Misplaced Pages

Shotgun

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

A long gun is a category of firearms with long barrels . In small arms , a long gun or longarm is generally designed to be held by both hands and braced against the shoulder, in contrast to a handgun , which can be fired being held with a single hand. In the context of cannons and mounted firearms, an artillery long gun would be contrasted with a field gun or howitzer .

#353646

120-423: A shotgun (also known as a scattergun , peppergun , or historically as a fowling piece ) is a long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge known as a shotshell , which discharges numerous small spherical projectiles called shot , or a single solid projectile called a slug . Shotguns are most commonly used as smoothbore firearms, meaning that their gun barrels have no rifling on

240-413: A 20-gauge within a few years, and to 12-gauge shotguns and full-size hunting rifles by their late teens. Still, many who are particularly recoil-averse choose to stay with 20-gauge shotguns all their adult life, as it is a suitable gauge for many popular hunting uses. A recent innovation is the back-boring of barrels, in which the barrels are bored out slightly larger than their actual gauge. This reduces

360-418: A centerfire cartridge. Although very rare, drillings with three and even four (a vierling ) shotgun barrels were made. In pump-action shotguns , a linearly sliding fore-end handguard (i.e. pump ) is manually moved back-and-forth like a hand pump to work the action, extracting the spent shell and inserting a new round, while cocking the hammer or striker . A pump-action shotgun is typically fed from

480-424: A long gun was the standard type of cannon mounted by a sailing vessel, called such to distinguish it from the much shorter carronades . In informal usage, the length was combined with the weight of the shot, yielding terms like "long 9s", referring to full-length cannons firing a 9-pound round shot. Aerodynamic Aerodynamics ( Ancient Greek : ἀήρ aero (air) + Ancient Greek : δυναμική (dynamics))

600-426: A shock wave . The presence of shock waves, along with the compressibility effects of high-flow velocity (see Reynolds number ) fluids, is the central difference between the supersonic and subsonic aerodynamics regimes. In aerodynamics, hypersonic speeds are speeds that are highly supersonic. In the 1970s, the term generally came to refer to speeds of Mach 5 (5 times the speed of sound) and above. The hypersonic regime

720-405: A tubular magazine underneath the barrel, which also serves as a guide rail for the pump. The rounds are fed in one by one through a port in the receiver, where they are lifted by a lever called the elevator and pushed forward into the chamber by the bolt. A pair of latches at the rear of the magazine hold the rounds in place and facilitate feeding of one shell at a time. If it is desired to load

840-667: A 10-gauge shotgun nominally should have an inside diameter equal to that of a sphere made from one-tenth of a pound of lead. Each gauge has a set caliber . By far the most common gauges are 12 (0.729 in, 18.5mm diameter) and 20 (0.614 in, 15.6mm), this includes other more or less common gauges, such as the 10, 16, 24, 28, 32, and 67 ( .410 bore ) gauge. Different gauges have different typical applications. 12-gauge shotguns are common for hunting geese, large ducks, or other big larger gamebirds; professional skeet and trap shooting; military applications; and home-defense applications. 16-gauge shotguns were once common for hunters who wanted to use only

960-401: A break when shooting clay targets. In reality the pattern is closer to a Gaussian , or normal distribution, with a higher density in the center that tapers off at the edges. Patterns are usually measured by firing at a 30-inch (76 cm) diameter circle on a large sheet of paper placed at varying distances. The hits inside the circle are counted, and compared to the total number of pellets, and

1080-409: A conical portion about three times the bore diameter in length, so the shot is gradually squeezed down with minimal deformation. The cylindrical section is shorter, usually 0.6 to 0.75 inches (15 to 19 millimetres). The use of interchangeable chokes has made it easy to tune the performance of a given combination of shotgun and shotshell to achieve the desired performance. The choke should be tailored to

1200-482: A continuum. Continuum flow fields are characterized by properties such as flow velocity , pressure , density , and temperature , which may be functions of position and time. These properties may be directly or indirectly measured in aerodynamics experiments or calculated starting with the equations for conservation of mass, momentum , and energy in air flows. Density, flow velocity, and an additional property, viscosity , are used to classify flow fields. Flow velocity

1320-447: A dedicated launching device called a "trap". The action is the operating mechanism of a gun. There are many types of shotguns, typically categorized by the number of barrels or the way the gun is reloaded. For most of the history of the shotgun, the breechloading break-action shotgun was the most common type, and double-barreled variants are by far the most commonly seen in modern days. These are typically divided into two subtypes:

SECTION 10

#1732772094354

1440-497: A dowel rod or other stop that is inserted into the magazine and reduces the capacity of the gun to three shells (two in the magazine and one chambered) as is mandated by U.S. federal law when hunting migratory birds. They can also easily be used with an empty magazine as a single-shot weapon, by simply dropping the next round to be fired into the open ejection port after the spent round is ejected. For this reason, pump-actions are commonly used to teach novice shooters under supervision, as

1560-410: A flow field) enables the calculation of forces and moments acting on the object. In many aerodynamics problems, the forces of interest are the fundamental forces of flight: lift , drag , thrust , and weight . Of these, lift and drag are aerodynamic forces, i.e. forces due to air flow over a solid body. Calculation of these quantities is often founded upon the assumption that the flow field behaves as

1680-438: A fluid, the speed of sound in that fluid can be considered the fastest speed that "information" can travel in the flow. This difference most obviously manifests itself in the case of a fluid striking an object. In front of that object, the fluid builds up a stagnation pressure as impact with the object brings the moving fluid to rest. In fluid traveling at subsonic speed, this pressure disturbance can propagate upstream, changing

1800-414: A fundamental relationship between pressure, density, and flow velocity for incompressible flow known today as Bernoulli's principle , which provides one method for calculating aerodynamic lift. In 1757, Leonhard Euler published the more general Euler equations which could be applied to both compressible and incompressible flows. The Euler equations were extended to incorporate the effects of viscosity in

