Firearms Terminology

for writers who don't shoot
and characters who do.

 Kat

Mission Statement:
This page is not intended to take the place of research. If your story requires real knowledge of firearms, this can at most serve as a place to start. The purpose of this page is to assist fiction writers with no knowledge of firearms to use basic terminology correctly in their stories.

Please note:
I do not suggest characters' terminology should always be correct, unless it would be the norm for that character. For instance, a competitive shooter, soldier, or veteran (see true story below) should use correct nomenclature, or at least appropriate slang. A street thug doesn't have to. A cop might or might not. A journalist (other than a good war correspondent) probably won't. However, in order to maintain the reader's suspension of disbelief, the non-first-person narrator should always get it right (not necessarily detailed, just right).

Rule of thumb:
The gun belongs to the Artillery or is used for duck hunting; if the firearm in question does not fall under either of these categories, "gun" is probably not the correct term for it.

.357 Magnum vs. .38 Calibre All .357 and 38 specials are .357 in calibre, but the .357 cartridge case is .100" longer than the .38 special's cartridge case.
AR Automatic Rifle. This was applied to the BAR by the US Army, eliminating Mr. Browning's name. However, soldiers into the Vietnam Conflict still referred to it affectionately as the BAR. There are now other ARs in use besides the Browning.
Assault Rifle a. Misuse: Any small (automatic loading) rifle or carbine being reported on in the newsmedia.
b. A small (automatic loading) gas operated rifle with or without a selector switch for automatic fire. Uses a small rifle or carbine cartridge. Generally short overall, with or without a bayonet. A good example is the Russian AK 47. These rifles are designed to lay down heavy fire while moving forward in the assault.
Automatic a. A single barrel, single chamber pistol with simple blow-back reloading action firing only once per squeeze of the trigger.
b. A single barrel, single chamber rifle or carbine with either a blow-back or gas-operated reloading action firing only a single round per trigger squeeze.
c. A single barrel, single chamber pistol, carbine or rifle with blow-back or gas-operated reloading action with a selector switch allowing either single or automatic fire.
d. A single barrel, rotating multichamber pistol with blow-back action, firing one round per trigger squeeze. An example (perhaps the only example) is the Fosbury-Webley, English-made and obsolete for the past 60 years. (It was used as the murder weapon in The Maltese Falcon.)
Ball a. Early times: a spherical shot.
b. Part of the military designation for jacketed ammunition; e.g., .30 calibre cartridge, M2 ball. This usually differentiated it from other types of rounds.
c. Modern use: spherical shot (ball) in shotgun cartridges, although some of the slugs are not actually spherical.
Bandoleer Generally a fabric or leather belt in which ammunition is carried on the body of an individual, either in individual loops or pouches. Origin of term bandolero.
BAR Browning Automatic Rifle, designed by John Moses Browning during WWI in response to the need for a light, one-man weapon capable of firing multiple rounds in a burst of fire. It weighed 7.28 kilograms. Chambered for the .30-06 rifle cartridge, it is a marvelous rifle and was used tactically as a base of fire for the infantry squad.
Barrel A tube through which bullets and shot are fired.
Bazooka A recoilless antitank weapon originally named for the "musical instrument" on which comedian Bob Burns performed, constructed of pieces of pipe and a funnel.
BB a. Usually a steel ball propelled from a "BB gun", a spring-powered airgun. It is capable of breaking light bulbs, pitting windows, and damaging eyes, but may be used for target practice by juveniles--not usually used for crime except as noted.
b. A lead ball load for shotshell.
Breech The closed end of a barrel.
Breech Loader Any firearm into which a cartridge or shell is inserted directly into the firing chamber from the rear.
Buckshot Loading for a shotgun.
Bullet a. A non-spherical, pointed projectile, used with a cartridge. Note that one loads cartridges into the firearm, but the bullet is the only part of the cartridge that comes flying out of the barrel. One does not load bullets into the firearm, and unless something goes very wrong, nobody gets hit with a cartridge.
b. A bullet can be lead, jacketed with gilding metal (even occasionally steel) and sometimes, for rifles, they have a hard steel core and are armor-piercing. Nylon-jacketed bullets are sometimes called "cop killers" though, at last accounting, no police officer has ever been killed with one. Some military ammunition is loaded with "steel" jacketed bullets; the steel is quite soft. Steel jacketed bullets are sometimes referred to with horror, but less damage is caused by a steel-jacketed bullet that holds its shape, than by a soft lead bullet that mushrooms upon impact.
Butt Besides what you're thinking, the big end of the weapon, either held in the hand (pistol) or pressed against the shoulder (rifle or shotgun).
Calibre / Caliber Bore diameter of the barrel expressed as, for example, .30 cal. or 7.63 mm. (Note: Though I, for reasons best known to my elementary school teachers, tend to spell this "calibre", that is the British spelling; normal Americans spell it "caliber".)
Cannon Traditionally, a large weapon that moves on wheels; however, in modern artillery terms, the "cannon" is the tube and recoil mechanism, and the rest is the carriage. The word "cannon" is sometimes applied by the naive to any weapon that appears to them to be large, as in "Look at that cannon!"
