Deringer

The term derringer is a genericized misspelling of the last name of Henry Deringer, a famous maker of small pocket pistols in the 1800s. Many copies of the original Philadelphia Deringer pistol were made by other gun makers worldwide, and the name was often misspelled; this misspelling soon became a generic term for any pocket pistol. The original Deringer pistol was a single-shot muzzleloading pistol; with the advent of cartridge firearms, pistols began to be produced in the modern form still known as a derringer.

A derringer is generally the smallest usable handgun of a given caliber. They were frequently used by women, because they are easily concealable in a purse or as a stocking gun. Derringers are not repeating firearms—repeating mechanisms such as used on semi-automatic handguns or revolvers would add significant bulk to the gun, defeating the purpose. The original cartridge derringers held only a single round, usually a pinfire or rimfire .40 caliber cartridge, with the barrel pivoted sideways on the frame to allow access to the breech for reloading. The famous Remington derringer design doubled the capacity, while maintaining the compact size, by adding a second barrel on top of the first and pivoting the barrels upwards to reload. Each barrel then held one round, and a cam on the hammer alternated between top and bottom barrels. The Remington derringer was in .41 Rimfire caliber and achieved wide popularity. The .41 Rimfire bullet moved very slowly, at about 425 feet per second (a modern .45 ACP travels at 850 feet per second). It could be seen in flight, but at very close range, such as at a casino or saloon card table, it could easily kill. The Remington derringer was sold from 1866 to 1935.

M2 Browning Machine gun information

The M2 Machine Gun, Browning .50 Caliber Machine Gun, or "Ma Deuce" is a heavy machine gun designed towards the end of World War I by John Browning. The M2 uses the.50 BMG cartridge, and is the source of its name (BMG standing for Browning Machine Gun). The M2 was nicknamed Ma Deuce by U.S. Military personnel or simply called "fifty-cal." in reference to its caliber. The design has had many specific designations; the official designation for the current infantry type is Browning Machine Gun, Cal. .50, M2, HB, Flexible. It is effective against infantry, unarmored or lightly-armored vehicles and boats, light fortifications, and low-flying aircraft.

The Browning .50 caliber machine gun has been used extensively as a vehicle weapon and for aircraft armament by the United States from the 1920s to the present day. It was heavily used during World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, as well as during operations in Iraq in the 1990s and 2000s. It is the primary heavy machine gun of NATE countries, and has been used by many other countries as well. It is still in use today, with only a few modern improvements. The M2 has been in use longer than any other small arm in U.S. inventory. It was very similar in design to the smaller Browning Model 1919 machine gun. The M2 is currently manufactured by General Dynamics and FNH for the United States government. FNH has been the manufacturer since John Browning worked for them in the 1910s and '20s to develop the machine gun

M1897 Trenchgun information

This is a pump-action shotgun with an external hammer and tube magazine. It was offered in 12 and 16 gauge, solid frame or takedown. Numerous barrel lengths were offered. Although, the M1897 Trenchgun had a shorter barrel then the gun shown above.

The M1897 was able to fire by holding the trigger down and pumping it (due to it lacking a trigger disconnector, common on older shotguns), making it fire much faster then a modern pump-action shotgun. Modern shotguns can't do this because they have a trigger disconnector, which means you have to pump and repress the trigger each time. It was the first truly successful pump-action shotgun produced. From 1893 until it was discontinued by Winchester in 1957, over a million of the type were produced in various grades and barrel lengths. 16-gauge guns had a standard barrel length of 28 inches, while 12-gauge guns were furnished with 30-inch length barrels. Special length barrels could be ordered in lengths as short as 20 inches, and as long as 36 inches.

Colt .45 information

The Colt Single Action Army handgun (also known as the Colt Peacemaker, Single Action Army or SAA, Colt .45 and sometimes as The Equalizer or Colt Peacekeeper) is a single action revolver with a revolving cylinder holding six rounds. It was designed for the US government service revolver trials of 1873 by Colt's Manufacturing Company and adopted as the standard military service revolver until 1892.

The Colt Single Action Army has been offered in over 30 different calibers and various barrel lengths. Its overall appearance has remained consistent since 1873. Colt has discontinued its production twice, but brought it back due to excessive demand. The pistol was popular with ranchers, lawmen, and outlaws alike, but current models are mostly bought by collectors and reenactors. Its design has influenced the production of numerous other models from companies such as the Great Western Arms Company, Ruger, Beretta, Freedom Arms, USFA, Cimarron, and Uberti.

The original .45 Colt black powder load of 40 grains propelled the 250-255 grain bullet at a nominal 970 feet per second (300 m/s). Authors John Taffin and Mike Venturino have demonstrated that modern black powder loadings of the 45 Colt cartridge frequently achieve velocities in the vicinity of 1,000 feet per second (300 m/s) with the 7-1/2" "cavalry" barrel length, even though modern solid-head cases make it impossible to load a full 40 grains. Specifications for 20th-century smokeless loads set velocity with a 255-grain (16.5 g) round-nosed flat-point bullet at 870 feet per second (270 m/s) providing 429-foot-pound-force (582 J) energy.

M16 information

The M16 entered United States Army service as the M16A1 and was deployed for jungle warfare in the Republic of South Vietnam in 1963, becoming the standard US Rifle of the Vietnam War by 1969; replacing the M14 Rifle in that role. The US Army retained the M14 in CONUS, Europe, and South Korea until 1970. Since the Vietnam War, the M16 rifle family has been the primary infantry rifle of the U.S. military. With its variants, it has been in use by 15 NATO countries, and is the most produced firearm in its caliber.

Variant originally adopted by the U.S. Air Force. This was the first M16 adopted operationally. This variant had triangular handguards, a three-pronged flash suppressor, and no forward assist. Bolt carriers were originally chrome plated and slick-sided, lacking forward assist notches. Later, the chrome plated carriers were dropped in favor of Army issued notched and parkerized carriers though the interior portion of the bolt carrier is still chrome-lined. The Air Force continues to operate these weapons and upgrades them as parts wear or break and through attrition.

The U.S. Army XM16E1 was essentially the same weapon as the M16 with the addition of a forward assist and corresponding notches in the bolt carrier. The M16A1 was the finalized production model in 1967. To address issues raised by the XM16E1's testing cycle, a closed, bird-cage flash suppressor replaced the XM16E1's three-pronged flash suppressor which caught on twigs and leaves. Various other changes were made after numerous problems in the field. Cleaning kits were developed and issued while barrels with chrome-plated chambers and later fully-lined bores were introduced.

With these and other changes, the malfunction rate slowly declined and new soldiers were generally unfamiliar with early problems. A rib was built into the side of the receiver on the XM16E1 to help prevent accidentally pressing the magazine release button while closing the ejection port cover. This rib was later extended on production M16A1s to help in preventing the magazine release from inadvertently being pressed. The bolt cam pin and the hole it rides in the bolt were tapered to prevent the bolt from being inserted upside down (creating a failure to fire). The M16A1 remains in service in limited numbers in the United States but is still standard issue in many world armies.