1920-617: A handgun, making the long gun more expensive to transport, and more difficult and tiring to carry. The increased moment of inertia makes the long gun slower and more difficult to traverse and elevate , and it is thus slower and more difficult to adjust the aim. However, this also results in greater stability in aiming. The greater amount of material in a long gun tends to make it more expensive to manufacture, other factors being equal. The greater size makes it more difficult to conceal, and more inconvenient to use in confined quarters, as well as requiring larger storage space. As long guns include

2040-592: A huge success, as they were somewhat slow and awkward to operate, and the rate of fire was noticeably slower (on average) than a double-barrelled gun. The Rifle Factory Ishapore in India also manufactured a single-shot .410 bore shotgun based on the SMLE Mk III* rifle. The Russian Berdana shotgun was effectively a single-shot bolt-action rifle that became obsolete, and was subsequently modified to chamber 16-gauge shotgun shells for civilian sale. The U.S. military M26

2160-434: A lesser extent. Preceding smoothbore firearms (such as the musket ) were widely used by European militaries from the 17th until the mid-19th century. The muzzleloading blunderbuss , the direct ancestor of the shotgun, was also used in similar roles from self-defense to riot control. Shotguns were often favored by cavalry troops in the early to mid-19th century because of its ease of use and generally good effectiveness on

2280-664: A limited effective zone. Offset chokes, where the pattern is intentionally slightly off of center, are used to change the point of impact. For instance, an offset choke can be used to make a double barrelled shotgun with poorly aligned barrels hit the same spot with both barrels. Shotguns generally have longer barrels than modern rifles. Unlike rifles, however, the long shotgun barrel is not for ballistic purposes; shotgun shells use small powder charges in large diameter bores, and this leads to very low muzzle pressures (see internal ballistics ) and very little velocity change with increasing barrel length. According to Remington, modern powder in

2400-552: A military or law enforcement context, the high short-range blunt knockback force and large number of projectiles makes the shotgun useful as a door breaching tool, a crowd control or close-quarters defensive weapon . Militants or insurgents may use shotguns in asymmetric engagements , as shotguns are commonly owned civilian weapons in many countries. Shotguns are also used for target - shooting sports such as skeet , trap , and sporting clays , which involve flying clay disks, known as " clay pigeons ", thrown in various ways by

2520-818: A minimum of 18.5 inches (47 cm) for either. In addition, Canada sets a minimum fireable length for long guns with detachable or folding stocks 26 inches (66 cm). In the United States, the minimum length for long guns with detachable or folding stocks is 26 inches (66 cm) with the stock in the extended position. Examples of various classes of small arms generally considered long arms include, but are not limited to shotguns , personal defense weapons , submachine guns , carbines , assault rifles , designated marksman rifles , sniper rifles , anti-material rifles , light machine guns , medium machine guns , and heavy machine guns . Almost all long arms have front grips (forearms) and shoulder stocks, which provide

SECTION 20

#1732772094354

2640-440: A modified choke can serve admirably for use as one gun intended for general all-round hunting of small-game such as quails, rabbits, pheasants, doves, and squirrels in semi-open wooded or farmland areas in many parts of the eastern US (Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee) where dense brush is less of a hindrance and the ability to have more reach is important. For hunting in dense brush, shorter barrel lengths are often preferred when hunting

2760-489: A notable uptick in lever-action shotgun sales in Australia since 1997, when pump-actions were effectively outlawed. Bolt-action shotguns, while uncommon, do exist. One of the best-known examples is a 12-gauge manufactured by Mossberg featuring a 3-round magazine, marketed in Australia just after changes to the gun laws in 1997 heavily restricted the ownership and use of pump-action and semi-automatic shotguns. They were not

2880-410: A range of flow velocities just below and above the local speed of sound (generally taken as Mach 0.8–1.2). It is defined as the range of speeds between the critical Mach number , when some parts of the airflow over an aircraft become supersonic , and a higher speed, typically near Mach 1.2 , when all of the airflow is supersonic. Between these speeds, some of the airflow is supersonic, while some of

3000-521: A rational basis for the development of heavier-than-air flight and a number of other technologies. Recent work in aerodynamics has focused on issues related to compressible flow , turbulence , and boundary layers and has become increasingly computational in nature. Modern aerodynamics only dates back to the seventeenth century, but aerodynamic forces have been harnessed by humans for thousands of years in sailboats and windmills, and images and stories of flight appear throughout recorded history, such as

3120-407: A shotgun burns completely in 25 (9.8425 in) to 36 (14.173 in) cm barrels. Since shotguns are generally used for shooting at small, fast moving targets, it is important to lead the target by firing slightly ahead of the target, so that when the shot reaches the range of the target, the target will have moved into the pattern. Shotguns made for close ranges, where the angular speed of

3240-425: A shotgun has far more power and damage potential (up to 10 times the muzzle energy of a .45 ACP cartridge), allowing a " one-shot stop " that is more difficult to achieve with typical handgun loads. Compared to a rifle, riot shotguns are easier to maneuver due to the shorter barrel, still provide better damage potential at indoor distances (generally 3–5 meters/yards), and reduce the risk of "overpenetration"; that is,

3360-983: A single shotgun for gamebirds normally pursued with 12 or 20-gauge shotguns, but have become rarer in recent years. 20-gauge shotguns are often used for gamebirds such as doves, smaller ducks, and quail. 28-gauge shotguns are not as common, but are classic quail-hunting guns. .410 gauge shotguns are typically used for squirrel hunting or for sportsmen seeking the challenge of killing game with a smaller load. Other, less common shotgun cartridges have their own unique uses. Ammunition manufacturer CCI produces 9mm Parabellum (.355 in.) and several other popular pistol calibers up to .45 ACP (11.43mm), as well as smaller calibers such as .22 Long Rifle (5.5mm) and .22 Magnum (5.5mm). These are commonly called snake shot cartridges. Larger gauges, up to 4 bore, too powerful to shoulder, have been built, but were generally affixed to small boats and referred to as punt guns . These were used for commercial waterfowl hunting, to kill large numbers of birds resting on

