The Best Concealed Carry Handguns

What are the best guns for concealed carry?  Sounds like a good question to start an argument.
The truth is there is no perfect gun.  Every firearm is a compromise offering certain benefits at the costs of others.  Yet, I am frequently asked my opinion on what gun someone should buy, or at least consider, for carrying.
Generally, I try to find out a little more information about the person’s situation and their experience with guns.  Sometimes there will be a wild card thrown in, such as a significant known risk from a criminal enterprise or ex-spouse.  Almost always, cost is a consideration.
So, with all of these variables, how does one pick which guns are best?
Based on my experience and the collective experience of the shooting community, there are certain guns and brands that I remove from consideration on this due to known reliability problems or high cost.
Some of you are going to hate my choices while others will agree with some or even all of them.  Just keep in mind that each person who chooses to carry a gun for self defense has very specific needs.  Just because these guns work for me doesn’t mean there aren’t other great choices out there.
Glock 19 – For a great, all-around concealed carry handgun, it is hard to beat the Glock 19.  It is compact enough for most people to conceal in an inside-the-waistband (IWB) holster, yet is still large enough to fight with.  I’ve always felt well-armed when carrying a 19.
The model 19 is chambered in 9mm and holds 15 rounds in the standard magazine.  For an identically sized pistol in .40 S&W, take a look at the Glock 23.
Another option for the Glock fan is the subcompact 26.  Also chambered in 9mm, this pistol is more compact than the 19 with a shorter barrel and grip.  There are a lot of people who prefer this pistol to the larger 19, but I am not one of them.  However, it is still a good choice if you absolutely need to cut the size down.
Springfield XD-S – Springfield Armory’s XD-S line of pistols are great for concealed carry.  They are thin, offer reasonable firepower and are just as reliable as most modern polymer pistols.  Initially, the XD-S was offered only in .45 ACP, but they were introduced in 9mm this year.
For me, I prefer the 9mm XD-S, but I’m certain that there are a lot of .45 fans who would opt for the bigger bore version.  The guns are only 1” wide, which makes them fairly easy for concealed carry.

Smith & Wesson M&P 9c

Smith & Wesson M&P Compact – These pistols are the compact versions of the larger M&P handguns.  They have many of the same features including the interchangeable palm swell grips for adjusting gun to hand fit.  The M&P Compact pistols are very reliable and offer considerable firepower in a small package: 12 rounds of 9mm, 10 rounds of .40 S&W/ .357 SIG or eight rounds of .45 ACP.
Smith & Wesson “Hammerless” J-frame – It would be hard to discuss concealed carry firearms and not mention the J-frame line of Smith & Wesson revolvers.  The guns are called hammerless because the hammer is completely shrouded by the frame.  This helps prevent any problems during a draw from concealment.
These handguns are most frequently seen as five shot .38 Special and .357 Magnum revolvers, though other calibers are available.  I own a model 642 and have no hesitations in carrying that gun anywhere.  If I was buying a new J-frame today, I’d like pick the 340PD or M&P 340 due to their improved sights.
Beretta Nano – The Beretta Nano is a more recent introduction to the defensive handgun world, yet it has quickly earned its way onto this list.  It is a thin, subcompact 9mm pistol with no external controls to snag on clothing during a draw.  In many ways, it is a modern version of the hammerless revolver.  It carries six rounds in the standard magazine, and an eight-round mag is also available.

Ruger LCR

Ruger LCR – This hammerless revolver has proven to be a reliable, and affordable, revolver that is easy to conceal in a pocket or IWB holster.  Out of the box, I have found this revolver to have one of the best triggers for a small revolver.
The LCR can be had in .38 Special (+P rated), .357 Magnum, .22 LR and .22 WMR.  For my own needs, I would pick the .38 or .357 version and carry .38 ammo in it – probably the Speer 135 grain Gold Dot-Short Barrel +P or CorBon DPX +P.  However, for someone with physical impairments, the .22 Magnum or even .22 LR could be viable options.
Kahr PM9 – The Kahr PM9 is a single stack 9mm pistol that is very light and thin.  With a flush fitting magazine, the pistol holds 6+1 rounds and is +P rated.  An extended magazine, which I prefer, holds seven rounds.
The gun is double action only, with a smooth trigger pull.  The pull is longer than any of the striker fired guns, and is more akin to a revolver.
For the budget conscious, the CM9 is a Kahr pistol of the same size, but with a few steps down in certain features such as the type of rifling in the barrel.  The CM9 retails for about $250 less than the PM9 and is every bit as reliable in my experience.
Runners Up
There are several other guns that bear consideration, but for various reasons didn’t make the A-list.  These are:
Bersa BP9 – I like this gun a lot, but I haven’t had the Bersa BP9 long enough to place it into the “best” category.  But, it is definitely worthy of consideration.
SIG Sauer P238/P938 – These guns are nice shooters and feel good in the hand.  However, they are also single action, 1911-style pistols that are to be carried cocked-and-locked.  That method of carry is perfectly safe, but based on my experience, it takes more training to get a new shooter to the same level of proficiency with these guns as compared to the top guns I listed.  If you are willing to train, or already run a 1911, you might really like these guns.
Charter Arms Off Duty – This is another hammerless 38 Special revolver like the S&W J-frame above.  In some ways I like the Off Duty better than my 642, but the trigger is not quite as nice and the ejector needs just a little exercise before it is ready to go.  It is a viable alternative, but one that needs about 200 rounds on the range before it smooths out.

