Gun history facts that make my head spin.

[jmohme]

Interesting subject.

 

[Demi-human]

they are not large at all; an average, in-shape, man today, could never fit into one.

While I do agree with your post (is it wrong to think Samurai armor looks cute?), I merely meant we haven’t grown into giants that would render the mentioned rounds ineffective. And we haven’t been shrinking as near as I can tell.

Thus, from their inception to the present day the venerable Forty Five Auto and Nine Millimeter have remained effective and popular.

But, yes. I totally get what you’re saying.

 

[WestKentucky]

The big thing I didn’t see mentioned is development. In the civilian world the drive is essentially to get a reputation as a game killer, or target whacker. Not really all that hard to do... beat 3000fps and put a pointy nose on it and make it expand like crazy when it hits a target. In military use though, there is a lot more development. Short range, long range, armor... hard, heavy, soft, light... bolt rifle, semiauto, full auto, belt fed... hot, cold, wet, dry, beat to hell, covered in mud...

With all that being done extensively, why not use it for something in a civilian world.

 

[indy1919a4]

Vickers Machine Gun 5 million round round test. In 1963 British gunnery school needed to burn 5 million rounds of ammunition, so took one of their 303 Vickers machine guns, an fired it for 7 days straight to see what would happen.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/mi...rs-gun-is-one-of-the-best-firearms-ever-made/

 

[SSN Vet]

Firearms are a "mature technology" and have been since the 1950s.

Changes since then have been tweaks to existing concepts.

Nothing much by way of "revolutionizing" developments.

(note: Stoner invented the AR in the late 50's)

 

[illinoisburt]

Firearms are a "mature technology" and have been since the 1950s.

Changes since then have been tweaks to existing concepts.

Nothing much by way of "revolutionizing" developments.

(note: Stoner invented the AR in the late 50's)

Seems like most innovations in recent years have been in the sighting systems (optics, lasers, etc.). Still, those are mostly refinements as well. It's a mature technology until the next leap.

 

[indy1919a4]

In the 1870s the US Army was concerned about Indian Warriors reloading spent cartridges enough to come up with General order 13 on Feb 16 1876

https://books.google.com/books?id=2...&q=general orders 13 february 16 1876&f=false

Middle of the 1st column of the Army Navy Journal Feb 26th 1876.

How wide spread this was is up for discussion.. Also at the time the ammunition being used was the Benet inside-primed copper case ammunition. Which makes reloading even harder.



One must always appreciate the ingenuity of man to arm himself.

 

[huntsman]

I can’t believe .45acp is #2 and .380acp is as low as it is.

As for overall popularity I believe that’s influenced by ammo company pricing.

I would rather go with .40S&W but begrudgingly went to 9mm for the economy of the round.