Carbine Short shoulder arm, muzzle loading or breech loading; bolt action, lever action, or autoloading. Usually uses a light cartridge, smaller than a full size rifle cartridge. However, that differentiation blurs nowadays and some use quite heavy cartridges. Originally full wooden stock, but in some instances a folding metal butt stock: an example would be the M1 carbine with the paratroop butt stock. The carbine, more quickly cleared from a saddle holster, was developed as a horseman's weapon, a cavalry weapon, while the longer rifle was used by the infantry.
Cartridge A complete round for any hand weapon, comprising a cartridge case including primer, powder charge and bullet.
Chamber The part of the barrel into which the cartridge is loaded.
Clip A device that holds a number of rounds to be fed into a magazine, either integral to the weapon or detachable. The term is sometimes applied to magazines.
Cordite American ammunition manufacture does not include any cordite, though some writers love the smell of cordite around a crime scene. If you must, remember the shooter is not using US ammunition.
Darne A unique French shotgun with a sliding breech design.
Deringer and derringer a. Deringer: a small pocket percussion pistol designed by Henry Deringer and manufactured by his company.
b. derringer: a small pocket percussion pistol copying Henry Deringer's design but manufactured by other companies. The lower-case "d" and double "r" denote a pistol made by a company other than that of Henry Deringer. Cartridge versions of the derringer are still manufactured. Most modern derringers all seem to hark back to the Remington .41, but they are available in everything from .22 short up to rifle cartridges. The .38 calibre Smith & Wesson is a favorite.
Double Barreled A rifle, shotgun, pistol, or whatever, with two barrels side-by-side or over-under. The principle is old, since double-barreled muzzle loaders were made, even double-barreled cannon were made in the muzzle-loading era (though not successfully). Double barreled shotguns are still manufactured and popular. The purpose is to extend the shooter’s resources within the state of the gunsmith's art, and the solution at a time when loading was a tedious business and was done one shot at a time, was to fasten two barrels onto one stock, with one breech mechanism. The invention of separate ammunition and various loading mechanisms has not eliminated the double barrel shotgun, although really good double barreled guns are quite pricey (they cost more for equivalent quality). The advantage to the shooter has been to have two rounds ready for very quick use before reloading. Usually when a reference is made to a double barreled weapon, they are referring to shotguns, though double rifles were made from the beginning; modern double-barreled rifles are large calibre intended for dangerous game, and are quite expensive.
Dueling pistols Actually, any pistol could be and probably was used in duels. However, according to the code duello, dueling pistols were to be single shot, smooth bore, and without sights. Pistols prefered for dueling in the early 1800s measured about ten inches in length of the barrel, which was generally octagonal rather than round and at least two-eighths of an inch thick; they used a ball of "about forty-eight to the pound" (approximately .50) calibre. These pistols were generally furnished with percussion locks of delicate workmanship, and fitted into a firm handle that bent into a curve people of the time thought would fit the hand comfortably. (Note: I have fired one of these things, and it sure didn't fit my hand---in fact, the recoil caused it to slip right through my grip as it fired so that it ended pointing straight up. Only God knows where the ball went. Maybe this was the origin of the delope!) (Just kidding---I have small hands; the weapon, being designed for men, was probably designed with a larger hand in mind.) The inside of the barrel was highly polished. By the 1820s, half-rifled barrels were beginning to be used, but a pistol wholly rifled was considered an unfair weapon to duel with, and someone found using an “unfair” pistol in an affair for gentlemen might well be labeled as not a gentleman. In the Georgian period, the most famous maker of dueling pistols was Joseph Manton, of London. One pair of dueling pistols manufactured by Manton made shortly before 1800 was 15 inches long with a 10-inch barrel, calibre approximately .54, using a one-half ounce or number 32 gauge round ball. One American-made percussion dueler by Constable of Philadelphia was 15 inches long with a .45 calibre ten-inch barrel. In stories, your characters should use a dueling pistol only in a formal duel with all the traditional trimmings, and don't by any means have a character casually drop a dueling pistol into his pocket---note the sizes above and realize that this is not only a very large pistol but also a very heavy one---though there is nothing wrong with having a person put a “pocket” pistol in a pocket, or even thrusting a “horse” pistol into his belt.
Dum-Dum a. From Dumdum Arsenal ammunition produced in India under the British raj, now applied to practically any bullet manufactured or modified to expand largely. One technique applied to handgun bullets was a cross cut in the nose of the bullet.
b. Any standard soft- or hollow-point hunting round for rifle.
Flintlock and Doglatch a. Flintlock: Muzzleloading firearm in which pulling the trigger strikes a piece of flint against a piece of steel, creating sparks that fall into the pan containing the primer--finely-ground black powder--which ignites the charge in the rear or bottom of the barrel.
b. Doglatch: a variety of flintlock with a hook (the doglatch) acting as a safety.