History of the Minigun

Note: hover the mouse pointer over images to get the description

 

Way back, in 1862, someone dr. Gatling of USA patented a manually operated, multi-barreled mechanical "machine gun", one of the most successful of such designs. Being gradually updated, this weapon, in many versions, served with number of armies around the world as an infantry support or a light artillery weapon. Usually chambered for the contemporary general issue rifle cartridge, the XIX century Gatling guns usually have 6 to 10 barrels, mounted around the single axis. Some naval Gatlings, thought, have had calibers up to 1 inch (25mm), and some derivatives, like the Hotchkiss, were up to 53mm in caliber. When crank at the back of the gun was rotated, the "bundle" of barrels rotated too. Each barrel had its own bolt, which completed full reloading circle per one turn of the barrels bundle. This resulted in the rate of fire as high as 200+ rounds per minute - quite an achievement in the era of the single-shot and even magazine fed rifles. While first successful "true" machine guns appeared by 1890, some Gatling guns seen use until World War 1, especially with the navies.

 

As the automatically operated machine guns became more and more mature, Gatling guns were gradually forgotten, until the late 1940s. At that time, the speed of combat aircrafts became so high, so even most fast-firing conventional machine guns became too slow to achieve desirable number of hits during the very brief encounters. This spawned the famous "Project Vulcan", that was intended to develop a super-rapid firing weapon for US Air Forces. Project was handled by the General Electric Co. First tests were conducted with the late 19th century Gatlings, fitted with electrical drive instead of manually operated crank; this immediately resulted in the rate of fire of about 4 000 rounds per minute, which was very impressive (it must be noted, that such tests were first conducted in early 1890s, but lead to no practical results at that time - there were no need in the rate of fire of up to 3 000 RpM). Further development resulted in some experimental, electrically driven, .60 caliber machine guns with 6 barrels, and, in 1956, the 6-barreled 20mm T171 gun was officially adopted as the M61 aircraft gun. This gun could fire at the rate of 4 to 6 thousands rounds per minute. This achievement is possible due to the fact that gun has multiple barrels, and the rate of fire per one barrel is about 1 000 rounds per minute or even less, allowing them to not to overheat. M61 became the main aircraft gun for US AF, and also was used on M161 and M163 Vulcan ground anti-aircraft gun mounts. The navies also turned back to Gatlings with the Vulcan-Phalanx CIWS (Close-In Weapon System).

 

When USA entered the Indo-China troubles during early 1960s, they soon found that they need to arm their helicopters, to provide additional firepower against enemy infantry. These applications also required a lot of firepower delivered in the short periods of time, so General Electric designers simply scaled the M61 gun down, for 7.62x51mm NATO ammunition. The resulting weapon, known as the M134 Minigun, could fire up to 4 000 rounds per minute, and soon found its way to the various helicopter mounts. It was mounted on chin turrets and in wing pods on AH-1G "Cobra" attack helicopters, on door, pylon and pod mounts on UH-1 "Huey" transport helicopters, and on many other helicopters and aircrafts, including famous "Gunship" airplanes like A/C-47 and A/C-119.

 

Usually, AH-1G "Cobra" carried one or two Miniguns in its chin turret, with the 2 or 4 thousands rounds of ammunition. The UH-1 could carry one or two (or even more) Miniguns on various mountings, with as much as 12 000 rounds of ammo available for "immediate delivery to enemy".

 

 

With the introduction of the 5.56mm ammo into the military service, Americans attempted to scale the the Minigun further down, resulting in the weapon, known as XM-214 Microgun. This little beast had 6 5.56mm barrels, was electrically driven and could fire up to 10 000 rounds. But the 5.56mm was way too weak for air-to-ground or ground-to-air (anti-aircraft) applications - the key niches of the modern Gatling systems. For the infantry, the Microgun had almost no use, being to heavy, complicated and with too much rate of fire and recoil (recoil force was up to 110 kg / 240 lbs at the full rate of fire). Infantry simply does not needed an extremely rate of fire to deal with the enemy infantry, and for AA use (where such high RoF makes sense), the 5.56mm (.223mm) and 7.62mm (.308) ammo is way too weak. 

 

 

Others than noted, US also developed a number of other Gatling-type designs chambered in .50BMG, 20mm,

 

 

25mm, and even 30mm (like the famous GAU-8/A "monster gun", shown at left,  mounted on the A10 Warthog attack planes). It also must be noted that the USA was not the only country to exploit Gatling ideas. USSR (and latter Russia) built several aircraft and AA guns and machine guns. For helicopter use, they made a 4-barreled machine guns in 7.62mm and 12.7mm, and for aircrafts - 23mm and 30mm 6-barreled guns. Some 6-barreled 30mm Gatling type guns also used by Soviet and Russian navy for shipborne AA installations, sometimes coupled with short-range AA missiles.

 

Modern Gatling guns - pros and cons.

Key advantage of the modern, externally powered Gatling type guns, is the extremely high rate of fire, usually 4 to 6 thousands of rounds per minute (RPM), sometimes up to 10-12 thousands RPM. This rate of fire is necessary to deal with the fast-moving targets, when the engagement time is very short. Such targets are mostly aircrafts, or ground targets, fired at from aircrafts. The downside of multi-barreled systems is they relative complexity, heavy weight, and requirements for external power (electrical, pressured air or hydraulics). There are few self-powered (gas-operated) Gatling type guns, but they still are much bulkier and heavier, than the conventional single-barreled guns. Another drawback of the Gatling-type guns, which is essential for aerial combat, is that the gun requires some time to get on to the full speed (rate of fire) after the trigger is pressed. For the M61 Vulcan cannon, for example, the "speed up" time is about 0.4 second or so.