3480-547: A stock that is braced against the shoulder, the recoil when firing is transferred directly into the body of the user. This allows better control of aim than handguns, which do not include stock, and thus all their recoil must be transferred to the arms of the user. It also makes it possible to manage larger amounts of recoil without damage or loss of control; in combination with the higher mass of long guns, this means more propellant (such as gunpowder ) can be used and thus larger projectiles can be fired at higher velocities . This

3600-402: A variety of close quarters combat roles in civilian, law enforcement, and military applications. The smoothbore shotgun barrel generates less resistance and thus allows greater propellant loads for heavier projectiles without as much risk of overpressure or a squib load , and are also easier to clean . The shot pellets from a shotshell are propelled indirectly through a wadding inside

3720-418: Is a flow in which density is constant in both time and space. Although all real fluids are compressible, a flow is often approximated as incompressible if the effect of the density changes cause only small changes to the calculated results. This is more likely to be true when the flow speeds are significantly lower than the speed of sound. Effects of compressibility are more significant at speeds close to or above

Shotgun - Misplaced Pages Continue

3840-448: Is a solution in one dimension to both the momentum and energy conservation equations. The ideal gas law or another such equation of state is often used in conjunction with these equations to form a determined system that allows the solution for the unknown variables. Aerodynamic problems are classified by the flow environment or properties of the flow, including flow speed , compressibility , and viscosity . External aerodynamics

3960-416: Is a subset of the supersonic regime. Hypersonic flow is characterized by high temperature flow behind a shock wave, viscous interaction, and chemical dissociation of gas. The incompressible and compressible flow regimes produce many associated phenomena, such as boundary layers and turbulence. The concept of a boundary layer is important in many problems in aerodynamics. The viscosity and fluid friction in

4080-435: Is also a bolt-action weapon. Bolt-action shotguns have also been used in the "goose gun" application, intended to kill birds such as geese at greater range. Typically, goose guns have long barrels (up to 36 inches), and small bolt-fed magazines. Bolt-action shotguns are also used in conjunction with slug shells for the maximum possible accuracy from a shotgun. In Australia, some straight-pull bolt-action shotguns, such as

4200-503: Is associated with the frictional forces in a flow. In some flow fields, viscous effects are very small, and approximate solutions may safely neglect viscous effects. These approximations are called inviscid flows. Flows for which viscosity is not neglected are called viscous flows. Finally, aerodynamic problems may also be classified by the flow environment. External aerodynamics is the study of flow around solid objects of various shapes (e.g. around an airplane wing), while internal aerodynamics

4320-403: Is ballistically inefficient. As the shot leaves the barrel it begins to disperse in the air. The resulting cloud of pellets is known as the shot pattern , or shotgun shot spread . The ideal pattern would be a circle with an even distribution of shot throughout, with a density sufficient to ensure enough pellets will intersect the target to achieve the desired result, such as a kill when hunting or

4440-407: Is called laminar flow . Aerodynamics is a significant element of vehicle design , including road cars and trucks where the main goal is to reduce the vehicle drag coefficient , and racing cars , where in addition to reducing drag the goal is also to increase the overall level of downforce . Aerodynamics is also important in the prediction of forces and moments acting on sailing vessels . It

4560-409: Is called potential flow and allows the differential equations that describe the flow to be a simplified version of the equations of fluid dynamics , thus making available to the aerodynamicist a range of quick and easy solutions. In solving a subsonic problem, one decision to be made by the aerodynamicist is whether to incorporate the effects of compressibility. Compressibility is a description of

4680-467: Is designed to stop any spin that the shot column might acquire when traveling down the barrel. These tubes are often extended tubes, meaning they project beyond the end of the bore, giving more room for things like a longer conical section. Shot spreaders or diffusion chokes work opposite of normal chokes—they are designed to spread the shot more than a cylinder bore, generating wider patterns for very short range use. A number of recent spreader chokes, such as

4800-472: Is in essence a modified inertia-driven semi-automatic shotgun, but after blowback the bolt is trapped by a bolt stop and cannot return to battery unless it is manually released by depressing a thumb lever near the tang of the grip. Because the gun will not chamber a new round without manual actuation, the design is technically not really a self-loading, and Verney-Carron described it as a "manual repeating shotgun". When Australian firearm dealers tried to import

4920-533: Is not limited to air. The formal study of aerodynamics began in the modern sense in the eighteenth century, although observations of fundamental concepts such as aerodynamic drag were recorded much earlier. Most of the early efforts in aerodynamics were directed toward achieving heavier-than-air flight , which was first demonstrated by Otto Lilienthal in 1891. Since then, the use of aerodynamics through mathematical analysis, empirical approximations, wind tunnel experimentation, and computer simulations has formed

Shotgun - Misplaced Pages Continue

5040-627: Is often used as a beginner's gun. However, the small charge and typically tight choke make it more difficult to hit targets. It is also frequently used by expert shooters because of the difficulty, especially in expensive side by side and over/under models for hunting small bird game such as quail and doves. Inexpensive bolt-action .410 shotguns are a very common first hunting shotgun among young pre-teen hunters, as they are used mostly for hunting squirrels, while additionally teaching bolt-action manipulation skills that will transfer easily later to adult-sized hunting rifles. Most of these young hunters move up to

5160-454: Is one of the main reasons for the use of long guns over handguns—faster or heavier projectiles help with penetration and accuracy over longer distances. Shotguns are long guns that are designed to fire many small projectiles at once. This makes them very effective at close ranges, but with diminished usefulness at long ranges, even with shotgun slugs they are mostly only effective to about 100 yd (91 m). In historical navy usage,

5280-497: Is the study of flow around solid objects of various shapes. Evaluating the lift and drag on an airplane or the shock waves that form in front of the nose of a rocket are examples of external aerodynamics. Internal aerodynamics is the study of flow through passages in solid objects. For instance, internal aerodynamics encompasses the study of the airflow through a jet engine or through an air conditioning pipe. Aerodynamic problems can also be classified according to whether

