As is often the case, someone suggested I do more work. This is never one of my favourite things, but I thought
as I had nothing better to do I might as well. The work in question is this glossary. In a continuing attempt to fill this
site full of useful information (using the approach of posting enough stuff that some of it must be useful), I've
grabbed what existing information I could find and attempted to increase and expand on it. The results are what you see below.
As always, if you think of any terms you'd like added, or find any errors, then drop me a mail.
| Term | Definition |
| .50 |
Large calibre round. The .50 AE(Action Express) is used in the IMI Desert
Eagle, and the .50 BMG (Browning Machine Gun) is used in the Barret Light
Fifty Anti-Materials rifle. The two are not interchangeable. |
| .223 | .223 Remington, An American calibre of ammunition, measured in parts of an inch. It is the same as the European 5.56x45mm NATO which is measured in metric. |
| .308 |
.308 Winchester, as above, but the equivalent is 7.62x51mm NATO. Usually
used in sniper rifles or machine-guns. |
| 7.62x39mm |
Soviet ammunition, used in AK47's and derivatives thereof. |
| 9mm | 1. Type of ammunition commonly used in pistols or submachine guns.
2. A pistol firing 9mm ammunition :"My main weapon jammed, so I pulled out my 9mm" |
| ACP |
Auto Colt Pistol. Developed by John Browning in 1905 and adopted by the
United States Ordinance Department, with the Colt-Browning automatic pistol,
in 1911, it has also been made the official military handgun calibre by
several other governments. The 45 was replaced in 1985 as the official military
handgun cartridge by the 9mm Parabellum. |
| AEG | Acronym for Automatic Electric Gun, or Airsoft Electric Gun, depending on your preference. |
| AK | Abtomat Kalashnikov (Automatic Kalashnikov). Usually seen as in AK47, but there are some people using AK74's. It's not a
spelling error, the numbers refer to the year the gun was introduced. |
| AKA | Also Known As. |
| Anodised |
Chemical application of colour on to metal, highly resilient to wear .
This lets you have bright shiny gun parts in electric blue, and so forth.
Not to be confused with Aniseed, which is much tastier. |
| AOR | Area of Responsibility. Each team member will have an AOR,
and it is their job to engage any threats in that. Sometimes also known as a firezone. |
| AR | Automatic Rifle. Usually used to refer to the AR-15, also known as the M16. |
| ARU | Armed Response Unit. Wave your airsoft gun around in public and these are the guys that will turn up. |
| ARV | Armed Response Vehicle. What said ARU will turn up in. Has 2 handguns in a safe between the seats, and 2 MP5's in the floorspace. The vehicle is usually marked with a yellow dot. |
| AUG | Armee Universal Gewehr (Universal Army Rifle) |
| Automatic | (1) Continuous firing without manual re-cocking, also known as Fully Automatic.
(2) A pistol. |
| AWOL | Absent With Out Leave. i.e., bunked off. This will get you in plenty of trouble. |
| BAR | Browning Automatic Rifle. Produced in the United States starting in 1918 and widely used in other countries as a light machine gun.
It has been chambered for various ammunition, but most frequently for .30-06 Springfield. |
| Barrel | The bit your BB's travel down after you pull the trigger. |
| BB | Acronym for Ball Bearing, in this case a 6mm plastic one. |
| BDU | Battle Dress Uniform. |
| Beretta | One of several types of pistol made by Pietro Beretta (Italy). |
| Bolt Action | Type of single shot Airsoft, normally on 'sniper' type rifles. |
| Bump | Slang; To ambush or attack the opposition (or have them attack you). |
| Bushings | The bearings which the gears run in. Standard bushings are made of plastic, and sustained fire can heat these up, causing them to snap and your gears to crash. |
| Butt | (Handguns) Bottom part of the grip. (Long Guns) Rear of shoulder end of stock, which rests against shooter’s shoulder.
