear test in 1962, an unexpected effect was produced
which is called a nuclear electromagnetic pulse. This is an intense flash of electromagnetic
energy produced by a rain of high-energy electrons which in turn are produced by a nuclear
bomb's gamma rays. This flash of energy can permanently destroy or disrupt electronic
equipment if insufficiently shielded. It has been proposed to use this effect to disable an enemy's
military and civilian infrastructure as an adjunct to other nuclear or conventional military
operations against that enemy. Because the effect is produced by high altitude nuclear
detonations, it can produce damage to electronics over a wide, even continental, geographical
area.

Research has been done into the possibility of pure fusion bombs: nuclear weapons that consist
of fusion reactions without requiring a fission bomb to initiate them. Such a device might
provide a simpler path to thermonuclear weapons than one that required the development of
fission weapons first, and pure fusion weapons would create significantly less nuclear fallout
than other thermonuclear weapons because they would not disperse fission products. In 1998, the
United States Department of Energy divulged that the United States had, "...made a substantial
investment" in the past to develop pure fusion weapons, but that, "The U.S. does not have and is
not developing a pure fusion weapon", and that, "No credible design for a pure fusion weapon
resulted from the DOE investment".

Antimatter, which consists of particles resembling ordinary matter particles in most of their
properties but having opposite electric charge, has been considered as a trigger mechanism for
nuclear weapons. A major obstacle is the difficulty of producing antimatter in large enough
quantities, and there is no evidence that it is feasible beyond the military domain. However, the
U.S. Air Force funded studies of the physics of antimatter in the Cold War, and began
considering its possible use in weapons, not just as a trigger, but as the explosive itself.

A fourth generation nuclear weapon design is related to, and relies upon, the same principle as
antimatter-catalyzed nuclear pulse propulsion. Most variation in nuclear weapon design is for
the purpose of achieving different yields for different situations, and in manipulating design
elements to attempt to minimize weapon size.
Gun
Contents
 1 Etymology
 2 History
 3 Operating principle
 4 Components
o 4.1 Barrel
o 4.2 Projectile
 5 Terminology
 6 Types
o 6.1 Military
o 6.2 Handguns
o 6.3 Hunting
o 6.4 Machine guns
o 6.5 Autocannon
o 6.6 Artillery
o 6.7 Tank
o 6.8 Rescue equipment
o 6.9 Training and entertainment
o 6.10 Energy

A gun is a ranged weapon designed to use a shooting tube (gun barrel) to launch typically solid
projectiles, but can also project pressurized liquid (e.g. water guns/cannons, spray guns for
painting or pressure washing, projected water disruptors, and technically also flamethrowers),
gas (e.g. light-gas gun) or even charged particles (e.g. plasma gun). Solid projectiles may be free-
flying (as with bullets and artillery shells) or tethered (as with Taser guns, spearguns and
harpoon guns). A large-caliber gun is also referred to as a cannon.

The means of projectile propulsion vary according to designs, but are traditionally effected
pneumatically by a high gas pressure contained within the barrel tube, produced either through
the rapid exothermic combustion of propellants (as with firearms), or by mechanical
compression (as with air guns). The high-pressure gas is introduced behind the projectile,
pushing and accelerating it down the length of the tube, imparting sufficient launch velocity to
sustain its further travel towards the target once the propelling gas ceases acting upon it after it
exits the muzzle. Alternatively, new-concept linear motor weapons may employ an
electromagnetic field to achieve acceleration, in which case the barrel may be substituted by
guide rails (as in railguns) or wrapped with magnetic coils (as in coilguns).

The first devices identified as guns appeared in China from around CE 1000. By the 12th
century, the technology was spreading through the rest of Asia, and into Europe by the 13th
century.

Etymology
The origin of the English word gun is considered to derive from the name given to a particular
historical weapon. Domina Gunilda was the name given to a remarkably large ballista, a
mechanical bolt throwing weapon of enormous size, mounted at Windsor Castle during the 14th
century. This name in turn may have derived from the Old Norse woman's proper name
Gunnhildr which combines two Norse words referring to battle. In any case the term gonne or
gunne was applied to early hand-held firearms by the late 14th or early 15th century.

History
The first device identified as a gun, a bamboo tube that used gunpowder to fire a spear, appeared
in China around AD 1000. The Chinese had previously invented gunpowder in the 9th century.

An early type of firearm (or portable gun) is the fire lance, a black-powder–filled tube attached
to the end of a spear and used as a flamethrower; shrapnel was sometimes placed in the barrel so
that it would fly out together with the flames. The earliest depiction of a gunpowder weapon is
the illustration of a fire-lance on a mid-10th century silk banner from Dunhuang. The De'an
Shoucheng Lu, an account of the siege of De'an in 1132, records that Song forces used fire-
lances against the Jurchens.

In due course, the proportion of saltpeter in the propellant was increased to maximise its
explosive power. To better withstand that explosive power, the paper and bamboo of which fire-
lance barrels were originally made came to be replaced by metal. And to take full advantage of
that power, the shrapnel came to be replaced by projectiles whose size and shape filled the barrel
more closely. With this, the three basic features of a gun were put in place: a barrel made of
metal, high-nitrate gunpowder, and a projectile which totally occludes the muzzle so that the
powder charge exerts its full potential in propellant effect.

Breech-loading guns called cetbang were used by the Majapahit Empire during the conquest of
Nusantara in 1336–1350. The knowledge of making powder weapons in Java is thought to have
originated from the Mongol invasion in 1293. These swivel guns mounted on various vessels of
the Majapahit navy were used to great effect against traditional boarding-style warfare of other
kingdoms in the archipelago.

One theory of how gunpowder came to Europe is that it made its way along the Silk Road
through the Middle East; another is that it was brought to Europe during the Mongol invasion in
the first half of the 13th century. English Privy Wardrobe accounts list "ribaldis", a type of
cannon, in the 1340s, and siege guns were used by the English at Calais in 1346. The earliest
surviving firearm in Europe has been found from Otepää, Estonia and it dates to at least 1396.

Around the late 14th century in Europe, smaller and portable hand-held cannons were developed,
creating in effect the first smooth-bore personal firearm. In the late 15th century the Ottoman
empire used firearms as part of its regular infantry.

The first successful rapid-fire firearm is the Gatling Gun, invented by Richard Gatling and
fielded by the Union forces during the American Civil War in the 1860s. The Maxim gun, the
first machine gun came shortly thereafter, developed in 1885 by Hiram Maxim.

The world's first submachine gun (a fully automatic firearm which fires pistol cartridges) able to
be maneuvered by a single soldier is the MP 18.1, invented by Theodor Bergmann. It was
introduced into service in 1918 by the German Army during World War I as the primary weapon
of the Stosstruppen (assault groups specialized in trench combat).

The first assault rifle was introduced during World War II by the Germans, known as the StG44.
It was the first firearm to bridge the gap between long range rifles, machine guns, and short
range submachine guns. Since the mid-20th century, guns that fire beams of energy rather than
solid projectiles have been developed, and also guns that can be fired by means other than the
use of gunpowder.

Operating principle
Most guns use compressed gas confined by the barrel to propel the bullet up to high speed,
though devices operating in other ways are sometimes called guns. In firearms the high-pressure
gas is generated by combustion, usually of gunpowder. This principle is similar to that of internal
combustion engines, except that the bullet leaves the barrel, while the piston transfers its motion
to other parts and returns down the cylinder. As in an internal combustion engine, the
combustion propagates by deflagration rather than by detonation, and the optimal gunpowder,
like the optimal motor fuel, is resistant to detonation. This is because much of the energy
generated in detonation is in the form of a shock wave, which can propagate from the gas to the
solid structure and heat or damage the structure, rather than staying as heat to propel the piston or
bullet. The shock wave at such high temperature and pressure is much faster than that of any
bullet, and would leave the gun as sound either through the barrel or the bullet itself rather than
contributing to the bullet's velocity.

Components
Barrel

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 rifling is undesired or unnecessary. Typically, interior barrel
diameter and the associated projectile size is a means to identify gun variations. Bore diameter is
reported in several ways. The more conventional measure is reporting the interior diameter
(bore) of the barrel in decimal fractions of the inch or in millimetres. Some guns—such as
shotguns—report the weapon's gauge (which is the number of shot pellets having the same
diameter as the bore produced from one English pound (454g) of lead) or—as in some British
ordnance—the weight of the weapon's usual projectile.

Projectile

A gun 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.

Terminology
The term gun may refer to any sort of projectile weapon from large cannons to small firearms
including those that are usually hand-held (handgun). The word gun is also commonly used to
describe objects which, while they are not themselves weapons, produce an effect or possess a
form which is in some way evocative of a handgun or long gun.

The use of the term "cannon" is interchangeable with "gun" as words borrowed from the French
language during the early 15th century, from Old French canon, itself a borrowing from the
Italian cannone, a "large tube" augmentative of Latin canna "reed or cane". Recent scholarship
indicates that the term "gun" may have its origins in the Norse woman's name "Gunnildr" (which
means "War-sword"), which was often shortened to "Gunna". The earliest recorded use of the
term "gonne" was in a Latin document circa 1339. Other names for guns during this era were
"schioppi" (Italian translation-"thunderers"), and "donrebusse" (Dutch translation-"thunder gun")
which was incorporated into the English language as "blunderbuss". Artillerymen were often
referred to as "gonners" and "artillers" Early guns and the men who used them were often
associated with the devil and the gunner's craft was considered a black art, a point reinforced by
the smell of sulfur on battlefields created from the firing of guns along with the muzzle blast and
accompanying flash.

The word cannon is retained in some cases for the actual gun tube but not the weapon system.
The title gunner is applied to the member of the team charged with operating, aiming, and firing
a gun.

Autocannons are automatic guns designed primarily to fire shells and are mounted on a vehicle
or other mount. Machine guns are similar, but usually designed to fire simple projectiles. In some
calibers and some usages, these two definitions overlap.

In contemporary military and naval parlance the term gun has a very specific meaning and refers
solely to any large-caliber, direct-fire, high-velocity, flat-trajectory artillery piece employing an
explosive-filled hollowed metal shell or solid bolt as its primary projectile. This later usage
contrasts with large-calibre, high-angle, low-velocity, indirect-fire weapons such as howitzers,
mortars, and grenade launchers which invariantly employ explosive-filled shells. In other
military use, the term "gun" refers primarily to direct fire weapons that capitalize on their muzzle
velocity for penetration or range. In modern parlance, these weapons are breech-loaded and built
primarily for long range fire with a low or almost flat ballistic arc. A variation is the howitzer or
gun-howitzer designed to offer the ability to fire both low or high-angle ballistic arcs. In this use,
example guns include naval guns. A less strict application of the word is to identify one artillery
weapon system or non-machine gun projectile armament on aircraft.

A related military use of the word is in describing gun-type fission weapon. In this instance, the
"gun" is part of a nuclear weapon and contains an explosively propelled sub-critical slug of
fissile material within a barrel to be fired into a second sub-critical mass in order to initiate the
fission reaction. Potentially confused with this usage are small nuclear devices capable of being
fired by artillery or recoilless rifle.

In civilian use, the captive bolt pistol is used in agriculture to humanely stun farm animals for
slaughter.

Shotguns are normally civilian weapons used primarily for hunting. These weapons are typically
smooth bored and fire a shell containing small lead or steel balls. Variations use rifled barrels or
fire other projectiles including solid lead slugs, a Taser XREP projectile capable of stunning a
target, or other payloads. In military versions, these weapons are often used to burst door hinges
or locks in addition to antipersonnel uses.[

Types of guns
Military gun

 Long gun
o Arquebus
o Blunderbuss
o Musket
 Musketoon
 Wall gun
 Grenade launcher
o Submachine gun
 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
  Automatic shotgun

Handguns

 Handgun
o Pistol
o Machine pistol
o Service pistol
o Revolver
o Service revolver

Hunting gun

 Air gun
o BB gun
 Elephant gun
 Express rifle
 Rimfire rifle
 Speargun
 Varmint rifle

Machine guns

 Gatling gun
o Minigun

 Nordenfelt gun
 Metal Storm
 Mitrailleuse
 Submachine gun
o Machine pistol
 Machine gun
o General-purpose machine gun
o Light machine gun
 Squad Automatic Weapon
 Infantry Automatic Rifle
o Medium machine gun
o Heavy machine gun
Autocannon

 Autocannon
 Chain gun
 Revolver cannon

Artillery

 Artillery gun
o Cannon
o Carronade
o Falconet
o Field gun
o Howitzer

Tank

 Tank gun

Rescue equipment

 Flare gun
 Lyle gun

Training and entertainment

 Airsoft gun
 Drill Purpose Rifle
 Paintball gun
 Potato cannon
 Spud gun
 Cap gun
 Water gun
 Nerf gun

Energy

 Directed-energy weapon
Overview
 Coilgun
 Firearm
 Gun control
 Gun cultures
 Gun ownership
 Gun Quarter
 Gun safety
 Overview of gun laws by nation
 Railgun
 Stun gun

Gunpowder
Gunpowder or "black powder" is a propellant used in early firearms.

