Guns facts

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.

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.

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.

Izrael. The Uzi is a family of Israeli open-bolt, blowback-operated submachine guns. Smaller variants are considered to be machine pistols. The Uzi was one of the first weapons to use a telescoping bolt design which allows the magazine to be housed in the pistol grip for a shorter weapon.

In the Soviet Union. The PPSh-41, nicknamed Pe-Pe-Sha is the Soviet submachine gun which "won the World War II". It was greatly inspired on the Suomi KP/-31 used with great effectiveness by the Finnish army in the Winter War against the Soviet Union. The PPSh-41 was brought to mass use by the Soviets during the battle of Stalingrad, where entire units armed with submachine guns outgunned their German counterparts in short range urban combat.

MP 40. The MP 40 (Maschinenpistole 40) was a submachine gun chambered for the 9×19mm Parabellum cartridge. It was developed in Nazi Germany and used extensively by the Axis powers during the Second World War.