Top 10 firearms facts

High density. Depleted uranium is 1.67 times as dense as lead, 84% as dense as osmium or iridium, which are the densest known substances under standard (i.e., Earth-surface) pressures. Consequently a depleted uranium projectile of given mass has a smaller diameter than an equivalent lead projectile, with less aerodynamic drag and deeper (armor-piercing) penetration due to a higher pressure at point of impact.

Lack of possibility to use metallic cartridges. Samuel Colt missed a great opportunity in firearms development when he dismissed an idea from one of his gunsmiths, Rollin White. White proposed a "bored-through" revolver cylinder to allow the use of metallic cartridges in a handgun. After Colt fired White for suggesting an improvement to his revolver, White took his idea to Colt's competitor, Smith & Wesson, who patented his invention and kept Colt from being able to build cartridge firearms for almost 20 years.

AK-47. The flag of Mozambique was adopted on 1 May 1983. It is based on the flag of the Mozambican Liberation Front (FRELIMO), the leading political party in Mozambique, which used to be a partisan organisation before the country gained independence from Portugal. Today, there is an ongoing debate whether the gun should be removed from the flag or not.

Helical magazines extend the drum magazine design so that rounds follow a spiral path around an auger-shaped rotating follower or drive member, allowing for large ammunition capacity in a magazine that can be adapted to increase ammo capacity with only a minor increase to the dimensions of an unloaded gun. This type of magazine is used by the Calico M960, Bizon SMG, Long Wind CS/LS06 and KBP PP90M1.

Thompson. The Thompson submachine gun is an American submachine gun, invented by John T. Thompson in 1918, that became infamous during the Prohibition era. It was a common sight in the media of the time, being used by both law enforcement officers and criminals.

AK47. AK stands for Avtomat Kalashnikova, meaning "automatic gun by Kalashnikov". The number 47 stands for the year of design. Even after six decades, the gun remains the most widely used and popular assault rifle in the world.

Bazooka is the common name for a man-portable recoilless anti-tank rocket launcher weapon, widely fielded by the United States Army. Also referred to as the "Stovepipe", the innovative bazooka was among the first generation of rocket-propelled anti-tank weapons used in infantry combat. The term "bazooka" still sees informal use as a generic term referring to any ground-to-ground shoulder-fired missile weapon.

Lewis. The Lewis gun was invented by U.S. Army colonel Isaac Newton Lewis in 1911. The Lewis gun is a First World War-era light machine gun of US design that was perfected and mass-produced in the United Kingdom, and widely used by British and British Empire troops during the war. It was also widely used as an aircraft machine gun, almost always with the cooling shroud removed, during both world wars.

Heinrich Vollmer. The MP 40 designed in 1938 by Heinrich Vollmer Its advanced and modern features made it a favorite among soldiers and popular in countries from various parts of the world after the war. It was often erroneously called "Schmeisser" by the Allies, despite Hugo Schmeisser's non-involvement in the weapon's design and production.

M16. The M16 rifle is a United States military adaptation of the Armalite AR-15 rifle. It entered U.S. military service in 1964 and the following year was deployed for jungle warfare operations during the Vietnam War.