09-04-2013, 09:59 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-06-2013, 05:53 PM by NugginFutz.)
Spin Drift: Sideways motion of a projectile in flight, caused by spin stabilization. Even in completely calm air, with no sideways air movement at all, a spin-stabilized projectile will experience a spin-induced sideways component.
Spitzer Bullet: Also commonly referred to as a spire point bullet, is primarily a small arms ballistics development of the late 19th and early 20th century. The name 'Spitzer' is an Anglicized form of the German word Spitzgeschoss, literally meaning "pointy bullet".
Sporterising: The practice of modifying military-type firearms either to make them suitable for civilian sporting use or to make them legal under the law.
Spotting Scope: A single-lens scope, usually of 20 power or greater and used with a tripod for long-range observation, adjusting the sniper's fire, and reading mirage for wind speed and direction.
Squib Load: A firearms malfunction in which a fired projectile does not have enough force behind it to exit the barrel, and thus becomes stuck. Also known as squib round, pop and no kick, or just squib.
Stadia Marks: Also called stadia lines or stadia hairs, are crosshairs on the reticle of a rifle scope that allow stadiametric rangefinding, a method of determining the range to a target by comparing the spacing of reticle marks against objects of known sizes.
Stock: The part of a rifle or other firearm, to which the barrel and firing mechanism are attached, that is held against one's shoulder when firing the gun. The stock provides a means for the shooter to firmly support the device and easily aim it.
Stockweld: The habitual placing of a shooter's cheek at the exact same spot on their stock, shot after shot, so that their eye relief and scope picture become consistent. By "welding" their eye to one spot, a shooter improves consistency and therefore accuracy.
Stopping Power: The ability of a firearm or other weapon to cause a penetrating ballistic injury to a target, human or animal, sufficient to incapacitate the target where it stands.
Stripper Clip: A speedloader that holds several cartridges together in a single unit for easier loading of a firearm's magazine. A stripper clip is used only for loading the magazine and is not necessary for the firearm to function.
Subtends: The amount an angular measurement equals at a given range. For example, 1 minute of angle subtends 3 inches at 300 yards.
Suppressor: A device that uses baffles and fine meshing to dissipate and slow the escape of gases from a weapon muzzle and thereby reduces the normal muzzle report.
Swage: To reduce an item in size by forcing through a die. In internal ballistics, swaging refers to the process where bullets are swaged into the rifling of the barrel by the force of the expanding powder gases.
Swaged Bullet: A bullet that is formed by forcing the bullet into a die to assume its final form.
Taylor KO Factor: Mathematical approach for evaluating the stopping power of hunting cartridges.
Telescoping Stock or Collapsing Stock: A stock on a firearm that telescopes or folds in on itself in order to become more compact. Telescoping stocks are useful for storing a rifle or weapon in a space that it would not normally fit in.
Tennessee Elevation: To compensate or "hold" high or low to hit targets beyond or short of a rifle's zero--the trajectory correlation to Kentucky windage.
Terminal Ballistics: A sub-field of ballistics, is the study of the behavior of a projectile when it hits its target.
Throat Erosion: The wearing of the portion of the barrel where the gas pressure and heat is highest as the projectile leaves the chamber. The greater the chamber pressure the more rapid throat erosion occurs which is compounded by rapid firing which heats and weakens the steel.
Trajectory: The arched path a bullet follows from a rifle's muzzle until it hits the ground. The steepness of this arch varies depending on the angle at which the shooter holds the rifle--and this, of course, will vary according to how far away his intended target is located.
Trapping: One of two techniques for engaging moving targets. In this technique, the shooter picks a point ahead of the target, holds steadily on the point, then squeezes off a shot when the target arrives there.
Trigger: A mechanism that actuates the firing sequence of a firearm. Triggers almost universally consist of levers or buttons actuated by the index finger.
Trunnion: A cylindrical protrusion used as a mounting and/or pivoting point. On firearms, the barrel is sometimes mounted in a trunnion, which in turn is mounted to the receiver.