Gunpowder, also known as the retronym black powder to distinguish it from modern
smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur
(S), carbon (C), and potassium nitrate (saltpeter, KNO3). The sulfur and charcoal act as fuels
while the saltpeter is an oxidizer. Gunpowder has been widely used as a propellant in firearms,
artillery, rocketry, and pyrotechnics, including use as a blasting agent for explosives in
quarrying, mining, and road building.

Gunpowder was invented in 9th-century China as one of the Four Great Inventions, and spread
throughout most parts of Eurasia by the end of the 13th century. Originally developed by the
Taoists for medicinal purposes, gunpowder was first used for warfare around 904 AD.

Gunpowder is classified as a low explosive because of its relatively slow decomposition rate and
consequently low brisance. Low explosives deflagrate (i.e., burn) at subsonic speeds, whereas
high explosives detonate producing a supersonic shockwave. Ignition of gunpowder packed
behind a projectile generates enough pressure to force the shot from the muzzle at high speed,
but usually not enough force to rupture the gun barrel. Gunpowder thus makes a good propellant,
but is less suitable for shattering rock or fortifications with its low-yield explosive power.
Nonetheless it was widely used to fill fused artillery shells (and used in mining and civil
engineering projects) until the second half of the 19th century, when the first high explosives
were put into use.

Gunpowder's use in weapons has declined due to smokeless powder replacing it, and it is no
longer used for industrial purposes, due to its relative inefficiency compared to newer
alternatives such as dynamite and ammonium nitrate/fuel oil. Today gunpowder firearms are
limited primarily to hunting, target shooting, and bulletless historical reenactments.

Chemistry
A simple, commonly cited, chemical equation for the combustion of black powder is:

2 KNO3 + S + 3 C → K2S + N2 + 3 CO2.

A balanced, but still simplified, equation is:

10 KNO3 + 3 S + 8 C → 2 K2CO3 + 3 K2SO4 + 6 CO2 + 5 N2.

Gunpowder does not burn as a single reaction, so the byproducts are not easily predicted. One
study showed that it produced (in order of descending quantities) 55.91% solid products:
potassium carbonate, potassium sulfate, potassium sulfide, sulfur, potassium nitrate, potassium
thiocyanate, carbon, ammonium carbonate and 42.98% gaseous products: carbon dioxide,
nitrogen, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide, hydrogen, methane, 1.11% water.

Black powder made with less-expensive and more plentiful sodium nitrate instead of potassium
nitrate (in appropriate proportions) works just as well. However, it is more hygroscopic than
powders made from potassium nitrate. Muzzleloaders have been known to fire after hanging on a
wall for decades in a loaded state, provided they remained dry. By contrast, black powder made
with sodium nitrate must be kept sealed to remain stable.

Gunpowder releases 3 megajoules per kilogram and contains its own oxidant. This is lower than
TNT (4.7 megajoules per kilogram), or gasoline (47.2 megajoules per kilogram, but gasoline
requires an oxidant, so an optimized gasoline and O2 mixture contains 10.4 megajoules per
kilogram).

Black powder also has a low energy density compared to modern "smokeless" powders, and thus
to achieve high energy loadings, large amounts of black powder are needed with heavy
projectiles.

Components
Black powder is a granular mixture of
  a nitrate, typically potassium nitrate (KNO3), which supplies oxygen for the reaction;
 charcoal, which provides carbon and other fuel for the reaction, simplified as carbon (C);
 sulfur (S), which, while also serving as a fuel, lowers the temperature required to ignite
the mixture, thereby increasing the rate of combustion.

Potassium nitrate is the most important ingredient in terms of both bulk and function because the
combustion process releases oxygen from the potassium nitrate, promoting the rapid burning of
the other ingredients. To reduce the likelihood of accidental ignition by static electricity, the
granules of modern black powder are typically coated with graphite, which prevents the build-up
of electrostatic charge.

Charcoal does not consist of pure carbon; rather, it consists of partially pyrolyzed cellulose, in
which the wood is not completely decomposed. Carbon differs from ordinary charcoal. Whereas
charcoal's autoignition temperature is relatively low, carbon's is much greater. Thus, a black
powder composition containing pure carbon would burn similarly to a match head, at best.

The current standard composition for the black powders that are manufactured by
pyrotechnicians was adopted as long ago as 1780. Proportions by weight are 75% potassium
nitrate (known as saltpeter or saltpetre), 15% softwood charcoal, and 10% sulfur. These ratios
have varied over the centuries and by country, and can be altered somewhat depending on the
purpose of the powder. For instance, power grades of black powder, unsuitable for use in
firearms but adequate for blasting rock in quarrying operations, are called blasting powder rather
than gunpowder with standard proportions of 70% nitrate, 14% charcoal, and 16% sulfur;
blasting powder may be made with the cheaper sodium nitrate substituted for potassium nitrate
and proportions may be as low as 40% nitrate, 30% charcoal, and 30% sulfur. In 1857, Lammot
du Pont solved the main problem of using cheaper sodium nitrate formulations when he patented
DuPont "B" blasting powder. After manufacturing grains from press-cake in the usual way, his
process tumbled the powder with graphite dust for 12 hours. This formed a graphite coating on
each grain that reduced its ability to absorb moisture.

Neither the use of graphite nor sodium nitrate was new. Glossing gunpowder corns with graphite
was already an accepted technique in 1839, and sodium nitrate-based blasting powder had been
made in Peru for many years using the sodium nitrate mined at Tarapacá (now in Chile). Also,
in 1846, two plants were built in south-west England to make blasting powder using this sodium
nitrate. The idea may well have been brought from Peru by Cornish miners returning home after
completing their contracts. Another suggestion is that it was William Lobb, the planthunter, who
recognised the possibilities of sodium nitrate during his travels in South America. Lammot du
Pont would have known about the use of graphite and probably also knew about the plants in
south-west England. In his patent he was careful to state that his claim was for the combination
of graphite with sodium nitrate-based powder, rather than for either of the two individual
technologies.

French war powder in 1879 used the ratio 75% saltpeter, 12.5% charcoal, 12.5% sulfur. English
war powder in 1879 used the ratio 75% saltpeter, 15% charcoal, 10% sulfur. The British
Congreve rockets used 62.4% saltpeter, 23.2% charcoal and 14.4% sulfur, but the British Mark
VII gunpowder was changed to 65% saltpeter, 20% charcoal and 15% sulfur. The explanation for
the wide variety in formulation relates to usage. Powder used for rocketry can use a slower burn
rate since it accelerates the projectile for a much longer time—whereas powders for weapons
such as flintlocks, cap-locks, or matchlocks need a higher burn rate to accelerate the projectile in
a much shorter distance. Cannons usually used lower burn-rate powders, because most would
burst with higher burn-rate powders.

In the First Opium war, the mixture for Qing China gunpowder contained a high ratio of charcoal
which gave it a high stability and longer shelf life but generated less kinetic energy when ignited,
decreasing the range and accuracy. In comparison, the mixture for British gunpowder contained
a higher ratio of sulfur, allowing the powder to burn faster and thus generate more kinetic
energy.

Other compositions

Besides black powder, there are other historically important types of gunpowder. "Brown
gunpowder" is cited as composed of 79% nitre, 3% sulfur, and 18% charcoal per 100 of dry
powder, with about 2% moisture. Prismatic Brown Powder is a large-grained product the
Rottweil Company introduced in 1884 in Germany, which was adopted by the British Royal
Navy shortly thereafter. The French navy adopted a fine, 3.1 millimeter, not prismatic grained
product called Slow Burning Cocoa (SBC) or "cocoa powder". These brown powders reduced
burning rate even further by using as little as 2 percent sulfur and using charcoal made from rye
straw that had not been completely charred, hence the brown color.

Lesmok powder was a product developed by DuPont in 1911, one of several semi-smokeless
products in the industry containing a mixture of black and nitrocellulose powder. It was sold to
Winchester and others primarily for .22 and .32 small calibers. Its advantage was that it was
believed at the time to be less corrosive than smokeless powders then in use. It was not
understood in the U.S. until the 1920s that the actual source of corrosion was the potassium
chloride residue from potassium chlorate sensitized primers. The bulkier black powder fouling
better disperses primer residue. Failure to mitigate primer corrosion by dispersion caused the
false impression that nitrocellulose-based powder caused corrosion. Lesmok had some of the
bulk of black powder for dispersing primer residue, but somewhat less total bulk than straight
black powder, thus requiring less frequent bore cleaning. It was last sold by Winchester in 1947.

Sulfur-free powders

The development of smokeless powders, such as cordite, in the late 19th century created the need
for a spark-sensitive priming charge, such as gunpowder. However, the sulfur content of
traditional gunpowders caused corrosion problems with Cordite Mk I and this led to the
introduction of a range of sulfur-free gunpowders, of varying grain sizes. They typically contain
70.5 parts of saltpeter and 29.5 parts of charcoal. Like black powder, they were produced in
different grain sizes. In the United Kingdom, the finest grain was known as sulfur-free mealed
powder (SMP). Coarser grains were numbered as sulfur-free gunpowder (SFG n): 'SFG 12', 'SFG
20', 'SFG 40' and 'SFG 90', for example; where the number represents the smallest BSS sieve
mesh size, which retained no grains.
Sulfur's main role in gunpowder is to decrease the ignition temperature. A sample reaction for
sulfur-free gunpowder would be:

6 KNO3 + C7H4O → 3 K2CO3 + 4 CO2 + 2 H2O + 3 N2

Smokeless powders

The term black powder was coined in the late 19th century, primarily in the United States, to distinguish
prior gunpowder formulations from the new smokeless powders and semi-smokeless powders. Semi-
smokeless powders featured bulk volume properties that approximated black powder, but had
significantly reduced amounts of smoke and combustion products. Smokeless powder has different
burning properties (pressure vs. time) and can generate higher pressures and work per gram. This can
rupture older weapons designed for black powder. Smokeless powders ranged in color from brownish
tan to yellow to white. Most of the bulk semi-smokeless powders ceased to be manufactured in the
1920s.

Effect
Gunpowder is a low explosive: it does not detonate, but rather deflagrates (burns quickly). This
is an advantage in a propellant device, where one does not desire a shock that would shatter the
gun and potentially harm the operator; however, it is a drawback when an explosion is desired. In
that case, gunpowder (and most importantly, gases produced by its burning) must be confined.
Since it contains its own oxidizer and additionally burns faster under pressure, its combustion is
capable of bursting containers such as a shell, grenade, or improvised "pipe bomb" or "pressure
cooker" casings to form shrapnel.

In quarrying, high explosives are generally preferred for shattering rock. However, because of its
low brisance, black powder causes fewer fractures and results in more usable stone compared to
other explosives, making black powder useful for blasting slate, which is fragile, or monumental
stone such as granite and marble. Black powder is well suited for blank rounds, signal flares,
burst charges, and rescue-line launches. Black powder is also used in fireworks for lifting shells,
in rockets as fuel, and in certain special effects.

Combustion converts less than half the mass of black powder to gas, most of it turns into
particulate matter. Some of it is ejected, wasting propelling power, fouling the air, and generally
being a nuisance (giving away a soldier's position, generating fog that hinders vision, etc.). Some
of it ends up as a thick layer of soot inside the barrel, where it also is a nuisance for subsequent
shots, and a cause of jamming an automatic weapon. Moreover, this residue is hygroscopic, and
with the addition of moisture absorbed from the air forms a corrosive substance. The soot
contains potassium oxide or sodium oxide that turns into potassium hydroxide, or sodium
hydroxide, which corrodes wrought iron or steel gun barrels. Black powder arms therefore
require thorough and regular cleaning to remove the residue.
Ammunition
Contents
 1 Glossary
 2 Design
 3 Components
o 3.1 Fuzes
o 3.2 Propellant or explosive
o 3.3 Cartridge case or container
o 3.4 Projectile
 4 Storage
 5 Common types
o 5.1 Small arms
o 5.2 Shells
 5.2.1 Artillery
 5.2.2 Tank
 5.2.3 Naval
o 5.3 Aircraft and anti-aircraft
 6 Logistics
 7 Environmental problems
 8 Unexploded ordnance

Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped or detonated from any
weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles,
grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weapons that create the effect on a target
(e.g., bullets and warheads). Nearly all mechanical weapons require some form of ammunition
to operate.