If you get this confused with the barrel, try another sport. |
| Calibre | 1. Size/diameter of the inside of the barrel
2. Horrible alcohol free lager. |
| Camouflage | Disguise to help you blend with your background to reduce your visibility, breaking up your outline. Can be clothing, face-paint, vegetation, netting, etc. |
| Carbine | A shortened version of a long barreled rifle. Carbines are under 16inchs in length and are not usually as ballistically accurate as the long guns they are derived from. |
| Chicken Plate |
Slang for the ceramic or steel disk that fits inside a bullet-proof vest.
The plate, which is positioned over the heart, is designed to withstand
hits from high-calibre bullets. |
| Chrono, Chronograph | Device to measure the muzzle velocity of a projectile. Usually done by calculation based on the projectile breaking 2 fixed light beams, or by radar. |
| Classic Army | Manufacturers of metal bodies and other parts for airsoft guns. |
| Contact | Engagement with the enemy. |
| Covert Operation | An operation that is planned and executed
as to conceal the identity of, or permit plausible denial by, the sponsor(s). This differs from a clandestine operation in
that emphasis is placed on the concealment of the sponsor's identity, rather than on the concealment of the operation. |
| CQB | Close Quarter Battle, the kind of combat that is a
hallmark of police special ops, where engagements are at extremely short range and happen at extremely high speed |
| CT | Counter-Terrorist |
| Defilade | 1. Protection from hostile observation
and fire provided by an obstacle such as a hill, ridge, or bank.
2. A vertical distance by which a position is concealed
from enemy observation.
3. To shield from enemy fire or observation by using natural or artificial obstacles. |
| Double Action | Pistols which cock the hammer and release it on one pull of the trigger. This usually requires a longer pull than is required for a single action. |
| Dragunov | The SVD (Snayperskaya Vintovka Dragunova)-Sniper Rifle Dragunov was the first Russian rifle exclusively designed from scratch as a sniper rifle,
was created to replace the SVT-40 (Samozariyadnaya Vintovka Tokareva) sniper rifle. The original Dragunov SVD was designed by Yevgeniy Feodorovich Dragunov, a coleauge of Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov, designer of the AK-47 Kalashnikov series of rifles. It appears that the design and development phase of this rifle took place at the Izhvesk Mashinostroitelny Zavod (IZHMESH). The Dragunov was formally adopted by the Red Army in 1963. |
| DPM | Disruptive Patterned Material. British Army type of camouflage |
| DZ | Drop-Zone. Target area for parachuting troops or supplies. |
| EBB | Electric Blow-Back. Pistol where the slide is operated by an electric motor. Generally considered inferior to Gas Blow-Backs. |
| EG560 | 1st Generation Tokyo Marui Motor. No longer used, except for a specially tuned version in the FAMAS. |
| EG700 | 2nd Generation Tokyo Marui Motor. Standard in most guns. |
| EG1000 | 3rd Generation Tokyo Marui Motor. High speed motor. |
| Ejection Port | Where used ammunition cases would be ejected if live-firing |
| EOD | Explosive Ordnance Disposal. The Bomb Squad to the rest of us. |
| FAL | Fusil Automatique Leger |
| FAMAS | Fusil Automatique Manufacture d'Armes St. Etienne |
| FG | Fallschirmjaeger Gewehr |
| FIBUA | Fighting In Built Up Areas. The Army's method of fighting,
in urban locations, including techniques such as room clearance by fire and grenades, etc. |
| Fire & Movement |
Tactic for advancing on enemy position by use of fire teams. One team
puts accurate suppressive fire on the position while the other team moves.
The role is then reversed. This continues until both teams are in the desired
position. Can also be used in reverse for strategic withdrawal. |
| Fire Selector Switch | Selects safety, semi, burst or fully automatic firing, depending on the model |
| FMJ | Full Metal Jacket. A type of bullet construction most
commonly comprised of a lead alloy core with a gilding metal jacket surrounding the core. Only the base of the core is exposed. |
| FN | Fabrique Nationale a'Armes d G Herstal (Belgium) |
| FPS | Feet Per Second. Measurement of the power of an airsoft weapon.
