A gun is a mechanical device that fires projectiles at high velocity, using a propellant such as gun powder or compressed air. The projectile, usually designated by its diameter in inches or millimeters, is fired through a hollow tube known as the gun's barrel. Related to muskets, the modern gun is more advanced in technology.
The term "gun" is often used as a synonym to firearm, but in military usage the term refers only to artillery that fires projectiles at a high velocity along a flat trajectory, such as anti-aircraft artillery, field guns, tank guns and anti-tank guns, and naval guns. A gunner is a member of the team charged with the task of operating and firing a gun. Mortars and all hand-held firearms are excluded from this definition. The exception to this is the shotgun, which is hand-held, has a smooth bore and fires a cartridge of pellets or a single projectile known as a slug.
See the related article on firearms for information on weapons informally known as guns.
The word "gun" is also applied to some more or less vaguely gun-like tools, such as staple guns and glue guns.
In a gun-type fission weapon the "gun" is part of a nuclear weapon. The "projectile" is fissile material that is fired and captured inside the device. In the case of nuclear artillery it should not be confused with the gun that fires the whole warhead.
At times, the word gun is used to describe the person holding the weapon rather than the weapon itself, as in "a hired gun".
Etymology: "gun" is found in Middle English as "gonne", and seems to come from the Germanic woman's name Gunhild or Gundhild = "war sword", applied to an early cannon.
See also
See Firearm for the main rifle and gun page.
Gun Related topics
Types of weapons
Theory
- Ballistics
- Electrothermal-chemical technology
- Firearm action
- Optics
- Physics of firearms
- Rheological fluids based firearms mechanisms
- Terminal ballistics
- Stopping Power
Politics and society
Lists
- List of aircraft weapons
- List of common WWII weapons
- List of crew served weapons of the US Armed Forces
- List of firearms
- List of individual weapons of the US Armed Forces
- List of modern armament manufacturers
- List of prototype WWII weapons
- List of secondary and special issue WWII weapons
- List of submachine guns
- Lists of weapons in video games
- Military technology and equipment