09-04-2013, 09:54 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-05-2013, 02:49 AM by NugginFutz.)
Foot-Pound: The amount of energy required to lift 1 pound 1 foot.
Forward Assist: A button, found commonly on M16 and AR-15 styled rifles, usually located near the bolt closure, that when hit will push the bolt carrier forward, ensuring that the bolt is locked.
Fouling: The accumulation of unwanted material on solid surfaces. The fouling material can consist of either powder, lubrication residue, or bullet material such as lead or copper.
Fouling Shot: A fouling shot is a shot fired through a clean bore, intended to leave some residue of firing and prepare the bore for more consistent performance in subsequent shots. The first shot through a clean bore will behave differently than subsequent shots through a bore with traces of powder residue, resulting in a different point of impact. Also, the Fouling Shot Journal, a publication of the Cast Bullet Association
Frangible Bullet: A bullet that is designed to disintegrate into tiny particles upon impact to minimize their penetration for reasons of range safety, to limit environmental impact, or to limit the danger behind the intended target. Examples are the Glaser Safety Slug and the breaching round. Devistating on soft targets.
Free Recoil: Technique of heavily sandbagging a rifle and touching it only with your finger when firing to improve consistency.
Free-Floated Barrel: Barrel which does not touch the rifle's forearm, for better accuracy. It "floats" freely, unimpeded.
Gas-Operated Reloading: A system of operation used to provide energy to operate autoloading firearms.
Gauge: The gauge of a firearm is a unit of measurement used to express the diameter of the barrel.
Glass Bedding: Applying liquid fiberglass or epoxy between a rifle's action/receiver and the stock for the snuggest possible fit. This eliminates any "play" between action and stock. Used in quality sniper rifles.
Goose Necking: The undesirable practice of stretching one's head up above the rifle cheekrest (and thereby losing the stockweld) in order to see through a scope. Corrected by using a different buttstock, installing a strap-on cheeckrest, or using an adjustable cheekrest.
Grain : Is a unit of measurement of mass that is based upon the mass of a single seed of a typical cereal. Used in firearms to denote the amount of powder in a cartridge or the weight of a bullet. Traditionally it was based on the weight of a grain of wheat or barley, but since 1958, the grain (gr) measure has been redefined using the International System of Units as precisely 64.79891 mg. There are 7,000 grains per avoirdupois pound in the Imperial and U.S. customary units.
Grendel: A holy term used to denote a cartridge (6.5x39mm), which can fly farther, penetrate deeper and cause more damage than the ubiquitous 5.56mm NATO cartridge. The 6.5mm Grendel was designed by Bill Alexander and Janne Pohjoispää as a low recoil, high accuracy, 200-800 yard cartridge specifically for the AR-15 platform.
Grip Safety: A safety mechanism, usually a lever on the rear of a pistol grip, that automatically unlocks the trigger mechanism of a firearm as pressure is applied by the shooter's hand.
Gunpowder: Also called black powder, is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate. It burns rapidly, producing a volume of hot gas made up of carbon dioxide, water, and nitrogen, and a solid residue of potassium sulfide. Because of its burning properties and the amount of heat and gas volume that it generates, gunpowder has been widely used as a propellant in firearms and as a pyrotechnic composition in fireworks. The term gunpowder also refers broadly to any propellant powder. Modern firearms do not use the traditional gunpowder (black powder) described here, but instead use smokeless powder.
Half-Cock: The position of the hammer where the hammer is partially but not completely cocked. Many firearms, particularly older firearms, had a notch cut into the hammer allowing half-cock, as this position would neither allow the gun to fire nor permit the hammer-mounted firing pin to rest on a live percussion cap or cartridge. The purpose of the half-cock position has variously been used both for loading a firearm, and as a safety-mechanism.
Hammer: The function of the hammer is to strike the firing pin in a firearm, which in turn detonates the impact-sensitive cartridge primer. The hammer of a firearm was given its name for both resemblance and functional similarity to the common tool.
Hammer Bite: The action of an external hammer pinching or poking the web of the operator's shooting hand between the thumb and fore-finger when the gun is fired. Some handguns prone to this are the M1911 pistol and the Browning Hi-Power.
Hammer Forging: A barrel manufacturing technique through the process of forging the barrel over a mandrel containing a reverse image of the rifling, and often the chamber as well.
Hang Fire: An unexpected delay between the triggering of a firearm and the ignition of the propellant. This failure was common in firearm actions that relied on open primer pans, due to the poor or inconsistent quality of the powder. Modern weapons are susceptible, particularly if the ammunition has been stored in an environment outside of the design specifications.
Hardball Bullet: Also called "full metal jacket" or "metal case" this bullet design uses a hard metal covering over a lead core so the round does not expand upon impact, as required by the Geneva Convention - all military ammunition is this.