The term ammunition can be traced back to the mid-17th century. The word comes from the
French la munition, for the material used for war. Ammunition and munitions are often used
interchangeably, although munition now usually refers to the actual weapons system with the
ammunition required to operate it. In some languages other than English ammunition is still
referred to as munition, such as French ("munitions"), German ("Munition"), Italian
("munizione") or Portuguese ("munição").

The purpose of ammunition is to project a force against a selected target to have an effect
(usually, but not always, lethal). The most iconic example of ammunition is the firearm cartridge,
which includes all components required to deliver the weapon effect in a single package.
Ammunition comes in a great range of sizes and types and is often designed to work only in
specific weapons systems. However, there are internationally recognized standards for certain
ammunition types (e.g., 5.56×45mm NATO) that enable their use across different weapons and
by different users. There are also specific types of ammunition that are designed to have a
specialized effect on a target, such as armor-piercing shells and tracer ammunition, used only in
certain circumstances. Ammunition is commonly labeled or colored in a specific manner to assist
in the identification and to prevent the wrong ammunition types from being used accidentally or
inappropriately.

The Importance of Knowing About the Different Types of Ammo

Guns are essentially worthless without ammunition. And by knowing about the different types of
ammo out there, you can more effectively use your firearms and optimize your accuracy and
power. Ammo is usually described by using the diameter to length ratio measurement. For example,
6.55x54mm is actually 6.55mm wide and 54mm long. When it comes to shotgun shells, we measure
those in gauge. The higher the number, the smaller the diameter of the shotgun shell. So if you have
a 12 gauge shell, that would be that it’s about 2.5in or 70 MM long.

The inside of a shell

Glossary
 A round is a single cartridge containing a projectile, propellant, primer and casing.
 A shell is a form of ammunition that is fired by a large caliber cannon or artillery piece.
Before the mid-19th century, these shells were usually made of solid materials and relied
on kinetic energy to have an effect. However, since that time, they are more often filled
with high-explosives (see artillery).
 A shot refers to a single release of a weapons system. This may involve firing just one
round or piece of ammunition (e.g., from a semi-automatic firearm), but can also refer to
ammunition types that release a large number of projectiles at the same time (e.g., cluster
munitions or shotgun shells).
 A dud refers to loaded ammunition that fails to function as intended, typically failing to
detonate on landing. However, it can also refer to ammunition that fails to fire inside the
weapon, known as a misfire, or when the ammunition only partially functions, known as
a hang fire. Dud ammunition, which is classified as an unexploded ordnance (UXO), is
regarded as highly dangerous. In former conflict zones, it is not uncommon for dud
ammunition to remain buried in the ground for many years. Large quantities of
 ammunition from World War I continue to be regularly found in fields throughout France
and Belgium and occasionally still claim lives. Although classified as an unexploded
ordnance, landmines that have been left behind after conflict are not considered duds as
they have not failed to work and may still be fully functioning.
 A bomb, or more specifically a guided or unguided bomb (also called an aircraft
bomb or aerial bomb), is typically an airdropped, unpowered explosive weapon. Mines
and the warheads used in guided missiles and rockets are also referred to as bomb-type
ammunition.
 Slug Vs. Shot
A slug is basically just a big bullet. Shot, however, is made up of a bunch of tiny little
projectiles. Both types of cartridges use the kinds of components, though.
Earlier, we went over the four different parts, primer, powder, case, and projectile. The
majority of ammo cartridges only contain just a single projectile. These are referred to as
slugs or bullets.
Shotgun bullets, on the other hand, are known as shot. Thus, this is why we call it
a shotgun.
Inside of a shot cartridge are hundreds of little balls that are made out of metal or lead.
These balls spread over a wide area after they’re fired.
One of the benefits of using this type of cartridge is that it allows a moving target to get
hit more accurately rather than just trying with a single bullet. Shotgun shells are usually
made out of plastic and have a backing made out of brass, where the primer is contained.
 The Components of a Cartridge
When most people think of a bullet, they’re actually thinking of a cartridge. A cartridge is
made up of four parts.
The primer(fuse) is the ignition that will help to power the propellant or the explosive.
The propellant(powder) is simply an explosive material like gun powder.
There’s also the case(container), which is usually made out of steel, brass, or nickel.
Lastly, the tip of the cartridge is referred to as the projectile.

Design
Ammunition design has evolved throughout history as different weapons have been developed
and different effects required. Historically, ammunition was of relatively simple design and build
(e.g., sling-shot, stones hurled by catapults), but as weapon designs developed (e.g., rifling) and
became more refined, the requirement for more specialized ammunition increased. Modern
ammunition can vary significantly in quality but is usually manufactured to very high standards.

For example, ammunition for hunting can be designed to expand inside the target, maximizing
the damage inflicted by a single round. Anti-personnel shells are designed to fragment into many
pieces and can affect a large area. Armor-piercing rounds are specially hardened to penetrate
armor, while smoke ammunition covers an area with a fog that screens people from view. More
generic ammunition (e.g., 5.56×45mm NATO) can often be altered slightly to give it a more
specific effect (e.g., tracer, incendiary), whilst larger explosive rounds can be altered by using
different fuzes.
Components
The components of ammunition intended for rifles and munitions may be divided into these
categories:

 Fuze or primer
 explosive materials and propellants
 projectiles of all kinds
 cartridge casing

Fuzes

The term "fuze" refers to the detonator of an explosive round or shell. The spelling is different in
British English and American English (fuse/fuze respectively) and they are unrelated from a fuse
(electrical). A fuse was earlier used to ignite the propellant (e.g., such as on a firework) until the
advent of more reliable systems such as the primer or igniter that is used in most modern
ammunitions.

The fuze of a weapon can be used to alter how the ammunition works. For example, a common
artillery shell fuze can be set to 'point detonation' (detonation when it hits the target), delay
(detonate after it has hit and penetrated the target), time-delay (explode a specified time after
firing or impact) and proximity (explode above or next to a target without hitting it, such as for
airburst effects or anti-aircraft shells). These allow a single ammunition type to be altered to suit
the situation it is required for. There are many designs of a fuze, ranging from simple mechanical
to complex radar and barometric systems.

Fuzes are usually armed by the acceleration force of firing the projectile, and usually arm several
meters after clearing the bore of the weapon. This helps to ensure the ammunition is safer to
handle when loading into the weapon and reduces the chance of the detonator firing before the
ammunition has cleared the weapon.

Propellant or explosive

The propellant is the component of ammunition that is activated inside the weapon and provides
the kinetic energy required to move the projectile from the weapon to the target. Before the use
of gunpowder, this energy would have been produced mechanically by the weapons system (e.g.,
a catapult or crossbow); in modern times, it is usually a form of chemical energy that rapidly
burns to create kinetic force, and an appropriate amount of chemical propellant is packaged with
each round of ammunition. In recent years, compressed gas, magnetic energy and electrical
energy have been used as propellants.

Until the 20th-century, gunpowder was the most common propellant in ammunition. However, it
has since been replaced by a wide range of fast-burning compounds that are more reliable and
efficient.
The propellant charge is distinct from the projectile charge which is activated by the fuze, which
causes the ammunition effect (e.g., the exploding of an artillery round).

Cartridge case or container

The cartridge is the container that holds the projectile and propellant. Not all ammunition types
have a cartridge case. In its place, a wide range of materials can be used to contain the explosives
and parts. With some large weapons, the ammunition components are stored separately until
loaded into the weapon system for firing. With small arms, caseless ammunition can reduce the
weight and cost of ammunition, and simplify the firing process for increased firing rate, but the
maturing technology has functionality issues.

Projectile

The projectile is the part of the ammunition that leaves the weapon and has the effect on the
target. This effect is usually either kinetic (e.g., as with a standard bullet) or through the delivery
of explosives.

Storage
An ammunition dump is a military facility for the storage of live ammunition and explosives that
will be distributed and used at a later date. Such a storage facility is extremely hazardous, with
the potential for accidents when unloading, packing, and transferring the ammunition. In the
event of a fire or explosion, the site and its surrounding area is immediately evacuated and the
stored ammunition is left to detonate itself completely with limited attempts at firefighting from
a safe distance. In large facilities, there may be a flooding system to automatically extinguish a
fire or prevent an explosion. Typically, an ammunition dump will have a large buffer zone
surrounding it, to avoid casualties in the event of an accident. There will also be perimeter
security measures in place to prevent access by unauthorized personnel and to guard against the
potential threat from enemy forces.

A magazine is a place where a quantity of ammunition or other explosive material is stored

temporarily prior to being used. The term may be used for a facility where large quantities of
ammunition are stored, although this would normally be referred to as an ammunition dump.
Magazines are typically located in the field for quick access when engaging the enemy. The
ammunition storage area on a warship is referred to as the "ship's magazine". On a smaller scale,
magazine is also the name given to the ammunition storage and feeding device of a repeating
firearm.

Gunpowder must be stored in a dry place (stable room temperature) to keep it usable, as long as
for 10 years. It is also recommended to avoid hot places, because friction or heat might ignite a
spark and cause an explosion.

Common types
Small arms

The standard weapon of a modern soldier is an assault rifle, which, like other small arms, uses
cartridge ammunition in a size specific to the weapon. Ammunition is carried on the person in
box magazines specific to the weapon, ammo boxes, pouches or bandoliers. The amount of
ammo carried is dependent on the strength of the soldier, the expected action required, and the
ability of ammunition to move forward through the logistical chain to replenish the supply. A
soldier may also carry a smaller amount of specialized ammunition for heavier weapons such as
machine guns and mortars, spreading the burden for squad weapons over many people. Too little
ammunition poses a threat to the mission, while too much limits the soldier's mobility.

Shells

A shell is a payload-carrying projectile which, as opposed to a shot, contains explosives or other

fillings, in use since the 19th century.

Artillery

Artillery shells are ammunition that is designed to be fired from artillery which has an effect over long
distances, usually indirectly (i.e., out of sight of the target). There are many different types of artillery
ammunition, but they are usually high-explosive and designed to shatter into fragments on impact to
maximize damage. The fuze used on an artillery shell can alter how it explodes or behaves so it has a
more specialized effect. Common types of artillery ammunition include high explosive, smoke,
illumination, and practice rounds. Some artillery rounds are designed as cluster munitions. Artillery
ammunition will almost always include a projectile (the only exception being demonstration/blank
rounds), fuze and propellant of some form. When a cartridge case is not used, there will be some other
method of containing the propellant explosion, usually a breech-loading weapon.

Tank

Tank ammunition was developed in WWI as tanks first appeared on the battlefield. However, as
tank-on-tank warfare developed (including the development of anti-tank artillery), more
specialized forms of ammunition were developed such as high-explosive anti-tank warheads and
armor-piercing discarding sabot rounds. The development of shaped charges has had a
significant impact on anti-tank ammunition design, now common on both tank-fire ammunition
and in anti-tank missiles.
120-mm shells of IMI Left to right: Target practice cone-stabilized discarding-sabot tracered (TPCSDS-T)
M324 shell Armour-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot (APFSDS) M322 shell Anti-Personnel/Anti-
Materiel (APAM) M329 shell High explosive anti-tank (HEAT) M325 shell.

Naval

Naval weapons were originally the same as many land-based weapons, but the ammunition was
designed for specific use, such as a solid shot designed to hole the enemy ship and chain-shot to
cut the rigging and sails. Modern naval engagements have taken place over much larger
distances than historic battles, so as ship armor has increased in strength and thickness, the
ammunition to defeat it has also changed. Naval ammunition is now designed to reach very high
velocities (to improve its armor-piercing capabilities) and may have specialized fuzes for
defeating specific types of vessels. However, due to the extended ranges at which modern naval
combat may take place, guided missiles have largely supplanted guns and shells.

Aircraft and anti-aircraft

Logistics
With every successive improvement in military arms, there has been a corresponding
modification in the method of supplying ammunition in the quantity required. As soon as
projectiles were required (such as javelins and arrows), there needed to be a method of
replenishment. When non-specialized, interchangeable or recoverable ammunition was used
(e.g., arrows), it was possible to pick up spent arrows (both friendly and enemy) and reuse them.
However, with the advent of explosive or non-recoverable ammunition, this was no longer
possible and new supplies of ammunition would be needed.