The Most Lethal Fighter Jets In Current Usage

Thinking about the safety system if different countries, it is essential to consider cutting-edge air power fighter planes. The following list of top ten fighter planes in the world will allow you see which are the most powerful and deadliest planes on earth.
10. J-10

The J-10 is also called the Vigorous Dragon, which can perform several roles in different weathers. The plane was created by the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corporation for China to use with its People’s Liberation Army Air Force. Right under the intake on the side of the port, the plane has a twin cannon of 23 mm. however, the eleven hard points it has on the exterior can transport no less than 6,000 kg of weapons.
9. MiG-35

The MiG-35 is tagged as a four plus generation jet fighter plane and it is widely famous for its distinctively elaborate Optical Locator System that reduces the plane’s dependence of relying on the Ground Controlled Interception. It is also useful to perform several roles during military operations in an independent way. There’s a Laser Emission Detector on every wingtip of the plane that improves the interception of possible threats and defeats them by using infrared laser.
8. T-50 Golden Eagle

Korea Aerospace Industries produced the T-50 Golden Eagle, which is one of the few supersonic advanced trainers in the world. The plane comes with a General Dynamics A-50 20 mm cannon placed right behind the pilot’s cockpit. It is capable of running 250 rounds of unconnected missiles and bullets and it is the perfect to use if you need great objective capability.
7. F-16 Fighting Falcon

General Dynamics was responsible of creating the F-16 Fighting Falcon, which is a jet fighter plane capable of performing several roles. The majority of pilots know the F-16 as the Viper. Some of the greatest characteristics of the plane include the Relaxed Static Stability feature, a seat with a 30 degrees inclination to help the pilot with G force, transparent canopy to enhance the visibility and a control stick that is placed on one side that makes things easier for the pilot when flying the plane.
6. Rafale

The Rafale is a fatal air power fighter plane that is worldwide famous for its unsurpassed fighting capability in the air. Dassault Aviation, a fighter plane manufacturing company from France, was the company in charge of creating Rafale. The plane can work with an electronic combat system called SPECTRA that safeguards the plane from ground and air menaces. Rafale is also useful to help pilots with real-time 3D maps that have been used for long-distance interception and objectives.
5. JAS 39 Gripen

The JAS 39 Gripen consists of eight strategic points to carry many missiles and bombs. The best feature of this fighter plane is that it is a lightweight plane that is famous for its design of delta wing-canard and because its really easy to pilot. The plane can hold up a complex PS-05/A pulse-Doppler X-band radar that has the capability to watch and recognize objectives that are at 120 kilometers away. It also has the capability to strike objectives that are not in the visual range by sending air-to-air missiles.
4. Eurofighter Typhoon

There were four different firms from the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain and Germany, working together in order to create the Eurofighter Typhoon. It has been awarded several prizes for its great features and capabilities in the battlefield. It makes use of a complex integrated system of defense called Praetorian that is perfect to keep an eye on air-to-air and surface-to-air perils and gives the pilot the chance to respond to several threats simultaneously.
3. Su-27

The Su-27 is more famous as the Russian flying monster amongst pilots. It is actually a really easy-to-pilot jet fighter plane that has the capability of destroying everything at a distance of 3,530 kilometers. The Su-27 was created to provide genuine interception and the best air-performance during military operations. The plane has a privileged position in the fourth generation fighter planes list.
2. F/A-18 Hornet

This fighter plane includes some of the best aerodynamic features and perfect high angle of attack capability. The F/A-18 Hornet is a plane that can be used for several missions at the same time and it was especially designed to be a strategic plane to safeguard the United States air space. It was one of the first planes to have ever used digital multiplex avionics bus together with a multi-task display that gives pilots the chance to have more flexibility during a fast battle scenario.
1. F-22 Raptor

This is the most powerful fighter plane in the whole world and one of the most important planes the United States Air Force uses. The F-22 Raptor is the fifth batch of fighter planes that are recognized to a large extent for being incredibly agile, for their sensor fusion, amazing speed and deadly capabilities at the moment of attacking from a very high altitude.

The Most Devastating Artillery Ever Produced

Picatinny Arsenal was tasked to create a nuclear capable artillery piece in 1949. Robert Schwartz, the engineer who created the preliminary designs, essentially scaled up the 240mm shell (then the maximum in the arsenal) and used the German K5 railroad gun as a point of departure for the carriage. (The name "Atomic Annie" likely derives from the nickname "Anzio Annie" given to a German K5 gun which was employed against the American landings in Italy.) The design was approved by the Pentagon, largely through the intervention of Samuel Feltman, Chief of the Ballistics Section of the Ordnance Department’s Research and Development Division. A three-year developmental effort was begun. The project proceeded quickly enough to produce a demonstration model to participate in Dwight Eisenhower's inaugural parade in January 1953.
The cannon was transported by two specially designed tractors, both capable of independent steering in the manner of some extra-long fire engines. Each of the tractors was rated at 375 hp, and the somewhat awkward combination could achieve speeds of 35 miles an hour and negotiate right angle turns on 28 ft wide, paved or packed roads. The artillery piece could be unlimbered in 15 minutes, then returned to traveling configuration in another 15 minutes.
On May 25, 1953 at 8:30am, the Atomic Cannon was tested at Nevada Test Site (specifically Frenchman Flat) as part of the Upshot-Knothole series of nuclear tests. The test—codenamed Grable--was attended by then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Arthur W. Radford and Secretary of Defense Charles Erwin Wilson; it resulted in the successful detonation of a 15 kt shell (W9 warhead) at a range of 7 miles. This was the first and only nuclear shell to be fired from a cannon (the Little Feller 1 test shot of an M388 used a Davy Crockett Weapon System which was a recoilless rifle firing the warhead mounted on the end of a spigot inserted in the barrel of the weapon.)

 

1958 deployment in Korea

After the successful test, there were at least 20 of the cannons manufactured at Watervliet and Watertown Arsenals, at a cost of $800,000 each. They were deployed overseas to Europe and Korea, often continuously shifted around to avoid being detected and targeted by opposing forces. Due to the size of the apparatus, their limited range, the development of nuclear shells compatible with existing artillery pieces (the W48 for the 155mm and the W33 for the 203mm), and the development of rocket and missile based nuclear artillery, the M65 was effectively obsolete soon after it was deployed. However, it remained a prestige weapon and was not retired until 1963.