Headspace: The distance measured from the part of the chamber that stops forward motion of the cartridge (the datum reference) to the face of the bolt. Used as a verb, headspace refers to the interference created between this part of the chamber and the feature of the cartridge that achieves the correct positioning.
Headstamp: A headstamp is the markings on the bottom of a cartridge case designed for a firearm. It usually tells who manufactured the case. If it is a civilian case it often also tells the caliber, if it is military, the year of manufacture is often added.
Hoard: A stock or store of money or valued objects, typically one that is secret or carefully guarded.
Hold: Compensating for wind or elevation by purposely aiming high/low or right/left instead of changing the setting on your scope. This is the fastest means of engaging multiple targets at assorted distances.
Holographic Weapon Sight: A non-magnifying gun sight that allows the user to look through a glass optical window and see a cross hair reticle image superimposed at a distance on the field of view. The hologram of the reticle is built into the window and is illuminated by a laser diode.
Horde: A large, loosely organized group of people, belonging to the Grendel clan.
Improved Cartridge: A wildcat cartridge that is created by straightening out the sides of an existing case and making a sharper shoulder to maximize powder space. Frequently the neck length and shoulder position are altered as well. The caliber is NOT changed in the process.
Improvised Firearm: A firearm manufactured by someone who is not a regular maker of firearms.
IMR Powder or Improved Military Rifle: A series of tubular nitrocellulose smokeless powders evolved from World War I through World War II for loading military and commercial ammunition and sold to private citizens for reloading rifle ammunition for hunting and target shooting.
Infrared Scope: A night observation device which needs an infrared light for illumination (active). These lights can be detected by other IR optics as well as Western Starlight-type night vision devices (passive), making them dangerous to use.
Internal Ballistics: A subfield of ballistics, that is the study of a projectile's behavior from the time its propellant's igniter is initiated until it exits the gun barrel. The study of internal ballistics is important to designers and users of firearms of all types, from small-bore Olympic rifles and pistols, to high-tech artillery.
Iron Sights: A system of aligned markers used to assist in the aiming of a device such as a firearm, crossbow, or telescope, and exclude the use of optics as in a scope. Iron sights are typically composed of two component sights, formed by metal blades: a rear sight mounted perpendicular to the line of sight and consisting of some form of notch (open sight) or aperture (closed sight); and a front sight that is a post, bead, or ring.
Forward Assist: A button, found commonly on M16 and AR-15 styled rifles, usually located near the bolt closure, that when hit will push the bolt carrier forward, ensuring that the bolt is locked.
Fouling: The accumulation of unwanted material on solid surfaces. The fouling material can consist of either powder, lubrication residue, or bullet material such as lead or copper.
Fouling Shot: A fouling shot is a shot fired through a clean bore, intended to leave some residue of firing and prepare the bore for more consistent performance in subsequent shots. The first shot through a clean bore will behave differently than subsequent shots through a bore with traces of powder residue, resulting in a different point of impact. Also, the Fouling Shot Journal, a publication of the Cast Bullet Association
Frangible Bullet: A bullet that is designed to disintegrate into tiny particles upon impact to minimize their penetration for reasons of range safety, to limit environmental impact, or to limit the danger behind the intended target. Examples are the Glaser Safety Slug and the breaching round. Devistating on soft targets.
Free Recoil: Technique of heavily sandbagging a rifle and touching it only with your finger when firing to improve consistency.
Free-Floated Barrel: Barrel which does not touch the rifle's forearm, for better accuracy. It "floats" freely, unimpeded.
Gas-Operated Reloading: A system of operation used to provide energy to operate autoloading firearms.
Gauge: The gauge of a firearm is a unit of measurement used to express the diameter of the barrel.
Glass Bedding: Applying liquid fiberglass or epoxy between a rifle's action/receiver and the stock for the snuggest possible fit. This eliminates any "play" between action and stock. Used in quality sniper rifles.
Goose Necking: The undesirable practice of stretching one's head up above the rifle cheekrest (and thereby losing the stockweld) in order to see through a scope. Corrected by using a different buttstock, installing a strap-on cheeckrest, or using an adjustable cheekrest.
Grain : Is a unit of measurement of mass that is based upon the mass of a single seed of a typical cereal. Used in firearms to denote the amount of powder in a cartridge or the weight of a bullet. Traditionally it was based on the weight of a grain of wheat or barley, but since 1958, the grain (gr) measure has been redefined using the International System of Units as precisely 64.79891 mg. There are 7,000 grains per avoirdupois pound in the Imperial and U.S. customary units.