Commonly accepted limits are 328fps for AEG's and 500fps for single action. See section on Law for more details. |
| Frame | Main body of a firearm or replica |
| Franchi | Luigi Franchi (Italy). Manufacturer of Shotguns, notably the SPAS 12. |
| GBB | Gas Blow-Back. Weapon (usually a pistol) that uses compressed air to fire bb's and cycle the slide, simulating recoil. |
| Gears | Connect the motor to the piston. |
| Gearbox | Contains the gears & piston. |
| Ghille |
Ghillie suits have been around since the time of Scottish Game keepers
using them to capture poachers trying to take their flocks of animals. Generally
only used by snipers, these can be a highly effective form of camouflage. |
| G.I. |
Government Issue, a marking stamped on U.S. equipment. Nowadays used to
mean U.S. Infantryman. |
| GIAT | St. Etienne Arsenal |
| GIGN | Groupe d'intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale, France's
elite counterterrorist unit. Formed in 1976. Among GIGN's accomplishments were the rescue of a school bus of children that was
hijacked in Djibouti by four terrorists in February 1976, and the assault of an Air France jetliner that was hijacked by Algerian
terrorists in December 1994 |
| Gimpy | Troop name of the British GPMG, the FN MAG |
| GPMG |
General Purpose Machine Gun. Personally I always thought the purpose of
a machine gun was fairly apparent... |
| Green Slime | Intelligence Corps. So called because of the colour of their berets. |
| GSG-9 |
Grenzschutzgruppe 9. Formed in 1973 at their headquarters of Hangelar,
Germany. GSG-9 was formed as a direct result of the inept response of German
police to actions of Black September terrorists at the 1972 Munich Olympics,
where 13 Israeli athletes lost their lives in an open shoot-out between
police and terrorists. |
| HBAR | Heavy Barrelled Automatic Rifle |
| HFC134a | Type of gas used to power GBB's and NBB's. Safe to use in all weapons. |
| HFC22 | AKA Green Gas. This is more powerful than HFC134a, and can damage guns. Care should be taken to check
your weapon is capable of using this type of gas. |
| H&K or HK | Heckler & Koch. German weapon manufacturers, owned by
Royal Ordnance, who are in turn owned by British Aerospace, oddly enough. |
| HK | Hong Kong, where a lot of guns are imported from. |
| HMG | Heavy Machine Gun |
| HOP-Up | High Operation Power - Up. Device to impart backspin
and hence longer range on a BB. See Weapons section for more detail. |
| HRT | Hostage Rescue Team, an elite FBI unit that responds to
terrorist and similar high-risk incidents. HRT is often used to describe any similar sort of team, such as the SEALS, GIGN, etc. |
| HUD |
Heads Up Display. Used in planes and on some sights, this projects information
onto a transparent screen in front of the user. They look through this and
are able to keep their eyes on the target while still being able to gather
instrument information. |
| IMI | Israeli Military Industries, weapon manufacturers notable for the Uzi and Desert Eagle. |
| IW | Individual Weapon, standard issue weapons for soldiers. |
| JHP | Jacketed Hollow Point. Bullet with a cavity in the nose, designed for rapid expansion on impact |
| Joule | Measurement of energy. Used to define the maximum muzzle energy.