Turkey Necking: The undesirable practice of stretching your neck forward or back in order to see through your riflescope properly. Corrected either by lengthening the buttstock or changing the scope eye relief.
Twilight Factor: A means of measuring an optical device's low-light resolution and magnification, which is probably a more useful way for comparing scopes, binoculars, etc., for night use. Measured by multiplying the objective lens diameter by the device's power, then computing this figure's square root. For a 10x scope having a 40mm objective lens = 400, whose sqrt is 20.
Velocity: The speed at which a bullet travels, in fps. The combination of velocity and bullet weight determine a projectiles kinetic energy.
Wadcutter: A special-purpose bullet specially designed for shooting paper targets, usually at close range and at subsonic velocities typically under 800 ft/s (240 m/s). They are often used in handgun and airgun competitions. A wadcutter has a flat or nearly flat front that cuts a very clean hole through the paper target, making it easier to score and ideally reducing errors in scoring the target to the favor of the shooter.
Wildcat Cartridge or Wildcat: A custom cartridge for which ammunition and firearms are not mass-produced. These cartridges are often created in order to optimize a certain performance characteristic (such as the power, size or efficiency) of an existing commercial cartridge. See improved cartridge.
Wind Drift: The lateral distance a bullet drifts in a crosswind, measured in inches at various distances. Some bullet shapes, such as round nose, are more susceptible to wind drift, but others, like boattail, are less affected.
Windage: The side-to-side adjustment of a sight, used to change the horizontal component of the aiming point. See also Kentucky windage.
X-Ring: A circle in the middle of a shooting target bullseye used to determine winners in event of a tie.
Yaw: The heading of a bullet, used in external ballistics that refers to how the Magnus effect causes bullets to move out of a straight line based on their spin.
Zero: The adjustment of an optical or open sight so that a bullet precisely hits a target at a given distance. Police usually zero their rifles for 100 yards, USMC snipers for 600 yards, and U.S. army snipers for 300 yards.
[SIZE="1"]Sources: Glossary of firearms terms - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"The Ultimate Sniper" by Maj. John L. Plaster
NRA-ILA Glossary
[/SIZE]
Spitzer Bullet: Also commonly referred to as a spire point bullet, is primarily a small arms ballistics development of the late 19th and early 20th century. The name 'Spitzer' is an Anglicized form of the German word Spitzgeschoss, literally meaning "pointy bullet".
Sporterising: The practice of modifying military-type firearms either to make them suitable for civilian sporting use or to make them legal under the law.
Spotting Scope: A single-lens scope, usually of 20 power or greater and used with a tripod for long-range observation, adjusting the sniper's fire, and reading mirage for wind speed and direction.
Squib Load: A firearms malfunction in which a fired projectile does not have enough force behind it to exit the barrel, and thus becomes stuck. Also known as squib round, pop and no kick, or just squib.
Stadia Marks: Also called stadia lines or stadia hairs, are crosshairs on the reticle of a rifle scope that allow stadiametric rangefinding, a method of determining the range to a target by comparing the spacing of reticle marks against objects of known sizes.
Stock: The part of a rifle or other firearm, to which the barrel and firing mechanism are attached, that is held against one's shoulder when firing the gun. The stock provides a means for the shooter to firmly support the device and easily aim it.
Stockweld: The habitual placing of a shooter's cheek at the exact same spot on their stock, shot after shot, so that their eye relief and scope picture become consistent. By "welding" their eye to one spot, a shooter improves consistency and therefore accuracy.
Stopping Power: The ability of a firearm or other weapon to cause a penetrating ballistic injury to a target, human or animal, sufficient to incapacitate the target where it stands.
Stripper Clip: A speedloader that holds several cartridges together in a single unit for easier loading of a firearm's magazine. A stripper clip is used only for loading the magazine and is not necessary for the firearm to function.
Subtends: The amount an angular measurement equals at a given range. For example, 1 minute of angle subtends 3 inches at 300 yards.