The Gustav Gun

For sheer firepower, it's hard to imagine anything outgunning the planet-killing Death Star from the "Star Wars" movies. Not for lack of trying, though. Since the first catapults and cannons took aim, the search has been on for guns that can shoot farther, faster, and deliver more deadly results. Yet there are also those who've foreseen the opportunity to put these weapons to peaceful purposes.

It's difficult to imagine the shock waves that reverberated through Paris on the morning of March 21, 1918, when shells began raining down on the city. They had been fired from the railway-mounted Paris Gun tucked away in the forest of Coucy-Auffrique, 70 miles away. The 264-pound projectiles soared 25 miles into the stratosphere, reaching their target in 170 seconds.

Formally known as the Kaiser Wilhelm Geschutz Long-Range Guns, the weapons were produced by the dreaded Friedrich Krupp A.G. munitions firm. The guns used bored-out, 380mm naval cannons, each fitted with barrels that were 131 ft. long. Seven were produced, though never more than three operated at any time.

Firing a Paris Gun was a logistical nightmare. Each shell required a 400-pound powder charge. The shock was so intense, each succeeding shell needed to be slightly wider. The gun's lining had to be rebored every 20 shots.

Only 367 shells were fired by August of that year, and the gun's aim was often wild. Barely half the shells hit the city. Even so, the Paris Gun caused 256 deaths, a third of those when a shell struck the church of St. Sepulchre during Good Friday services.

Though the Paris Gun had little impact on the outcome of World War I, it was a high-priority target for Allied troops. Yet none of the guns were ever found, even after the armistice.



The Biggest Gun
The Treaty of Versailles created, at best, a tenuous truce. Hoping to ward off another assault, France erected a seemingly impregnable network of forts along the German frontier. Determined to overcome this obstacle, Adolf Hitler issued orders that specified "a gun able to pierce a meter of steel, seven meters of concrete, or thirty meters of dense earth."

Krupp quickly complied, presenting Hitler the Gustav Gun—named in honor of family patriarch Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach. The biggest gun ever built, it weighed a crushing 1344 tons, including its railway carriage. With its breech block, the entire machine stood 4 stories tall, 20 ft. wide and 140 ft. long. Moving, positioning, loading and maintaining this monster required a 500-man crew commanded by a major general.

The Gustav's 800mm bore accepted two giant projectiles: a 10,584-pound high-explosive shell and a 16,540-pound concrete-piercing shell. Though it didn't deliver the range of the Paris Gun, the Gustav could strike targets up to 29 miles away.

As often happens in war, the original mission evaporated when German troops outflanked the Maginot line, quickly forcing France to surrender. Plans to use the Gustav against the British at Gibraltar were also scrapped, but eventually Gustav found a suitable target.

In April 1942, the Soviet city of Sevastopol fell under assault. One shot inadvertently destroyed a Russian ammo dump hidden 100 ft. below the Sevemaya military base. In quick succession, the gun crumbled the forts that were vainly defending the city.

In all, the Gustav fired 300 shells on Sevastopol, and another 30 during the 1944 Warsaw Uprising. It was never used again. Unlike the mysterious Paris Gun, the gun met a final—if ignoble—end. It was captured by U.S. troops and cut up for scrap. A duplicate gun, named for the chief engineer's wife, Dora, saw action only briefly and was destroyed to prevent its capture by the Russian army.

Reaching For The Moon
In his classic From The Earth To The Moon, Jules Verne envisioned a gun powerful enough to launch a hollowed-out shell to the moon, with a team of adventurers inside.

Though such a gun would produce g-forces no human could survive, the concept resonated with Canadian weapons expert Gerald Bull. In the 1960s, he began work on a supergun, welding together two 16-in. battleship gun barrels. The gun was to have two possible purposes: It could shoot finned arrow shells to record distances, or launch a projectile into space.

Bull's High Altitude Research Project (HARP) was run by McGill University in Montreal. Also known as the Barbados Gun, for the island where its remains now rust, HARP launched a series of rocket-powered space probes before the U.S. government withdrew funding to Bull.

Determined to keep his concept alive, Bull made a series of bad business decisions. One landed him in U.S. prison for illegal arms trading. He then accepted an offer to build a supergun for Saddam Hussein, though many feared it might be used to lob weapons of mass destruction onto Israel.

In 1990, as he was about to enter his Brussels apartment, Bull was murdered. Five shots were fired into the back of his neck by an unknown assassin, who many suspect represented Israel's Mossad. Bull's last gun, Project Babylon, died with him. Allied troops found and destroyed the unfinished gun during Desert Storm.

History's Ten Greatest Guns

10

MG-42

“Hitler’s Buzzsaw,” invented in 1942, is infamous around the world as the weapon used at Omaha Beach to mow Americans down, but it was used in Russia to much more brutal effect. It fired 1,200 rounds of 8mm rifle ammunition per minute, which is sufficient to cut a man in half. It was air-cooled, and could melt its barrel if fired non-stop for 5 minutes.
That’s why the Germans had several barrel at hand, and could change to a new one in only 60 seconds.

9

Glock Handgun

The Glock is the ultimate in modern reliability. You can pour sand down the barrel and it will shoot. It will shoot underwater. It is commonly used in 9mm, but is chambered for .40 Sig and .45 ACP among others. It is the standard law enforcement sidearm today and will continue to be for a long time. It almost never jams, is waterproof, mostly plastic.

8

.303 Lee-Enfield

The British equivalent of the German Mauser has one trump on it, a 10 round magazine, compared to 8. The British adopted it into the army in 1895 and used it exclusively until 1957. Soldiers were drilled until they could perform “the mad minute,” firing 30 rounds in 60 seconds and hitting 30 targets. This required reloading twice, and working the bolt back and forth in less than half a second.
The rifle is accurate to 1,000 yards with open sights, and served in India (notoriously used against unarmed civilians), the Boer War, both World Wars, and many others.