Grendel: A holy term used to denote a cartridge (6.5x39mm), which can fly farther, penetrate deeper and cause more damage than the ubiquitous 5.56mm NATO cartridge. The 6.5mm Grendel was designed by Bill Alexander and Janne Pohjoispää as a low recoil, high accuracy, 200-800 yard cartridge specifically for the AR-15 platform.
Grip Safety: A safety mechanism, usually a lever on the rear of a pistol grip, that automatically unlocks the trigger mechanism of a firearm as pressure is applied by the shooter's hand.
Gunpowder: Also called black powder, is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate. It burns rapidly, producing a volume of hot gas made up of carbon dioxide, water, and nitrogen, and a solid residue of potassium sulfide. Because of its burning properties and the amount of heat and gas volume that it generates, gunpowder has been widely used as a propellant in firearms and as a pyrotechnic composition in fireworks. The term gunpowder also refers broadly to any propellant powder. Modern firearms do not use the traditional gunpowder (black powder) described here, but instead use smokeless powder.
Half-Cock: The position of the hammer where the hammer is partially but not completely cocked. Many firearms, particularly older firearms, had a notch cut into the hammer allowing half-cock, as this position would neither allow the gun to fire nor permit the hammer-mounted firing pin to rest on a live percussion cap or cartridge. The purpose of the half-cock position has variously been used both for loading a firearm, and as a safety-mechanism.
Hammer: The function of the hammer is to strike the firing pin in a firearm, which in turn detonates the impact-sensitive cartridge primer. The hammer of a firearm was given its name for both resemblance and functional similarity to the common tool.
Hammer Bite: The action of an external hammer pinching or poking the web of the operator's shooting hand between the thumb and fore-finger when the gun is fired. Some handguns prone to this are the M1911 pistol and the Browning Hi-Power.
Hammer Forging: A barrel manufacturing technique through the process of forging the barrel over a mandrel containing a reverse image of the rifling, and often the chamber as well.
Hang Fire: An unexpected delay between the triggering of a firearm and the ignition of the propellant. This failure was common in firearm actions that relied on open primer pans, due to the poor or inconsistent quality of the powder. Modern weapons are susceptible, particularly if the ammunition has been stored in an environment outside of the design specifications.
Hardball Bullet: Also called "full metal jacket" or "metal case" this bullet design uses a hard metal covering over a lead core so the round does not expand upon impact, as required by the Geneva Convention - all military ammunition is this.
Headspace: The distance measured from the part of the chamber that stops forward motion of the cartridge (the datum reference) to the face of the bolt. Used as a verb, headspace refers to the interference created between this part of the chamber and the feature of the cartridge that achieves the correct positioning.
Headstamp: A headstamp is the markings on the bottom of a cartridge case designed for a firearm. It usually tells who manufactured the case. If it is a civilian case it often also tells the caliber, if it is military, the year of manufacture is often added.
Hoard: A stock or store of money or valued objects, typically one that is secret or carefully guarded.
Hold: Compensating for wind or elevation by purposely aiming high/low or right/left instead of changing the setting on your scope. This is the fastest means of engaging multiple targets at assorted distances.
Holographic Weapon Sight: A non-magnifying gun sight that allows the user to look through a glass optical window and see a cross hair reticle image superimposed at a distance on the field of view. The hologram of the reticle is built into the window and is illuminated by a laser diode.
Horde: A large, loosely organized group of people, belonging to the Grendel clan.
Improved Cartridge: A wildcat cartridge that is created by straightening out the sides of an existing case and making a sharper shoulder to maximize powder space. Frequently the neck length and shoulder position are altered as well. The caliber is NOT changed in the process.
Improvised Firearm: A firearm manufactured by someone who is not a regular maker of firearms.
IMR Powder or Improved Military Rifle: A series of tubular nitrocellulose smokeless powders evolved from World War I through World War II for loading military and commercial ammunition and sold to private citizens for reloading rifle ammunition for hunting and target shooting.
Infrared Scope: A night observation device which needs an infrared light for illumination (active). These lights can be detected by other IR optics as well as Western Starlight-type night vision devices (passive), making them dangerous to use.
Internal Ballistics: A subfield of ballistics, that is the study of a projectile's behavior from the time its propellant's igniter is initiated until it exits the gun barrel. The study of internal ballistics is important to designers and users of firearms of all types, from small-bore Olympic rifles and pistols, to high-tech artillery.
Iron Sights: A system of aligned markers used to assist in the aiming of a device such as a firearm, crossbow, or telescope, and exclude the use of optics as in a scope. Iron sights are typically composed of two component sights, formed by metal blades: a rear sight mounted perpendicular to the line of sight and consisting of some form of notch (open sight) or aperture (closed sight); and a front sight that is a post, bead, or ring.