2A |
2nd Amendment |
ACE |
Alert, Cover, Evacuate [exec protection] |
ACOG |
Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight |
ACP |
Automatic Colt Pistol |
AE |
Action Express |
AF |
Alternative Force |
AFAIK |
As Far As I Know |
AIC |
Agent in Charge |
AOP |
Assault on Principal [exec protection] |
AOW |
Any Other Weapon (zip guns, other non-standard small-bore firearms) |
AWB |
Assault Weapons Ban (part of the 1994 Crime Bill) [legislation] |
BAR |
Browning Automatic Rifle |
BC |
Ballistic Coeffecient |
BF |
BoyFriend |
BFF |
Best Friends Forever |
BFO |
Blinding Flash of the Obvious |
BG |
Bad Guy, or Big Grin |
BHP |
Browning Hi-Power |
BMG |
Browning Machine Gun |
BOB |
Bug-Out Bag (or "Go Bag") |
BOHICA |
Bend Over, Here It Comes Again |
BP |
Black Powder |
BPCR |
Black Powder Cartridge Rifle |
BTT |
Back To Top |
BTW |
By The Way |
BUG |
Back-Up Gun (second or third gun carried in case the primary malfunctions) |
CCW |
Concealed Carry Weapon (may refer to the license, or to the activity itself) |
CHL |
Concealed Handgun License |
CIAO |
This is not an acronym. It's Italian for "bye." |
COD |
Cash On Delivery |
COM |
Center Of Mass |
CONUS |
CONtinental United States |
CQB |
Close-Quarters Battle |
CQC |
Close-Quarters Combat |
CRISAT |
Cooperative Research Into Small Arms Technology |
CRPA |
Certified Royal Pain in the A-- |
CUP |
Copper Units of Pressure; a method of measuring chamber pressure, most common with shotguns |
DA |
Double Action |
DAO |
Double Action Only |
DARFC |
Duck And Run For Cover |
DD |
Destructive Device (generally bombs and large-bore weapons) |
DFTT |
Don't Feed The Troll |
DOA |
Dead On Arrival [police] |
DPS |
Department of Public Safety (most states have them) |
DVC |
Diligentia Vis Celeritas (latin for Accuracy, Power, Speed) |
EDC |
Every Day Carry |
EDP |
Emotionally Disturbed Person [NYPD] |
EIN |
Employer Identification Number |
EO |
Executive Order |
FFL |
Federal Firearms License or Licensee |
FPS |
Feet Per Second |
FTE |
Failure to Extract |
FTF |
Face To Face (referring to non-FFL-mediated gun transfers) |
FTF |
Failure to Feed |
FTLOG |
For The Love Of God |
FUBAR |
F---ed Up Beyond All Recognition |
FWIW |
For What It's Worth |
FYI |
For Your Information |
GC |
gas check; a copper-zinc alloy cup used as gilding to protect the base of lead bullets from hot gas obduration during internal ballistics. |
GD&R |
Grin, Duck, & Run |
GF |
GirlFriend |
GG |
Good Guy |
GI |
Government Issue |
GMT |
Greenwich Mean Time (timezone, equivalent to Zulu/UTC) |
HAND |
Have A Nice Day |
HD |
Home Defense |
HDC |
Home Defense Carbine |
HMG |
Heavy Machine Gun |
HSP |
Highly Sensitive Person |
HTH |
Hope That Helps |
IANAL |
I Am Not A Lawyer |
IDLE |
International Date Line East |
IDLW |
International Date Line West |
IINM |
If I'm Not Mistaken |
IIRC |
If I Remember Correctly |
IMHO |
In My Humble Opinion |
IMNSHO |
In My Not So Humble Opinion |
IMO |
In My Opinion |
IRL |
In Real Life |
IWB |
Inside WaistBand |
JBT |
Jack Booted Thug |
JMB |
John Moses Browning |
JMO |
Just My Opinion |
KISS |
Keep It Simple, Stupid |
KYPD |
Keep Your Powder Dry |
LDA |
Light Double Action |
LE |
Law Enforcement |
LEA |
Law Enforcement Agency |
LEO |
Law Enforcement Officer/Official |
LLEA |
Local Law Enforcement Agency |
LMAO |
Laughing My A-- Off |
LMG |
Light Machine Gun |
LNIB |
Like New In Box, usually means the item looks new but has been lightly used (see also NIB) |
LOL |
Laughing Out Loud |
LOS |
Line Of Sight |
MG |
Machine Gun |
MIM |
Metal Injection Molding |
MOA |
Minutes Of Angle (angular measurement, 1/60 of a °, 360° in a circle) |
MOB |
Middle Of Back |
MOS |
Military Occupational Specialty |
MV |
Muzzle Velocity |
NAP |
Non-Aggression Principle (and criticism) |
NIB |
New In Box, usually means the item has not been used since bought, but can also mean LNIB. |
NOYB |
None Of Your Business |
OAL |
OverAll Length |
OMG |
Oh My God |
OODA (loop) |
Observe, Orient, Decide, Act (coined by USAF Col John Boyd) |
OOTB |
Out Of The Box |
ORM-D |
Other Regulated Materials - Domestic (seen on boxes of shipped ammo) |
OT |
Off-Topic |
OTOH |
On The Other Hand |
OWB |
Outside the WaistBand |
PASGT |
Personnel Armor System for Ground Troops |
PBR |
Point Blank Range |
PDW |
