The M16 Assault rifle came into service in 1962 to replace the M1 Garand and other types of single automatic rifle. The M16 has a direct gas impingement system, meaning, after the firing pin hits the the primer and the bullet is sent down the barrel, propellent gas builds up behind the bullet and then is siphoned into the gas tube and sent back to the bolt carrier. After the bullet is shot the bolt moves back and and compresses the buffer spring as small as it can and then picks up the next bullet. Empty, the M16 weighs about 6 pounds,roughly 39 inches long. It can roughly shoot about 650-750 rounds per minute. With a sight that extends to 500m the most effective shot at the farthest distance would be around 460m. The M16 is made from 7075 T6 aluminum alloy, and the barrel is made from 4051 Chrome-moly steel. The M16 There are 4 different model types of the M16; M16, M16A1, M16A2, and the M16A3. The difference of these guns are very minimal, with the big differences being only cosmetic. Many different accessories can be mounted to a M16, like a grenade launcher, a shotgun attachment, flame thrower and many more.…
With tough conditions, soldiers at Valley Forge were struggling to survive. In October 1777, George Washington hadn’t been able to stop General Howe and his troops march their way into Philadelphia. Washington was having difficulties keeping his soldiers hopeful. Men who had been there for nine months were going home and not coming back. In fact, people were questioning Washington’s leadership, and some Philadelphians were even welcoming the British.…
The Battle of the Lone Pine was intended to be a diversion. The Australian and New Zealand Army fought in the trenches. They stayed in the trenches for the pre-bomb, hiding themselves. This was where they tried to bomb the turkish trenches to eliminate as many of them as possible. Once they thought that enough of the turkish were killed, they would climb up and fight. This didn't work properly because the turkish were not in their trenches and therefore were not killed. As the Australian had to move forward with the British commands to fight, many people died due to the fact that Australian hand guns could not beat the turkish machine guns.…
The Wilderness Campaign included one of the most deadly and gruesome battles in the war, and particularly one of the most confusing. It created the first stage of a major Union offensive toward the Confederate capital of Richmond. At midnight on May 3, 1864, the Army of the Potomac with about 120,000 men, left their winter camps in Culpeper County in Virginia and marched south toward the Rapidan River fords. Around dawn, Union cavalry splashed across Germanna Ford, conversing the Confederate cavalry pickets and allowing Union engineers to construct two bridges for pontoons. General Gouverneur Warren’s Fifth Corps trotted across the ford at around six in the morning entering a dense, forbid woodland known as the Wilderness.…
The ability of Cutler’s Brigade to repel multiple attacks to the northwest of Gettysburg on the first day of battle was instrumental in the Union Army’s success at Gettysburg. Because Cutler’s Brigade was able to stop the enemy from flanking the Division line, the rest of the Army of the Potomac was able to move into position around Gettysburg. This emplacement of the rest of the Union Army around Gettysburg was vital to its success in the Gettysburg campaign; its success in the Gettysburg campaign was vital to the Union victory in the Civil War.…
The Union used many weapons in the Civil War. Among these, the most popular was the Model 1861 Springfield Musket, manufactured in the North for $15 to $20 to the government at The Springfield Armory in Springfield, Massachusetts. The rifle weighed 9.25 pounds, was 58.5 inches in total length, it came with a triangular 21 inch socket bayonet and fired a .58 caliber conical shot at a velocity of 950 feet per second. The company produced an improved rifle in 1863, but the Model 1861 was the most widely used model in the Civil War.2…
The gun was a hand-crank-operated weapon with six barrels revolving around a central shaft. Having a gun that revolves was very difficult because the barrels would not always line up correctly when being fired. The original gun was actually designed to fire the standard military issue paper cartridge of the day, .58 caliber. A .58 caliber bullet has a diameter of an inch and is capable of damaging anything it hits. The paper cartridge was placed inside a steel or brass chamber with a percussion nipple on the back end just like the muzzle loading rifles and pistols of there time. The cartridges were fed to the gun by gravity through a hopper mounted towards the top of the gun. As the six cam operated bolts alternately fired, and dropped the bullets, which were contained in steel chambers, it made quite an impression on their enemies. Gatling also used the six barrels to partially cool…
