Ammunition facts for kids

Different types of ammunition

Ammunition, often called ammo, comes from the French word la munition. At first it meant all items used for war. This was from the Latin word munire (to provide). It now is used only for bullets and other projectiles that are thrown at the enemy by guns, and the gunpowder or other propellant that throws the projectiles. The group word for all types of ammunition is munitions. This means any explosive thing that can be used in combat and includes bombs, missiles, warheads, and mines (landmines, naval mines, and claymore mines). These are made in munitions factories.

Ammunition is mainly used to attack a target. Ammunition can include flares and incendiary devices that start fires. Since the invention of the cartridge, ammunition has come to mean the putting of a projectile - the item that is sent to hit the target, and its propellant - the chemical that creates the force, into a single package.

Ammunition is a complex subject. It includes many different weapons used by people, such as explosives and propellants, cartridges, high explosive projectiles (HE), warheads, special shells to attack armour and aircraft, carrier projectiles, fuses, mortar ammunition, small arms (revolver and pistol) ammunition, grenades, mines, flares, improved conventional munitions, and computer guided munition.

Images for kids

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  A belt of 0.50 caliber ammunition loaded into an M2 Browning. Every fifth round (red tips) is an M20 (armor piercing incendiary tracer).

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  Preparing 105mm M119 howitzer ammunition: powder propellant, cartridge, and shell with fuze.

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  The inside of a modern 12.7mm anti-materiel rifle bullet

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  Female ordnance workers inspecting cartridge cases in Los Angeles, 1943

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  Various rifle cartridges compared to the height of a US$1 bill.

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  M107 Shells

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  Modern 120 mm tank gun cartridges with different projectiles

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  Fourteen-inch ammunition on the deck of a battleship in 1944.

See also

In Spanish: Munición para niños