5400-415: Is the study of flow through passages inside solid objects (e.g. through a jet engine). Unlike liquids and solids, gases are composed of discrete molecules which occupy only a small fraction of the volume filled by the gas. On a molecular level, flow fields are made up of the collisions of many individual of gas molecules between themselves and with solid surfaces. However, in most aerodynamics applications,

5520-427: Is the study of the motion of air , particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dynamics and its subfield of gas dynamics , and is an important domain of study in aeronautics . The term aerodynamics is often used synonymously with gas dynamics, the difference being that "gas dynamics" applies to the study of the motion of all gases, and

5640-426: Is used because gas flows with a Mach number below that value demonstrate changes in density of less than 5%. Furthermore, that maximum 5% density change occurs at the stagnation point (the point on the object where flow speed is zero), while the density changes around the rest of the object will be significantly lower. Transonic, supersonic, and hypersonic flows are all compressible flows. The term Transonic refers to

5760-418: Is used in the design of mechanical components such as hard drive heads. Structural engineers resort to aerodynamics, and particularly aeroelasticity , when calculating wind loads in the design of large buildings, bridges , and wind turbines . The aerodynamics of internal passages is important in heating/ventilation , gas piping , and in automotive engines where detailed flow patterns strongly affect

5880-468: Is used to classify flows according to speed regime. Subsonic flows are flow fields in which the air speed field is always below the local speed of sound. Transonic flows include both regions of subsonic flow and regions in which the local flow speed is greater than the local speed of sound. Supersonic flows are defined to be flows in which the flow speed is greater than the speed of sound everywhere. A fourth classification, hypersonic flow, refers to flows where

6000-453: The .45LC /.410 rounds; but as with derringers they are not considered shotguns. The .410 bore (10.4 mm) is unusual, being measured in inches, and would be approximately 67 "real" gauge, though its short hull versions are nominally called 36-gauge in Europe. It uses a relatively small charge of shot. It is used for hunting and for skeet. Because of its very light recoil (approx 10 N), it

6120-490: The Ancient Greek legend of Icarus and Daedalus . Fundamental concepts of continuum , drag , and pressure gradients appear in the work of Aristotle and Archimedes . In 1726, Sir Isaac Newton became the first person to develop a theory of air resistance, making him one of the first aerodynamicists. Dutch - Swiss mathematician Daniel Bernoulli followed in 1738 with Hydrodynamica in which he described

SECTION 50

#1732772094354

6240-496: The Franchi SPAS-12 and Benelli M3 , are capable of switching between semi-automatic and pump action. These are popular for two reasons; first, some jurisdictions forbid the use of semi-automatic actions for hunting, and second, lower-powered rounds, like "reduced-recoil" buckshot shells and many less-lethal cartridges, have insufficient power to reliably cycle a semi-automatic shotgun. Fully automatic shotguns , such as

6360-416: The flow speed is below, near or above the speed of sound . A problem is called subsonic if all the speeds in the problem are less than the speed of sound, transonic if speeds both below and above the speed of sound are present (normally when the characteristic speed is approximately the speed of sound), supersonic when the characteristic flow speed is greater than the speed of sound, and hypersonic when

6480-647: The 1960's (appeared in 1967) Vietnam War era Remington Model 7188 (designed for and used by US Navy SEALs in Vietnam), the Auto Assault-12 (AA-12) or the USAS-12 also exist, but they are still rare. In addition to the commonly encountered shotgun actions already listed, there are also shotguns based on the Martini-Henry rifle design, originally designed by British arms maker W.W. Greener . Some of

6600-517: The 1970s from companies like A & W Engineering. Military versions of the Ithaca 37 with duckbill choke were used in limited numbers during the Vietnam War by US Navy Seals. It arguably increased effectiveness in close range engagements against multiple targets. Two major disadvantages plagued the system. One was erratic patterning. The second was that the shot would spread too quickly providing

6720-510: The 20-gauge models to fire: 9mm Luger, .38 Special, .357 Magnum, .45 ACP, .45 Long Colt, and .410 gauge ammunition. Long gun The actual length of the barrels of a long gun is subject to various laws in many jurisdictions, mainly concerning minimum length, sometimes as measured in a specific position or configuration. The National Firearms Act in the United States sets a minimum length of 16 inches (41 cm) for rifle barrels and 18 inches (46 cm) for shotgun barrels. Canada sets

6840-604: The Briley "Diffusion" line, actually use rifling in the choke to spin the shot slightly, creating a wider spread. The Briley Diffusion uses a 1 in 36 cm twist, as does the FABARM Lion Paradox shotgun. Oval chokes, which are designed to provide a shot pattern wider than it is tall, are sometimes found on combat shotguns , primarily those of the Vietnam War era. They were available for aftermarket addition in

6960-633: The Streetsweeper. Taurus manufactures a carbine variant of the Taurus Judge revolver along with its Australian partner company, Rossi known as the Taurus/Rossi Circuit Judge . It comes in the original combination chambering of .410 bore and .45 Long Colt , as well as the .44 Remington Magnum chambering. The rifle has small blast shields attached to the cylinder to protect the shooter from hot gases escaping between

7080-610: The Turkish-made Pardus BA12 and Dickinson T1000, the American C-More Competition M26 , as well as the indigenous-designed SHS STP 12, have become increasingly popular alternatives to lever-action shotguns, largely due to the better ergonomics with less stress on the shooter's trigger hand and fingers when cycling the action. Colt briefly manufactured several revolving shotguns that were met with mixed success. The Colt Model 1839 Shotgun

7200-583: The U.S. is 18 inches (460 mm), and this barrel length (sometimes 18.5–20 in (470–510 mm) to increase magazine capacity and/or ensure the gun is legal regardless of measuring differences) is the primary choice for riot shotguns. The shorter barrel makes the weapon easier to maneuver around corners and in tight spaces, though slightly longer barrels are sometimes used outdoors for a tighter spread pattern or increased accuracy of slug projectiles. Home-defense and law enforcement shotguns are usually chambered for 12-gauge shells, providing maximum shot power and

