Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) rifle: see small arms.

(Encyclopedia) small arms, firearms designed primarily to be carried and fired by one person and, generally, held in the hands, as distinguished from heavy arms, or artillery. Automatic small arms were develope...

(Encyclopedia) recoilless rifle, light artillery piece, without recoil, usually operated by two men. An American invention, it was used as an infantry weapon for attacking fortifications such as pillboxes and bunker...

(Encyclopedia) National Rifle Association of America (NRA), group founded (1871) to promote shooting, hunting, firearm safety, and wildlife conservation. The NRA has more than 3 million members. The association spon...

(Encyclopedia) shooting, firing with rifle, shotgun, pistol, or revolver at stationary or moving targets. The term shooting is also used in Great Britain to mean small-game hunting. In the 19th cent. the sport of ri...

(Encyclopedia) small intestine: see intestine.

(Encyclopedia) Small, Albion Woodbury, 1854–1926, American sociologist, b. Buckfield, Maine, grad. Colby College, 1876, and further educated in Germany. He was made president of Colby in 1889, but left it in 1892 ...

(Encyclopedia) grenade grĭnādˈ [key], small bomb either thrown by hand or shot from a modified rifle or a grenade launcher. It may be filled with gas or chemicals but more often holds an explosive charge that fra...

(Encyclopedia) Small Magellanic Cloud: see Magellanic Clouds. ...

(Encyclopedia) Ferguson, Patrick, 1744–80, British army officer in the American Revolution. He invented an early breech-loading rifle in 1776. Ferguson fought at Brandywine and Charleston before he was assigned to...