Colt .45 Peacemaker

revolver

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invention by Colt

In Samuel Colt
45-calibre Peacemaker model, introduced in 1873, became the most-famous sidearm of the American West.
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gun

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Know about the fundamental limitation of chemical tests and the advantage of scanning electron microscope in detecting the source of gun residues

gun

weapon

Also known as: firearm

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

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Key People:: John C. Garand; William Greener; Henry Deringer; Amos Whitney; Elisha King Root

Related Topics:: small arm; artillery; gun control; blowgun; bazooka

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gun, weapon consisting essentially of a metal tube from which a missile or projectile is shot by the force of exploding gunpowder or some other propellant. In military science, the term is often limited to cannon larger than a howitzer or mortar, although these latter two types, like all tube-fired artillery pieces, also fall within the general definition of a gun.

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Guns also include such military small arms as the musket, rifle, machine gun, and pistol, as well as such nonmilitary sport firearms as the shotgun. Bazookas and other rocket launchers, which launch self-propelled projectiles, are not guns, though they perform many of the same functions. (See also military technology.)

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