Introduction
The goals of this topic will be to...
- Establish basic safety procedures for firearms handling
- Define terminology that will be used throughout Guns 407
- Correct and clarify misconceptions and misnomers related to nomenclature
And a small disclaimer: There will be many firearms-specific terms used in the Safety section of this post, if they are unfamiliar, they will be explained in the Nomenclature section.
Safety
The Four Rules
Safety is the most crucial information one must learn concerning the topic of firearms, and will serve as a foundation for all further content. Safe firearms handling depends upon and can be broken down into four essential rules. Each rule is designed both to prevent an unintentional discharge of a firearm in and of itself, and to act as a failsafe should another of the rules be broken.
- Every firearm should always be treated as though it were loaded and ready to fire.
- Know where the firearm is pointed at all times, and never let it point at anything you are not willing to fire upon.
- Keep fingers and other obstructions clear of the trigger guard and off the trigger until the firearm is on target and the shooter is prepared to fire.
- The shooter is responsible for every projectile that exits the firearm - know what your target is, what is behind it, what is in front of it, and what may be struck should the shooter miss.
The established rules may be greater or fewer in number, and exact wording may change, depending on who is presenting them - these for instance paraphrase the Reddit gun community's - but the key concepts are the same. Each rule is designed to protect life and limb if another rule is broken - if for instance a shooter is handling a firearm they believe not to be loaded despite neglecting to check, following the second rule reduces the likelihood of injury should the firearm be discharged. If the handler has neglected the first and second rules, the third reduces the likelihood of discharging the firearm unintentionally, and so on.
These rules may also be referenced by certain established practices and habits. Habitually keeping one's finger clear of the trigger guard and trigger (rule 3), for instance, is sometimes called trigger discipline. Good trigger discipline can maintained by the practice called indexing, which involves the handler finding a safe place on the side of their firearm to place their trigger finger that can be easily indexed by tactile memory alone.
These rules may also be referenced by certain established practices and habits. Habitually keeping one's finger clear of the trigger guard and trigger (rule 3), for instance, is sometimes called trigger discipline. Good trigger discipline can maintained by the practice called indexing, which involves the handler finding a safe place on the side of their firearm to place their trigger finger that can be easily indexed by tactile memory alone.
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| Indexing on a handgun - note that nothing enters the trigger guard |
Safety Procedures and Devices
Manual Safeties
Manual safeties are mechanical devices which are switched by the shooter from a "safe" position to a "fire" position (or, in the case of select-fire firearms, burst/automatic positions) in order to make the gun ready to fire.
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| The thumb-manipulated safety switch on an AR-15 pattern rifle |
Other forms of safety are manual but are manipulated simply by using the firearm, such as a grip safety, which is a pad or lever depressed when the shooter grips the firearm, and prevents the firearm from discharging unless it is being gripped.
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| This handgun's grip safety is outlined in green, the metal pad is pressed into the frame when the firearm is gripped, allowing it to fire. Image Source: Wikimedia Commons |
Many new handgun designs are equipped with a trigger safety device, usually in the form of a small lever or joint embedded within the trigger designed to prevent the trigger from being pulled by an obstruction or foreign object entering the trigger guard by stopping the trigger unless the shooter's finger is completely upon the trigger.
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| The GLOCK Safe Action® trigger, among the first with this type of safety embedded. The trigger safety lever is outlined in green in the side box. |
Passive Safeties
Most modern handguns include passive devices to make the firearm inert unless the trigger is intentionally pressed. These devices include firing pin blocks, which obstruct the firing pin from contacting the firing chamber until the block is deactivated by pulling the trigger, and drop safeties, which prevent the firing pin from moving forward under the force of inertia if the firearm is dropped.
Chamber Checking
Before handling a firearm, it is a good idea to double-check the status of the chamber - either loaded or unloaded. If you are about to handle a firearm, for instance to clean it, or in a gun store, remove the magazine (if applicable), draw back the action (whether this means pulling back the bolt of a bolt-action rifle, the pump of a pump-action shotgun, or the slide of a semi-automatic pistol, and so on) and visually inspect the chamber for a loaded cartridge. It also does not hurt to inspect the chamber with your finger (keeping the action safely pulled or preferably locked back so as not to be pinched) and ensure tactilely that no cartridge is present.
