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This article is about the projectile weapon. For other uses, see Gun (disambiguation).
A gun is a common name given to an object that propels another object or projectile. The projectile is generally fired through a hollow tube known as the gun's barrel. The projectile's caliber is usually designated in fractions of an inch or in millimeters. Differing from the musket, most modern guns are rifled, with a series of grooves spiraling along the barrel; exceptions include smoothbores on tanks, AFVs and some artillery.
The term gun is often used synonymously with firearm, but this is common only for civilian usage. In military usage, the term refers only to artillery that fires projectiles at high velocity, such as naval guns (which are never referred to as cannon) or tank guns. A gunner is a member of the team charged with the task of operating and firing a gun. By military terms, mortars and all hand-held firearms are excluded from the definition of guns. Two exceptions to this are the shotgun—which is hand-held, has a smooth bore and fires a load of shot or a single projectile known as a slug and the machine gun—which is a fully-automatic weapon mounted on a tripod or bipod and almost always operated by a crew.
The word gun is also applied to some more or less vaguely gun-like or gun-shaped tools such as staple guns, paint guns and glue guns. In a gun-type fission weapon the "gun" is part of a nuclear weapon. The projectile is fissile material that is fired and captured inside the device. In the case of nuclear artillery it should not be confused with the gun that fires the whole warhead. In a captive bolt gun the projectile is also caught within the mechanism. Such captive piston guns are often used to humanely stun farm animals for slaughter.