7

.50 M2HB “Ma Deuce” BMG

The Browning Machine Gun is chambered for the most awe-inspiring shoulder-fired cartridge to date. It is designed with one thing in mind: power tends to corrupt; absolute power is kinda sweet. The 800 grain powder load has 14,895 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle, which is enough to put a full metal jacketed round through three approaching vehicles. It has shot down helicopters with one round.
Now imagine a belt-fed machine gun spewing a curtain of these rounds at you at 1,200 rounds per minute. Special Sabot rounds can go clean through tanks.

6

Smith and Wesson Model 29 .44 Magnum Revolver

Made famous by Dirty Harry in 1971, it was invented in 1955, and is still thought of as one of the most powerful handguns in the world, though it has been eclipsed by the .500 magnum, the Desert Eagle .50 AE, the .454 Casull and a few others.
But what those other hand cannons lack is controlability and comparatively low cost. The .44 Magnum will still run you at least $800 new, which is a lot for a revolver, but very cheap compared to other magnums. You will not break your wrist shooting it, and yet it can drop Cape Buffaloes and Polar Bears. If I may be afforded one bad joke, it will make your day. Provided that you feel lucky. Punk.

5

The Mauser Model 1893 Bolt Action Rifle

The bolt action had been kicking around since at least 1824, when Paul Mauser and Co. patented the 1893 version in 7mm. It has become the benchmark, on which all bolt action rifles are based, and against which all are compared. There are three primary bolt action systems: the Lee-Enfield, the Mauser, and the Mosin-Nagant.
Of the three, the Mauser system is by far the most widespread, the most reliable, and the most battle-proven rifle mechanism the world has ever seen. The 1893 Mauser was the first, and original models still operate perfectly.

4

Colt Single Action Army Revolver

The icon of the Old West, the Colt .45 revolver was invented in 1873 and immediately caught on as extraordinarily accurate at close range, compared to the ball and cap conversions popular at the time. Its caliber was sufficient to flip a charging man backward off his feet. It can be used today to hunt deer and black bears. The larger powder loads can take down grizzly bears.
It’s as famous as the gun of Wyatt Earp, among other Old West celebrities.

3

Henry Repeating Rifle

The granddaddy of all lever-action firearms. Benjamin Tyler Henry invented it in 1860, but neither the Union nor Confederacy wanted much to do with it, as they were afraid their soldiers would fire too quickly and waste ammunition. If I may use a cliched joke, “military intelligence.” Thank you.
It fired a revolutionary, self-contained cartridge in .44 caliber, with 568 foot-pounds of stopping power, more than enough to put a man down. It held 16 rounds in a tube magazine, and a good man could fire 28 rounds per minute, so much better than 3 per minute with a muzzle-loading percussion cap musket, that if either side had adopted the rifle as standard for infantry, that side would certainly have won.

2

AK-47

Accurate enough to do the job out to about 400 yards, which is all anyone usually needs in a battle, the AK-47 is the ultimate pinnacle in rugged reliability. It will not break down under fire unless something catastrophic happens to it. You can drive a tank over it, throw it against a wall, submerge it in sand, water, mud, and every time it will go right on firing when you pull the trigger.
I know a Vietnam veteran who was walking through triple canopy jungle one day in 1966, came across an abandoned AK-47, and couldn’t get the bolt to slide back. It was too corroded from the rain and weather. The wood was rotting off. But he put it butt first on the ground, stomped the action open, and it chambered a round, which he fired accurately at a tree 50 yards away. He stomped the action open again, and it chambered another round, which he fired accurately.

1

Colt 1911 .45 ACP

Every bit as rugged and reliable as the AK-47, this handgun was invented by John Browning for the Colt Company, in 1911, as a sidearm for American soldiers. It immediately proved itself a world beater in WWI, again in WWII, and has been a cornerstone of the American military ever since.
But its most impressive feat has been the ease with which even untrained civilians can fire it accurately, keep it in working order, and defend themselves ably with it. 7 + 1 rounds of fat, man-stopping power perfect for close-range self-defense. Soldiers have dragged it through swamps in the Pacific Theater of WWII, with their fingers on the trigger, then whipped it out of the muck and fired all 8 rounds accurately.
The only way to improve on it would be to make it cheaper. You’ll spend $1,000 on one.

Measuring Bullets in Caliber

You’ve heard it on your favorite cop show, “looks like the killer used a twenty-two,” or, “he was killed with a nine millimeter.” But, if you’re curious like I was, you’re asking yourself, “what the heck is a twenty-two and what does it mean anyway?”
Well, common sense would suggest that the numbers have something to do with size and that is exactly correct. When you hear various numbers being mentioned related to bullets, the number being referred to is what’s called the bullet’s “caliber”. Caliber is a unit of measurement related to a bullet’s size. Specifically, what’s being described is the bullet’s diameter.

To be even more specific, the caliber of a bullet is the measurement of the diameter of the slug (or projectile) part of the bullet cartridge. This is important because in some situations, the bullet casing can be wider than the slug itself. But the caliber is specifically describing the width of the slug portion. Caliber does not refer to the length or power of the bullet, but simply the diameter of the bullet.

The Bottom Line: The Width of a Bullet Determine’s Its Caliber

I know, you’re thinking, “but what’s a twenty-two compared to a nine millimeter?” Well, as with all measurements, there’s the American way and the Metric way of measuring. The metric is simple, a nine millimeter (9mm) is exactly 9mm in diameter. The American measurement is a little different. A twenty-two (or 0.22) is exactly twenty-two one hundredths (22/100′s) of an inch in diameter – or a little less than a quarter of an inch. Similarly, a 0.38 is 38/100′s of an inch, a .50 caliber is a half inch, and so on.