Folding Gun A firearm, usually a shotgun, that allows folding near the breech. Intended as an easy-to-transport hunter's weapon, but it never caught on with hunters. Illegal in the US because of the ease of concealment.
Front Loader a. Muzzleloader.
b. Percussion revolver loaded from the front of the cylinder.
Gatling Gun See Revolver (c) for a description. The Gatling Gun was invented by a North Carolina farmer during the American Civil War. His inspiration was that a weapon that could fire so many rounds so fast would cut down on the number of soldiers needed to fight a war, thus cutting down on the number of deaths. He was mistaken, but one should give credit for his good intentions. Speaking as a recreational shooter who only kills paper circles, the Gatling Gun is a lot of fun to fire.
Grease Gun A cheap and cheaply-made WWII US-manufactured submachine gun whose magazine fed from the bottom of the receiver. The term is sometimes used generically for submachine guns.
Greener W.W. Greener was a firearms manufacturer in 19th Century Birmingham, England, continuing the business of his father, William Greener, who started the business in 1829 after working for the famous Joseph Manton. More than a gunmaker, he was a designer and inventor, and also the author of The Gun and its Development. One of his designs, a double-barreled external hammer shotgun, received wide distribution. Sawed-off Greeners were a popular shotgun among certain murderous outlaws with a taste for the expensive around the turn of the 20th Century.
Gun a. Misuse: Anything the newsmedia and laymen think might go bang and project any type of missile.
b. A crew-served weapon towed behind a prime mover or installed in a vehicle or ship. As cannons, under the jurisdiction of Santa Barbara.
c. Collective term for devices that might project a bullet from a barrel with a bang, boom or pop (an air gun).
d. A smooth-barreled device, usually with a prefix such as "shot" as in shotgun.
Handgun Pistol or revolver.
Howitzer An artillery piece designed for high angle fire; its barrel is shorter than 30 calibres (30 times the bore diameter).
Kentucky (or Pennsylvania) Rifle Flintlock rifles primarily adopted by Kentucky frontiersmen (Daniel Boone carried a Kentucky rifle), generally made by German and Swedish gunsmiths in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. These rifles had longer barrels and stocks, improved sights, and other changes over standard flintlocks.
Kick See Recoil.
Machine Gun A weapon designed to fire multiple rounds with one pull of the trigger.
Machine Pistol A single barrel, single chamber device with either blow-back or gas operated action firing either single or multiple rounds by one squeeze. Usually this uses small rifle or carbine rounds, not pistol ammunition. Example, the classic German Schmeisser produced during WWII as a machinen pistole.
Magazine A spring-loaded box, usually detachable, that holds cartridges in the weapon and feeds them into the chamber.
Matchlock, a.k.a. Firelock Very early form of muzzleloading firearm (Three Musketeers era) in which a slow-burning match ignites the primer when the trigger is pulled.
Mauser Usually refers to an automatic pistol manufactured by the Mauser company, chambered in 7.63mm (.30 cal.), also chambered in 9mm (.38 cal.) for a 9mm Mauser Cartridge. Sporter-converted Mauser military rifles are also just called "Mauser".
Mortar A short-barrelled, usuallymuzzle-loading weapon from the 60mm infantry mortar to the 82mm infantry mortar, to the 4.5" chemical mortar and the 120mm, on up to "Little David", a 36" mortar developed during WWII.
Musket A muzzle-loading shoulder-arm, flintlock or percussion lock.
Muzzle Front, "business" end, of the barrel/weapon.
Muzzle-loader A weapon loaded at the muzzle.
Over and Under The orientation of the barrels in double-barreled weapons has been one of two ways - side by side (east and west) or one over the under (north and south). In modern weapons, the over and under is the more popular orientation. Though rare, it has occasionally been the case that the two barrels of an over and under did not fire the same calibre round.
Pellet A small ball, either single shot or multiple.
Percussion A firearms ignition system invented by the Rev. John Forsyth of England about 1815-20 that replaced the earlier flintlock system, which replaced the snap-haunce systems. Originally, the successful "percussion" system was based on fulminate of mercury in small cups referred to as percussion caps. The percussion system, while still around with black powder aficionados, was replaced in general by the cartridge system.
Pistol a. A device generally with a short barrel (under 16 inches in length), without a shoulder stock and designed to be fired from one or both hands.
b. A device generally designed to be fired from the hand but sometimes provided with a shoulder stock (basically against Federal law in the US since passage of the Federal Firearms Act of 1938).
c. A device that can be used with propellants such as gunpowder, or gas (air for example).
Pistol vs. Revolver The pistol has one chamber (originally it was a single shot weapon), though it may have a magazine to feed it multiple rounds; the revolver was an early development (pre-magazines) for firing multiple rounds using rotating chambers.
Pistole Parabellum a. By definition, a 9mm Semiautomatic toggle-linkage pistol of which the Luger is the most famous example. While used in some circles as a generic term, Luger is a brand name and should always be capitalized.
b. Latin for "pistol for war". In pre-WWII manufacture, before Hitler abrogated the terms of the Versailles Treaty, the Luger was manufactured in 7.65mm (.30 cal.) for police use, but they were easily modified to 9mm (.38 cal.) for war: parabellum.