In the case of a revolver, this is accomplished by swinging out the cylinder to verify that it is empty, or rotating the cylinder and inspecting each chamber if it does not swing out.
Securing Firearms
Securing your firearms against unwanted access - either by children, family members, visitors, or intruders - is as important a safety procedure as any other. Many people leave firearms hidden but unlocked throughout their homes, rationalizing that unintended users - especially children - will be unable to locate them. Children and thieves alike are curious, and will not hesitate to explore, especially if they are attempting to locate something valuable or interesting, and as this is the case, simply hiding a firearm is not sufficient to properly secure it.
The most secure option is a gun safe or vault, designed expressly to ward off fire, water, or thieves, but no container is perfect, and given ample time and equipment, all can be defeated. A more cost-effective option if safety is a gun-owner's primary concern is a locking storage cabinet that can keep out kids and nosy guests, and act as a deterrant for thieves (especially when bolted down), though one should not expect a simple cabinet to resist an intruder for any length of time - insurance is the best defense in these scenarios.
Ricochet
When projectiles strike certain surfaces and materials (such as stone or steel/other hardened metals), they are likely to disentigrate or otherwise deform and travel in unpredictable directions. Many steel targets are calibrated to deflect projectiles downward into the ground for safety, but shooting hard materials can always pose a risk. It is advisable to place any hard targets a safe distance away for the caliber you are shooting to avoid ricocheting bullets or other fragments hitting the shooter or bystanders.
Common Mistakes
"Unloading" a Firearm
Frequently the mistake is made of assuming that removing a firearm's magazine "unloads" the firearm, and makes it safe. However, a live cartridge may still be in the firearm's chamber, having previously been loaded from the magazine by the gun. More than a few negligent discharges have been the result of firing the cartridge still in the chamber after removing the magazine.
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| The magazine has been removed... |
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| ...but a cartridge is still in the chamber. |
Muzzle Sweeping
Pointing a firearm at someone else - typically negligently rather than intentionally - is often referred to as muzzle sweeping, and occurs most commonly when a person is moving around themselves, or moving a firearm from place to place. In such instances, a shooter may go to place their firearm in a carrying case, or walk away from a shooting bench (et cetera), and in doing so wave their firearm around in such a manner that it is pointed at another person (or, the firearm's muzzle sweeps over someone). Muzzle sweeping can also be done to oneself.
Muzzle sweeping is also a problem off the range, such as when handling a firearm at home - showing it to others, cleaning it, or simply moving it place to place.
It is common for the inexperienced to brush off these occurrences because "the gun isn't loaded", and in doing so violate the first rule of safe firearms handling on top of having violated the second.
Summary
Keeping the four rules in mind, practicing safe firearm handling techniques, and avoiding common missteps, firearms can be handled safely and responsibly without endangering the life and limb of the handler and those around them.
Nomenclature
Terminology
The following is a list of terms that will and have already be used throughout this feature. These terms are very broad and applicable to firearms in general, though some firearms may have terminology specific to them individually, which will be defined at the time of their discussion.
Action - The mechanical element of a firearm which loads ammunition into the chamber, extracts empty cartridge casings, and (depending upon the firearm) ejects these casings. Examples include bolt-action, pump-action, lever-action, and numerous automatic and semi-automatic actions, which will be discussed as they appear.
Ammunition (colloquially ammo) - Collectively, cartridges for firearms, or (such as in the case of muskets and other muzzle-loading arms) the components needed to fire the gun (such as bullets, powder, and primers).
Assault Rifle - An individually-operated rifle which...
- Fires an intermediate cartridge (that is, smaller than a full-sized rifle cartridge, larger than a pistol cartridge)
- Loads from a detachable magazine
and
- Is capable of selecting a mode of fire other than semi-automatic, such as a fully automatic or multiple-round burst firing mode
Automatic - A form of firearm action in which cartridges are loaded, locked in place, fired, extracted, and ejected completely automatically as long as the trigger is held and ammunition is supplied.
Contrast with semi-automatic.
Barrel - The tube through which projectiles are pushed by the expanding gases formed as gunpowder burns.
Bore - The profile of spiraled grooves (or rifling) carved into the inner circumference of a barrel, which may range from smoothbore (no rifling) to profiles involving any number of grooves and twist rates.