Personal Defense Weapon |
PHB |
Pointy-Haired Boss (Dilbert reference, a boss without a clue) |
PITA |
Pain In The A-- |
POA |
Point Of Aim |
POI |
Point Of Impact |
POI |
Person Of Interest |
POS |
Piece Of S--- |
PSI |
Pounds per Square Inch |
PT |
Physical Training |
PTL&PTA |
Praise The Lord & Pass The Ammunition |
REMF |
Rear Eschelon Mother F---er (derogatory name for a non-combatant in a combat zone or a military occupational specialty that would keep one from seeing combat) |
RINO |
Republican In Name Only (a liberal in conservative clothing) |
RKBA |
Right to Keep and Bear Arms |
ROTFL |
Rolling On The Floor Laughing |
ROTFLMAO |
Rolling On The Floor Laughing My A-- Off |
SA |
Single Action |
SAA |
Single Action Army (famous Colt revolver design that shows up in Westerns) |
SAK |
Swiss Army Knife |
SD |
Self Defense; Sectional Density (weight [lbs] to cross-section area [in^2]) |
SHTF |
S--- Hits The Fan |
SKS |
Samozaryadnaya Karabina Simonova, or Self-loading carbine Simonov. Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov was one of the old Soviet Union's foremost arms designers. The rifle was adopted by the USSR in 1945, and was made both there and in China. |
SLR |
Self-Loading Rifle |
SMG |
Sub-Machine Gun |
SNAFU |
Situation Normal: All F---ed Up |
SO |
Significant Other (boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife) |
SOB |
Small Of Back (6 o'clock carry) |
SOP |
Standard Operating Procedure |
SOT |
Special Occupational Tax license (administered by the BATFE) |
SWAT |
Special Weapons And Tactics |
SxS |
Side by Side (i.e. a shotgun) |
TEOTWAWKI |
The End Of The World As We Know It |
TIA |
Thanks In Advance |
TID |
Tax ID number |
TLA |
Three Letter Acronym |
TPTB |
The Powers That Be |
TTW |
Taunting The Wookie (someone known to rip arms out of sockets when inflamed) |
TU |
Tits Up (military origin, meaning f---ed; often spelled phonetically as "Tango Uniform") |
URL |
Uniform Resource Locator |
UTC |
Universal Time Coordinate (timezone, equivalent to Zulu/GMT) |
VCA |
Violent Criminal Assailant |
WTF |
What The F---? |
WTSHTF |
When The S--- Hits The Fan |
WYSIWYG |
What You See Is What You Get |
YMMV |
Your Mileage May Vary |
AG |
Attorney General |
ANL |
Argonne National Laboratory |
ATF |
bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (see BATFE) |
BATF |
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (see BATFE) |
BATFE |
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (new name) |
BIA |
Bureau of Indian Affairs |
BLM |
Bureau of Land Management |
BNL |
Brookhaven National Laboratory |
BXA |
Bureau of Export Administration |
CBP |
u.s. dhs bureau of Customs and Border Protection |
CDC |
Center for Disease Control |
CENTCOM |
Central Command |
CERT |
Computer Emergency Response Team (part of SEI) |
CIA |
Central Intelligence Agency |
CIC |
CounterIntelligence Center |
CIFA |
CounterIntelligence Field Activity (military) |
CIO |
Central Imagery Office (see NIMA) |
CMP |
Civilian Marksmanship Program (formerly DCM) |
CNC |
dci Crime and Narcotics Center |
CSE |
dci Center for Security Evaluation |
CTC |
dci CounterTerrorist Center |
DARO |
Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office |
DARPA |
Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration |
DASD |
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense |
DCID |
Director of the Central Intelligence Directive |
DCM |
Department of Civilian Marksmanship (now defunct, see CMP) |
DEA |
Drug Enforcement Agency |
DHS |
Department of Homeland Security |
DIA |
Defense Intelligence Agency |
DISA |
Defense Information Systems Agency |
DISN |
Defense Information Systems Network |
DLA |
Defense Logistics Agency |
DOC |
Department of Commerce |
DOD |
Department of Defense |
DOE |
Department of Energy |
DOE |
Department of Education (DOEdu) |
DOI |
Department of the Interior |
DOJ |
Department of Justice |
DOL |
Department of Labor |
DOT |
Department of Transportation |
DPS |
Defense Protective Service - see PFPA |
DSS |
Defense Security Service |
DSS |
Diplomatic Security Service |
DTIC |
Defense Technical Information Center |
EPA |
Environmental Protection Agency |
FAA |
Federal Aviation Administration |
FBI |
Federal Bureau of Investigation |
FCC |
Federal Communications Commission |