c. The Luger "parabellum" was also manufactured in .45 cal., but this model is rare.
Primer (pronounced pry-mer) An ignition device placed in the base of a cartridge case which, when hit by the firing pin, detonates and sends hot gases through the flash hole to ignite the powder charge.
(pronounced "prim-mer") An old-fashioned schoolbook, nothing to do with firearms.
Reckless Rifle a. Nickname for a recoilless rifle. Actually the result of experimentation beginning in WWI where a .75 mm gun was mounted in an airplane. When the gun was fired, the projectile went out the front, and a weight of lead shot blasted out the rear, resulting in what was, as far as the aircraft was concerned, no recoil energy at all. During WWII, US Ordnance developed a .57 mm recoilless rifle which had a perforated casing and a projectile with a pre-engraved copper rotating ring. When fired, the propelling gases blew out the holes in the casing and exited through three nozzles in the breech-block at the same time the projectile was expelled through the barrel. One of the interesting phenomena was the fact that, if the breech-block nozzles became enlarged in the course of much use, the weapon would not recoil but would move forward. The US later developed a .75 mm and even a .105 mm recoilless gun, and these could be vehicle-mounted. These weapons are extremely dangerous to anyone standing behind them.
b. Just as many WWII aircrew named their aircraft (e.g., “Memphis Belle”), the crews of self-propelled gun could and did paint nicknames on their guns. Some nicknames were applied to enemy guns; e.g. “Anzio-Annie”. The Germans applied the name of the Krupp heiress to a huge siege gun, “Grosse-Bertha” (that is great Bertha, by the way, not yucky Bertha, or even fat Bertha). In “Reckless Rifle” you have the whimsy of a gun crew.
Recoil