7320-448: The US, as the shot may be ingested by the waterfowl, which some authorities believe can lead to health problems due to the lead exposure. Shot is termed either birdshot or buckshot depending on the shot size. Informally, birdshot pellets have a diameter smaller than 5 mm (0.20 in) and buckshot are larger than that. Pellet size is indicated by a number; for bird shot this ranges from

SECTION 60

#1732772094354

7440-464: The Véloce shotgun in 2018, Greens ' David Shoebridge and anti-gun groups such as Gun Control Australia caused a moral panic on the mainstream media , calling it "semi-semi-automatic" that needed to be prohibited as a "rapid-fire weapon". The gauge number is determined by the weight, in fractions of a pound, of a solid sphere of lead with a diameter equal to the inside diameter of the barrel. So,

7560-473: The action manually operated by a pump or lever, the action automatically cycles each time the shotgun is fired, ejecting the spent shell and reloading a fresh one into the chamber. The first successful semi-automatic shotgun was John Browning 's Auto-5 , first produced by Fabrique Nationale beginning in 1902. Other well-known examples include the Remington 1100 , Benelli M1 , and Saiga-12 . Some, such as

7680-412: The air is approximated as being significant only in this thin layer. This assumption makes the description of such aerodynamics much more tractable mathematically. In aerodynamics, turbulence is characterized by chaotic property changes in the flow. These include low momentum diffusion, high momentum convection, and rapid variation of pressure and flow velocity in space and time. Flow that is not turbulent

7800-568: The airflow is not supersonic. Supersonic aerodynamic problems are those involving flow speeds greater than the speed of sound. Calculating the lift on the Concorde during cruise can be an example of a supersonic aerodynamic problem. Supersonic flow behaves very differently from subsonic flow. Fluids react to differences in pressure; pressure changes are how a fluid is "told" to respond to its environment. Therefore, since sound is, in fact, an infinitesimal pressure difference propagating through

7920-580: The amount of change of density in the flow. When the effects of compressibility on the solution are small, the assumption that density is constant may be made. The problem is then an incompressible low-speed aerodynamics problem. When the density is allowed to vary, the flow is called compressible. In air, compressibility effects are usually ignored when the Mach number in the flow does not exceed 0.3 (about 335 feet (102 m) per second or 228 miles (366 km) per hour at 60 °F (16 °C)). Above Mach 0.3,

8040-417: The barrel at the time of manufacture, by squeezing the end of the bore down over a mandrel , or by threading the barrel and screwing in an interchangeable choke tube. The choke typically consists of a conical section that smoothly tapers from the bore diameter down to the choke diameter, followed by a cylindrical section of the choke diameter. Briley Manufacturing, a maker of interchangeable shotgun chokes, uses

8160-579: The bullet or shot passing completely through the target and continuing beyond, which poses a risk to those behind the target through walls. The wide spread of the shot reduces the importance of shot placement compared to a single projectile, which increases the effectiveness of "point shooting" – rapidly aiming simply by pointing the weapon in the direction of the target. This allows easy, fast use by novices. Early attempts at repeating shotguns invariably centred around either bolt-or lever-action designs, drawing inspiration from contemporary repeating rifles, with

8280-500: The cartridge in a fixed geometric arrangement to fit. The diameter in hundredths of an inch of bird shot sizes from No. 9 to No. 1 can be obtained by subtracting the shot size from 17. Thus, No. 4 bird shot is 17 – 4 = 13 = 0.13 inches (3.3 mm) in diameter. Different terminology is used outside the United States. In England and Australia, for example, 00 buckshot cartridges are commonly referred to as " S.G. " (Swanshot gauge) cartridges. Shot, small and round and delivered without spin,

8400-690: The choice between statistical mechanics and the continuous formulation of aerodynamics. The assumption of a fluid continuum allows problems in aerodynamics to be solved using fluid dynamics conservation laws . Three conservation principles are used: Together, these equations are known as the Navier–Stokes equations , although some authors define the term to only include the momentum equation(s). The Navier–Stokes equations have no known analytical solution and are solved in modern aerodynamics using computational techniques . Because computational methods using high speed computers were not historically available and

8520-561: The compression forces on the shot when it transitions from the chamber to the barrel. This leads to a slight reduction in perceived recoil, and an improvement in shot pattern due to reduced deformation of the shot. Most shotguns are used to fire "a number of ball shot", in addition to slugs and sabots. The ball shot or pellets is for the most part made of lead but this has been partially replaced by bismuth, steel, tungsten-iron, tungsten-nickel-iron and even tungsten polymer loads. Non-toxic loads are required by Federal law for waterfowl hunting in

8640-462: The continuum assumption is reasonable. The continuum assumption is less valid for extremely low-density flows, such as those encountered by vehicles at very high altitudes (e.g. 300,000 ft/90 km) or satellites in Low Earth orbit . In those cases, statistical mechanics is a more accurate method of solving the problem than is continuum aerodynamics. The Knudsen number can be used to guide

8760-555: The cylinder and barrel. The MTs255 (Russian: МЦ255 ) is a shotgun fed by a 5-round internal revolving cylinder. It is produced by the TsKIB SOO , Central Design and Research Bureau of Sporting and Hunting Arms. They are available in 12, 20, 28 and 32 gauges, and .410 bore. Recoil / inertia-driven or gas-operated actions are other popular methods of increasing the rate of fire of a shotgun; these self-loading shotguns are generally referred to as autoloaders . Instead of having

8880-418: The density of the pattern inside the circle is examined. An "ideal" pattern would put nearly 100% of the pellets in the circle and would have no voids—any region where a target silhouette will fit and not cover 3 or more holes is considered a potential problem. A constriction in the end of the barrel known as the choke is used to tailor the pattern for different purposes. Chokes may either be formed as part of

