How Do Guns Work?
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How does a gun fire a bullet? The hammer strikes the firing pin into the primer at the back of the bullets casing, this ignites the primer which in turn ignites the propellant otherwise known as gunpowder, this causes the powder to burn which produces a gas, this gas is under very high pressure and the only way for it to escape the gun is to push the bullet out the end of the barrel. This utilization of internal forces is responsible for the bullet moving off in the desired direction.
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/ Ignition of primer
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Graphic from bestanimations.com depicts a pistol firing a bullet
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To better understand the physics of firearms its important to understand how they work in the first place. Bullets in particular come in many calibers but are generally fired 2 different ways, rimfire or centerfire. Smaller rounds such as 22. long rifle are examples of rimfire, while larger calibers such as 9mm and greater use a centerfire system.
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