The reactive energy of the propelling gases, which is required to be absorbed by the mass of the weapon and the shooter. Recoil is normally expressed in foot-pounds of energy. Note: the recoil of a rifle, even a large-calibre rifle intended for hunting buffalo, elephant, and other large prey, is highly unlikely to knock anyone over. Military shooting instructors have been known to demonstrate this by lodging a rifle butt against their own foreheads and then firing. A heavy calibre rifle can leave bruises on the shoulder.

weapon
approximate weight
muzzle velocity
approximate recoil
.45 cal. rifle
9.3 lb
1315 ft/sec
14.4 ft/LB
.45 cal. carbine
7.9 LB
1150 ft/sec
7.5 ft/LB
.30 cal. Krag
9.2 LB
2000 ft/sec
10.0 ft/LB
.30 cal. Krag carbine
8.1 LB
1920 ft/sec
11/9 ft/LB
.276 cal. Garand
8.7 LB
2700 ft/sec
7.3 ft/LB
.30 cal. Garand
8.8 LB
2653 ft/sec
15.2 ft/LB
.30 cal. rifle 1903-06
8.7 LB
2653 ft/sec
15.6 ft/LB
.303 SMLE
9.0 LB
2600 ft/sec
11.0 ft/LB
12 gauge shotgun
6.5 LB
1181 ft/sec
22.8 ft/LB

Revolver

 

