Introduction To Guns

Guns are usually divided into two big categories, long arms and handguns. I usually prefer handguns, and that is the reason why these pages are more about them.

Handguns are generally categorized according to the mechanism they use to bring the cartridge behind the barrel. Those that use a rotating cylinder, in which cartridges are stored, are called 'revolvers' (due to the rotary movement of the cylinder), while those that use the expanding gases of each fired cartridge, in order to load the next, are called 'pistols'.

Guns are also categorized, according to the cartridge they use, or to be more precise according to the dimensions of this cartridge, which constitute their caliber. The most usual cartridges are shown below :

        0.22
        0.25
        0.32
        0.38
        0.380
        9mm
        10mm
        0.357
        0.40
        0.41
        0.44
        0.45

These numbers indicate the outer diameter of the bullet that the cartridge has. The numbers without any designation after them, are expressed in hundredths of an inch (1/100"), while the others are in millimeters. As you understand the later ones were developed in Europe, while the former in the USA.

It is important to know that there are several cartridges which share the same external diameter, however their caliber is not the same . For example, 0.380, 0.38, 9mm, 0.357 all have approximately the same external diameter (roughly 9mm), however there are some other factors that distinguish them. For example, 0.380 and 9mm are for pistols, while 0.38, 0.357 are for revolvers.

All contemporary guns base their operation (the fact that they shoot) to the powder contained within the cartridges they fire. When this powder is ignited (via the primer), the produced gases push the bullet out of the cartridge rim, down in the barrel and finally out of it, towards the target (whatever the gun was pointing at, when the shot was fired).

It is those expanding gases that push the bullet down the range and it is also those expanding gases that produce the recoil we feel, when we fire a gun. The bullet, by itself, is the item which produces the damage on the target, be it either a paper target, a can or a person. When the bullet hits the target, the kinetic energy stored into it by the gases of the explosion, is delivered to the target. It is this kinetic energy that pops a can on the air, or kills a person.

Of course, the things shown on TV films, where a guy is shot by some weird gun (like 0.44 Magnum) and he is thrown 3 meters back in the air, is nothing but comedy. Remember your high school physics. In order the bullet to produce this effect, it should have enough kinetic energy. But if the bullet had so much kinetic energy, then the pistol that fired it, should have kicked you, with an equal amount of energy! It simply doesn't happen that way. Bullets carry energy, but not enough to throw someone in the air.

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