The legal limit for Airsoft weapons is 1.35j. See section on the Law for more details. |
| KIA | Killed In Action |
| Kurz (MP5K) | German for 'short' |
| LASER |
Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Usually referring
to laser sights. These project a visible point of light (usually red or
green) onto a target. Yet another reason the Americans are wrong to spell
it "Lazer". It doesn't make any sense! |
| LAW |
Light Antitank Weapon. Hopefully no-one you're skirmishing against will
have one of these... |
| LMG | Light Machine Gun |
| LSW | Light Support Weapon, also known as a squad or section support gun. |
| MAG | Mitrailleuse a Gaz |
| Mag, Magazine | Contains ammunition which feeds into the Airsoft model |
| Metal Body Kit | Upgrade to add weight and strength to your AEG. |
| MIA | Missing In Action. Usually presumed dead. |
| MMG | Medium Machine Gun |
| MOA | Minute of Angle. Angular unit of measure used to describe the accuracy potential of rifles, ammunition, bullets or
loads. One MOA equals 1/60th of a degree ( 21 600 minutes in a circle ) and subtends 1.047 inches at 100 yards, or, for
practical purposes, 1" at 100 yards |
| MRE | Meal Ready to Eat (a Ration Pack) |
| Muzzle | The target (not the breach block) end of the barrel, where bb's depart the gun. |
| Muzzle Velocity | Speed of projectile as it exits the muzzle of the barrel. |
| NATO | North Atlantic Treaty Organisation - set military specs for member nations |
| NBB | Non Blow-Back. Type of gas powered airsoft pistol that has a fixed slide. |
| NV | Night Vision. |
| NVG's | Night Vision Goggles |
| OpFor | Opposing Force, aka The Enemy. |
| OpSec | Operational Security, a set of procedures outlining how to avoid compromising the mission's integrity. |
| Parabellum | A type of 9mm ammunition used in some live-firing
pistols and SMGs. The Parabellum name comes from ancient Latin saying Si vis Pacem, Para bellum - if you want Peace, prepare for War. |
| PDW | Personal Defense Weapon |
| Piece | General term used for any firearm, e.g. “carrying a piece”. Originated from the term “fowling piece” which was a
muzzle-loading shotgun. |
| Piston | Pushes air from the cylinder into the barrel |
| Ported |
Holes cut at an oblique angle to the surface, e.g. port hole on a boat.
Usually used to vent gases from on a real firearm. |
| PPK | Polizei Pistole Kriminal, notably the Walther PPK as used by James Bond. |
| Rat Pack | Abbreviation for Ration Pack. |
| Red Dot |
A type of aiming device. The red dot is frequently confused with a laser
sight, but the two are different. A red dot uses a HUD to project an image
of a dot on the target, and this can only be seen by the person aiming.
|
| RO | Royal Ordnance (UK). |
| RoE | Rules of Engagement. A set of guidelines that determine how
combatants are allowed to act on a given mission. In Top Gun, the RoE were "Do not fire until fired upon". |
| RoF | Rate of Fire, normally in RPM. |
| RMP | Royal Military Police |
| RPM | Rounds Per Minute. |
| RSAF | Royal Small Arms Factory |
| S10 | Type of respirator currently in use with the British Army. |
| SA80 | Standard issue weapon of the British Army. AKA the L85A1. A weapon universally cursed by squaddies. |
| Safety |
Switch that determines if weapons can be fired. The safety usually disengages
the trigger mechanism when active, or physically prevents the hammer from
falling. Weapons should always have the safety on when you are not actively
engaging the enemy. |
| Sangar | Usually used to describe a makeshift bunker or barricade.
Probably originates from the Hindi "sunga", as a sanga(r) is "stone breastwork used by Indian hill-tribes". |
| SAS | Special Air Service. Formed in 1941 by David Stirling,
the SAS are one of, if not the, finest fighting forces in the world. Their most high profile operation was the storming of
the Iranian embassy at 7:23pm, 5th May 1980, but they have conducted numerous covert operations for the last 60 years. |
| SAW | Squad Automatic Weapon |
| SBS | Special Boat Squadron. Originally commanded by Earl George Jellicoe, the Special Boat Squadron was a small division within the WWII SAS. The SBS sowed water-borne havoc against the Germans in the Aegean.