The American Revolution was filled with important and spectacular battles; each having their own significance. Despite the fact that the colonists lost The Battle of Breed’s (Bunker) Hill, it was a huge victory for the colonists, and could have been one of the most important battles of the American Revolution. Despite being out numbered and unseasoned fighters, the colonists were able to inflict heavy casualties on the British regular army. Even though they were able to inflict such casualties upon the British Army, they were forced to surrender when they ran out of gunpowder. The significance of this battle was not that the colonists won or lost, but what was learned in the process. It also established a high level of morale among the colonies and demonstrated to the Americans the power of fighting from behind rocks and trees against better trained British formations. It also showed that Americans desperately needed allies to supply ammunition.…
Throughout the countless years between the American Revolutionary War and the American Civil War, weapons have developed from the primitive muskets used. A few of these weapons include Colt Revolvers, Springfield Rifles, Spencer Repeating Rifles, Confederate Breechloaders, Billinghurst-Requa Battery Gun, and the Gatling Gun. Although not used often during the Civil War, when it was introduced, the Gatling Gun was the one of the more influential weapons created during the Revolutionary War-Civil War period. The Gatling Gun marked the beginning of the era of machine guns.…
Americans succeeded in adding rifling to existing artillery pieces in early 1861 as they tasked for re-boring and rifling the old smoothbores to be compatible with new ammunition being industrialized. In order to be accurate the projectile needed to engage the rifling but still must remain small enough to load from the muzzle during battle. This was reached in diverse ways, which fall into three major classes: expansion - where a ring or cup of soft lead or copper expanded at the rounds base by the gases at firing; forcing cone - where the rear of the projectile (paper-Mache, lead ring -iron cup) was forced toward the front, expanding a band of soft metal into the rifling; and shaped - where the projectile was the same shape but a smaller diameter, and had ridges or flanges which fit into the rifling (Melton, 1994). A very famous howitzer of the civil was Whistling Dick. An eighteen-pound confederate siege and garrison weapon.…
Although the cannon was very popularly used in a lot of civil war battles, it was barely used in the Battle of Chickamauga at all. This was because, their were a lot of trees and other barriers in the way, making it hard for people to aim the cannons and shoot them without hitting a target that was not meant to be hit. Cannons were only used during this battle when absolutely necessary, and when their were no obstacles in the path to get in the way of the cannon fire.…
This battle was one of the earliest in the American Revolution. The battle's name is a misnomer because the major part of the engagement was actually fought on Breed's Hill nearby. The place for this battle was in Charlestown, Massachusetts across the Charles River from Boston.…
In 1777, General George Washington and his troops battled the English at the locale that will come to be known as the Princeton Battlefield. The fight was one of the fiercest battles of the war up to that time. This was also Washington's first victory over the English in the field. Today, this historic site is a popular tourist destination due to its historic significance and location. Princeton Battlefield State Park offers visitors great outdoor recreational activities along with some historic buildings to tour around. Enjoy a scenic stroll along one of the marked paths that run through the Delaware River and Raritan Canal. The Clarke House Museum, built in 1772, is where the British General Mercer died, nine days after the Battle of Princeton.…
The Artillery of the Potomac Army at Gettysburg, achieved victory through the “King of Battle” and integration of the Union maneuver commanders (Steve, 2014). Combat experience demonstrated seasoned leadership. The superiority of the Union artillery over their confederate counterparts was not only the number of guns employed, but also, it was the manner of how the Union commanders employed the artillery under their command (Steve, 2014). Proper integration of assets can determine the battlefield in moments. Hence, the concept of today’s utilization of artillery supporting the maneuver elements, has not drastically changed. (Steve, 2014)…
The battle at Gettysburg was a defining moment in the Civil War not only because of the battle itself, but what prevailed with civilian opposition, and the events that changed the trajectory of the battle. The Turning Point of the War on July 1, 1863, the Union Army of the Potomac engaged the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia which had advanced into the north.…