Bolt - The mechanical element of a firearm which closes the breech (or rear opening) of the barrel to contain the cartridge as it is fired.
Bolt-Action - A firearm action which depends on the shooter to manually manipulate the bolt of the firearm in order to insert, lock, and extract each cartridge to and from the chamber. This often takes the form of a rotating, sliding bolt which is manipulated with an external knob.
Breech - The opening at the rear end of a barrel into which cartridges or other firing components are inserted if the firearm is breech-loading (as opposed to muzzle-loading).
Bullet - The projectile launched by a firearm (exceptions, such as shot exist), typically composed mainly of lead with an optional outer shell (or jacket) of copper, though many variants exist utilizing numerous materials. The term bullet is often used to refer to an entire cartridge - casing, powder, primer, and all, though this is technically incorrect. Bullets and their design will be discussed at length in Topic 2 - Ammunition.
Caliber - The measurement of the diameter of a projectile, commonly in fractions of an inch when using the word caliber (e.g. ".22-caliber" refers to a bullet .22 inches in diameter), but a designation such as "9-millimeter" also denotes caliber.
More precisely, caliber can also describe the dimensions of the cartridge case as well. For example, most metric calibers will be written as "(Y) x (Z)mm", denoting a cartridge whose bullet is Y millimeters in diameter, and whose case is Z millimeters in length. The M16 rifle fires the 5.56x45mm NATO cartridge, whose bullet is (approximately) 5.56mm in diameter, and whose case is 45mm in length.
See Also: Gauge
Carbine - A shortened rifle, sometimes made to fire a pistol-caliber cartridge, but also commonly using the same cartridge as the rifle it is derived from.
Cartridge - A complete container which combines the projectile (as a bullet), powder, casing, and primer into a single unit. Often referred to as a "round" of ammunition, and (colloquially, incorrectly) a "bullet".
Exceptions such as caseless ammunition exist, in which the projectile is contained within a block of solid propellant that burns away as it is fired.
Case/Casing - The case which contains the elements of a cartridge, keeping the primer, powder, and bullet together as they are manipulated. Casings are typically made from brass, though other materials, such as steel, aluminum, or nickel-plated brass are also commonly used to achieve a certain desired effect, such as reducing the cost of production or improving reliability.
Cases also serve the function of sealing the barrel by expanding to fill the breech when the cartridge is fired, and as a heat sink by readily absorbing the heat of burning gunpowder in order to keep the barrel and chamber cool by ejecting the now hot casing.
Casings are also colloquially referred to as "brass" due to their composition.
Chamber - The area at the rear end of the barrel where the cartridge is contained to facilitate detonation by having form-fitting walls to direct expanding gases forward.
Clip - A (typically metal) fixture for holding cartridges together in preparation for being loaded into a magazine. These come in several forms, such as stripper clips, which retain cartridges with lips that hold the cartridge's rim until the cartridges are slid out and into a magazine, and en bloc clips, which are inserted fully into the magazine, have cartridges stripped from them by the action, and ejected once empty.
Firing Pin - A pin which is driven forward into the primer of a cartridge in order to detonate it.
See Also: Striker
Gauge - A measurement used to describe the diameter of a shotgun's barrel rather than caliber (though exceptions, such as the .410-bore shotgun, exist). Gauge describes the weight of a lead sphere in fractions of a pound whose diameter is that of the bore (for example, a "20-gauge" shotgun barrel is the diameter of a lead sphere weighing 1/20th of a pound).
Hammer - A heavy metal component which is drawn back under spring tension and then released, driving a firearm's firing pin foward.
Lever-Action - A firearm action which depends upon the shooter to manually activate a lever which locks and unlocks the bolt and inserts/extracts cartridges from the chamber as the lever moves back and forth.
Machine-gun - A firearm which is fully automatic, continuing to fire as long as its trigger is held and ammunition is supplied.
Machine-pistol - A class of handgun which has been configured to fire automatically, as a machine-gun.
Magazine - A fixture which holds cartridges to be immediately inserted into the chamber by a firearm's action. Contrast with clip - a device which holds cartridges in readiness to be inserted into a magazine easily.