FDA |
Food and Drug Administration |
FEC |
Federal Elections Commission |
FEMA |
Federal Emergency Management Agency |
FFA |
Federal Firearms Act of 1938 - set up the FFL licensing scheme [legislation] |
FinCEN |
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network |
FISA |
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act |
FNAL |
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory |
FOPA |
Firearm Owners Protection Act of 1986 - banned AP ammo and closed the MG registry [legislation] |
GAO |
General Accounting Office |
GCA |
Gun Control Act of 1968 - restricted firearms purchasing and transfer [legislation] |
GPO |
Government Printing Office |
GSA |
General Services Administration |
HHS |
department of Health and Human Services |
HPSCI |
House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence |
HUD |
department of Housing and Urban Development |
IC |
Intelligence Community |
IC/EXCOM |
Intelligence Community/EXecutive COMmittee |
ICC |
Interstate Commerce Commission |
ICC |
Interstate Commerce Clause (Article 1, Section 8) |
ICE |
Immigration and Customs Enforcement |
IDA |
Institute for Defense Analyses |
INEEL |
Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory |
INR |
department of state's bureau of Intelligence aNd Research |
INS |
Immigration and Naturalization Service, now the BCIS |
Interpol |
Interpol (see OIPC, ICPO) |
IOB |
president's Intelligence Oversight Board |
IRS |
Internal Revenue Service |
JAG |
Judge Advocate General |
JCCC |
Joint Communications Control Center |
JPL |
Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
LANL |
Los Alamos National Laboratory |
LBNL |
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory |
LL |
Lincoln Laboratory |
LLNL |
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory |
NAIC |
National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center |
NARA |
National Archives and Records Administration |
NASA |
National Aeronautics and Space Administration |
NATO |
North Atlantic Treaty Organization |
NCBI |
National Center for Biotechnology Information |
NCGR |
National Center for Genome Resources |
NCI |
National Cancer Institute |
NCI-FCRDC |
NCI - Frederick Cancer Research and Development Center |
NCIX |
National CounterIntelligence eXecutive |
NDIC |
National Drug Intelligence Center |
NFA |
National Firearms Act of 1934 - taxed certain firearms and firearm components [legislation] |
NFIB |
National Foreign Intelligence Board |
NIC |
National Intelligence Council |
NIH |
National Institute for Health |
NIMA |
National Imagery and Mapping Agency |
NIPC |
National Infrastructure Protection Agency |
NLM |
National Library of Medicine |
NOAA |
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |
NPC |
dci NonProliferation Center |
NREL |
National Renewable Energy Laboratory |
NRO |
National Reconnaissance Office |
NSA |
National Security Agency |
NSC |
National Security Council |
NTIC |
National Threat Integration Center |
OASD |
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (C3I) |
ODCI |
Office of the Director of Central Intelligence (CIA) |
OFAC |
Office of Foreign Asset Control |
OIG |
Office of the Inspector General |
OIP |
department of justice's Office of Information and Privacy (FOIA) |
OIPR |
Office of Intelligence Policy and Review (under DOJ) |
OMB |
Office of Management and Budget |
OPM |
Office of Personnel Management |
ORNL |
Oak Ridge National Laboratory |
OSD |
Office of the Secretary of Defense |
OSHA |
Occupational Safety Hazards Association |
OSS |
Office of Strategic Services (predecessor of the CIA) |
PFIAB |
President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board |
PFPA |
Pentagon Force Protection Agency |
PNL |
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory |
POTUS |
President Of The United States |
PPPL |
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory |
SBA |
Small Business Administration |
SCOTUS |
Supreme Court Of The United States |
SEC |
Securities and Exchange Commission |
SEI |
Software Engineering Institute |
SIPRNET |
Secret Internet Protocol Router Network |
SLAC |
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center |
SNL |
Sandia National Laboratory |
SRS |
Savannah River Site |
SSA |
Social Security Administration |
SSCI |