Metal Storm: Fastest Firing Weapon

July 2005, Port Wakefield, Australia. A wide angle lens gives a dramatic perspective at the business end of four 40mm Metal Storm barrels being prepared for live fire testing of the Area Denial Weapon System by the Australian military’s Defense Science and Technology Organization. (Courtesy of Metal Storm)

“Combine stacked rounds with electronic firing, and you get game-changing technology that will provide a significant enhancement of small arms effectiveness in current and future operations.  Metal Storm is at the core of what I believe will be an inevitable shift from mechanical to electronic individual combat weapons.”  - Peter A. Faulkner, General Manager, Metal Storm Inc.
Metal Storm is a radically different concept for weapons and ammunition, the brainchild of a self-educated Australian inventor with brilliant intuition for practical applications in engineering, physics and electronics.  Following its genesis in the early 1990s, this novel electronic ballistics technology has suffered from what might charitably be termed unrealistic expectations.
Early claims of a rate of fire capability at 1 million rounds per minute inspired some fanciful applications ranging from covert wrist guns to missile defense.  Metal Storm has been a darling of the media, frequently seen on the Discovery Channel and others in highly sensationalized depictions of supergun abilities.  In one particularly memorable TV episode of CSI Miami, Metal Storm-like guns were seen literally vaporizing anyone who was on the muzzle end of this terrifying weapon.

1997, Australia. A video frame grab from the world-famous “Million Round a Minute” test firing shows the 36 barrel “Bertha” in full roar, launching 180 stacked 9mm projectiles in one-hundredth of a second. Video clips showing firing and effects on target have been widely broadcast by news organizations worldwide and continue to be a favorite on YouTube. (Courtesy of Metal Storm)

Million Rounds a Minute
James Michael O’Dwyer was 47 years old in 1991 when he sold his successful food wholesale business to devote his full energies to various inventions.  Two years later, he bet the remainder of his life savings and all the money he could borrow on development of a unique weapon system that, he strongly believed, would have revolutionary applications in military and law enforcement.
Years of work in O’Dwyer’s backyard garage/laboratory ultimately yielded what would become the internationally patented Metal Storm System.  A breakthrough came in 1996 when a formal study by US defense giant Lockheed Martin provided essential third-party validation for the radical concept.
Building on success of his single barrel prototype, constructed with the help of a local Australian engineer named Graham Bugden, O’Dwyer’s next breakthrough came in captivating media attention with a dramatic demonstration video.  News organizations worldwide picked up the demo clip showing an incomprehensibly fast burst of 9mm rounds from a box of 36 bullet-stacked barrels that O’Dwyer had whimsically named “Bertha.”  A lightning strike blast of 180 rounds stormed out in about one hundredth of a second.  Yes, that’s a rate of fire better than one million rounds a minute.
Bertha showed the way to a variety of devices utilizing O’Dwyer’s clever stacked munitions principle.  Prominent among these are a “smart” handgun, remotely fired munitions to replace traditional minefields, close-in protection for vehicles against ambushers and incoming rockets, plus gun pods for robotic vehicles.
But, thus far, none of these has achieved commercial success.
Game-Changing Technology
Finally, after many years of work, fueled by multimillions of dollars in developmental funding from private investors, industry partners and various military entities, the radically unconventional Metal Storm system seems on track for fielding in key roles in the Global War on Terror.
We recently talked to Metal Storm to separate the truth from the fiction and get an update on how the company has progressed from the patent office to the marketplace.
Peter Faulkner, General Manager of Metal Storm Incorporated, the U.S. licensee of Metal Storm Limited in Australia, told us, “The company has become intensely focused on product development over the past three years and the work is beginning to pay off.  We are close to offering the military and law enforcement communities real products rather than ideas.”
The real products Faulkner is referring to are the MAUL, 3GL and FireStorm.  Not nearly the million rounds per minute, battlefield clearing supergun once imagined by the Metal Storm inventor, but certainly more relevant to current tactical applications.

With a preloaded five-round ammo sleeve that extends from the tubular housing, Metal Storm’s 12 gauge (18mm) Multi-shot Accessory Underbarrel Launcher, fits neatly under a standard M4 Carbine. This simple, light and electrically fired shotgun is in an advanced state of development for Office of Naval Research on behalf of the US Marine Corps. It may be the first Metal Storm weapon to achieve actual military fielding and it has enormous potential for law enforcement sales. (Courtesy of Metal Storm)

MAUL Underbarrel Shotgun
Breaching shotguns of various types are in widespread use by American forces; all relatively heavy and mechanically actuated in form and function essentially unchanged for more than a century.
The Office of Naval Research, acting on behalf of the US Marine Corps, turned to MS for a better solution.  Of particular interest was the need to more efficiently launch the devilishly effective FRAG-12 fin-stabilized high explosive 12 gauge projectiles.
This was a Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory project to see if these specialized breaching rounds could be stacked.  MS delivered a bench test gun that proved successful as seen in live fire video linked on the MS website.  This has led to an ONR contract to actually build a weapon for the M4 carbine, the weapon of choice for MOUT scenarios, along with lethal and non lethal rounds.
It’s now known as MAUL, a particularly appropriate acronym derived from its formal name of Multishot Accessory Underbarrel Launcher.  Backed by funding of nearly a million dollars from ONR, this slim, light, electrically-fired semiauto clamp-on quickly loads with slip-in tubes pre-packed with up to five rounds of various types.  MAUL is fast tracked for delivery to the Navy by June 2009 for more detailed operational evaluations.
Caliber:  18mm (12 gauge)
Ammunition:  Lethal and less-lethal
Capacity:  Up to 5 rounds in preloaded sleeves
Operation:  Manually reloaded, electrically fired, semiautomatic
Weight Unloaded (underbarrel):  2 pounds
3GL Three Shot Grenade Launcher
The 40mm grenade launchers currently in US and allied military service that are suitable for mounting to a primary weapon such as the M4/M16 family are single shot devices.  Critical seconds are lost in reloading during intense firefights.
MS offers an alternative in the light and fast-firing 3GL, a semiautomatic grenade launcher with a trio of beefy 40mm rounds stacked in a single barrel.
While externally similar to recent modular grenade launchers with a pistol grip and rail mount points, the 3GL can be manually loaded by the soldier with three rounds in any combination of ammunition types, potentially from irritant cloud to high explosive.
Battery-powered electronic ignition cuts weight and complexity, allowing ultra-fast firing and improved reliability.  The grenadier can immediately engage up to three targets, “walk” his rounds to a precise impact point, or put multiple rounds into a single target for maximum effect.
Caliber:  40mm
Ammunition:  All common less lethal to lethal payloads
Capacity:  3 rounds
Operation:  Manually loaded, electrically fired, semiautomatic
Weight Unloaded (underbarrel):  5.1 pounds
Configuration:  Stand alone or attached to host weapon
The 3GL weapon and a new family of 40mm grenades that can be individually loaded by the grenadier are developing rapidly in close partnership with Singapore Technologies Kinetics (STK), known as one of the largest defense firms in Asia.
Dr. Lee Finniear, Metal Storm Limited’s CEO, confidently anticipates system safety certification so that sales demonstrations can begin soon.  “We can confirm that early in the New Year (2009) we expect to qualify the 3GL and ammunition for safe man-firing….”