The weight of ammunition required, particularly for artillery shells, can be considerable, causing
a need for extra time to replenish supplies. In modern times, there has been an increase in the
standardization of many ammunition types between allies (e.g., the NATO Standardization
Agreement) that has allowed for shared ammunition types (e.g., 5.56×45mm NATO).

Environmental problems
As of 2013, lead-based ammunition production is the second-largest annual use of lead in the
US, accounting for over 60,000 metric tons consumed in 2012. Lead bullets that miss their target
or remain in a carcass or body that was never retrieved can enter environmental systems and
become toxic to wildlife. The US military has experimented with replacing lead with copper as a
slug in their green bullets which reduces the dangers posed by lead in the environment as a result
of artillery. Since 2010, this has eliminated over 2000 tons of lead in waste streams.

Hunters are also encouraged to use Monolithic bullets, which exclude any lead content.

Unexploded ordnance
Unexploded ammunition can remain active for a very long time and poses a significant threat to
both humans and the environment.

Unexploded ordnance (UXO, sometimes abbreviated as UO), unexploded bombs (UXBs), and
explosive remnants of war (ERW) are explosive weapons (bombs, shells, grenades, land mines,
naval mines, cluster munition, and other munitions) that did not explode when they were
employed and still pose a risk of detonation, sometimes many decades after they were used or
discarded. UXO does not always originate from wars; areas such as military training grounds can
also hold significant numbers, even after the area has been abandoned. UXO from World War I
continue to be a hazard, with poisonous gas filled munitions still a problem. When unwanted
munitions are found, they are sometimes destroyed in controlled explosions, but accidental
detonation of even very old explosives also occurs, sometimes with fatal results.
Seventy-eight countries are contaminated by land mines, which kill or maim 15,000–20,000
people every year. Approximately 80% of casualties are civilian, with children the most affected
age group. An estimated average of 50% of deaths occurs within hours of the blast. In recent
years, mines have been used increasingly as weapons of terror against local civilian populations
specifically.

In addition to the obvious danger of explosion, buried UXO can cause environmental
contamination. In some heavily used military training areas, munitions-related chemicals such as
explosives and perchlorate (a component of pyrotechnics and rocket fuel) can enter soil and
groundwater.

Ballistics
The word ballistics comes from the Greek βάλλειν ballein, meaning "to throw".

Ballistics is the field of mechanics concerned with the launching, flight behavior and impact
effects of projectiles, especially ranged weapon munitions such as bullets, unguided 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 free-moving body with momentum which can be subject to forces such as
the forces exerted by pressurized gases from a gun barrel or a propelling nozzle, normal force by
rifling, and gravity and air drag during flight.

A ballistic missile is a missile that is guided only during the relatively brief initial phase of
powered flight and the trajectory is subsequently governed by the laws of classical mechanics; in
contrast to (for example) a cruise missile which is aerodynamically guided in powered flight like
a fixed-wing aircraft.

Ballistics was put on a solid scientific and mathematical basis by Isaac Newton, with the
publication of Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica in 1687. This gave mathematical
laws of motion and gravity which for the first time made it possible to successfully predict
trajectories.
Projectile motion
A projectile is any object thrown by the exertion of a force.It can also be defined as an object
launched into the space and allowed to move free under the influence of gravity and air
resistance. Although any object in motion through space (for example a thrown baseball, kicked
football, fired bullet, thrown arrow, stone released from catapult) may be called projectiles,
they are commonly found in warfare and sports. Mathematical equations of motion are used to
analyze projectile trajectories.

A projectile is any object projected into space (empty or not) by the exertion of a force. Although
any object in motion through space (for example a thrown baseball) is a projectile, the term most
commonly refers to a ranged weapon. Mathematical equations of motion are used to analyze
projectile trajectory.

Examples of projectiles include balls, arrows, bullets, artillery shells, rockets, etc.

Projectile motion is a form of motion experienced by a launched object. Ballistics is the science
of dynamics(motion) that deals with the flight, behavior and effects of projectiles, especially
bullets, unguided bombs, rockets, or the like; the science or art of designing and accelerating
projectiles so as to achieve a desired performance.

Projectile velocity
For projectiles in unpowered flight, its velocity is highest at leaving the muzzle and drops off
steadily because of air resistance. Projectiles traveling less than the speed of sound (about
340 m/s (1,100 ft/s) in dry air at sea level) are subsonic, while those traveling faster are
supersonic and thus can travel a substantial distance and even hit a target before a nearby
observer hears the "bang" of the shot. Projectile speed through air depends on a number of
factors such as barometric pressure, humidity, air temperature and wind speed. Some high-
velocity small arms have muzzle velocities higher than the escape velocities of some Solar
System bodies such as Pluto and Ceres, meaning that a bullet fired from such a gun on the
surface of the body would leave its gravitational field; however no arms are known with muzzle
velocities that can overcome Earth's gravity (and atmosphere) or those of the other planets or the
Moon.

While traditional cartridges cannot generally achieve a Lunar escape velocity (approximately
2,300 m/s (7,500 ft/s)) or higher due to modern limitations of action and propellant, a 1 gram
(15.4324 grains) projectile was accelerated to velocities exceeding 9,000 m/s (30,000 ft/s) at
Sandia National Laboratories in 1994. The gun operated in two stages. First, burning gunpowder
was used to drive a piston to pressurize hydrogen to 10,000 atm. The pressurized gas was then
released to a secondary piston, which traveled forward into a shock-absorbing "pillow",
transferring the energy from the piston to the projectile on the other side of the pillow.

This discovery might indicate that future projectile velocities exceeding 1,500 m/s (4,900 ft/s)
have to have a charging, gas-operated action that transfers the energy, rather than a system that
uses primer, gunpowder, and a fraction of the released gas. A .22 LR cartridge is approximately
three times the mass of the projectile in question. This may be another indication that future arms
developments will take more interest in smaller caliber rounds, especially due to modern
limitations such as metal usage, cost, and cartridge design. In a side by side comparison with the
.50 BMG (43g), the 15.4324 gr (1 g) titanium round of any caliber released almost 28 times the
energy of the .50 BMG, with only a 27% mean loss in momentum. Energy, in most cases, is
what is lethal to the target, not momentum.

Muzzle velocity is the speed of a projectile (bullet, pellet, slug, ball/shots or shell) with respect to the
muzzle at the moment it leaves the end of a gun's barrel (i.e. the muzzle). Firearm muzzle velocities
range from approximately 120 m/s (390 ft/s) to 370 m/s (1,200 ft/s) in black powder muskets,[3] to more
than 1,200 m/s (3,900 ft/s) in modern rifles with high-velocity cartridges such as the .220 Swift and .204
Ruger, all the way to 1,700 m/s (5,600 ft/s)for tank guns firing kinetic energy penetrator ammunition. To
simulate orbital debris impacts on spacecraft, NASA launches projectiles through light-gas guns at
speeds up to 8,500 m/s (28,000 ft/s).

Powered projectile/Motive force

Blowguns and pneumatic rifles use compressed gases, while most other guns and cannons utilize
expanding gases liberated by sudden chemical reactions by propellants like smokeless powder.
Light-gas guns use a combination of these mechanisms.

Railguns utilize electromagnetic fields to provide a constant acceleration along the entire length
of the device, greatly increasing the muzzle velocity.

Some projectiles provide propulsion during flight by means of a rocket engine or jet engine. In
military terminology, a rocket is unguided, while a missile is guided. Note the two meanings of
"rocket" (weapon and engine): an ICBM is a guided missile with a rocket engine.

An explosion, whether or not by a weapon, causes the debris to act as multiple high velocity
projectiles. An explosive weapon, or device may also be designed to produce many high velocity
projectiles by the break-up of its casing, these are correctly termed fragments.

Delivery projectiles
Many projectiles, e.g. shells, may carry an explosive charge or another chemical or biological
substance. Aside from explosive payload, a projectile can be designed to cause special damage,
e.g. fire (see also early thermal weapons), or poisoning (see also arrow poison).
Sport projectiles
In projectile motion the most important force applied to the ‘projectile’ is the propelling force, in
this case the propelling forces are the muscles that act upon the ball to make it move, and the
stronger the force applied, the more propelling force, which means the projectile (the ball) will
travel farther.

Kinetic projectiles
See also: Kinetic energy penetrator, Terminal ballistics – Hypervelocity, and Exoatmospheric
Kill Vehicle

A projectile that does not contain an explosive charge or any other kind of payload is termed a
kinetic projectile, kinetic energy weapon, kinetic energy warhead, kinetic warhead, kinetic kill
vehicle or kinetic penetrator. Typical kinetic energy weapons are blunt projectiles such as rocks
and round shots, pointed ones such as arrows, and somewhat pointed ones such as bullets.
Among projectiles that do not contain explosives are those launched from railguns, coilguns, and
mass drivers, as well as kinetic energy penetrators. All of these weapons work by attaining a high
muzzle velocity, or initial velocity, generally up to hypervelocity, and collide with their targets,
converting the kinetic energy associated with the relative velocity between the two objects into
destructive shock waves and heat. Other types of kinetic weapons are accelerated over time by a
rocket engine, or by gravity. In either case, it is this kinetic energy that destroys its target.

Some kinetic weapons for targeting objects in spaceflight are anti-satellite weapons and anti-
ballistic missiles. Since in order to reach an object in orbit it is necessary to attain an extremely
high velocity, their released kinetic energy alone is enough to destroy their target; explosives are
not necessary. For example: the energy of TNT is 4.6 MJ/kg, and the energy of a kinetic kill
vehicle with a closing speed of 10 km/s (22,000 mph) is 50 MJ/kg. For comparison, 50 MJ is
equivalent to the kinetic energy of a school bus weighing 5 metric tons, traveling at 509 km/h
(316 mph; 141 m/s). This saves costly weight and there is no detonation to be precisely timed.
This method, however, requires direct contact with the target, which requires a more accurate
trajectory. Some hit-to-kill warheads are additionally equipped with an explosive directional
warhead to enhance the kill probability (e.g. Israeli Arrow missile or U.S. Patriot PAC-3).

With regard to anti-missile weapons, the Arrow missile and MIM-104 Patriot PAC-2 have
explosives, while the Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI), Lightweight Exo-Atmospheric Projectile
(LEAP, used in Aegis BMDS), and THAAD do not (see Missile Defense Agency).

A kinetic projectile can also be dropped from aircraft. This is applied by replacing the explosives
of a regular bomb with a non-explosive material (e.g. concrete), for a precision hit with less
collateral damage. A typical bomb has a mass of 900 kg (2,000 lb) and a speed of impact of
800 km/h (500 mph). It is also applied for training the act of dropping a bomb with explosives.
This method has been used in Operation Iraqi Freedom and the subsequent military operations in
Iraq by mating concrete-filled training bombs with JDAM GPS guidance kits, to attack vehicles
and other relatively "soft" targets located too close to civilian structures for the use of
conventional high explosive bombs.

A Prompt Global Strike may use a kinetic weapon. A kinetic bombardment may involve a
projectile dropped from Earth orbit.

A hypothetical kinetic weapon that travels at a significant fraction of the speed of light, usually
found in science fiction, is termed a relativistic kill vehicle (RKV).

Wired projectiles
Some projectiles stay connected by a cable to the launch equipment after launching it:

 for guidance: wire-guided missile (range up to 4,000 metres or 13,000 feet)

 to administer an electric shock, as in the case of a Taser (range up to 10.6 metres or 35
feet); two projectiles are shot simultaneously, each with a cable.
 to make a connection with the target, either to tow it towards the launcher, as with a
whaling harpoon, or to draw the launcher to the target, as a grappling hook does.
 Bolo shotgun ammunition

Bullet
A bullet is a kinetic projectile, a component of firearm ammunition that is shot from a gun
barrel. The term is from Middle French, originating as the diminutive of the word boulle
(boullet), which means "small ball". Bullets are made of a variety of materials, such as copper,
lead, steel, polymer, rubber and even wax. Bullets are made in various shapes and constructions
(depending on the intended applications), including specialized functions such as hunting, target
shooting, training and combat. Modern bullets are often tapered, making them aerodynamic and
increasing penetration upon impact. Bullet sizes are expressed by their weights and diameters
(referred to as "calibers") in both imperial and metric measurement systems. For example: 55
grain .223 caliber bullets are of the same weight and caliber as 3.56 gram 5.56mm caliber bullets.
Bullets do not normally contain explosives (see Incendiary ammunition and Exploding bullet),
but strike or damage the intended target by transferring kinetic energy upon impact and
penetration (see terminal ballistics).

