Exactly how do guns/bullets work?

[zippy]

I just realized, I don't really know the inner workings of the gun or the bullet.

Just curious really.

 

[Mork]

Call the police!

 

[monto]

<< Call the police! >>

haha

 

[BP]

Pulling the trigger causes the firing pin to strike the primer of the cartrige ,the primer ignites causing the gunpowder to ignite causing a high pressure system inside the case which forces the bullet into and out of the barrel.

 

[Cyberian]

Then what is that piece of flint for?

 

[BP]

For scraping the hide of the deer you killed by pulling said trigger.

 

[BP]

<< Then what is that piece of flint for? >>




How Flintlocks Work

 

[tcsenter]

You just got yourself on some government list for having an interest in guns, MR! Surely this must mean you are unstable and could freak-out at any moment.

<< Pulling the trigger causes the firing pin to strike the primer of the cartrige, the primer ignites causing the gunpowder to ignite causing a high pressure system inside the case which forces the bullet into and out of the barrel. >>

That's it in a nut-shell!

There was a cool firearm tutorial on the internet showing how a handgun worked, but the link is dead now. Different firearms have slightly different mechanisms, but the basic concepts are all the same, except for case-less ammunition, which is really cool.

Primers are made of small amounts of lead-azide, fulminate of mercury, lead styphenate, potassium chlorate, or other compounds which are friction-sensitive explosives. When struck with sufficient force, these small primary explosives ignite the main propellent (gun powder). Gun powder burns vigorously and the gases released from combustion rapidly expand inside the case and push the bullet down and out of the barrel at anywhere from several hundred feet per second to a few thousand feet per second.

Not much more to say about that.

 

[b0mbrman]

Jeez, why couldn't this thread not turn into a protest in either direction?

 

[Maetryx]

Self-loading weapons, such as semi and fully automatic guns, utilize the "blowback" effect of the expanding gases to load the next cartridge from the top of the magazine. Essentially, the gun "cocks" itself from the recoil force.

 

[zippy]

<< You just got yourself on some government list for having an interest in guns, MR! Surely this must mean you are unstable and could freak-out at any moment. >>

An interest in guns? Hardly, more like an interest in the physics and mechanics in them. I didn't even know what a bullet was made until I read some post today.

Anyway, I just realized, 6 years ago I had a necklace that had a bullet (a LONG POINTY ONE TOO!) on it- if course, there was nothing inside of it and it had a hole for the chain to go through it (my sister had gotten it on a trip to Israel for me) and I wore it to school a bunch of times too...funny how no one cared. Nowadays I'd probably be expelled.

 

[tcsenter]

<< Nowadays I'd probably be expelled. >>

Quicker than you can say "zero tolerance means zero intelligence", buster!