Senate Select Committe on Intelligence |
STRATCOM |
Strategic Command |
TIGR |
The Institute for Genetic Research |
TJNAF |
Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility |
TSA |
Transportation Security Administration |
TTIC |
Terrorist Threat Integration Center (housed in the CIA) |
UI/MRL |
U. Ill. Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory |
UN |
United Nations |
UNSC |
United Nations Security Council |
USAF |
U.S. Air Force |
USCG |
U.S. Coast Guard |
USCIS |
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (INS) |
USD |
UnderSecretary of Defense for policy |
USDA |
U.S. Department of Agriculture |
USGS |
U.S. Geological Survey |
USMC |
U.S. Marine Corps |
USN |
U.S. Navy |
USNBC |
U.S. National Central Bureau |
USNO |
U.S. Naval Observatory |
USPTO |
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office |
USSC |
U.S. Strategic Command |
USSC |
U.S. Sentencing Commission (often meant to refer to the SCOTUS) |
USSS |
U.S. Secret Service |
VA |
Dept. of Veterans Affairs |
WPA |
War Powers Act |
Anneal |
To soften metal by heating. Used to extend the useful reloading life of brass cartridge case necks by softening them and permitting more reloading operations to be performed before the work hardening effect of the cold, forced reshaping of the resizing operation causes metal fatigue in the neck area and makes the brass case unusable for further reloading. Brass and copper are annealed by fast cooling, usually by quenching, from a heated condition. Steel is annealed by a slow cooling. Quenching of steel from high heat has the opposite effect from the same treatment of brass and copper. |
Anti |
an individual who opposes the RKBA for private citizens |
Bearing Surface |
That portion of a bullet that contacts the bore of the barrel as it travels from chamber to muzzle. Sufficient bearing surface is required for good accuracy. |
Bedding |
material and/or methods used to fit rifle action to a stock. |
Bore |
the inside of a firearm's barrel. |
Bore sight |
to align the sights of a firearm by sighting through the barrel bore |
Brisance |
the "shattering" effect of explosives; the burn rate, in terms of acceleration, i.e., how quickly is the maximum burn rate of an explosive mass reached? |
Bullet |
the projectile which is expelled from a firearm's barrel at firing |
Burn rate |
the relative speed at which gun powders burn (explode) This is determined by the size and shape of granules, amount and nature of any coatings and, in some cases, specific physical design of the granules, such as perforations, tubes, rods, ball (beads) or disk shapes (flattened beads). |
Cal. |
Caliber (inches or millimeters); projectile (bullet) diameter or diameter of some specifically defined point in the bore of a barrel; the nominal or approximate diameter of a bore expressed similarly. NOT the same as a cartridge chambering! Caliber is diameter only. .223 Remington is not a caliber. It is a chambering. The number .223 alone, however is understood to mean the .223 Remington, but literally is a caliber. There are several chamberings that use the .223 caliber of bullet or bore. .30-'06 is a chambering. It uses a .308 caliber bullet. |
Cartridge |
completed assembly, comprised of a case (the central component), primer (for ignition), powder (primary energy source) and bullet (projectile). The cartridge is placed into the chamber and confined by a breech device for firing. |
Chamber |
the portion of a firearm which contains the cartridge at firing. |
Chambering |
i.e., "This rifle is available in the following chamberings: "; Specific machined dimensions to the interior rearmost portion of a barrel which results in a chamber that will accept and safely fire one cartridge design only, i.e., .30-'06 Springfield, .270 Winchester, .223 Remington, .38-55 Winchester-Ballard, .45-'70 Government, etc. Although acceptable chamber dimensions are defined and accepted throughout the firearms industry by the ANSI-approved SAAMI, there are many "wildcat" and "improved" variations of standard SAAMI chamberings in use. |
Charge |
quantity of powder; usually in grains. One avoirdupois pound equals 7,000 grains. |
Choke |