Bullets are available singly (as in muzzle-loading and cap and ball firearms), but are more often
packaged with propellant as cartridges ("rounds" of ammunition). Bullets are components of
paper cartridges, or (much more commonly) in the form of metallic cartridges. Although the
word bullet is often used in colloquial language to refer to a cartridge round, a bullet is not a
cartridge but rather a component of one. A cartridge is a combination package of the bullet (i.e.,
the projectile), the case (which holds everything together), the propellant (which provides the
majority of the energy to launch the projectile) and the primer (which ignites the propellant).
This use of the term bullet (when intending to describe a cartridge) often leads to confusion when
a cartridge, and all its components, are specifically referred to. The cartridges, in turn, may be
held in a magazine or a belt (for rapid-fire weapons).

The bullets used in many cartridges are fired at muzzle velocities faster than the speed of sound
—about 343 metres per second (1,130 ft/s) in dry air at 20 °C (68 °F)—and thus can travel a
substantial distance to a target before a nearby observer hears the sound of the shot. The sound of
gunfire (i.e. the "muzzle report") is often accompanied with a loud bullwhip-like crack as the
supersonic bullet pierces through the air creating a sonic boom. Bullet speeds at various stages of
flight depend on intrinsic factors such as its sectional density, aerodynamic profile and ballistic
coefficient, and extrinsic factors such as barometric pressure, humidity, air temperature and wind
speed. Subsonic cartridges fire bullets slower than the speed of sound so there is no sonic boom.
This means that a subsonic cartridge, such as .45 ACP, can be substantially quieter than a
supersonic cartridge such as the .223 Remington, even without the use of a suppressor.

Bullets shot by firearms can be used for target practice or to injure or kill animals, people, or
zombies. Death can be by exsanguination or damage to vital organs, or even asphyxiation if
blood enters the lungs. The use of the word "bullet" has entered the vernacular in the form of
expressions such as "to dodge a bullet", which—although literally impossible—means to avoid
an unwanted or unpleasant situation. A "silver bullet" is an extraordinarily simple solution to a
difficult problem. Bullets are not the only projectiles shot from firearm-like equipment: BBs are
shot from BB guns, airsoft pellets are shot by airsoft guns, paintballs are shot by paintball
markers, and small rocks can be hurtled from slingshots. There are also flare guns, potato guns
(and spud guns), rubber bullets, tasers, bean bag rounds, grenade launchers, flash bangs, tear gas,
RPGs, missile launchers, and flame throwers.

Bullet size is determined by the weapon you already own.

Let’s briefly go over the basic types of bullets that can be found on the market today.

 FMJ: Full Metal Jacket Metal cased and full metal jacket both refer to bullets with a
metal coating that covers all of, or all but the base of, a bullet.
 MC: Metal Cased This is a term used by Remington to refer to their full metal jacketed
bullets.
 HP: Hollow Point Hollow point bullets have a concave shaped tip that facilitates rapid
expansion of the round upon impact.
 BT: Boat Tail Boat tail bullets have a streamlined base to facilitate better aerodynamics.
Sometimes, these terms are mixed to make a new acronym.

 FMJBT: Full Metal Jacketed Boat Tail

 JHP: Jacketed Hollow Point Jacketed Hollow Point bullets are similar in design to
regular hollow point bullets, but have a copper jacket that normally covers everything but
the hollowed portion of the round.
 JFP: Jacketed Flat Point Jacketed flat point rounds have a flat area of exposed lead at
the tip.
 JSP: Jacketed Soft Point Jacketed soft point bullets usually have a spire pointed tip of
exposed lead. JSP can also refer to a Jacketed spitzer point; spitzer meaning a sharply
pointed bullet.
 JRN: Jacketed Round Nose Jacketed round nose bullets split the difference between
JFP and JSP bullets and have a rounded tip of exposed lead.
 BTHP: Boat Tail Hollow Point
 BTSP: Boat Tail Soft Point Sometimes the letters in the acronyms are switched, so boat
tail soft point may also be abbreviated as soft point boat tail or SPBT.
 EFMJ: Expanding Full Metal Jacket Expanding full metal jacketed rounds appear as
and feed like a regular full metal jacket bullet, but have a construction that allows the
case to collapse and the bullet to flatten upon impact.
 WC: Wad Cutter Wad cutter designs often appear to be nothing more than a cylinder,
usually with a hollow base. This design is used in target practice to punch neat holes in
the paper, rather than the ragged holes produced by more rounded designs.

 SWC: Semi Wad Cutter Semi Wad Cutter bullets have a rounded nose that comes down
to a cylinder that is slightly larger than the rounded section, giving the bullet a more
aerodynamic shape while allowing it to punch clean holes in paper targets.
 RFP: Rounded Flat Point Rounded flat point bullets have a flat tip that is smaller than
the bullet diameter and rounded shoulders.
 AP: Armor Piercing Armor piercing ammunition can have bullets with a variety of
shapes, though in general they are spire pointed and full metal jacketed rounds that have a
strong core designed to penetrate armor.
 API: Armor Piercing Incendiary Armor piercing incendiary ammunition has the same
penetrating abilities of armor piercing bullets, but with the added function of bursting into
an intense flame upon impact.
 Frangible Frangible ammunition is available under a number of trademarks; notably
MagSafe, Glaser, and SinterFire. All of these rounds are characterized by a design that
facilitates the rapid breakup of the bullet upon impact, thus reducing the chances of over-
penetration or a ricochet.
Amodern centerfire cartridge consisting of the following parts:
1. bullet, as the projectile;

2. metallic case, which holds all parts together;

3. propellant, for example gunpowder or cordite;

4. rim, which provides the extractor on the firearm a place to grip the case to remove it from
the chamber once fired;

5. primer, which ignites the propellant.

It should also be noted that bullets and cartridges are not the same things.
Different Types of Bullets
Different types of bullets suit different kinds of shooting needs, from hunting to self-defense to
target shooting. The following list of bullets are defined by how they are used. They each have specific
stylistic designs that lend themselves well to the various shooting needs you may have. Some are more
lethal than others, for example, when deadly accuracy is important while hunting. Others are designed
for distance and target acquisition, and are preferred for competitive shooting. This serves as a basic
comparison ammo guide to help you determine which is best for your shooting scenarios, and can give
you a chart like a picture of what you need. We’ll review the different uses of the most common
types of bullets on the market:

1. Full Metal Jacket (FMJ) bullet

The FMJ is one of the most common ammunition and most popular you can buy. It has a soft metal
center with a harder protective casing, or ‘jacket’, hence the name. They can be round, pointy, or flat in
shape to cut small channels through a target. Good for short-range shooting, they are not always the
best for distance or self-defense.

PROS

 Great target practice bullet

 Shoots clean

CONS

 Not good at distance or for self-defense

FMJ bullets
The term FMJ refers to a bullet with a lead core completely encased in another type of metal,
typically brass, copper, or, occasionally, steel.

FMJ ammunition offers several advantages over lead bullets. These include:

 Higher muzzle velocities: Due to the increased structural integrity afforded by the metal
jacketing.
 Protection for the firearm itself: With an FMJ bullet, there is little risk of lead residues
building up inside the barrel.
 Protection for the shooter: Since the metal jacket prevents physical contact between
human skin and the lead core.

FMJ ammo’s chief disadvantage is its tendency to pass through small to medium-sized targets
and lodge into something (or someone) else.

2. Soft Point (SP)

Soft point bullets are a jacketed bullet that expands upon impact. The soft metal core is enclosed
by a metal jacket left open at the tip. It is a popular choice for hunting and self-defense purposes
as it is created to expand wider than its bullet diameter to cause a larger wound.

PROS

 Excellent accuracy at distances

 Designed for deadly use in hunting and self-defense

CONS

 Not the best for target practice, and can be pricey

Soft point bullets

This design is similar to FMJ ammo, except that the nose of the bullet has an exposed lead tip.
This allows it to expand within the target, causing greater internal trauma.
Soft point bullets are good options for both hunting and self-defense situations, where stopping
the prey (or the attacker) in its tracks is of paramount importance. It’s also an acceptable choice
for target shooting.

3. Hollow-Point (HP)

Hollow-point bullets are called such as they have a hollow looking center. Designed to expand
upon hitting a target, they are an excellent choice for unparalleled stopping power. Because of
this, they are a popular self-defense choice.

PROS

 Amazing stopping power

 Dependable and damaging

CONS

 Not a good bullet to practice with

Hollow point bullets

The design of a hollow point bullet is similar to that of a soft point bullet, except that a cavity
exists in the exposed lead core. This makes the bullet lighter while still allowing for expansion
inside the target.

Hollow point bullets are primarily used for hunting, self-defense, and target shooting. A special
type of hollow point bullet uses an external plastic tip to increase accuracy while maintaining the
terminal advantages of the basic design.

4. Boat Tail (BT)

A boat tailed bullet has a streamlined design with a slightly curved base that supports the
aerodynamics for a better range accuracy. They retain velocity over distance, making them a
popular choice for match competitions.

PROS

 Great accuracy
 Very little loss of velocity over long distances
CONS

 May not shoot as well as a flat based bullet

5. Boat Tail Hollow Point (BTHP)

This elongated, streamlined design combined with a hollow point makes for an incredibly deadly
round. Preferred for hunting long distances, you are promised a large expansion upon hitting the
target, and an accurate shot.

PROS

 Long-distance hunting accuracy

 Deadly expansion

CONS

 Not a close range choice

6. Lead Round Nose (LRN)

Popular for their affordability, LRN bullets are a simple design made entirely of lead with a
rounded nose. They are a popular choice for target practice and keep their shape as well as, or
better than other bullet choices.

PROS

 Affordable and dependable

 Great for target practice

CONS

 May leave residue in the barrel

Lead bullets

Most bullets contain some amount of lead. For the purposes of this page, we’ll use the term “lead
bullet” in reference to a bullet made entirely of lead without an external metal jacketing.

Lead bullets are economical to manufacture, so they’re very affordable. But their low cost comes
with a high price.

That’s because lead is toxic. It can cause blood poisoning once it comes in contact with human
skin.

For this reason, it’s important to wash your hands after touching a lead bullet. In fact, this is a
good habit to develop after handling any form of ammunition.

The affordability of lead bullets makes them a good choice for target practice and other high-
volume shooting scenarios. However, over time lead residues can build up inside your firearm’s
barrel, reducing its accuracy or even causing your weapon to malfunction. So you should always
clean your gun thoroughly after firing this type of ammo.

Each offers its own unique set of advantages and limitations. More questions? Check out our
comprehensive ammo guide for expert tips on bullets, reloading supplies, and more.
7. Wad Cutter (WC)

Fairly uncommon, the wad cutter was designed for competitive shooting and is not often used
outside that experience. It is an all lead bullet with a flat front and no jacket and leaves behind a
tell-tale ‘cookie cutter’ hole in a target

PROS

 Good for beginning shooters

 Perfect for target practice

CONS

 Poor aerodynamics

8. Semi WadCutter (SWC)

A semi-wadcutter has a more conical shape with a flat tip. It is considered more reliable and
aerodynamic compared to a full wadcutter- making it a more popular cartridge.

PROS

 Great for target practice

 Affordable and common for semi-auto shooting
CONS

 Not a good choice for self-defense

9. Semi-Jacketed Soft Point (SJSP)

This is a popular all around option that has an exposed lead point for reliable expansion upon
impact. The partial jacket provides excellent accuracy and makes it a good choice for hunting,
home defense, and target practice.

PROS

 Versatile for a wide range of uses

 Dependable with excellent expansion

CONS

 Lead isn’t allowed in all areas due to toxicity

10. Jacketed Soft Point (JSP)

Similar to the SJSP, the JSP has a thin copper or steel coating over the soft lead point. This
allows it to leave less residue in the barrel, have a slightly better velocity, and provides reliable
expansion.

PROS

 Versatile for a wide range of uses

 Dependable with excellent expansion

CONS

 Lead isn’t allowed in all areas due to toxicity

11. Semi-Jacketed Hollow Point (SJHP)

The partial jacket of a hollow point bullet helps increase accuracy while leaving the tip exposed
for quick expansion upon impact. This is especially useful in hunting when distances are long,
but expansion upon impact is needed.

