Automatic firearm
An automatic firearm is a firearm that loads another round mechanically after the first round has been fired.
The term can be used to refer to semi-automatic firearms, which fire one shot per single pull of the trigger (like the .45 "automatic"), or fully automatic firearms, which will continue to load and fire ammunition until the trigger (or other activating device) is released, the ammunition is exhausted, or the firearm is jammed.
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[edit] Design
An automatic weapon fires, automatically extracts the used cartridge case from the barrel and ejects it, then loads a new case into the barrel; generally either by harnessing the recoil of the cartridge's explosion, or the diversion of propellant gases.
[edit] Uses
An "automatic pistol" or "automatic shotgun" generally refers to a semi-automatic design, though full-automatic pistols (e.g. Steyr TMP) and shotguns (e.g. Daewoo USAS-12) do exist. Conversely, an "automatic rifle" generally refers to a fully automatic or hybrid semi-auto/full-auto design.
Fully automatic weapons tend to be restricted to military and police organizations in most developed countries which permit the use of non-automatic firearms. Where fully automatic weapons are permitted, restrictions and regulations on their possession and use may be much more severe than for other firearms.
Other similar weapons not usually called automatic firearms are:
- Autocannon, which are 15mm or greater in bore diameter or larger and thus considered cannons, not small arms.
- Gatling guns, multiple barrel designs, often used with external power supplies to generate rates of fire higher than automatic firearms.
A fully automatic weapon (a machine gun) is one that fires a succession of bullets so long as the trigger is depressed or until the ammunition supply is exhausted. In addition, any weapon that shoots is designed to shoot, or can be readily restored to shoot automatically, more than one shot at a time by a single trigger pull, is legally considered to be a machine gun. [1]
Submachine guns are fully automatic weapons that fire a handgun cartridge and can be operated by one person. Sometimes they are referred to as machine pistols. [2] A machine gun can normally fire at a cyclic rate between 500 and 1,200 rounds (bullets) per minute, or between 8 and 20 rounds per second.[citation needed]
[edit] Patents
- U.S. Patent 1,227,897: Automatic gun
[edit] See also
- Machine gun
- Submachine gun
- Assault rifle
- Automatic rifle
- Automatic shotgun
- Machine pistol
- Firearm action
- Bump fire
- Federal Firearms License
- Gun Control Act of 1968
- Gun politics
[edit] Notes
- ^ In United States law, a Machine Gun is defined (in part) by The National Firearms Act of 1934, as "... any weapon which shoots ... automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger."
- ^ Di Maio,Vincent J. M. Gunshot wounds: practical aspects of firearms, ballistics, and forensic techniques, p. 15.
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