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R5 Assault Rifle
The Vektor R4 is a 5.56×45mm assault rifle designed in 1979 based on the IMI Galil rifle. It entered service as the standard service rifle of the South African Defence Force (SADF) in 1980. The R4 replaced the R1, a variant of the 7.62×51mm FN FAL. It was produced by Lyttelton Engineering Works (LIW, "Lyttelton Ingenieurswerke"), now Denel Land Systems. The weapon is a licensed variant of the Israeli IMI Galil assault rifleWoźniak, Ryszard. Encyklopedia najnowszej broni palnej – tom 4 R-Z. Bellona. 2002. pp9–10. with several modifications; both the stock and magazine are now made of a high-strength polymer and the stock was lengthened, adapting the weapon for the average South African soldier. Other detailed differences include the R4's lack of a carry handle and a number of improvements made to its internal operating mechanism. Design details Operating mechanism The R4 is a selective fire, gas-operated weapon that fires from a closed bolt. As with the Galil paren ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South African National Museum Of Military History
The South African National War Museum in Johannesburg was officially opened by Prime Minister Jan Smuts on 29 August 1947 to preserve the history of South Africa's involvement in the Second World War. In 1975, the museum was renamed the South African National Museum of Military History and its function changed to include all conflicts that South Africa has been involved in. In 1999 it was amalgamated with the Pretoria-based Transvaal Museum and National Cultural History Museum to form the NFI. In April 2010 Ditsong was officially renamed Ditsong Museums of South Africa and the SANMMH was renamed the Ditsong National Museum of Military History. The Anglo-Boer War Memorial In the grounds of the museum is a large memorial designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. On 30 November 1910 Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn laid a commemorative stone at the memorial. Originally called the ''Rand Regiments Memorial'' and dedicated to British soldiers that lost their lives during t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magazine (firearms)
A magazine is an ammunition storage and feeding device for a repeating firearm, either integral within the gun (internal/fixed magazine) or externally attached (detachable magazine). The magazine functions by holding several cartridges within itself and sequentially pushing each one into a position where it may be readily loaded into the barrel chamber by the firearm's moving action. The detachable magazine is sometimes colloquially referred to as a " clip", although this is technically inaccurate since a clip is actually an accessory device used to help load ammunition into a magazine. Magazines come in many shapes and sizes, from tubular magazines on lever-action and pump-action firearms that may tandemly hold several rounds, to detachable box and drum magazines for automatic rifles and light machine guns that may hold more than one hundred rounds. Various jurisdictions ban what they define as "high-capacity magazines". Nomenclature With the increased use of semi-au ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Receiver (firearms)
In firearms terminology, the firearm frame or receiver is the part of a firearm which integrates other components by providing housing for internal action components such as the hammer, bolt or breechblock, firing pin and extractor, and has threaded interfaces for externally attaching ("receiving") components such as the barrel, stock, trigger mechanism and iron/optical sights. The receiver is often made of forged, machined, or stamped steel or aluminium; in addition to these traditional materials, modern science and engineering have introduced polymers and sintered metal powders to receiver construction. Mounting A barrel can be fixed to the receiver using barrel and receiver action threads or similar methods. In US law For the purposes of United States law, the receiver or frame is legally the firearm, and as such it is the controlled part. The definition of which assembly is the legal receiver varies from firearm to firearm, under US law. Generally, the law requ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bolt (firearm)
A bolt is the part of a repeating, breechloading firearm that blocks the rear opening (breech) of the barrel chamber while the propellant burns, and moves back and forward to facilitate loading/unloading of cartridges from the magazine. The firing pin and extractor are often integral parts of the bolt. The terms "breechblock" and "bolt" are often used interchangeably or without a clear distinction, though usually, a bolt is a type of breechblock that has a nominally circular cross-section. In most automatic firearms that use delayed blowback, recoil or gas operation, the bolt itself is housed within the larger bolt carrier group (BCG), which contains additional parts that receives rearward push from a gas tube (direct impingement) or a piston system. The slide of a self-loading pistol can be considered a bolt carrier, as it contains the same components and serves the same functions. Description In manually operated firearms such as bolt-action, lever-action, and pump- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gun Barrel
A gun barrel is a crucial part of gun-type weapons such as small firearms, artillery pieces, and air guns. It is the straight shooting tube, usually made of rigid high-strength metal, through which a contained rapid expansion of high-pressure gas(es) is used to propel a projectile out of the front end ( muzzle) at a high velocity. The hollow interior of the barrel is called the bore, and the diameter of the bore is called its caliber, usually measured in inches or millimetres. The first firearms were made at a time when metallurgy was not advanced enough to cast tubes capable of withstanding the explosive forces of early cannons, so the pipe (often built from staves of metal) needed to be braced periodically along its length for structural reinforcement, producing an appearance somewhat reminiscent of storage barrels being stacked together, hence the English name.''A History of Warfare'' - Keegan, John, Vintage 1993. History Gun barrels are usually metal. However, the e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gunpowder
Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). The sulfur and carbon act as fuels while the saltpeter is an oxidizer. Gunpowder has been widely used as a propellant in firearms, artillery, rocketry, and pyrotechnics, including use as a blasting agent for explosives in quarrying, mining, building pipelines and road building. Gunpowder is classified as a low explosive because of its relatively slow decomposition rate and consequently low brisance. Low explosives deflagrate (i.e., burn at subsonic speeds), whereas high explosives detonate, producing a supersonic shockwave. Ignition of gunpowder packed behind a projectile generates enough pressure to force the shot from the muzzle at high speed, but usually not enough force to rupture the gun barrel. It thus makes a good propellan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
AK-47
The AK-47, officially known as the ''Avtomat Kalashnikova'' (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is a gas operated, gas-operated assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms designer Mikhail Kalashnikov, it is the originating firearm of the Kalashnikov rifle, Kalashnikov (or "AK") family of rifles. After more than seven decades since its creation, the AK-47 model and its variants remain one of the most popular and widely used firearms in the world. The number "47" refers to the year the rifle was finished. Design work on the AK-47 began in 1945. It was presented for official military trials in 1947, and, in 1948, the fixed-Stock (gun), stock version was introduced into active service for selected units of the Soviet Army. In early 1949, the AK was officially accepted by the Soviet Armed Forces and used by the majority of the member states of the Warsaw Pact. The model and its variants owe their glob ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Galil
The IMI Galil ( he, גליל) is a family of Israeli-made automatic rifles chambered for the 5.56×45mm NATO and 7.62×51mm NATO cartridges. Originally designed by Yisrael Galili and Yakov Lior in the late 1960s, the Galil was first produced by the state-owned Israel Military Industries and is now exported by the privatized Israel Weapon Industries. The first Galil rifle was manufactured using RK 62 receivers.Knupp, Jeremiah (December 28, 2017"Galil ACE: IWI Brings the AK Into the Modern Era" ''American Rifleman''. Moreover, the Galil design is largely based on the Finnish rifle RK 62 (itself a derivative of the AK-47). The Galil family of weapons is used by both military and police forces across 25 countries. The Israeli Army initially deployed the 5.56×45mm NATO Galil in three basic configurations; the Automatic Rifle Machine-gun (ARM), the Automatic Rifle (AR), and the Short Automatic Rifle (SAR). A modern version of the Galil currently in production in multiple cal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Selective Fire
Selective fire is the capability of a weapon to be adjusted to fire in semi-automatic, fully automatic, and/or burst mode. The modes are chosen by means of a selector switch, which varies depending on the weapon's design. Some selective-fire weapons have burst fire mechanisms to limit the maximum number of shots fired automatically in this mode. The most common limits are two or three rounds per trigger pull. Fully automatic fire refers to the ability for a weapon to fire continuously until either the feeding mechanism is emptied or the trigger is released. Semi-automatic refers to the ability to fire one round per trigger pull. The presence of selective fire modes on firearms permits more efficient use of rounds to be fired for specific needs, versus having a single mode of operation, such as fully automatic, thereby conserving ammunition while maximizing on-target accuracy and effectiveness. This capability is most commonly found on military weapons of the 20th and 21st centur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polymer
A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + ''-mer'', "part") is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic and natural polymers play essential and ubiquitous roles in everyday life. Polymers range from familiar synthetic plastics such as polystyrene to natural biopolymers such as DNA and proteins that are fundamental to biological structure and function. Polymers, both natural and synthetic, are created via polymerization of many small molecules, known as monomers. Their consequently large molecular mass, relative to small molecule compounds, produces unique physical properties including toughness, high elasticity, viscoelasticity, and a tendency to form amorphous and semicrystalline structures rather than crystals. The term "polymer" derives from the Greek word πολύς (''polus'', meaning "many, much") and μέρος (''meros'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magazine (firearm)
A magazine is an ammunition storage and feeding device for a repeating firearm, either integral within the gun (internal/fixed magazine) or externally attached (detachable magazine). The magazine functions by holding several cartridges within itself and sequentially pushing each one into a position where it may be readily loaded into the barrel chamber by the firearm's moving action. The detachable magazine is sometimes colloquially referred to as a " clip", although this is technically inaccurate since a clip is actually an accessory device used to help load ammunition into a magazine. Magazines come in many shapes and sizes, from tubular magazines on lever-action and pump-action firearms that may tandemly hold several rounds, to detachable box and drum magazines for automatic rifles and light machine guns that may hold more than one hundred rounds. Various jurisdictions ban what they define as "high-capacity magazines". Nomenclature With the increased use of semi-autom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stock (firearm)
A gunstock or often simply stock, the back portion of which is also known as a shoulder stock, a buttstock or simply a butt, is a part of a long gun that provides structural support, to which the barrel, action, and firing mechanism are attached. The stock also provides a means for the shooter to firmly brace the gun and easily aim with stability by being held against the user's shoulder when shooting the gun, and helps to counter muzzle rise by transmitting recoil straight into the shooter's body. The tiller of a crossbow is functionally the equivalent of the stock on a gun. History and etymology The term stock in reference to firearms dates to 1571 is derived from the Germanic word ''Stock'', meaning tree trunk, referring to the wooden nature of the gunstock. Early hand cannons used a simple stick fitted into a socket in the breech end to provide a handle. The modern gunstock shape began to evolve with the introduction of the arquebus, a matchlock with a longer barrel an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