PROS

 Great choice for distance shots when hunting

 Good accuracy and dependable

CONS

 Not a good target shooting option

12. Jacketed Hollow Point (JHP)

The hollowed-out center of the jacketed hollow point is covered in a thin coat of copper or steel,
requiring less powder inside the barrel. It makes for a clean shot that leaves a big expansion area
in the intended target.

PROS

 Great for hunting and self-defense as a lethal option

 Less residue in the barrel after shooting

CONS

 Poor choice for targets and hard surfaces

13. Open Tip (OTM)

Open tip bullets are called such due to the very small opening at the top due to how they are
manufactured. However, unlike the hollow points, they do not expand on impact. They are very
popular with long-distance shooters due to their consistent accuracy, making them a popular pick
for target shooting and match rounds. However, they are not allowed to be used for hunting
purposes as the small opening is considered a hollow point design.

PROS

 Incredibly accurate
 Consistent in target acquisition

CONS

 Not allowed for hunting

14. Very Low Drag (VLD)

This is a small arms ballistics option that is supposed to provide higher degrees of accuracy and
velocity, especially for long-range shooting. They can be a combination of FMJ and BT options,
as well as many others, and are good for distance shooting. Various brands incorporate them into
their bullet design.

PROS

 Low drag and excellent velocity

 Very accurate

CONS

 May not be worth the hype and cost

15. Armor Piercing (AP)

These are generally an FMJ design with a spiral tip to provide the strength and core to pierce
hard metal surfaces and armor. The core is often steel or tungsten.

PROS

 Incredible piercing power

 Accurate at long distances

CONS

 Not a common round

16. Ballistic Tip

A ballistic tip provides excellent aerodynamics and excellent stopping power. It is more or less a
hollow point that has been encased in plastic to provide the look and feel of an FMJ. Popular for
hunting, the weight is towards the rear and has a long boat tail.

PROS

 Excellent expansion for stopping power

 Very accurate for hunting

CONS

 Does not often exit

17. Frangible
A frangible bullet is made to break upon impact to avoid over-penetration and ricochet when
target shooting. They have less energy overall and rarely exit a target. This makes them an ideal
choice for self-defense in small spaces.

PROS

 Great for target shooting

 Inexpensive round overall

CONS

 Lightweight and not dependable in self-defense

18. Tracer
Tracer bullets have a small amount of pyrotechnics or luminescence built into them that leaves a
visual trail when fired. They are made to highlight the trajectory of fired rounds. They can be
used to highlight that you are close to running out of ammo as well. They are considered
explosive materials under federal law and therefore are not legal to own unless you are jumping
through hoops.

PROS

 Highlights bullet trajectory

 Super cool to see

CONS

 Not entirely legal

19. Bonded

Bonded ammo is a jacketed ammo that has undergone a process to bond the lead core to the
jacket into one piece. It is made to maintain velocity and energy even after hitting a target, and is
designed to avoid breaking into pieces. It was created for large game hunting.

PROS

 Can drop large game at long distances

 Also great for self-defense
Bomb
A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to
provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage
principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechanical stress, the impact and
penetration of pressure-driven projectiles, pressure damage, and explosion-generated effects.
Bombs have been utilized since the 11th century starting in East Asia.

The word comes from the Latin bombus, which in turn comes from the Greek βόμβος (bombos),
an onomatopoetic term meaning "booming", "buzzing".

The term bomb is not usually applied to explosive devices used for civilian purposes such as
construction or mining, although the people using the devices may sometimes refer to them as a
"bomb". The military use of the term "bomb", or more specifically aerial bomb action, typically
refers to airdropped, unpowered explosive weapons most commonly used by air forces and naval
aviation. Other military explosive weapons not classified as "bombs" include shells, depth
charges (used in water), or land mines. In unconventional warfare, other names can refer to a
range of offensive weaponry. For instance, in recent Middle Eastern conflicts, homemade bombs
called "improvised explosive devices" (IEDs) have been employed by insurgent fighters to great
effectiveness.

Types of Bomb
Experts commonly distinguish between civilian and military bombs. The latter are almost always
mass-produced weapons, developed and constructed to a standard design out of standard
components and intended to be deployed in a standard explosive device. IEDs are divided into
three basic categories by basic size and delivery. Type 76, IEDs are hand-carried parcel or
suitcase bombs, type 80, are "suicide vests" worn by a bomber, and type 3 devices are vehicles
laden with explosives to act as large-scale stationary or self-propelled bombs, also known as
VBIED (vehicle-borne IEDs).

Improvised explosive materials are typically unstable and subject to spontaneous, unintentional
detonation triggered by a wide range of environmental effects, ranging from impact and friction
to electrostatic shock. Even subtle motion, change in temperature, or the nearby use of
cellphones or radios can trigger an unstable or remote-controlled device. Any interaction with
explosive materials or devices by unqualified personnel should be considered a grave and
immediate risk of death or dire injury. The safest response to finding an object believed to be an
explosive device is to get as far away from it as possible.

Atomic bombs are based on the theory of nuclear fission, that when a large atom splits, it
releases a massive amount of energy. Thermonuclear weapons, (colloquially known as
"hydrogen bombs") use the energy from an initial fission explosion to create an even more
powerful fusion explosion.

The term dirty bomb refers to a specialized device that relies on a comparatively low explosive
yield to scatter harmful material over a wide area. Most commonly associated with radiological
or chemical materials, dirty bombs seek to kill or injure and then to deny access to a
contaminated area until a thorough clean-up can be accomplished. In the case of urban settings,
this clean-up may take extensive time, rendering the contaminated zone virtually uninhabitable
in the interim.

The power of large bombs is typically measured in kilotons (kt) or megatons of TNT (Mt). The
most powerful bombs ever used in combat were the two atomic bombs dropped by the United
States to attack Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the most powerful ever tested was the Tsar Bomba.
The most powerful non-nuclear bomb is Russian "Father of All Bombs" (officially Aviation
Thermobaric Bomb of Increased Power (ATBIP)) followed by the United States Air Force's
MOAB (officially Massive Ordnance Air Blast, or more commonly known as the "Mother of All
Bombs").
Below is a list of five different types of bombs based on the fundamental explosive mechanism
they employ.

Compressed gas

Relatively small explosions can be produced by pressurizing a container until catastrophic failure
such as with a dry ice bomb. Technically, devices that create explosions of this type can not be
classified as "bombs" by the definition presented at the top of this article. However, the
explosions created by these devices can cause property damage, injury, or death. Flammable
liquids, gasses and gas mixtures dispersed in these explosions may also ignite if exposed to a
spark or flame.

Low explosive

The simplest and oldest bombs store energy in the form of a low explosive. Black powder is an
example of a low explosive. Low explosives typically consist of a mixture of an oxidizing salt,
such as potassium nitrate (saltpeter), with solid fuel, such as charcoal or aluminium powder.
These compositions deflagrate upon ignition, producing hot gas. Under normal circumstances,
this deflagration occurs too slowly to produce a significant pressure wave; low explosives,
therefore, must generally be used in large quantities or confined in a container with a high burst
pressure to be useful as a bomb.

High explosive

A high explosive bomb is one that employs a process called "detonation" to rapidly go from an
initially high energy molecule to a very low energy molecule. Detonation is distinct from
deflagration in that the chemical reaction propagates faster than the speed of sound (often many
times faster) in an intense shock wave. Therefore, the pressure wave produced by a high
explosive is not significantly increased by confinement as detonation occurs so quickly that the
resulting plasma does not expand much before all the explosive material has reacted. This has led
to the development of plastic explosive. A casing is still employed in some high explosive
bombs, but with the purpose of fragmentation. Most high explosive bombs consist of an
insensitive secondary explosive that must be detonated with a blasting cap containing a more
sensitive primary explosive.

Thermobaric

A thermobaric bomb is a type of explosive that utilizes oxygen from the surrounding air to
generate an intense, high-temperature explosion, and in practice the blast wave typically
produced by such a weapon is of a significantly longer duration than that produced by a
conventional condensed explosive. The fuel-air bomb is one of the best-known types of
thermobaric weapons.

Nuclear fission
Nuclear fission type atomic bombs utilize the energy present in very heavy atomic nuclei, such
as U-235 or Pu-239. In order to release this energy rapidly, a certain amount of the fissile
material must be very rapidly consolidated while being exposed to a neutron source. If
consolidation occurs slowly, repulsive forces drive the material apart before a significant
explosion can occur. Under the right circumstances, rapid consolidation can provoke a chain
reaction that can proliferate and intensify by many orders of magnitude within microseconds.
The energy released by a nuclear fission bomb may be tens of thousands of times greater than a
chemical bomb of the same mass.

Nuclear fusion

A thermonuclear weapon is a type of nuclear bomb that releases energy through the combination
of fission and fusion of the light atomic nuclei of deuterium and tritium. With this type of bomb,
a thermonuclear detonation is triggered by the detonation of a fission type nuclear bomb
contained within a material containing high concentrations of deuterium and tritium. Weapon
yield is typically increased with a tamper that increases the duration and intensity of the reaction
through inertial confinement and neutron reflection. Nuclear fusion bombs can have arbitrarily
high yields making them hundreds or thousands of times more powerful than nuclear fission.

A pure fusion weapon is a nuclear weapon that doesn't require a primary fission stage to start a
fusion reaction.

Antimatter

Antimatter bombs can theoretically be constructed, but antimatter is very costly to produce and
hard to store safely.

Other types of Bomb

 Aerial bomb
 Delay-action bomb
 Glide bomb
 General-purpose bomb
 Incendiary bomb - Incendiary bombs are designed to set targets ablaze.
 Cluster bomb
 Anti-runway penetration bomb
 Bunker buster
 Concrete bomb - A concrete bomb is an aerial bomb which contains dense, inert material
(typically concrete, hence the name) instead of explosive. The target is destroyed using
the kinetic energy of the falling bomb.
 Inert bomb
An inert bomb is one whose inner energetic material has been removed or otherwise rendered
harmless. Inert munitions are used in military and naval training, and they are also collected and
displayed by public museums, or by private parties.

Typically, NATO inert munitions are painted entirely in light blue and/or have the word
"INERT" stenciled on them in prominent locations.

IED (barrel bomb, nail bomb, pipe bomb, pressure cooker bomb, fertilizer bomb,
molotovcocktail).

B
  Bicycle bomb
 Blast bomb
 Bomb-making instructions on the Internet
 Bombing range
 Bombsite

 Camouflages for sabotage equipment used by the German sabotage services in World
War II
 Carcass (projectile)
 Cherry bomb
 Coal torpedo

 Detonator
 Dirty bomb

 Nuclear electromagnetic pulse

 Explosively formed penetrator

 Flour bomb
 Fragmentation (weaponry)

 Glide bomb
 Graphite bomb
 Ground burst

 Improvised explosive device

 Incendiary balloon
 Incendiary kite

 Letter bomb
 Lewes bomb
M

 M-80 (explosive)
 Molotov bread basket
 Molotov cocktail

 Nail bomb
 Next Generation Multiple Warhead System
 Nuclear weapon

 Operation Fishbowl
 Orsini bomb

 Pencil bomb
 Petard
 Photoflash bomb
 Pressure cooker bomb
 PTAB (bomb)

 RDS-5

 Seirina Guided Bomb

 Stinkpot (weapon)

 Thunder crash bomb

 Time bomb
 Torpedo (petroleum)

 Unexploded ordnance

W
  Warhead

 Aerial bomb
A

 Anilite bomb
 Anti-runway penetration bomb

 Barrel bomb
 Barrel bombs in Palestine and Israel
 Bomb
 Bombkapsel 90
 Bombsight
 Bunker buster

 Circular error probable

 Concrete bomb
 Cooper bombs

 Daisy cutter (fuse)

 Delay-action bomb

 Earthquake bomb

 General-purpose bomb
 Glide bomb
 Guided bomb

H
  HGK (bomb)

 Ordtech Military Industries

 Parachute mine
 Precision bombing
 Precision-guided munition

 Unguided bomb

Hand Grenade
A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called by the retronym hand
grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot out by a rifle (as a rifle grenade)
or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade generally consists of an explosive charge
("filler"), a detonator mechanism, an internal striker to trigger the detonator, and a safety lever
secured by a linchpin. The user pulls the safety pin before throwing, and once thrown the safety
lever gets released, allowing the striker to trigger a primer that ignites a fuze (sometimes called
the delay element), which burns down to the detonator and explodes the main charge.

