Firearm

Firearm, commonly known as a "gun" was a term encompassing a variety of weapons, which utilise a projectile fired from the weapon relying on chemical explosives to propel the projectile at high velocities away from the firearm. They were typically used to penetrate surfaces to maim or kill and were usually Human in origin.

General Description
Weapons that fell into the 'firearm' category included:
 * Handguns (Pistols or Revolvers) designed to be usable one-handed.
 * Rifles used a cartridge type distinct from pistols, name refers to rifling (spiralled groves inside the barrel) causing the projectile to rotate in flight, stabilising the trajectory.
 * Shotguns used shells that usually contain a number of small projectiles from a typical smooth bore rather than rifled barrel.
 * Machine guns. Usually a mounted weapon that is designed to sustained long periods of fire. Some variations are designed so they can be carried around like rifles, e.g. Light machine guns.
 * Sub-machine guns. Automatic or selective fire weapons that fire pistol rounds.


 * This list is incomplete, as the simplicity of the basic design allows for a wide range of variations.

Firearms were also sometimes classified by their loading mechanism. A single shot weapon such as a shotgun or musket must be reloaded after each firing, while a semi-automatic weapon reloads mechanically after each shot, but only discharges once with each trigger pull. An automatic weapon reloads and fires continuously as long as the trigger is held down and it has ready ammunition.


 * Often, these two systems of classification are used in tandem, e.g. semi-automatic pistol or automatic rifle. In this way, both the loading mechanism and the configuration of the firearm are described.

Two main kinds of ammunition exist for basic firearms: pistol and rifle. Pistol rounds mainly used a large calibre, round-fronted bullet from a small amount of propellant while rifles use a narrower, longer bullet with a high propellant load.

A common military weapon, used by armed forces such as UNIT, was the assault rifle. It was a magazine-fed selective fire firearm with a rifled barrel.

Pistols typically were used as more of a defensive weapon, to counter or discourage a personal attack, or as a back-up to a larger weapon. While primitive pistols were single-shot weapons, most carried by Humans after the 19th century were semi-automatic weapons of either a revolver or magazine-fed design. Fully automatic pistols existed, but were not as common due to cost of production, failure rate, and ammunition consumption. The advantages of a pistol came from its small size; it is easily portable and concealable, making them suited for use by organizations such as Torchwood, whose agents often did not wish to advertise that they were armed, or may need to have a weapon with them at all times. Its disadvantages are its relatively low ammunition capacity, and lack of accuracy, power or range compared to larger weapons. It is also military tradition that officers used handarms as their primary weapon, as they are expected to me in the midst of the fighting.

Shotguns and more primitive forms of rifle were often seen used by hunters (DW: Pyramids of Mars), and could be pressed into service as combat weapons, but were generally less effective than weapons intended for military or self-defense weapons.

Generally, most types of firearm have been ineffective against armored races such as Daleks and Cybermen, though specifically designed bullets have been produced to utilise alien race's weaknesses (Gold in the Cybermen's case). (DW: Battlefield) Standard bullets are effective though against biological species that are similar to Humans, such as the Ood, (DW: Planet of the Ood) and Sontarans. (DW: The Poison Sky)

Firearms, as a relatively primitive technology, can be neutralized by more advanced technology. For example, Sontaran soldiers have employed a cordolaine field that affects certain metals such as copper, causing weapons using copper casings on their projectiles not to fire. (DW: The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky)

Technological improvements such as the Bastic bullet could make firearms more effective, to the point of being a viable weapon even against a Dalek. (DW: Revelation of the Daleks, The Parting of the Ways)

One practical limit on the use of firearms is that they were primarily lethal weapons and while it was possible to use a firearm to incapacitate rather than kill, this can only be achieved by inflicting serious injury and pain. While there are forms of ammunition known as "less than lethal" intended for incapacitation, such as rubber bullets, they still inflict extreme pain, and can still be lethal under certain circumstances. For this reason, individuals such as the Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith refused to use them on moral grounds.

Despite their limitations, Humans were known to use firearms well into the 2001st century and beyond.

An appreciation of the usefulness of firearms was not limited to Humanity. Upon landing on the planet Exxilon a Dalek taskforce's weapons were rendered in-operable forcing them to replace their energy based weapons with semi-automatic ballistic weapons. (DW: Death to the Daleks)

Behind the scenes

 * Most firearms used in the since-2005 series, are of Heckler &amp; Koch manufacture, specificaly G36 assault rifles and USP sidearms. Glocks and Webleys have also been used.
 * The guns carried by Sanctuary Base 6 security in DW: The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit are P90 Personal Defense Weapons fitted with supressors (the same model of weapon commonly associated with Stargate SG-1 universe).
 * In the various UNIT episodes during the Jon Pertwee era, Sterling sub-machine guns or SLRs were used.