9000-463: The desire to improve the aerodynamic efficiency of current aircraft and propulsion systems, continues to motivate new research in aerodynamics, while work continues to be done on important problems in basic aerodynamic theory related to flow turbulence and the existence and uniqueness of analytical solutions to the Navier–Stokes equations. Understanding the motion of air around an object (often called

9120-437: The discrete molecular nature of gases is ignored, and the flow field is assumed to behave as a continuum . This assumption allows fluid properties such as density and flow velocity to be defined everywhere within the flow. The validity of the continuum assumption is dependent on the density of the gas and the application in question. For the continuum assumption to be valid, the mean free path length must be much smaller than

9240-556: The earliest successful repeating shotgun being the lever-action Winchester M1887 , designed by John Browning at the behest of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. Lever shotguns, while less common, were popular in the late 19th century with the Winchester Model 1887 and Model 1901 being prime examples. Initially very popular, demand waned after the introduction of pump-action shotguns around

9360-603: The first flights, Frederick W. Lanchester , Martin Kutta , and Nikolai Zhukovsky independently created theories that connected circulation of a fluid flow to lift. Kutta and Zhukovsky went on to develop a two-dimensional wing theory. Expanding upon the work of Lanchester, Ludwig Prandtl is credited with developing the mathematics behind thin-airfoil and lifting-line theories as well as work with boundary layers . As aircraft speed increased designers began to encounter challenges associated with air compressibility at speeds near

9480-453: The first half of the 1800s, resulting in the Navier–Stokes equations . The Navier–Stokes equations are the most general governing equations of fluid flow but are difficult to solve for the flow around all but the simplest of shapes. In 1799, Sir George Cayley became the first person to identify the four aerodynamic forces of flight ( weight , lift , drag , and thrust ), as well as the relationships between them, and in doing so outlined

9600-458: The first shell. This design has only been repeated once, by Beretta with their UGB25 automatic shotgun. The user loads the first shell by breaking the gun in the manner of a break-action shotgun, then closes it and inserts the second shell into a clip on the gun's right side. The spent hulls are ejected downwards. The guns combine the advantages of the break action (they can be proven to be safe by breaking open, there are no flying hulls) with those of

9720-477: The flow pattern ahead of the object and giving the impression that the fluid "knows" the object is there by seemingly adjusting its movement and is flowing around it. In a supersonic flow, however, the pressure disturbance cannot propagate upstream. Thus, when the fluid finally reaches the object it strikes it and the fluid is forced to change its properties – temperature , density , pressure , and Mach number —in an extremely violent and irreversible fashion called

9840-458: The flow speed is much greater than the speed of sound. Aerodynamicists disagree on the precise definition of hypersonic flow. Compressible flow accounts for varying density within the flow. Subsonic flows are often idealized as incompressible, i.e. the density is assumed to be constant. Transonic and supersonic flows are compressible, and calculations that neglect the changes of density in these flow fields will yield inaccurate results. Viscosity

9960-570: The flow speed is much greater than the speed of sound. Aerodynamicists disagree over the precise definition of hypersonic flow; a rough definition considers flows with Mach numbers above 5 to be hypersonic. The influence of viscosity on the flow dictates a third classification. Some problems may encounter only very small viscous effects, in which case viscosity can be considered to be negligible. The approximations to these problems are called inviscid flows . Flows for which viscosity cannot be neglected are called viscous flows. An incompressible flow

10080-445: The form of a combination gun . Like rifles, shotguns also come in a range of different action types, both single-shot and repeating . For non-repeating designs, over-and-under and side-by-side break action shotguns are by far the most common variants. Although revolving shotguns do exist, most modern repeating shotguns are either pump action or semi automatic , and also fully automatic , lever-action , or bolt-action to

10200-418: The generally suboptimal aerodynamic shape of the shot pellets also make them less accurate and decelerate quite quickly in flight due to drag , giving shotguns short effective ranges . In a hunting context, this makes shotguns useful primarily for hunting fast-flying birds and other agile small/medium-sized game without risking overpenetration and stray shots to distant bystander and objects. However, in

10320-532: The gun fully, a round may be loaded through the ejection port directly into the chamber, or cycled from the magazine, which is then topped off with another round. Well-known examples include the Winchester Model 1897 , Remington 870 , and Mossberg 500 /590. Pump-action shotguns are common hunting, fowling and sporting shotguns. Hunting models generally have a barrel between 600 and 700 mm (24"-28"). Tube-fed models designed for hunting often come with

10440-573: The gun. Lever shotguns have seen a return to the gun market in recent years, however, with Winchester producing the Model 9410 (chambering the .410 gauge shotgun shell and using the action of the Winchester Model 94 series lever-action rifle, hence the name), and a handful of other firearm manufacturers (primarily Norinco of China and ADI Ltd. of Australia) producing versions of the Winchester Model 1887/1901 designed for modern 12-gauge smokeless shotshells with more durable plastic casings. There has been

10560-465: The high computational cost of solving these complex equations now that they are available, simplifications of the Navier–Stokes equations have been and continue to be employed. The Euler equations are a set of similar conservation equations which neglect viscosity and may be used in cases where the effect of viscosity is expected to be small. Further simplifications lead to Laplace's equation and potential flow theory. Additionally, Bernoulli's equation

10680-465: The individual configuration largely being a matter of personal preference. Another, less commonly encountered type of break-action shotgun is the combination gun , which is an over-and-under design with one smoothbore barrel and one rifle barrel (more often with a rifle barrel on top, but a rifle barrel on bottom was not uncommon). There is also a class of break-action guns called drillings , which contain three barrels, usually two smoothbore barrels of

10800-456: The inner wall, but rifled barrels for shooting sabot slugs ( slug barrels ) are also available. Shotguns come in a wide variety of calibers and gauges ranging from 5.5 mm (.22 inch) to up to 5 cm (2.0 in), though the 12-gauge (18.53 mm or 0.729 in) and 20-gauge (15.63 mm or 0.615 in) bores are by far the most common. Almost all are breechloading , and can be single barreled, double barreled , or in