Once the war was over, the SBS was separated from the SAS and renamed the Special Boat Service, and since then the SBS has conducted a number of extremely successful and in most cases secret operations around the world. Possibly the most famous SBS operation was during the Falklands War, when member of the SBS were sent on long-range reconnaissance against the Argentinean Forces, weeks before the rest of the British fleet arrived.
|
| Scran Spanners | Knife, fork and spoon. |
| Semi-Automatic | A weapon which automatically reloads after each shot, but requires a trigger pull for every shot. |
| SF | Sustained Fire, AKA Suppressing Fire. |
| Shoot & Scoot | See: Fire & Movement |
| Single Action | 1. (Handguns) More sensitive trigger firing mechanism, weapon must already be cocked.
2. (Rifle) A bolt-action weapon requiring manual recocking between each shot. |
| Skirmishing | Playing 'wargames' with Airsoft or Paintball models. |
| Slide | Top section of a pistol which moves either for cocking or in cyclic action |
| Slot | Slang; To neutralise the opposition. See "Bump". |
| SLR | Self Loading Rifle |
| SMG | Sub Machine Gun. Small fully automatic gun which fires a pistol calibre round. |
| Snake Eater | Slang; Member of Special Forces personnel. So called
because their specialist jungle training invariably involves cooking and eating snakes. |
| SO | Special Operations. The Police force in the UK have several special operations teams, designated by number. These are:
- SO1 - Major Enquiry Teams
- SO3 - Director of the National Identification Service
- S04 - National Identification Service
- SO6 - Specialist Crime
- SO7 - Serious & Organised Crime
- SO10 - Covert Operations
- SO11 - Intelligence
- SO12 - Special Branch
- SO13 - Anti-Terrorism Branch
- SO14 - Royalty Protection
- SO16 - Diplomatic Protection Group
- SO17 - Palace of Westminster Division
- SO19 - Force Firearms Unit (recently redesignated as CO19)
|
| SOCOM | Special Operations Command |
| SoftAir | Original version of Airsoft using 7mm plastic pellets |
| Standard | A non-upgraded, off the shelf Airsoft model. |
| Steyr | Steyr Mannlicher or Steyr Daimler Puch (same company) |
| STI | Strayer Tripp Incorporated, handgun manufacturer. |
| Stock | 1. Section between breach block and butt of a model.
2. Non-upgraded airsoft model. |
| SPAS | Special Purpose Automatic Shotgun |
| Spetznaz | Russian Special Forces. Translated, "Spetsialnoye nazranie" : troops of special purpose. |
| Squaddie | British Army Soldier. |
| SUSAT | Sight Unit Small Arms Trilux. Type of 4x optical sight found on the British Army SA-80. |
| SV | Special, Super or Sniper Version. Usually seen on the APS-2 rifle. |
| SVI | Strayer Voight Incorporated, handgun manufacturers. |
| SWAT | Special Weapons and Tactics, a unit that is trained and equipped to handle special, high-risk incidents (e.g.,
barricaded suspects, snipers, armed encounters). Most law enforcement agencies have SWAT teams. |
| Tango | Slang for a terrorist. So named after the military's
designation for the letter "T" (Tango) in the phonetic alphabet. |
| Tracer Round | Luminous BB's which glow green when exposed to bright light. |
| Tracer Unit | Screw on unit resembling a silencer which contains a bright light.
By means of an IR sensor this illuminates BBs as they leave the barrel. |
| Trigger Guard | Protective guard around the trigger to stop you accidentally pulling it. Well what did you think it was? |
| USMC | United States Marine Corps. |
| USP | Universal Self-loading Pistol. |
| Zero | 1. The range at which the point of aim and the point of impact are one and the same.
2. To sight in a rifle/scope/load combination so that the bullet’s point of impact coincides with the point of aim at a preselected distance. Called this
because at that distance, zero hold-over is required when aiming |
