Introduction to Firearms: The Absolute Basics

Hi there. Let's talk about firearms.

Basically everyone has seen a firearm at some point in their life. Firearms are present in countless television shows, movies, and video games, there's a large community of gun owners online, and, if you're an American, there's a pretty good chance you at least know someone that owns a firearm.

But, it's entirely possible that your exposure, particularly from media sources, constitutes the sum total of your knowledge regarding firearms. Rambo has that big gun, Dirty Harry had the Magnum, cowboys had guns, the sniper rifle in Call of Duty is pretty cool, and so on.

Let me be very clear: that's okay.

Firearms, despite their media saturation, are something of a niche interest. And in that niche there exists a pretty wide array of related but separate interests and disciplines. Each and every aspect of firearms ownership has a vast amount of information available, often in incredibly painstaking detail.

I'll get into a number of these specific interests in future posts, but the purpose of this post is to give the absolute beginner a starting point and a baseline amount of knowledge that applies pretty much across the entire spectrum of firearms.

What is a firearm?

A firearm is a tool that creates and controls an explosion to propel a projectile at high speeds.

That is the fundamental principle of a firearm. Scissors use opposing cutting edges to slice through material, a hammer uses weight and focused impact to drive material in the desired direction, a knife cuts, a spoon carries, and a firearm propels a projectile.

The task is determined by the user, not the tool.

Types of Firearms

Firearms can generally be broken up into two categories, handguns and long guns, and both are fairly self-descriptive.

Handguns are small, capable of being carried in and fired by one hand. Handguns can be further broken down into two categories: semi-automatic pistols and revolvers.

Semi-automatic pistols are, usually, what you see in modern police television and movies. They are magazine-fed, commonly carrying anywhere from 7 to 20 rounds.

Revolvers are commonly seen in media featuring cowboys and the Wild West. They, usually but not always, carry six rounds in a cylinder mounted in the firearm that revolves as the weapon is fired.

Long guns are, as the name indicates, long. They are usually fired from the shoulder and can generally be broken into three categories: muzzleloaders, rifles, and shotguns.

Muzzleloaders can be seen in Revolutionary and Civil War era media. Their name comes from the fact that they are loaded from the muzzle, which is the end of the firearm where the projectile is expelled. They are less common today but still see quite a bit of use by hunters.

Rifles are likely the most common firearm on the planet, seeing use by every nation's military and enjoying a substantial share of the various civilian uses as well. Rifles differ from muzzleloaders in two significant ways: rounds are loaded into the rear of the barrel and the barrel has a series of grooves cut into the interior, called rifling, that impart spin onto the bullet as it leaves the barrel. This stabilizes the projectile and enables incredible accuracy at astounding distances.

Shotguns are common in media, but they look very similar to rifles in form and can be somewhat difficult to identify. The most distinctive shotgun is the pump action shotgun, identified by the telltale shikt kilkt sound as the shotgun is pumped, ejecting and loading another shell. Shotguns are commonly smoothbore, like muzzleloaders, without any rifling in the barrel, but there are a number of shotguns that do have rifled barrels.

Firearms can, for the most part, be broken down into these distinct categories. There are some exceptions, of course, as well as further distinctions that can be made within each specific category, but I will cover those in a future post.

Parts of a Firearm

Firearms have a number of parts that are common between them, regardless of category. This section will provide a brief description of the various parts that are present in basically every firearm.

Barrel: an essential component, this is the tube the bullet passes through. As described above, this can be smooth on the inside, smoothbore, or have a series of grooves cut on the interior surface that is called rifling.

Stock: the part of a long gun that the user braces against their shoulder. There have been a few handgun designs that utilize a stock as well, but they are uncommon and can be subject to some pretty severe restrictions by American law.

Chamber: this the space behind the barrel where the bullet rests in preparation for being fired.

Firing pin: this is what actually fires the bullet by striking and igniting the primer inside the cartridge.

Trigger: the piece, generally a curved piece of metal, that the shooter pulls to activate the firing pin and fire the weapon.

Sights: these come in a huge variety. Iron sights are commonly a piece of metal with a V-shaped groove on top of the barrel at the rear and a rectangular piece on top of the barrel at the front that the shooter lines up on the target. Scopes will likely be the subject of a future post, but they are generally a tube that rests on top of the firearm that gives the shooter a magnified image.

Magazine: essentially just a box with a spring in it that feeds ammunition into the firearm. There's several different variations, but the purpose remains the same. You may have heard these referred to as "clips." This is technically inaccurate, and the generally accepted definition is that a clip feeds a magazine and a magazine feeds a firearm. This can be a pretty heated topic, but for the most part if you say "clip" and mean "magazine" then most people are just going to let it slide past or gently correct you. But there are people that just absolutely hate the confusion and aren't afraid to tell you.

