The Annies

Intro

Let's face it, some women (and some of you guys) are afraid of guns. As the media keeps showing, in the wrong hands, they are clearly dangerous. But so is a car. If used safely and correctly, a firearm can be a very rewarding tool as well as something to defend yourself and your loved ones. The issue then becomes, knowing how to be safe.

Types of Firearms

There are two basic types of firearms, long guns and handguns. In general, these descriptions apply:

Long Guns
- Rifles
  - long barrel
  - has a shoulder stock
  - shoots a single projectile per shot
  - the barrel is rifled (grooves cut in barrel to give the projectile a stabilizing spin)
  - meant to be shot with the butt of the stock secured to your shoulder
  - Shotguns
- Shotguns
  - long barrel
  - usually has a shoulder stock, but can have just a pistol grip
  - shoots multiple, small pellets per shot (varies by type)
  - the barrel is smooth (no rifling)
  - meant to be shot with the butt of the stock secured to your shoulder (unless using pistol grip)
Hand Guns
- Revolvers
  - contains a cylinder that holds multiple shots
  - they do not have a "safety" - they are inherently safe
  - they have been around since the Civil War era
- Pistols
  - contains a magazine (a pre-loaded package of bullets)
  - they are self-loading after each shot
  - they have been around since before 1900

Types of Ammo

Types of Ammo
- Center Fire
  - This is the most common type of cartrage
  - The firing pin strikes a small "cap" in the center of the casing
- Rim Fire
  - This type of cartrage is generally used only by .22s
  - The "firing pin" strikes the rim of the casing to ignite the powder

Caliber vs. mm vs. Gauge

The following information is a brief, reasonably accurate list of the most popular sizes of bullets. It is intended for beginners, and does not go into any real detail.

Calibers

Caliber is a measure of the bullet in inches

Calibers	Weapon Type	Notes
.17	Rifle	Relatively new caliber While very small, it flies very fast Popular for use against small varmits
.22 Short	Handgun	Weakest bullet made Popular for simple target practice
.22 Long Rifle	Rifle/Handgun	Most popular .22 caliber Best if purchased in "bricks"
.22 Magnum	Rifle/Handgun	The big brother of the .22 family Polular for use against small varmits
.223	Rifle	Civilian version of the 5.56mm Popular as a heavy varmit gun
.25 Auto	Semi-Auto Handgun	Underpowered round used in very small automatics
.30-06	Rifles	Standard US Army round adopted in 1906 Popular hunting round
.308	Rifles/MGs	Civilian version of the 7.62x51mm round A popular hunting round
.32 Auto	Semi-Auto Handgun	Underpowered round used in very small automatics
.338 Lapua	Rifle	Relatively new round Popular with sharpshooters & snipers
.380	Semi-Auto Handgun	Underpowered round used in very small automatics Also called 9mm Kurtz (short)
.38 Special	Revolver	Low end .38 caliber round
.38	Revolver	Popular round used by police and military prior to the popularity of semi-automatics (generally 9mm)
.357 Sig	Pistol	Relatively new round Invented by Sig Saur
.357 Magnum	Revolver	Powerful handgun round Popular with police .357 Magnum pistols can actually fire .38s, but not vice versa
.40	Pistol	A relatively new round More powerful than the popular 9mm without too much overpenetration
.41 Magnum	Revolver	An uncommon but powerful handgun round
.44 Magnum	Revolver	"Dirty Harry" gun Very powerful handgun round
.45 ACP	Handguns	2nd most popular round Flies slowly, but with a lot of punch Over 100 year old design
.454 Casule	Revolver	Huge revolver round Not very common
.50 AE (Action Express)	Revolver	Huge revolver round Not very common
.50 BMG (Browning Machine Gun)	Sniper Rifle & the M2 BMG	An enourmous round Ranges in excess of a mile Massive damage

Calibers

MM is a measure of the bullet in millimeters

mm	Weapon Type	Notes
5.56mm	NATO Rifles	Military version of the .223 Used by many NATO forces
5.7mm	FN Rifle & Pistol	Used exclusively by the FN P90 and FN Five-seveN
7.5mm	Swiss Rifles	Used in Swiss rifles only
7.62x38	Revolver	Used exclusively by the old Russian Nagant revolver A relatively weak round by today's standards A unique round because the bullet is inside the casing
7.62x39	Soviet Assault Rifles	Very popular round used by the AK47 and others Cheap!
7.62x51	Rifles & Med MGs	Used by the heavier NATO Assault rifles Popular round used by snipers Military version of the .308
7.62x54	Rifles & Med MGs	Used by the Soviet rifles in WWI & WWII Standard Soviet sniper rifle round Used by some Soviet MGs
7.63	Old semi-auto round	Popular in its day Weak by today's standards Occasionally called .30 cal pistol round Most often used by P08 Lugars and M96 "Broomhandle" Mausers before be rechambered to the more powerful 9mm
7.92 Mauser (AKA 8mm)	Rifles & WWII German MGs	A popular round used by the German Army (and others) since the late 1800's
8mm Label	Grench Rifles & WWII MGs	Popular during WWI and WWII Uncommon these days
9mmx18	Pistols	A common Soviet pistol round Not to be confused with the very popular 9mmx19
9mm (9mmx19)	Pistols	The most popular pistol round in the world Sometimes followed by the name "Luger" or "Parabellum" Not to be confused with the Soviet 9mmx18
10mm	Pistols	A new round that never caught on Similar to the .40
12.7x102	Heavy Soviet MGs	An enourmous round Ranges in excess of a mile Massive damge

Gauges

Shotguns shoot rounds measured in gauges. Unlike other rounds, the smaller the gauge, the larger the bore.

Gauge	Weapon Type	Notes
.410	Shotguns	The weakest of all shotguns A good starter shotgun for kids This "gauge" is actually a "caliber"
20 Gauge	Shotguns	A weak shotgun A good starter shotgun for kids
12 Gauge	Shotguns	By far the most popular Used by hunters, police & the military
10 Gauge	Shotguns	A big shotgun Not very common

Targets

We are not a hunting club. We will not be killing anything other than pizza boxes, cans, paper targets, etc. We do not have anything against responsible hunting, but that is not the focus of our group.

The "Annies"