.905 JDJ: Largest Caliber Rifle Round Ever Made

Shooting a .700 caliber packs a punch. Step it up to an almost unheard of .905 caliber, and you have a ballistic beast in your hands.

The Blaze brings you the  SSK industries .950 JDJ. It’s the biggest centerfire rifle ever made.

With a 2400 grain bullet, propelled by 240 grains of powder, the JDJ is comparable to a World War I-era tank round or a 20mm cannon in terms of kinetic energy.

Estimates are that one of these rounds would easily pass through several human targets– even if each were equipped with full body armor.

It was almost classified as a “destructive device” but a special “sportsman exception” was made for the JDJ.

The guys from Knight Rifles headed out to the range to give this monster a try. Very few people have ever shot the .950 JDJ as a rifle, as only 3 have been made.

This model was the first and the lightest coming in at a robust 50 lbs. The custom bullets cost about $40 each.

So what’s it like to shoot a bullet that nearly an inch wide and four inches tall? Well, it has been described as having “significant recoil” and in the video below, one of the shooters say “it’s like firing ten .30-06′s at once.”

Another shooter, after getting a taste of that vicious recoil, turned to his buddies and yelled “you lied to me. it kicks like a mule.”

The Greatest Sniper Shots Recorded

Snipers are the elite masters of the art of killing somebody from a distance before he or she has any idea what is going on. Of course, shooting from such a long range incurs a wide array of difficulties, leading to situations where making a successful shot is, by all logic and reason, impossible. It is in these situations where the best snipers sniff, wipe the sweat from their eyes and make the shot anyway.

#5. Matt Hughes Curves the Bullet

 
  Photos.com

Welsh Royal Marine sniper Matt Hughes was participating in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, looking for a perfect occasion to shoot some dudes from really far away. He found it in two Iraqi troops who were holding up the offensive. Hughes was ordered to take them out. And not out to dinner, unless they both ordered a lead steak. A tiny one, shaped like a bullet.

Photos.com
"Sir, I understand you didn't like it, but you've already eaten most of it. I'll have to get a manager."

The Shot:
The problem was that the wind was blowing tremendously. See, this is something that doesn't come up in the movies -- when you're trying to shoot from far away with any kind of wind, you have almost no goddamned idea where the bullet will end up. Sniping isn't just holding the cross hairs steady on the tiny soldier in the scope; it's trying to predict gusts of wind that could push the bullet into some innocent tree trunk 50 feet away. And yes, that's how much of a difference wind can make. You can not only miss the guy, but miss the whole house he's standing in.

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So that's what happened to all those road signs in the country!

Oh, and as if his fate were being written by the vengeful spirit of a vaudeville comedian, Hughes discovered that his targets were a little over a half mile away, which, powerful wind notwithstanding, was beyond the range of the rifle he was using. To make matters worse (and yes, there apparently was still room for them to get worse), the enemy soldier he was targeting was covered in a fortified position, with only a small portion of his head and torso exposed. Hughes would have only one chance, because if he took a shot and missed, the Iraqi would simply duck completely behind cover and never come back up. It'd be like if Luke Skywalker had been commanded to park his X-Wing at the beginning of the trench, and to lean out of the cockpit with a grenade wedged in his ass and try to power-shit it into the Death Star's exhaust port.
Cackling in the face of insurmountable odds, Hughes did his best to judge, based on the haze from the heat, how to aim the rifle to hit his target. His judgment led him to aim the shot 56 feet to the left and 38 feet high, which is another way of saying "Hughes pointed his gun in a totally unrelated goddamn direction."

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"If I can take out the sun, we'll kill the whole Iraqi army."

Either way, Hughes presumably prayed to the sniper gods and let off his first and only possible shot, not even remotely pointed toward his target, and watched as the arc of the bullet formed the shape of a giant banana and struck the enemy soldier directly in the chest. Needless to say, the Iraqi was killed, though we're fairly certain his last words were the equivalent of "Oh, no fucking way."

#4. Steve Reichert Shoots Through a Wall

Now here is one that you're not even allowed to do in most video games.
It happened when Marine Corps sniper Steve Reichert was taking part in a routine mission in Iraq, providing cover for a squad of fellow Marines from atop an oil tank, when the squad fell under attack by insurgents. Steadying himself and taking careful aim at the enemy onslaught, Reichert noticed something: three enemy soldiers sneaking around the back of a nearby building in an attempt to ambush his comrades with a very large machine gun.

Photos.com
A rare shot of the actual event.

