Ammunition

a term used to designate the various articles used in loading a gun or cannon; as powder, ball, cap, wad, bullet, shot, or cartridge. In early days a gun was loaded with a charge of powder followed by a wad of tow or paper; then a spherical bullet or a charge of shot, and in the latter case a second wad to keep the shot in place. The first wad enabled the powder to force the load out. Percussion caps ignited by a blow of a hammer were invented about 1830. The metallic cartridge in which the powder and lead are contained, as well as a percussion priming by which the powder is fired, is credited to French invention in 1831. Elongated or Minie bullets were used in the Crimean War. A much longer steel bullet is used in a modern Winchester. Bullets that flatten or explode in the body are forbidden by the ethics of modern warfare. They are called "dum-dum" bullets. The last United States census gives the following statistics as to manufacture of ammunition for the year 1900: Number of manufactories, 35; number of workmen, 2,267; wages paid, $1,110,482; value of materials used, $4,645,850; value of ammunition, $6,538,482. See Lead; Gunpowder; Firearms; Torpedo; Dynamite