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| The use of the term "cannon" is interchangeable with "gun" as a words borrowed from the French language during the early 15th century, from Old French ''canon'', itself a borrowing from the Italian ''cannone'', a "large tube" augmentive of Latin ''canna'' "reed or cane".<ref> Online Etymological Dictionary</ref> | The use of the term "cannon" is interchangeable with "gun" as a words borrowed from the French language during the early 15th century, from Old French ''canon'', itself a borrowing from the Italian ''cannone'', a "large tube" augmentive of Latin ''canna'' "reed or cane".<ref> Online Etymological Dictionary</ref> | ||
| In military use, the term "gun" refers primarily to direct fire weapons that capitalize on their velocity for penetration or range. In modern parlance, these weapons are breech-loaded and built primarily for long range fire with a low or almost flat ballistic arc. A variation is the ] or gun-howitzer designed to offer the ability to fire both low or high-angle ballistic arcs. In this use, example guns include ]. A less strict application of the word is to identify one artillery weapon system or non-machine gun projectile armament on aircraft. | |||
| In military use, the term "gun" refers to ] an ordnance that fires projectiles at high velocity, such as ] which in the modern navies are not called ]s, or the tank ]. In military use, ]s and all hand-held firearms are excluded from the meaning of guns because they do not require the accurate gunnery data calculations and training when engaging targets.<ref>cannon, or autocannon is considered to be in the 20mm to 35mm calibre range, pp.34,93, Lee</ref> Two exceptions to this include: the ], which is a ] hand-held firearm that fires a load of ] or a single projectile known as a slug, and the ], which is a fully-automatic weapon mounted on a tripod or wheeled carriage and is almost always operated by a crew of two. | |||
| The word ] is retained in some cases for the actual gun tube but not the weapon system. The title gunner is applied to the member of the team charged with operating, aiming, and firing a gun. | |||
| ⚫ | In |
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| A related military use of the word is in describing ''']'''. In this instance, the "gun" is part of a ] and contains an explosively propelled sub-critical slug of ] within a barrel to be fired into a second sub-critical mass in order to initiate the fission reaction. Potentially confused with this usage are small nuclear devices capable of being fired by artillery or ] | |||
| A gunner is a member of the team charged with the task of operating and firing a gun. | |||
| ⚫ | In civilian use, a related item used in agriculture is a ''']'''. Such captive piston guns are often used to humanely stun farm animals for slaughter.<ref> (pdf)</ref> | ||
| ==Types of guns== | ==Types of guns== | ||
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In modern parlance, a gun is a projectile weapon using a hollow, tubular barrel as the means for directing the projectile as well as other purposes—an expansion chamber for propellant, stabilizing the projectile's trajectory, aiming, etc.—and assumes a generally flat trajectory for the projectile.
The generic form of a trigger initiated, hand-held, and hand-directed tool with an extending bore has additionally been applied to implements resembling guns in either form or concept. Examples of this application include items such as staple guns, nail guns, and glue guns. Occasionally, this tendency is ironically reversed, such as the case of the American M3 submachine gun which carries the nickname "Grease Gun".
The projectile may be a simple, single-piece item like a bullet, a casing containing a payload like a shotshell or explosive shell, or complex projectile like a sub-caliber projectile and sabot. The propellant may be air, an explosive solid, or an explosive liquid. Some variations like the Gyrojet and certain other types combine the projectile and propellant into a single item.
Most guns are described by the type of barrel used, the means of firing, the purpose of the weapon, the caliber, or the commonly accepted name for a particular variation.
Barrel types include rifled—a series of spiraled grooves or angles within the barrel—when the projectile requires an induced spin to stabilize it and smoothbore when the projectile is stabilized by other means or is undesired or unnecessary. Typically, interior barrel diameter and the associated projectile size is a means to identify gun variations. Barrel diameter is reported in several ways. The more conventional measure is reporting the interior diameter of the barrel in decimal fractions of the inch or in millimeters. Some guns—such as shotguns—report the weapon's gauge. The gauge is the number of pure lead balls the bore's diameter that are contained in one pound.
Terminology
The use of the term "cannon" is interchangeable with "gun" as a words borrowed from the French language during the early 15th century, from Old French canon, itself a borrowing from the Italian cannone, a "large tube" augmentive of Latin canna "reed or cane".
In military use, the term "gun" refers primarily to direct fire weapons that capitalize on their velocity for penetration or range. In modern parlance, these weapons are breech-loaded and built primarily for long range fire with a low or almost flat ballistic arc. A variation is the howitzer or gun-howitzer designed to offer the ability to fire both low or high-angle ballistic arcs. In this use, example guns include naval guns. A less strict application of the word is to identify one artillery weapon system or non-machine gun projectile armament on aircraft.
The word cannon is retained in some cases for the actual gun tube but not the weapon system. The title gunner is applied to the member of the team charged with operating, aiming, and firing a gun.
A related military use of the word is in describing gun-type fission weapon. In this instance, the "gun" is part of a nuclear weapon and contains an explosively propelled sub-critical slug of fissile material within a barrel to be fired into a second sub-critical mass in order to initiate the fission reaction. Potentially confused with this usage are small nuclear devices capable of being fired by artillery or recoilless rifle.
In civilian use, a related item used in agriculture is a captive bolt gun. Such captive piston guns are often used to humanely stun farm animals for slaughter.
Types of guns
Military firearms
Machine guns
Autocannon guns
Artillery guns
Tank guns
Hunting guns
Guns for training and entertainment
See also
Citations and notes
- Online Etymological Dictionary
- Captive Bolt Stunning Equipment and the Law - How it applies to you (pdf)
References
- Lee, R.G., Introduction to battlefield weapons, systems & technology, Royal Military College of Science, Shrivenham, UK, Brassey's Publishers, Oxford, 1981
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