10920-433: The length scale of the application in question. For example, many aerodynamics applications deal with aircraft flying in atmospheric conditions, where the mean free path length is on the order of micrometers and where the body is orders of magnitude larger. In these cases, the length scale of the aircraft ranges from a few meters to a few tens of meters, which is much larger than the mean free path length. For such applications,

11040-479: The more interesting advances in shotgun technology include the versatile NeoStead 2000 and fully automatics such as the Pancor Jackhammer or Auto-Assault 12 . In 1925, Rodolfo Cosmi produced the first working prototype hybrid semi-automatic shotgun, which had an 8-round magazine located in the stock. While it reloaded automatically after each shot like a semi-automatic, it had a break-action to load

11160-587: The move, as well as by coachmen for its substantial power. But by the late 19th century, these weapons became largely replaced on the battlefield by breechloading rifled firearms shooting spin-stabilized cylindro-conoidal bullets , which were far more accurate with longer effective ranges . The military value of shotguns was rediscovered in the First World War , when American forces used the pump-action Winchester Model 1897 shotgun in trench fighting to great effect. Since then, shotguns have been used in

11280-403: The path toward achieving heavier-than-air flight for the next century. In 1871, Francis Herbert Wenham constructed the first wind tunnel , allowing precise measurements of aerodynamic forces. Drag theories were developed by Jean le Rond d'Alembert , Gustav Kirchhoff , and Lord Rayleigh . In 1889, Charles Renard , a French aeronautical engineer, became the first person to reasonably predict

11400-579: The performance of the engine. Urban aerodynamics are studied by town planners and designers seeking to improve amenity in outdoor spaces, or in creating urban microclimates to reduce the effects of urban pollution. The field of environmental aerodynamics describes ways in which atmospheric circulation and flight mechanics affect ecosystems. Aerodynamic equations are used in numerical weather prediction . Sports in which aerodynamics are of crucial importance include soccer , table tennis , cricket , baseball , and golf , in which most players can control

11520-485: The point where entire aircraft can be designed using computer software, with wind-tunnel tests followed by flight tests to confirm the computer predictions. Understanding of supersonic and hypersonic aerodynamics has matured since the 1960s, and the goals of aerodynamicists have shifted from the behaviour of fluid flow to the engineering of a vehicle such that it interacts predictably with the fluid flow. Designing aircraft for supersonic and hypersonic conditions, as well as

11640-459: The power needed for sustained flight. Otto Lilienthal , the first person to become highly successful with glider flights, was also the first to propose thin, curved airfoils that would produce high lift and low drag. Building on these developments as well as research carried out in their own wind tunnel, the Wright brothers flew the first powered airplane on December 17, 1903. During the time of

11760-421: The problem flow should be described using compressible aerodynamics. According to the theory of aerodynamics, a flow is considered to be compressible if the density changes along a streamline . This means that – unlike incompressible flow – changes in density are considered. In general, this is the case where the Mach number in part or all of the flow exceeds 0.3. The Mach 0.3 value is rather arbitrary, but it

11880-491: The range and size of the targets. A skeet shooter shooting at close targets might use 127 micrometres (0.005 inches) of constriction to produce a 76 cm (30 in) diameter pattern at a distance of 19 m (21 yd). A trap shooter shooting at distant targets might use 762 micrometres (0.030 inches) of constriction to produce a 76 cm (30 in) diameter pattern at 37 m (40 yd). Special chokes for turkey hunting, which requires long range shots at

12000-401: The same barrel length, and so will use longer barrels. The break open design saves between 7.62 and 15.24 cm (3.00 and 6.00 in) in overall length, but in most cases pays for this by having two barrels, which adds weight at the muzzle. Barrels for shotguns have been getting longer as modern steels and production methods make the barrels stronger and lighter; a longer, lighter barrel gives

12120-414: The same gauge and a rifled barrel, though the only common theme is that at least one barrel be smoothbore. The most common arrangement was essentially a side-by-side shotgun with the rifled barrel below and centered. Usually a drilling containing more than one rifled barrel would have both rifled barrels in the same caliber , but examples do exist with different caliber barrels, usually a .22 long rifle and

12240-428: The same inertia for less overall weight. Shotguns for use against larger, slower targets generally have even shorter barrels. Small game shotguns, for hunting game like rabbits and squirrels, or shotguns for use with buckshot for deer, are often 56 to 61 cm (22 to 24 in). Shotguns intended for all-round hunting are a compromise, but a 72 to 74 cm (28 to 29 in) barrel pump-action 12-gauge shotgun with

12360-491: The same types of game. Shotguns are well suited for the use of caliber conversion sleeves , allowing most single- and double-barrel shotguns to fire a wide range of ammunition. The X Caliber system consists of eight adapter sleeves that allow the 12-gauge models to fire: .380 ACP , 9mm Luger , .38 Special , .357 Magnum , .40 S&W , .44 Special , .44 Magnum , .45 ACP , .45 Long Colt , .410 gauge and 20-gauge ammunition. They even make four adapter sleeves that allow

12480-470: The semi-automatic (low recoil, low barrel axis position hence low muzzle flip). The Italian firearms manufacturer Benelli Armi SpA also makes the Benelli M3 , a dual-mode hybrid shotgun that allows the user the choice of semi-automatic or pump-action operation. Pump-action operation is employed when shooting less energetic shells (such as baton rounds ) that do not generate enough recoil to operate

12600-442: The semi-automatic mechanism. Conversely, the semi-automatic mode can be employed with more powerful shells, absorbing some of the recoil. Switching between the two modes is done by manipulating the ring located at the front of the foregrip . The French firearm manufacturer Verney-Carron produces the Véloce shotgun, a "lever-release blowback firearm" using bolt catch mechanism like its similarly designed SpeedLine rifle. The Véloce

12720-459: The shell and scatter upon leaving the barrel, which is usually choked at the muzzle end to control the projectile scatter. This means each shotgun discharge will produce a cluster of impact points instead of a single point of impact like other firearms. Having multiple projectiles also means the muzzle energy is divided among the pellets, leaving each individual projectile with less penetrative kinetic energy . The lack of spin stabilization and