Muzzle - The opening at the forward end of a barrel from which projectiles emerge, the opposite of the breech.
Powder (also "gunpowder") - The explosive compound which provides expanding gases as it burns to propel projectiles down the length of the barrel. Gunpowder has existed in several different forms since its invention, typically divided simply into black powder (the original composition) and smokeless powder (a cleaner-burning and more energetic compound developed around the mid-to-late 19th century).
Primer - A small device containing a small amount of explosive compound sensitive to impact (such as potassium perchlorate) that will ignite upon being struck (typically with a firing pin, or the firearm's hammer in older designs) and light the main powder charge.
Pump-Action (also "slide-action") - A firearm action which depends on the shooter to manually activate a sliding handle at the forward end of the firearm which locks and unlocks the bolt and inserts/extracts cartridges from the chamber as the handle slides back and forth.
Recoil - The rearward momentum of a firearm caused in reaction to the projectile and expanding gases being expelled from the barrel as the firearm is discharged.
Rifling - Twisting grooves carved into the inner circumference of a barrel which spin projectiles as they travel down the length of the barrel in order to impart a stabilizing effect. Originally designed to contain fouling and dirt from burning gunpowder in order to maintain the inner dimensions of the barrel prior to the development of cleaner-burning smokeless gunpowder.
Semi-automatic - A form of firearm action in which cartridges are loaded, locked in place, extracted, and ejected with each pull of the trigger, but only one cartridge at a time is fired.
Single-shot - A firearm action which involves manually loading a new cartridge into the chamber after each shot. Mechanisms are occasionally included which extract and eject the spent cartridge.
Silencer (also "suppressor") - A device affixed to the muzzle (or occasionally integrated into the barrel as part of the firearm's design) employing a chamber which contains expanding gases long enough for them to cool and reduce in pressure before exiting the firearm, making the ensuing explosion quieter or less recognizable as a gunshot.
The terms silencer and suppressor are used interchangeably for the most part. Suppression is a more accurate description of the effect the device has on expanding gases, but the device was referred to and sold as a silencer by its creator.
Silencers are an effective means of hearing protection, which allow hunters and recreational shooters to shoot without wearing ear muffs or plugs, and which allow a firearm used for home defense to be employed indoors without risking permanent hearing damage.
Striker - A kind of linear firing pin which is itself retained under spring tension and released to slide forward and strike the primer of a cartridge, rather than being struck by a hammer.
Trigger - The lever which is pulled or depressed to discharge a firearm. Some firearms employ more unusual triggers, such as buttons for each thumb in the case of some mounted machine-guns.
Misnomers and Errata
Clip vs. Magazine
As described in the Terminology section of this feature, clips retain cartridges for easy insertion into magazines, and magazines hold cartridges for feeding a firearm's action. In short, clips feed magazines, magazines feed guns.
Silencer vs. Suppressor
The effect achieved by this device, by either name, is a suppression of hot expanding gases in order to make their expulsion quieter or less distinct. The device's inventor, Hiram Maxim, called his creation a silencer, and the name has stuck, regardless of how descriptive a label this is.
Silencers in popular media have been depicted as diminishing a gunshot into an almost imperceptible squeak, which is a significant departure from their actual effectiveness, leading to the controversy between the use of "silencer" and "suppressor".
Assault Rifle vs. Assault Weapon
The term "assault weapon" is often confused with "assault rifle", the former term being defined locally by specific legislation and not universally applicable, the latter being an explicitly defined category of firearm. Firearms falling under the category of assault weapon are not necessarily assault rifles, and their inclusion depends entirely upon locale.
The state of California for instance explicitly defines numerous semi-automatic rifles and pistols, neither of which can be assault rifles by this definition, as assault weapons.
Conclusion
The safe handling of firearms is the most crucial and fundamental knowledge to grasp for any current or potential firearm owner. Following the basic rules of firearms safety will minimize the risk of potential injury, and understanding the function of firearms and how to safely make them inert will only further reduce risk.
The world of firearms also has an extensive and often confusing language associated with it, and learning this nomenclature is the first step on the road to complete understanding of the nature and function of firearms.
The world of firearms also has an extensive and often confusing language associated with it, and learning this nomenclature is the first step on the road to complete understanding of the nature and function of firearms.