Grenades work by dispersing shrapnels (fragmentation grenades), shockwave (high explosive,

stun and anti-tank grenades), chemical aerosols (smoke and gas grenades) and flammables
(incendiary grenades). Fragmentation grenades (or "frags") are probably the most common in
modern armies, and when the word grenade is used colloquially, it is generally assumed to refer
to a fragmentation grenade. Their outer casings, generally made of a hard synthetic material or
steel, are designed to rupture and fragmentize on detonation, sending out numerous fragments
(shards and splinters) as fast-flying projectiles. In modern grenades, a pre-formed fragmentation
matrix inside the grenade is commonly used, which may be spherical, cuboid, wire or notched
wire. Most anti-personnel (AP) grenades are designed to detonate either after a time delay or on
impact.[1]

Grenades are typically oval/round-shaped with a "pineapple" or "baseball" appearance that fits
the grasp of a normal-sized hand, but may also be mounted at the end of a handle, known as a
"stick grenade". The term commonly refers to the German Stielhandgranate-style grenades
introduced in 1915 and extensively used in World War I and World War II for trench and urban
combats, by the Central Powers and Nazi Germany, while the Triple Entente and Allied powers
typically favored the more traditional rounded grenades. The stick design provides leverage for
throwing longer distances, but at the cost of additional weight and length, and has been
considered obsolete since World War II and the Cold War periods. A friction igniter was used;
this method was uncommon in other countries but widely used for German grenades.

 Grenade

0–9

 25 mm grenade
 40 mm grenade

 Airburst round
 Anti-tank grenade

 Blast ball

 Chili grenade

 Defensive grenade

 Falling on a grenade
 Fragmentation (weaponry)

 Grenade launcher

 MEI Mercury
 MK285
O

 Offensive grenade

 Rifle grenade

 SCORPION program
 Stun grenade
Sectional view of the igniter of a Model 1935 grenade
Warhead
A warhead is the explosive or toxic material that is delivered by a missile, rocket, or torpedo. It is a type
of bomb.

Classification
Types of warheads include:

 Explosive: An explosive charge is used to disintegrate the target, and damage

surrounding areas with a blast wave.
o Conventional: Chemicals such as gunpowder and high explosives store significant
energy within their molecular bonds. This energy can be released quickly by a
trigger, such as an electric spark. Thermobaric weapons enhance the blast effect
by utilizing the surrounding atmosphere in their explosive reactions.
 Blast: A strong shock wave is provided by the detonation of the explosive.
 Fragmentation: Metal fragments are projected at high velocity to cause
damage or injury.
 Continuous rod: Metal bars welded on their ends form a compact cylinder
of interconnected rods, which is violently expanded into a contiguous zig-
zag-shaped ring by an explosive detonation. The rapidly expanding ring
produces a planar cutting effect that is devastating against military aircraft,
which may be designed to be resistant to shrapnel.
 Shaped charge: The effect of the explosive charge is focused onto a
specially shaped metal liner to project a hypervelocity jet of metal, to
perforate heavy armour.
 Explosively formed penetrator: Instead of turning a thin metal liner
into a focused jet, the detonation wave is directed against a
concave metal plate at the front of the warhead, propelling it at
high velocity while simultaneously deforming it into a projectile.
o Nuclear: A runaway nuclear fission (fission bomb) or nuclear fusion
(Thermonuclear weapon) reaction causes immense energy release.
 Chemical: A toxic chemical, such as poison gas or nerve gas, is dispersed, which is
designed to injure or kill human beings.
 Biological: An infectious agent, such as anthrax spores, is dispersed, which is designed to
sicken or kill humans.

Often, a biological or chemical warhead will use an explosive charge for rapid dispersal.

Detonators

Types of detonators include:

 Type Definition
When the warhead makes physical contact with the target, the explosive is detonated.
Contact
Sometimes combined with a delay, to detonate a specific amount of time after contact.
Using radar, sound waves, a magnetic sensor, or a laser the warhead is detonated when
the target is within a specified distance. It is often coupled with directional explosion
Proximity
control system that ensures that the explosion sends the fragmentation primarily
towards the target that triggered it.
Remotely detonated via signal from operator (Not normally used for warheads except
Remote
for self-destruction).
Timed Warhead is detonated after a specific amount of time.
Altitude Warhead is detonated once it falls to a specified altitude.
Combined Any combination of the above.

Land mine
A land mine is an explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or
disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near
it. Such a device is typically detonated automatically by way of pressure when a target steps on it
or drives over it, although other detonation mechanisms are also sometimes used.[1] A land mine
may cause damage by direct blast effect, by fragments that are thrown by the blast, or by both.

The use of land mines is controversial because of their potential as indiscriminate weapons. They
can remain dangerous many years after a conflict has ended, harming civilians and the economy.
78 countries are contaminated with land mines and 15,000–20,000 people are killed every year
while countless more are maimed. Approximately 80% of land mine casualties are civilian, with
children as the most affected age group. Most killings occur in times of peace.[2] With pressure
from a number of campaign groups organised through the International Campaign to Ban
Landmines, a global movement to prohibit their use led to the 1997 Convention on the
Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on
their Destruction, also known as the Ottawa Treaty. To date, 164 nations have signed the treaty,
but these do not include China, the Russian Federation, and the United States.[3]
Artillery Shell (projectile)
A shell is a payload-carrying projectile that, as opposed to a solid round shot, contains an
explosive, incendiary or other chemical filling, though modern usage sometimes includes large
solid kinetic projectiles properly termed shot.[1][not verified in body] Solid shot may contain a pyrotechnic
compound if a tracer or spotting charge is used. Originally it was called a bombshell, but "shell"
has come to be unambiguous in a military context.

All explosive- and incendiary-filled projectiles, particularly for mortars, were originally called
grenades, derived from the French word for pomegranate, so called because of the similarity of
shape and that the multi-seeded fruit resembles the powder-filled, fragmentizing bomb. Words
cognate with grenade are still used for an artillery or mortar projectile in some European
languages.[2]

Shells are usually large-caliber projectiles fired by artillery, armored fighting vehicles (e.g. tanks,
assault guns and mortar carriers), warships and some ground attack aircraft (gunship). The shape
is usually a cylinder topped by an ogive-tipped nose cone for good aerodynamic performance,
and possibly with a tapered boat tail; but some specialized types differ widely.
Line art diagram of typical shrapnel round as used in World War I:

1. Small gunpowder bursting charge - fires bullets forward out of shell case.
2. Shrapnel bullets (balls).
3. Time Fuze.
4. Central ignition tube to carry detonator flash from fuze to bursting charge.
5. Resin matrix to hold bullets steady in position. Burns when shell bursts, giving off smoke
which shows the gunner where his shells are bursting.
6. Thin steel shell wall.
7. Metal cartridge case.
8. Shell propellant, typically cordite or nitrocellulose.

Rocket
A rocket (from Italian: rocchetto, lit. 'bobbin/spool')[nb 1][1] is a projectile that spacecraft, aircraft
or other vehicles use to obtain thrust from a rocket engine. Rocket engine exhaust is formed
entirely from propellant carried within the rocket.[2] Rocket engines work by action and reaction
and push rockets forward simply by expelling their exhaust in the opposite direction at high
speed, and can therefore work in the vacuum of space.

In fact, rockets work more efficiently in space than in an atmosphere. Multistage rockets are
capable of attaining escape velocity from Earth and therefore can achieve unlimited maximum
altitude. Compared with airbreathing engines, rockets are lightweight and powerful and capable
of generating large accelerations. To control their flight, rockets rely on momentum, airfoils,
auxiliary reaction engines, gimballed thrust, momentum wheels, deflection of the exhaust stream,
propellant flow, spin, or gravity.
Rockets for military and recreational uses date back to at least 13th-century China.[3] Significant
scientific, interplanetary and industrial use did not occur until the 20th century, when rocketry
was the enabling technology for the Space Age, including setting foot on the Earth's moon.
Rockets are now used for fireworks, weaponry, ejection seats, launch vehicles for artificial
satellites, human spaceflight, and space exploration.

Chemical rockets are the most common type of high power rocket, typically creating a high
speed exhaust by the combustion of fuel with an oxidizer. The stored propellant can be a simple
pressurized gas or a single liquid fuel that disassociates in the presence of a catalyst
(monopropellant), two liquids that spontaneously react on contact (hypergolic propellants), two
liquids that must be ignited to react (like kerosene (RP1) and liquid oxygen, used in most liquid-
propellant rockets), a solid combination of fuel with oxidizer (solid fuel), or solid fuel with liquid
or gaseous oxidizer (hybrid propellant system). Chemical rockets store a large amount of energy
in an easily released form, and can be very dangerous. However, careful design, testing,
construction and use minimizes risks.

Missile
In military terminology,[1] a missile, also known as a guided missile or guided rocket, is a
guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket
motor. Missiles have four system components: targeting/guidance system, flight system, engine
and warhead. Missiles come in types adapted for different purposes: surface-to-surface and air-
to-surface missiles (ballistic, cruise, anti-ship, anti-tank, etc.), surface-to-air missiles (and anti-
ballistic), air-to-air missiles, and anti-satellite weapons.

Airborne explosive devices without propulsion are referred to as shells if fired by an artillery
piece and bombs if dropped by an aircraft. Unguided jet-propelled missiles are usually described
as rocket artillery.

Historically, the word missile referred to any projectile that is thrown, shot or propelled towards
a target; this usage is still recognized today.[1]

The first missiles to be used operationally were a series of missiles developed by Nazi Germany
in World War II. Most famous of these are the V-1 flying bomb and V-2 rocket, both of which
used a mechanical autopilot to keep the missile flying along a pre-chosen route.[2] Less well
known were a series of Anti-Ship and Anti-aircraft missiles, typically based on a simple radio
control (command guidance) system directed by the operator. However, these early systems in
World War II were only built in small numbers.[3][4][5]

Technology
Guided missiles have a number of different system components:

 Guidance system
 Targeting system
 Flight system
 Engine
 Warhead

Guidance systems

The most common method of guidance is to use some form of radiation, such as infrared, lasers
or radio waves, to guide the missile onto its target. This radiation may emanate from the target
(such as the heat of an engine or the radio waves from an enemy radar), it may be provided by
the missile itself (such as a radar), or it may be provided by a friendly third party (such as the
radar of the launch vehicle/platform, or a laser designator operated by friendly infantry). The first
two are often known as fire-and-forget as they need no further support or control from the launch
vehicle/platform in order to function. Another method is to use a TV guidance, with a visible
light or infrared picture produced in order to see the target. The picture may be used either by a
human operator who steering the missile onto its target or by a computer doing much the same
job. One of the more bizarre guidance methods instead used a pigeon to steer a missile to its
target. Some missiles also have a home-on-jam capability to guide itself to a radar-emitting
source. Many missiles use a combination of two or more of the methods to improve accuracy and
the chances of a successful engagement.
Targeting systems

Another method is to target the missile by knowing the location of the target and using a
guidance system such as INS, TERCOM or satellite guidance. This guidance system guides the
missile by knowing the missile's current position and the position of the target, and then
calculating a course between them. This job can also be performed somewhat crudely by a
human operator who can see the target and the missile and guide it using either cable- or radio-
based remote control, or by an automatic system that can simultaneously track the target and the
missile. Furthermore, some missiles use initial targeting, sending them to a target area, where
they will switch to primary targeting, using either radar or IR targeting to acquire the target.

Flight system

Whether a guided missile uses a targeting system, a guidance system or both, it needs a flight
system. The flight system uses the data from the targeting or guidance system to maneuver the
missile in flight, allowing it to counter inaccuracies in the missile or to follow a moving target.
There are two main systems: vectored thrust (for missiles that are powered throughout the
guidance phase of their flight) and aerodynamic maneuvering (wings, fins, canard (aeronautics),
etc.).

Engine

Missiles are powered by an engine, generally either a type of rocket engine or jet engine. Rockets
are generally of the solid propellant type for ease of maintenance and fast deployment, although
some larger ballistic missiles use liquid-propellant rockets. Jet engines are generally used in
cruise missiles, most commonly of the turbojet type, due to its relative simplicity and low frontal
area. Turbofans and ramjets are the only other common forms of jet engine propulsion, although
any type of engine could theoretically be used. Long-range missiles may have multiple engine
stages, particularly in those launched from the surface. These stages may all be of similar types
or may include a mix of engine types − for example, surface-launched cruise missiles often have
a rocket booster for launching and a jet engine for sustained flight.