in a shotgun, the taper in the last few inches of the barrel. This is usually a tightening of the bore to a slightly smaller diameter from the actual gauge measurement of the barrel. Some typical choke names, from least to most taper, are: cylinder (no taper), improved cylinder (or simply: "improved"), modified cylinder ("modified") and full choke ("full"). This is not a complete list, but typical. |
Class III |
Refers to the Class III FFL required to deal in NFA items (full-auto, suppressors, etc.) |
Clip |
A strip of metal that is used to hold cartridges together to facilitate the loading into (usually) an internal rifle magazine. |
Condition 1 |
Pistol: Full magazine, cartridge in chamber, hammer cocked, safety on. AKA "cocked and locked." |
Condition 2 |
Pistol: Full magazine, cartridge in chamber, hammer down, safety off. |
Condition 3 |
Pistol: Full magazine, chamber empty. |
Condition 4 |
Pistol: Full magazine separate from gun, chamber empty. |
Condition Red |
Under attack. |
Condition Orange |
Heightened awareness; alert to potential threats. |
Condition Yellow |
Normal awareness of the environment. |
Condition White |
Unawareness of the environment. |
Components (reloading) |
individual components that make up the "recipe" for a hand loaded cartridge. The four components are: primer, case, bullet and powder. |
Cruiser Ready |
Shotgun: Full magazine, chamber empty, hammer down, safety off. |
Cylinder Gap |
the distance between the front of the cylinder and the rear of the barrel in a revolver. |
GA |
gauge (also: ga.) |
Headspace |
measurement between two points in a chamber which are the confining boundaries of cartridge movement during chambering and firing. Insufficient headspace hinders complete chambering of the cartridge. Excessive headspace permits case stretching and can permit case separation, which will permit high pressure gas leakage during the firing/pressure cycle. Very dangerous to equipment and shooter. Headspace is defined and measured differently for each case design. Rimless, rimmed and belted bottleneck cases each have a method unique to the design and a measurement specific to the chambering. Straight walled cases, rimless and rimmed, also have unique methods and cartridge-specific measurements. |
Mag. |
magazine; magnum; also: mag. |
Magazine |
ammunition holders that are equipped with a spring to move the ammo, these are not clips. |
mm |
MilliMeters |
Ogive |
a measure of the curvature forward portion of the bullet. The radius of the ogive is usually expressed in multiples or fractions of the caliber. |
Throat |
leade, freebore. That portion of the barrel bore immediately forward of the chamber. In some rifle chamber designs, the throat may be long and may transition into a relatively slow taper to full depth of lands and grooves (rifling). In other rifle designs the throat is relatively short and the transition to full depth rifling is abrupt, although all barrels have some taper from throat to full depth rifling. The immediate effect of the two extremes in design is to determine the maximum distance a bullet may protrude out the front of the case. This determines the final overall length of the loaded cartridge, for a given bullet shape. |
Tin Foil Hat |
These provide excellent protection against mind control rays which may or may not be transmitted by aliens, the CIA, or the military. |
Weapons Free |
Military weapons control policy that allows engagement of anything not positively identified as friendly |
Weapons Tight |
Military weapons control policy that allows engagement of anything positively identified as hostile |
Weapons Hold |
Military weapons control policy that allows engagement only in self defense. |
*CCW |
Concealed Carry (of) Weapon(s) (MO) |
CDWL |
Concealed Deadly Weapons License (KY) |
CFP |
Concealed Firearm Permit (UT, NV) |
*CHL |
Concealed Handgun License (AR, NM, OR, TX) |
CHP |
Concealed Handgun Permit (AK, LA, NC) |
CPL |
Concealed Pistol License (MI, WA) |
CWL |
Concealed Weapon License (FL, ID, OK) |
CWP |
Concealed Weapon Permit (AZ, CO, MT, ND) |
FL |
Firearms License (GA) |
FP |
Firearms Permit (MS) |
*LTC |
License To Carry (CA, IN, MA, NY) |
LTCCH |
License To Carry a Concealed Handgun (OH) |
LTCF |
License To Carry Firearms (PA) |
PL |
Pistol License (AL, NH) |
PTC |
Permit To Carry (CT, IA, ME, MD, MN, NJ) |
misc |
(HI, IL, NE, RI...) |