12840-560: The small head and neck of the bird, can go as high as 1500 micrometres (0.060 inches). The use of too much choke and a small pattern increases the difficulty of hitting the target, whereas the use of too little choke produces large patterns with insufficient pellet density to reliably break targets or kill game. "Cylinder barrels" have no constriction. Other specialized choke tubes exist as well. Some turkey hunting tubes have constrictions greater than "Super Full", or additional features like porting to reduce recoil, or "straight rifling" that

12960-478: The smallest 12 (1.2 mm, 0.05 in) to 2 (3.8 mm, 0.15 in) and then BB (4.6 mm, 0.18 in). For buckshot, the numbers start and end with 4, 3, 2, 1, 0 ("single-aught"), 00 ("double-aught"), 000 ("triple-aught"), and 0000 ("quadruple-aught"). A different informal distinction is that "bird shot" pellets are small enough that they can be measured into the cartridge by weight, and simply poured in, whereas "buckshot" pellets are so large they must be stacked inside

13080-450: The speed of sound. The Mach number is used to evaluate whether the incompressibility can be assumed, otherwise the effects of compressibility must be included. Subsonic (or low-speed) aerodynamics describes fluid motion in flows which are much lower than the speed of sound everywhere in the flow. There are several branches of subsonic flow but one special case arises when the flow is inviscid , incompressible and irrotational . This case

13200-459: The speed of sound. The differences in airflow under such conditions lead to problems in aircraft control, increased drag due to shock waves , and the threat of structural failure due to aeroelastic flutter . The ratio of the flow speed to the speed of sound was named the Mach number after Ernst Mach who was one of the first to investigate the properties of the supersonic flow. Macquorn Rankine and Pierre Henri Hugoniot independently developed

13320-444: The start of the 20th century, and production was eventually discontinued in 1920. One major issue with lever-actions (and to a lesser extent pump-actions) was that early shotgun shells were often made of paper or similar fragile materials (modern hulls are plastic or metal). As a result, the loading of shells, or working of the action of the shotgun, could often result in cartridges getting crushed and becoming unusable, or even damaging

13440-602: The targets is great (such as skeet or upland bird hunting), tend to have shorter barrels, around 24 to 28 inches (610 to 710 millimetres). Shotguns for longer range shooting, where angular speeds are small (trap shooting; quail, pheasant, and waterfowl hunting), tend to have longer barrels, 28 to 36 inches (910 mm). The longer barrels have more angular momentum , and will therefore swing more slowly but more steadily. The short, low angular momentum barrels swing faster, but are less steady. These lengths are for pump or semi-auto shotguns; break open guns have shorter overall lengths for

13560-446: The theory for flow properties before and after a shock wave , while Jakob Ackeret led the initial work of calculating the lift and drag of supersonic airfoils. Theodore von Kármán and Hugh Latimer Dryden introduced the term transonic to describe flow speeds between the critical Mach number and Mach 1 where drag increases rapidly. This rapid increase in drag led aerodynamicists and aviators to disagree on whether supersonic flight

13680-661: The traditional "side-by-side" shotgun features two barrels mounted horizontally beside each other (as the name suggests), whereas the "over-and-under" shotgun has the two barrels mounted vertically one on top of the other. Side-by-side shotguns were traditionally used for hunting and other sporting pursuits (early long-barreled side-by-side shotguns were known as "fowling pieces" for their use hunting ducks and other waterbirds as well as some landfowls ), whereas over-and-under shotguns are more commonly associated with recreational use (such as clay pigeon shooting ). Both types of double-barrel shotgun are used for hunting and sporting use, with

13800-441: The trainer can load each round more quickly than with a break-action, while unlike a break-action the student can maintain his grip on the gun and concentrate on proper handling and firing of the weapon. Pump-action shotguns with shorter barrels and little or no barrel choke are highly popular for use in home defense, military and law enforcement, and are commonly known as riot guns . The minimum barrel length for shotguns in most of

13920-466: The use of a variety of projectiles such as buckshot, rubber, sandbag and slug shells, but 20-gauge (common in bird-hunting shotguns) or .410 (common in youth-size shotguns) are also available in defense-type shotgun models allowing easier use by novice shooters. A riot shotgun has many advantages over a handgun or rifle. Compared to "defense-caliber" handguns (chambered for 9mm Parabellum , .38 Special , .357 Magnum , .40 S&W , .45 ACP and similar),

14040-407: The user the ability to hold the firearm more steadily than a handgun. In addition, the long barrel of a long gun usually provides a longer distance between the front and rear sights , providing the user with more precision when aiming. The presence of a stock makes the use of a telescopic sight or red dot sight easier than with a handgun. The mass of a long gun is usually greater than that of

14160-511: The water. Handguns have also been produced that are capable of firing either .45 (Long) Colt or .410 shotgun shells from the same chamber; they are commonly known as "snake guns". Derringers such as the " Snake Slayer and Cowboy Defender " are popular among some outdoors-men in the South and Southwest regions of the United States. There are also some revolvers, such as the Taurus Judge and Smith & Wesson Governor , that are capable of shooting

14280-490: Was achievable until the sound barrier was broken in 1947 using the Bell X-1 aircraft. By the time the sound barrier was broken, aerodynamicists' understanding of the subsonic and low supersonic flow had matured. The Cold War prompted the design of an ever-evolving line of high-performance aircraft. Computational fluid dynamics began as an effort to solve for flow properties around complex objects and has rapidly grown to

14400-519: Was manufactured between 1839 and 1841. Later, the Colt Model 1855 Shotgun, based on the Model 1855 revolving rifle , was manufactured between 1860 and 1863. Because of their low production numbers and age they are among the rarest of all Colt firearms. The Armsel Striker was a modern take on the revolving shotgun that held 10 rounds of 12-gauge ammunition in its cylinder. It was copied by Cobray as

#353646