The Shot:
Not about to let this happen, Reichert aimed his rifle at them just as they disappeared behind one of the building's brick walls. Refusing to let this seemingly minor vision handicap stop him, Reichert made his best guess and shot the goddamned wall from his position on the oil tank a little over a mile away.

At that distance, you'd never hear the shot. One second you'd have a head, and the next, you wouldn't.

The single round took out all three of the insurgents.
One of them had been hit by the bullet and was killed outright, while the other two were struck down by brick and bullet fragments blasted out by Reichert's shot. He had neutralized three targets that were behind a wall with a single shot made a mile out. For his actions, he was awarded the Bronze Star and a full scholarship to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.

We're pretty sure they did it out of pure fear.

#3. Carlos Hathcock Shoots a Dude Through His Scope

Carlos Hathcock was a U.S. Marine Corps sniper who had racked up a high enough kill count during his two tours in the Vietnam War to earn a bounty on his head for $30,000 from the North Vietnamese government. Inspired by the bounty, an unknown Vietnamese sniper set out to try and kill Hathcock, unaware that to do so would be like trying to sneak up on Batman and slap him in the penis.

Via Atruepatrio.tumblr
"I'm gonna take on this next assassin drunk and blindfolded. It just isn't sporting otherwise."

The Shot:
Hathcock was drawn out of camp when the enemy sniper shot several of his fellow Marines, despite knowing that the man was simply trying to bait him. So it was sort of like Enemy at the Gates, only with fewer fake German accents. To avoid a hasty debraining via high-velocity bullet, Hathcock would have to move slowly and stay out of sight, so he crawled the distance between himself and the other sniper on his stomach, making sure to keep the sun behind him.
He kept going like this until he thought he saw a glint of light, like when the sun is reflected off a piece of glass during a boss battle in Metal Gear Solid 3.

Photos.com
"Ha! Found you!"

The experienced Hathcock fired at the glimmer, knowing it to be either his foe or a tiny mirror placed out in the jungle for no conceivable reason. As it turns out, it was the former, and Hathcock's bullet passed clean through the enemy sniper's scope from 500 yards away, threading the needle at close to one-third of a mile.
Bear in mind that the typical rifle scope is only a couple of inches wide at the very most, so Hathcock had to place his shot perfectly for the bullet to pass through it and not hit the sides of the device. Also, the enemy sniper had to have been facing him, with his gun more or less leveled directly toward Hathcock's position. So, in the span of the half-second he had to spare before his foe spotted him and erased him from time, Hathcock fired a round through a 2-inch circle he wasn't even positive was there, draped in dense jungle about three city blocks away.

Getty
"My unexploded face sense is tingling!"

#2. Mike Plumb Saves His Victim's Life

Photos.com

SWAT sniper Michael Plumb arrived on the scene with the rest of his unit to find a suicidal man named Douglas Conley sitting on a lawn chair in the middle of the street, ranting and holding a revolver to his head. Conley refused to let any police officers come near him, becoming more and more agitated each time they tried to approach and raising the gun to his chin. Conley's volatile state, coupled with the fact that he was ignoring all the police's demands, led Plumb's commander to finally give him the go-ahead to fire.
Wait, what? That's how we handle a guy who's threatening suicide -- we call in a sniper to shoot his ass and get it over with?

Photos.com
And people say the government isn't efficient!

Not exactly. Plumb's task was to shoot Conley in a way that would prevent him from shooting himself. Good luck!
The Shot:
Instead of trying to hit the man, Plumb was to attempt to assassinate the tiny .38 snub-nosed revolver Conley was holding in his hand, from 60 yards away. You've seen this gun in countless movies -- this is a weapon that is barely larger than a person's hand:

Via Wikimedia Commons
It's the one they let Joe Pesci use so he looks normal sized by comparison.

So, with Conley's crazy ass fingers wrapped around it, there was maybe about an inch or two of non-person for Plumb to target. It was the first time that group of SWAT snipers had ever been cleared to fire their rifles during a call, and it was arguably the craziest shot ever attempted by police.
So, Mike Plumb lined up over half a football field away and shot a single round that smashed into Conley's gun and blew it to pieces.
Here is a video of Plumb's sorcery:

A stunned Conley struggled to maintain his composure, as if he had ordered the gun to explode with his thoughts, and was promptly tackled by the police.

#1. Navy SEALs

Via Kpbs.org

The Maersk Alabama was a cargo ship that was captured by pirates while floating off of the coast of Somalia. In exchange for the lives of his crew, the captain of the Maersk, Richard Phillips, offered to be taken captive. The pirates agreed.
Following the hijacking, the pirates set off in a lifeboat with their captive and demanded a ransom of several million dollars, because evidently Phillips had told them he was Bruce Wayne or something. The United States government responded by sending the Navy's USS Bainbridge to follow the lifeboat, which, to be fair, is what several million dollars would look like if you spent it on a guided missile destroyer.

Via Wikipedia
"You can even have the missiles, too. Catch!"

As the USS Bainbridge followed the boat, it picked up a team of Navy SEALs who had parachuted into the sea nearby, because being a SEAL means you are required to make your entrance like William Shatner on a game show.
The Shot:
The SEALs had orders from the president not to act unless the life of the captain was in immediate danger, so they took up positions around the Bainbridge and waited. They managed to get their chance when two pirates poked their heads out of the lifeboat, and they were able to see the last pirate through the boat's window, pointing an AK-47 at Phillips' back. After deciding that an assault rifle aimed at the captain sufficiently constituted an immediate danger, three of the SEALs fired.

Photos.com
"Aim for their good eye."

And three pirates fell dead.
By using what we assume was telepathic communication, the moment the SEALs saw the pirates, they fired, each at a different target and in unison so that no pirate had any time to react before his head turned into memories. Phillips was rescued, and the SEALs presumably rose from the ocean on jet packs to rendezvous with a space helicopter that flew them back to their base in a hollow mountain.

Photos.com
On the fucking moon.