Now, this is just an incredibly basic and noncomprehensive list of parts, but if you've got those parts, you've probably got yourself a firearm. There are, of course, nearly endless variations within these basic components as well as a truly ridiculous number of additional parts. There are actually some firearms that don't even have everything on that list, but those are weird exceptions that are beyond the scope of this post.

Ammunition, the stuff that goes bang

Ammunition consists of a casing, usually brass, that holds a powder charge, a primer, and a bullet and the entire package is called a cartridge. When the trigger is pulled, the firing pin strikes the primer which ignites the powder charge and propels the bullet.

Modern ammunition mostly falls into two categories, rimfire and centerfire.

Rimfire ammunition consists of a solid case that has the primer essentially painted on the inside of the case and the firing pin strikes the rim, denting the rim and activating the primer. The .22LR (long rifle) cartridge is one of the oldest cartridge designs in existence and is incrediby common and inexpensive. Nearly every rifle manufacturer has some kind of .22LR option and nearly every gun owner owns or has owned a rifle chambered in .22LR.

Centerfire ammunition uses a primer housed in the center of the casing that ignites when struck by the firing pin.

With only a few exceedingly rare and little known exceptions, all ammunition falls into either the rimfire or the centerfire categories.

Caliber and gauge are how ammunition is measured. Caliber will be presented in either inches or millimeters, while gauge is its own measurement. Caliber is used, almost exclusively, for handgun and rifle ammunition, while gauge is used, with one common exception, exclusively for shotguns.

Caliber is measured in usually hundredths, and occasionally up to thousandths, of an inch, such as the .22LR I mentioned previously, or in millimeters, with a very common cartridge being the 9mm cartridge.

Gauge is used for shotgun shells and can be a little confusing, as a lower number actually indicates a larger bore. Gauge, as a unit of measurement, is determined by the weight of a sphere of lead that fits inside the bore. That is basically just a fun fact and largely irrelevant. Shotguns are almost always going to be found in either 12 or 20 gauge or in .410 caliber. There are various other gauges available, but those three are by far the most common.

Basic Firearms Safety

Always treat the firearm as if it were loaded.

Never point the firearm at anything you are not willing to destroy.

Do not place your finger on the trigger until you are absolutely sure you are ready to fire.

Always be aware of your target as well as what is beyond it.

These rules are not optional. There are countless tragedies that could have been averted by following them, and there is absolutely never any justifiable reason to break them.

The firearm is always loaded: Even after checking the firearm and verifying the chamber is empty, treat it as if it were loaded. No exceptions. Ever.

Never point the firearm at anything you are not willing to destroy: Also known as muzzle discipline, this rule must be obeyed. It's not cool, it's not funny, it doesn't matter if you're staring at the empty chamber while you do it, never point the firearm at anyone or anything that you are not willing to destroy.

Do not place your finger on the trigger until you are absolutely sure you are ready to fire: Also known as trigger discipline or, my personal favorite, keep your booger hook off the bang switch. This isn't the movies, spinning the firearm around on your finger isn't a fun party trick.

Always be aware of your target as well as what is beyond it: Bullets can and do pass through all kinds of things with ease. Make damn sure you not only know what you're shooting but also what is behind whatever you're shooting. Check your target and your surroundings.

I cannot ever stress enough how incredibly important these rules are. I mentioned in the beginning that a firearm is a tool. This is true. What is also true is that firearms are dangerous and deadly tools that can and do destroy or end lives if used improperly or stupidly.

You may have seen the terms accidental or negligent discharge used. It is my sincere belief that there is no such thing as an "accidental" discharge. It is true, but incredibly rare, that a firearm can be rendered unsafe through various causes to the point that it will fire if dropped or bumped, but it is your responsibility to ensure you're not loading a firearm that can do that.

If your firearm "just goes off" then you've done something terribly wrong.

Obey the damn rules. There's only four of them, it's not an outlandish feat.

The firearm is always loaded.

Never point the firearm at anything you are not willing to destroy.

Do not place your finger on the trigger until you are absolutely sure you are ready to fire.

Always be aware of your target as well as what is beyond it.

Four rules. Obey them.

Final thoughts

Thank you for making it this far. There is an incredible amount of information I didn't cover, as each individual section could easily be expanded on in probably dozens of posts the same length as this one. But, I truly hope that if you have even a passing interest in firearms but not much experience then I've managed to teach you something.

I welcome any and all questions and truly believe there is no such thing as a "stupid" question. There is no shame in not knowing something and the only way to change that is to seek out the answer.

I also welcome suggestions and requests for future posts. I have a number of topics in mind, but will gladly expand on anything I've discussed.

I sincerely appreciate you taking your time to read this and I hope you'll be here next time. Thank you.