Suppressor: A device that uses baffles and fine meshing to dissipate and slow the escape of gases from a weapon muzzle and thereby reduces the normal muzzle report.
Swage: To reduce an item in size by forcing through a die. In internal ballistics, swaging refers to the process where bullets are swaged into the rifling of the barrel by the force of the expanding powder gases.
Swaged Bullet: A bullet that is formed by forcing the bullet into a die to assume its final form.
Taylor KO Factor: Mathematical approach for evaluating the stopping power of hunting cartridges.
Telescoping Stock or Collapsing Stock: A stock on a firearm that telescopes or folds in on itself in order to become more compact. Telescoping stocks are useful for storing a rifle or weapon in a space that it would not normally fit in.
Tennessee Elevation: To compensate or "hold" high or low to hit targets beyond or short of a rifle's zero--the trajectory correlation to Kentucky windage.
Terminal Ballistics: A sub-field of ballistics, is the study of the behavior of a projectile when it hits its target.
Throat Erosion: The wearing of the portion of the barrel where the gas pressure and heat is highest as the projectile leaves the chamber. The greater the chamber pressure the more rapid throat erosion occurs which is compounded by rapid firing which heats and weakens the steel.
Trajectory: The arched path a bullet follows from a rifle's muzzle until it hits the ground. The steepness of this arch varies depending on the angle at which the shooter holds the rifle--and this, of course, will vary according to how far away his intended target is located.
Trapping: One of two techniques for engaging moving targets. In this technique, the shooter picks a point ahead of the target, holds steadily on the point, then squeezes off a shot when the target arrives there.
Trigger: A mechanism that actuates the firing sequence of a firearm. Triggers almost universally consist of levers or buttons actuated by the index finger.
Trunnion: A cylindrical protrusion used as a mounting and/or pivoting point. On firearms, the barrel is sometimes mounted in a trunnion, which in turn is mounted to the receiver.
Turkey Necking: The undesirable practice of stretching your neck forward or back in order to see through your riflescope properly. Corrected either by lengthening the buttstock or changing the scope eye relief.
Twilight Factor: A means of measuring an optical device's low-light resolution and magnification, which is probably a more useful way for comparing scopes, binoculars, etc., for night use. Measured by multiplying the objective lens diameter by the device's power, then computing this figure's square root. For a 10x scope having a 40mm objective lens = 400, whose sqrt is 20.
Velocity: The speed at which a bullet travels, in fps. The combination of velocity and bullet weight determine a projectiles kinetic energy.
Wadcutter: A special-purpose bullet specially designed for shooting paper targets, usually at close range and at subsonic velocities typically under 800 ft/s (240 m/s). They are often used in handgun and airgun competitions. A wadcutter has a flat or nearly flat front that cuts a very clean hole through the paper target, making it easier to score and ideally reducing errors in scoring the target to the favor of the shooter.
Wildcat Cartridge or Wildcat: A custom cartridge for which ammunition and firearms are not mass-produced. These cartridges are often created in order to optimize a certain performance characteristic (such as the power, size or efficiency) of an existing commercial cartridge. See improved cartridge.
Wind Drift: The lateral distance a bullet drifts in a crosswind, measured in inches at various distances. Some bullet shapes, such as round nose, are more susceptible to wind drift, but others, like boattail, are less affected.
Windage: The side-to-side adjustment of a sight, used to change the horizontal component of the aiming point. See also Kentucky windage.
X-Ring: A circle in the middle of a shooting target bullseye used to determine winners in event of a tie.
Yaw: The heading of a bullet, used in external ballistics that refers to how the Magnus effect causes bullets to move out of a straight line based on their spin.
Zero: The adjustment of an optical or open sight so that a bullet precisely hits a target at a given distance. Police usually zero their rifles for 100 yards, USMC snipers for 600 yards, and U.S. army snipers for 300 yards.
[SIZE="1"]Sources: Glossary of firearms terms - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"The Ultimate Sniper" by Maj. John L. Plaster
NRA-ILA Glossary
[/SIZE]