More About Equipment and Weaponry Quiz

Answer: The Dreyse Needle Rifle.

The German Manufacturer, Johann Nikolaus Von Dreyse, developed the needle rifle in 1836. It was adapted for use by the Prussian army in 1841. In the 1866 Austro-Prussian War, the rifle proved impressive against the Austrian troops equipped with muzzle loading rifles.

The Needle Rifle was so named because of the unique ignition system. The breech end of the bolt had a 13MM long firing pin which, when fired, drove through a paper cartridge loaded in the breech end of the rifle. The "needle" then struck a percussion cap in the base of the bullet. Although it was a single shot it had a firing rate 3 to 4 time that of a muzzle loading rifle.

Answer: Hiram Maxim.

Sir Hiram Maxim was an American inventor who emigrated to England. In the 1880s Maxim patented a method for using recoil and gas pressure to operate firearms in a semi-automatic and/or automatic mode. In 1884 he developed the first "modern" self-powered, machine gun.

By the First World War several types of machine guns had been developed all of which operated on the same general principals of the original Maxim Gun.

Answer: The Hall Rifle.

The Hall Model 1819 rifle was issued in large numbers to the U.S. Army. Starting in 1821 and continuing for several years the rifle was distributed to various units. It was never considered the standard arm as it was considered to be too complicated for the average soldier to use.

Answer: No

In order for a .38Cal revolver to function normally, the cartridge must have a slight extension or rim at the base of the cartridge case. This rim prevents the cartridge case from moving forward in the revolver's cylinder, as well as providing an area that enables the extractor/ejector to operate on modern side loading revolvers.

In semi-automatics the entire cartridge must be .38in in diameter in order to fit smoothly into the breech. To enable the hand gun's extractor/ejector to function, the base of the cartridge case must have a recessed groove just forward of the base for the extractor/ejector to "grab". Cartridges made for semi-auto hand guns are designated by the suffix ACP.

There is an exception to this differential. The Smith & Wesson Model 52 is a rare semi-auto target pistol that is designed to fire a .38Cal special "wad cutter" target round.

Answer: U.S. Machine Gun, Cal .50, M2.

The M2 Cal .50 Machine Gun has been in service since 1921 and is still going strong. With minor modification to the basic 1921 design and varying mounting systems, the "Ma Deuce" has been used as a both an offensive and defensive weapon installed on everything from jeeps to battleships.

Answer: The Colt third model Dragoon, "The Sultan of Turkey".

This presentation Colt third model dragoon was presented to the Turkish Sultan Abdulmecid in 1857. An identical pistol was presented to Czar Nicholas I of Russia and is presently in the Heritage Museum in St Petersburg.

The highly embellished "Sultan of Turkey" Dragoon was donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in 1995, and is considered the centerpiece of their Arms and Armor exhibit. At the time of donation an offer of over 5 Million dollars was refused.

The Colt Model 1873 single action army, serial No.1 is presently in private hands having been put up at auction for an estimated 1 millon dollars in 2007.

The .45 Cal. Luger is one of two firearms submitted, by Luger, to the U.S. Army for testing in 1907, when the Army decided to change service pistols from a .38 Cal. revolver to a .45 Cal semi-automatic pistol. Serial No. 1 has disapeared and is generally thought to have been discarded after extensive testing. Serial No. 2 is in a private collection. Over the years a few more .45 Cal lugers are rumored to have appeared, apparently from Europe after the war. The estimated value of Luger No 2 is close to 1 million dollars.

The Colt Patterson serial No.1 is not known to exist.

Answer: Magazine and clip are essentially the same in configuration and use

A magazine is enclosed on all side except the top and is loaded from the top against a spring loaded follower which presses the cartridges up into the receiver when the weapon's action operates. A magazine may be separate from, or integral to, a firearm.

A clip is usually a simple strip of metal which holds 5 to 10 rounds together at their base for ease of loading into a magazine. an exception to this is the "en-bloc" clip used in the U.S. Rifle Cal .30 M1, the Garand. This clip is enclosed on three sides, (back and the two sides) and is open at the front, top and bottom.

Almost all automatic and semi-automatic hand guns use magazines which are inserted into the pistol's grip. An exception is the Mauser Model C97 which used a "stripper" clip to load rounds into a permanently mounted magazine located forward of the trigger housing.

With few exceptions, revolvers cannot accommodate ammunition loaded in clips. The Remington Model M1917 was designed to accommodate half or full "moon" clips which held 3 and six rounds respectively. This enabled the revolver to quickly reloaded in a combat situation.

In most military bolt action rifles, rounds are loaded into the receiver using stripper clips which fall away after the last round is loaded. An exception is the British Lee-Enfield Short Magazine, Cal .303 Mk III. The SMLE had a box magazine into which rounds were loaded using clips.

Answer: The rifle had to be reloaded a single cartridge at a time.

The Krag-Jorgensen repeating bolt action rifle was adopted to replace the single shot Model 1873 Springfield trapdoor rifle. Unlike other repeating bolt action rifles being developed at about the same time, which used stripper clips to load 5 cartridges at a time, the Krag used a side loading port which had to be loaded one round a time to the capacity of 5 rounds in the internal magazine. This feature was one of the reasons the U.S. Army adopted the rifle as it was felt the at average soldier would be "wasteful" of ammunition in rapidly loaded rifles.

In the Spanish-American War, Spanish soldiers were equipped with the new Mauser Model 98 which was loaded with a five round clip into an internal magazine. At the Battle of San Juan Hill it became painfull obvious to the American that the Mauser could put out a much greater rate of fire. Shortly after the war the Army began the developement process which led to the adoption of the Springfield Rifle Model 1903.

Answer: Before the 15th century.

From the earliest development of cannons, the ability to load the weapon from the breech was seen as desirable. The technology of the time, however, was not able to produce an effective system of breech loading. The basic system used in the 14 century breech loaders was a cannon barrel, open at the top rear of the barrel, into which was wedged a "mug" shaped container charged with powder and shot. Unable to effect any kind of a good seal with this system, it did not produce enough power and range to be effective in most cannons. For small, shipboard, antipersonnel weapons, however, which were usually mounted on swivels, the system proved adequate as the range was short and the ability to reload quickly was desirable.

Answer: Both the receiver and the magazine are behind the trigger assembly.

This configuration allows for a shorter, lighter, and more maneuverable rifle while retaining the same barrel length as a conventional rifle. The Bull-Pup configuration can only be used on automatic and semi-automatic rifles as it would be awkward to operate a bolt action in this position.

A basic difficulty with this system is the hazard to left handed shooter as the weapon would eject spent cartridge cases into the face of a left handed shooter.