a. Generally a short-barrelled device like a pistol with a separate multichambered rotating cylinder. Sometimes called a wheel gun in some circles.
b. Sometimes a long barreled device (rifle or carbine) with a separate multichambered rotating cylinder.
c. A weapon with multi-rotating barrels with a single breech, Gatling type. The Gatling gun is a revolver rather than a machinegun because it was human-powered--the person firing it turned a crank to rotate the barrels. Intended for a rapid rate of fire. Modern devices such as the 7.62mm mini-gun, which has a cyclic rate in the thousands of rounds per minute.
Rifle A shoulder-fired arm with "rifling"; i.e., spiral lands and grooves in the bore. Note: Not a gun, since by definition a rifle does not have a smooth bore.
Riflegun Hillbilly terminology, particularly 19th century, for a rifle.
Round a. A cartridge.
b. The firing of 25 shotshells at thrown claybirds in skeet and trap shooting.
Saturday Night Special a. Journalese referring to almost any handgun regardless of value.
b. Originally, very cheap and unsafe handguns.
Sawed-off Shotgun Usually a double-barrel shotgun with the barrels sawn to give greater "scatter"; illegal in the US since passage of the Federal Firearms Act of 1938. Any tubes or mechanisms attached to the barrel limit the amount of sawing off possible to the criminal. A double-barreled gun can be shortened to the extent of the criminal's fool-hardihood. The shorter the barrel, the more severe the muzzle blast and the less control possible. Criminality begins with reducing barrel length below 18 inches. A sawed-off shotgun is ineffective at any but close distances due to shot spread and lack of projectile energy. A legitimate gunsmith might reduce the length of a barrel to remove damage, or to build a lighter weapon; the legitimate gunsmith would not do such a thing to the extent as to produce an illegal weapon.
Scattergun A shotgun.
Selfloading Pistol British term for semiautomatic pistol.
Semiautomatic The so-called automatic pistol, which is automatic loading.
Shell a. A projectile fired by an artillery piece.
b. A complete round (i.e., a shotgun shell) for a shotgun.
Shotgun A smoothbore shoulder arm.
Shotshell Self-contained round of ammunition consisting of a case (originally metal, then paper, now plastic) with a brass head, a primer, a powder charge, wads, and a load of shot. Used in shotguns.
Sight Either "iron" or telescope, a device which allows the piece to be trained on a target. Sights predate gunpowder weapons, having been used, for instance, on crossbows. Almost every gunpowder weapon other than dueling pistols has some type of sight. Dueling pistols did not because it was against the code duello to actually aim.
Six-Gun or Six-Shooter Early terms for the revolver; primarily used in the Old West and in Western movies and TV shows. The Colt .45 is the famous archetype of the age.
Sten Gun Sometimes irreverently referred to as a stench-gun, this is a cheap and cheaply-made WWII era British-manufactured submachine gun whose magazine fed from the side of the receiver. Often used in time-travel stories to bring advanced weaponry to past ages because it's relatively easy to make.
Stock The wooden (nowadays often plastic) segment on which the metallic parts of the weapon are assembled and which provides a comfortable "handle".
Submachine Gun A single barrel, single chamber device, straight blowback operated, sometimes with a selector switch to allow either single or multiple shots from one squeeze, sometimes not. Commonly using pistol ammunition. Generally with a detachable or folding stock. The US Army M-3 machine gun, AKA the Grease Gun, was a good example. Others include the Uzi; a more sophisticated and more expensive example would be the Ingram.
Tommy Gun Named for its inventor, Brigadier General John Thompson, the Thompson Machine Gun was originally envisaged as a "trench-broom" for use in WWI, but did not become available in time to be used in that war. Originally manufactured by Thompson under the name Auto Ordnance, it was adopted into US service as the Thompson M1928A1 .45 cal, firing the .45 cal ACP cartridge, and was used extensively by the US military through World War II. It was also readily purchased on the open market at local hardware stores prior to the passage of the Federal Firearms Act in 1938. They were manufactured and widely used during WWII. The stereotypical favorite weapon of Prohibition- and Depression-era gangsters (they fit nicely in a violin case...), it was also known as the Typewriter and the Chicago Piano. It was heavy, beautifully made, and relatively expensive even after various "improvements" were made. For criminal activity, the Tommy Gun has been replaced by the Uzi, the Mac 10, or the Kalishnakov.
Wheel Gun See Revolver.
Wheel-Lock A firearm with an ignition system in which iron pyrite (fool's gold!) is struck by the edge of a serrated wheel put under spring tension (similar to a cigarette lighter). Pressing the trigger turned the wheel, igniting sparks, igniting the primer charge, which ignited the powder charge in the chamber.

Once upon a time, a US Army recruit caught referring to his rifle as a gun would be ordered to jog around the company alternately presenting his rifle and clutching his groin while chanting, "This is my rifle, this is my gun, this is for shooting, this is for fun." It is safe, I think, to presume it wouldn't take too many such punishments before the recruit got his terminology straight.

page revised 10/17/2002 by Kat Parsons