020 - Millennial v. Master Sargent: Gun Terms You Might Hear On The Range
Odds are if you are on this page you heard a phrase or military term at the gun range you just weren't sure you knew. This article is designed to fill you in on military terms you may not know. You know what, let's do one better than that, let's ask our resident first-person shooter game playing, millennial, camera guy Marty some range trivia and watch as Master Sargent Ken Roberts sets this young'n straight as we work toward one day handing Marty his very own Man-Card. And odds also are that if you went to look up one of these below military terms you were practicing at the range on your fire accuracy. If that is the case and you haven't taken Ken's Beginning Pistol course you need to check that out as well. Accidental discharge (AD) (Noun)- Otherwise known as Unintentional discharge. Any shot of a gun which is not deliberate. Blow-back (Adjective) - The method of operating low-powered semi-automatic guns. The bolt is literally 'blown' open by the cartridge when the gun is fired. It is normally used for .22 rimfire ammunition only, as any more powerful cartridge would require either an excessively heavy bolt and/or a very strong spring to keep the breach sealed until the pressure had dropped to a safe level before opening the chamber. Brass (Noun) - A term used to mean empty, bullet casings. Bravo Sierra (BS) (Noun)- US military initials for the word "Bullshit" Can (Noun) - Firearm silencer or sound suppressor. Carbine (Adjective/Noun)– Commonly used today to indicate any rifle of short overall length- generally, the barrel is shortened. Chain Fire (Verb) - The unintentional discharge of a black powder revolver firing several cylinders at once. A hazardous scenario caused by the bullet ignition, I.E. flashover, from the cylinder being fired, igniting adjacent unfired cylinders due to poor sealing of the chambers. Clearing (Verb) -Fixing a chamber malfunction or unloading a gun and insuring it is unloaded Controlled Pair (Noun) - Two shots fired in rapid succession. Not the "double tap" because in a controlled pair, the second shot will be fired after the shooter has obtained a second sight picture. Cover (Noun) - Hat or Helmet Cross-Dominant (Adjective) - A shooter who is right-handed but left-eyed, or left-handed and right-eyed. Double Feed (Phrase) - A malfunction where the bullet case fails to eject from a semi-automatic firearm and blocks the chamber forcing the new round to not chamber. FUBAR (Phrase) - F***** Up Beyond All Repair Full Metal Jacket (Noun) FMJ- A copper casing called a jacket covering a bullet. These comply with the Geneva Convention on Land Warfare, which specifies that expanding ammunition must not be used against human targets. Grape - One's head in the US Army or Marines. For example: "Put your cover [hat] on your grape." whereas fighter pilots in the Airforce call a grape an aircraft/pilot that is easy to shoot down. Inner-10 (Noun) - The smaller ring enclosed by the 10-ring on a target. Normally the Inner-10 does not have a score value, it is used as a tie-breaker between competitors with an identical numerical score; the one with the higher number of Inner-10's being the winner IPSC (Noun) - The International Practical Shooting Confederation is an agreed-upon set of standard scoring for competitions. It also describes a torso target that is used in these competitions with an "A" being the center of the chest and head. Keep Your Booger Hook Off Of The Bang Switch (Phrase) - "Keep Your Finger Off Of The Trigger Of A Firearm." A basic safety protocol of operating a firearm. Putting a finger on the trigger of a firearm should be one of the last steps of shooting, performed after the firearm has been shouldered and aiming downrange has begun. Keyhole (Noun) -A bullet hole caused by a tumbling bullet or the bullet holes in target shooting that are so close together as to form a 'keyhole' shaped group on the target. Moon Clip (Noun) – A flat, circular loading device for revolvers On the double (Phrase) - As quickly as possible; without delay. Operator (Noun)- Military persons qualified/certified to physically operate a weapon system. First used by Delta Force to distinguish between operational and non-operational personnel assigned to the unit. Oscar-Mike (Verb, Phrase) - On the Move, from the phonetic alphabet. Pull Distance (Noun) – The distance the trigger must travel before it reaches the breakpoint and fires the gun. Braden Langley will talk a lot about this in this free download of Pistol Academy 101. Racking The Slide (Verb) – The one action process of loading the chamber. Pulling the slide back to its rearmost position, and then letting it go forward under its own spring tension. Rig (Noun) - a gunbelt used for competition or duty that can hold multiple magazines Sabot (Noun) – Ad device that allows a firearm to shoot ammunition for which it is not built for. A lightweight carrier surrounding a heavier projectile of reduced caliber. Shitbird (Noun) - An individual in the military unit everyone rags on or hates for making life harder on everyone. "...Since Jesus was a corporal" (Phrase) - (US Army and Marines) For a very long time. Example: "I haven't been home since Jesus was a corporal." Snubby (Noun) – A short-barreled revolver. Spray and Pray (Verb) – Rapidly firing many shots at a target as possible in the hope that one or more may hit the target. Squib (Noun) – Duds or rounds of ammunition which has less power than it is supposed to, often having no powder at all. Weapon System (Noun) - A weapons system is a device or coordinated set of devices or objects that consists of one or more weapons and a means of delivery as well as integral equipment and materiel. A weapons system is distinguished from a weapon in that while it incorporates one or more weapons in many instances it can also be used for other purposes.