Some missiles may have additional propulsion from another source at launch; for example, the
V1 was launched by a catapult, and the MGM-51 Shillelagh was fired out of a tank gun (using a
smaller charge than would be used for a shell).
A simplified diagram of a solid-fuel rocket:
1. A solid fuel-oxidizer mixture (propellant) is packed into the rocket, with a cylindrical hole in
the middle.

2. An igniter combusts the surface of the propellant.

3. The cylindrical hole in the propellant acts as a combustion chamber.

4. The hot exhaust is choked at the throat, which, among other things, dictates the amount of
thrust produced.

5. Exhaust exits the rocket.

Missile Warhead

Missiles generally have one or more explosive warheads, although other weapon types may also
be used. The warheads of a missile provide its primary destructive power (many missiles have
extensive secondary destructive power due to the high kinetic energy of the weapon and unburnt
fuel that may be on board). Warheads are most commonly of the high explosive type, often
employing shaped charges to exploit the accuracy of a guided weapon to destroy hardened
targets. Other warhead types include submunitions, incendiaries, nuclear weapons, chemical,
biological or radiological weapons or kinetic energy penetrators. Warheadless missiles are often
used for testing and training purposes.

Basic roles
Missiles are generally categorized by their launch platform and intended target. In broadest
terms, these will either be surface (ground or water) or air, and then sub-categorized by range
and the exact target type (such as anti-tank or anti-ship). Many weapons are designed to be
launched from both surface or the air, and a few are designed to attack either surface or air
targets (such as the ADATS missile). Most weapons require some modification in order to be
launched from the air or surface, such as adding boosters to the surface-launched version.

Ballistic

After the boost stage, ballistic missiles follow a trajectory mainly determined by ballistics. The
guidance is for relatively small deviations from that.

Ballistic missiles are largely used for land attack missions. Although normally associated with
nuclear weapons, some conventionally armed ballistic missiles are in service, such as MGM-140
ATACMS. The V2 had demonstrated that a ballistic missile could deliver a warhead to a target
city with no possibility of interception, and the introduction of nuclear weapons meant it could
efficiently do damage when it arrived. The accuracy of these systems was fairly poor, but post-
war development by most military forces improved the basic Inertial navigation system concept
to the point where it could be used as the guidance system on Intercontinental ballistic missiles
flying thousands of kilometers. Today, the ballistic missile represents the only strategic deterrent
in most military forces; however, some ballistic missiles are being adapted for conventional
roles, such as the Russian Iskander or the Chinese DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missile. Ballistic
missiles are primarily surface-launched from mobile launchers, silos, ships or submarines, with
air launch being theoretically possible with a weapon such as the cancelled Skybolt missile.

The Russian Topol M (SS-27 Sickle B) is the fastest (7,320 m/s) missile currently in service.[6]

Cruise

The V1 had been successfully intercepted during World War II, but this did not make the cruise
missile concept entirely useless. After the war, the US deployed a small number of nuclear-
armed cruise missiles in Germany, but these were considered to be of limited usefulness.
Continued research into much longer-ranged and faster versions led to the US's SM-64 Navaho
and its Soviet counterparts, the Burya and Buran cruise missile. However, these were rendered
largely obsolete by the ICBM, and none were used operationally. Shorter-range developments
have become widely used as highly accurate attack systems, such as the US Tomahawk missile
and Russian Kh-55 . Cruise missiles are generally further divided into subsonic or supersonic
weapons - supersonic weapons such as BrahMos (India, Russia) are difficult to shoot down,
whereas subsonic weapons tend to be much lighter and cheaper allowing more to be fired.

Cruise missiles are generally associated with land-attack operations, but also have an important
role as anti-shipping weapons. They are primarily launched from air, sea or submarine platforms
in both roles, although land-based launchers also exist.

Anti-ship and Anti-submarine

Another major German missile development project was the anti-shipping class (such as the Fritz
X and Henschel Hs 293), intended to stop any attempt at a cross-channel invasion. However, the
British were able to render their systems useless by jamming their radios, and missiles with wire
guidance were not ready by D-Day. After the war, the anti-shipping class slowly developed and
became a major class in the 1960s with the introduction of the low-flying jet- or rocket-powered
cruise missiles known as "sea-skimmers". These became famous during the Falklands War, when
an Argentine Exocet missile sank a Royal Navy destroyer.

A number of anti-submarine missiles also exist; these generally use the missile in order to deliver
another weapon system such as a torpedo or depth charge to the location of the submarine, at
which point the other weapon will conduct the underwater phase of the mission.

Anti-tank

By the end of WWII, all forces had widely introduced unguided rockets using High-explosive
anti-tank warheads as their major anti-tank weapon (see Panzerfaust, Bazooka). However, these
had a limited useful range of 100 m or so, and the Germans were looking to extend this with the
use of a missile using wire guidance, the X-7. After the war, this became a major design class in
the later 1950s and, by the 1960s, had developed into practically the only non-tank anti-tank
system in general use. During the 1973 Yom Kippur War between Israel and Egypt, the 9M14
Malyutka (aka "Sagger") man-portable anti-tank missile proved potent against Israeli tanks.
While other guidance systems have been tried, the basic reliability of wire guidance means this
will remain the primary means of controlling anti-tank missiles in the near future. Anti-tank
missiles may be launched from aircraft, vehicles or by ground troops in the case of smaller
weapons.

Surface-to-air and subsurface-to-air

Anti-aircraft

By 1944, US and British air forces were sending huge air fleets over occupied Europe, increasing
the pressure on the Luftwaffe day and night fighter forces. The Germans were keen to get some
sort of useful ground-based anti-aircraft system into operation. Several systems were under
development, but none had reached operational status before the war's end. The US Navy also
started missile research to deal with the Kamikaze threat. By 1950, systems based on this early
research started to reach operational service, including the US Army's MIM-3 Nike Ajax and the
Navy's "3T's" (Talos, Terrier, Tartar), soon followed by the Soviet S-25 Berkut and S-75 Dvina
and French and British systems. Anti-aircraft weapons exist for virtually every possible launch
platform, with surface-launched systems ranging from huge, self-propelled or ship-mounted
launchers to man-portable systems. Subsurface-to-air missiles are usually launched from below
water (usually from submarines).

Anti-ballistic

Like most missiles, the S-300, S-400, Advanced Air Defence and MIM-104 Patriot are for
defense against short-range missiles and carry explosive warheads.

In the case of a large closing speed, a projectile without explosives is used; just a collision is
sufficient to destroy the target. See Missile Defense Agency for the following systems being
developed:

 Arrow 3
 Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI)
 Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System (Aegis BMD) - an SM-3 missile with a
Lightweight Exo-Atmospheric Projectile (LEAP) Kinetic Warhead (KW)

Air-to-air

For the first time used by Soviet pilots in the summer of 1939 during the Battle of Khalkhin Gol.
[7]
On August 20, 1939, the Japanese Nakajima Ki-27 fighter was attacked by the Soviet
Polikarpov I-16 fighter of the Captain N. Zvonarev, he fired a rocket salvo, from a distance of
about a kilometer, after which the Ki-27 crashed to the ground.[8] A group of Polikarpov I-16
fighters under command of Captain N. Zvonarev were using RS-82 rockets against Japanese
aircraft, shooting down 16 fighters and 3 bombers in total.[9]

German experience in World War II demonstrated that destroying a large aircraft was quite
difficult, and they had invested considerable effort into air-to-air missile systems to do this. Their
Messerschmitt Me 262's jets often carried R4M rockets, and other types of "bomber destroyer"
aircraft had unguided rockets as well. In the post-war period, the R4M served as the pattern for a
number of similar systems, used by almost all interceptor aircraft during the 1940s and 1950s.
Most rockets (except for the AIR-2 Genie, due to its nuclear warhead with a large blast radius)
had to be carefully aimed at relatively close range to hit the target successfully. The United
States Navy and U.S. Air Force began deploying guided missiles in the early 1950s, most famous
being the US Navy's AIM-9 Sidewinder and the USAF's AIM-4 Falcon. These systems have
continued to advance, and modern air warfare consists almost entirely of missile firing. In the
Falklands War, less powerful British Harriers were able to defeat faster Argentinian opponents
using AIM-9L missiles provided by the United States as the conflict began. The latest heat-
seeking designs can lock onto a target from various angles, not just from behind, where the heat
signature from the engines is strongest. Other types rely on radar guidance (either on board or
"painted" by the launching aircraft). Air-to-air missiles also have a wide range of sizes, ranging
from helicopter-launched self-defense weapons with a range of a few kilometers, to long-range
weapons designed for interceptor aircraft such as the R-37 (missile).

Anti-satellite

In the 1950s and 1960s, Soviet designers started work on an anti-satellite weapon as part of the
Istrebitel Sputnikov program ("istrebitel sputnikov" literally means "destroyer of satellites"). After a
lengthy development process of roughly twenty years, it was finally decided that the testing of these
weapons be canceled. This was when the United States started testing their own systems. The Brilliant
Pebbles defense system proposed during the 1980s would have used kinetic energy collisions without
explosives. Anti-satellite weapons may be launched either by an aircraft or a surface platform,
depending on the design. To date, only a few known tests have occurred. As of 2019, only 4 countries -
United States, India, Russia and China have operational anti-satellite weapons.

Missiles category

 9K121 Vikhr
 9K333 Verba
 KSR-5
 Missile

 List of missiles
 List of missiles by country
 Pike (munition)
 Rocket (weapon)

 Cold launch

 Guided missile

 Intercontinental ballistic missile

M
  Missile launcher

 NAVAIR Spike

 Tondar (missile)

 Vertical launching system

"Missile types"

 Air-launched ballistic missile

 Air-to-air missile
 Air-to-surface missile
 Anti-ballistic missile
 Anti-satellite weapon
 Anti-ship ballistic missile
 Anti-ship missile
 Anti-submarine missile
 Anti-tank guided missile

 Beyond-visual-range missile

 Cruise missile

 Flying bomb

 Guided missile
  List of gun-launched missiles

 Intermediate-range ballistic missile

 List of military rockets

 Rocket (weapon)
 Rocket artillery

 Short-range ballistic missile

 Shoulder-fired missile
 Submarine-launched ballistic missile
 Surface-to-surface missile
 Submarine-launched cruise missile
 Submarine-launched missile
 Surface-to-air missile

Wire guided missile

Rifles
Rifled barrels have spiral twists carved inside them that spin the bullet so that it remains stable in
flight, in the same way an American football thrown in a spiral will fly in a straight, stable
manner. This mechanism is known as rifling. Longer barrels provide more opportunity to rotate
the bullet before it leaves the gun. As such, longer barrels increase the overall precision of the
weapon. If one examines shot groups on a paper target from a 2-inch (51 mm) barrel, a 4-inch
(100 mm) barrel, and a 6-inch (150 mm) barrel, one will observe how the longer barrels produce
"tighter" grouping, with bullets landing closer together on the target.

A bullet, while moving through its barrel, is being pushed forward by the gas expanding behind
it. This gas was created when the trigger was pulled, causing the firing pin to strike the primer,
which in turn ignited the solid propellant packed inside the bullet cartridge, making it combust
while situated in the chamber. Once it leaves the barrel, the force of the expanding gas ceases to
propel the bullet forth.[9] When a bullet is fired from a handgun with a 2-inch (51 mm) barrel, the
bullet only has a 2-inch (51 mm) "runway" to be spun before it leaves the barrel. Likewise, it has
only a 2-inch (51 mm) space in which to accelerate before it must fly without any additional
force behind it. In some instances, the powder may not have even been fully burned in guns with
short barrels. So, the muzzle velocity of a 2-inch (51 mm) barrel is less than that of a 4-inch
(100 mm) barrel, which is less than that of a 6-inch (150 mm) barrel.

Large naval guns will have high length-to-diameter ratios, ranging between 38:1 to 50:1. This
length ratio maximizes the projectile velocity. There is much interest in modernizing naval
weaponry by using electrically powered railguns, which shoot projectiles using an
electromagnetic pulse. These overcome the limitations noted above. With these railguns, a
constant acceleration is provided along the entire length of the device by means of the
electromagnetic pulse. This greatly increases the muzzle velocity. Another significant advantage
of railguns is not requiring explosive propellant.[10] The result of this is that a ship will not need
to transport propellant and that a land-station will not have to maintain an inventory of it either.
Explosive propellant, stored in large quantities, is susceptible to explosion.[11] While this can be
mitigated with safety precautions,[11] railguns eschew the need for such measures altogether.
Even the projectile internal charges may be eliminated due to the already high velocity. This
means the projectile becomes a strictly kinetic weapon.