Impulse Research Wildebeest | |
---|---|
Type | Semi-automatic pistol |
Place of origin | Australia |
Production history | |
Designer | Bernard Besselink |
Designed | 2022 |
Manufacturer | Impulse Research, Australia |
Specifications | |
Mass | 60 oz (1,701.0 g) (unloaded) |
Length | 10.1 in (256.5 mm) |
Barrel length | 6.2 in (157.5 mm) |
Width | 1.2 in (30.5 mm) |
Height | 5.8 in (147.3 mm) |
Caliber | .357 Magnum |
Action | Short recoil operated, locked breech |
Rate of fire | Semi-automatic |
Feed system | 9-round box magazine (.357 Magnum) |
The Wildebeest pistol is the only semi-automatic pistol combining a low bore axis with a magnum cartridge. The Wildebeest operates using a patented system (US Patent 11,402,165) that reduces felt recoil by having the barrel axis below the top of the magazine and where the barrel tilts upwards for loading and extraction.
In the Wildebeest pistol, the breech face is not part of the slide unlike typical semi-automatic pistols. In the Wildebeest, the slide that is manipulated to load a round is best described as a “feed slide”. This feed slide does not have to hold the cartridge case in the chamber nor need to withstand combustion forces.
The barrel is carried in a separate cradle below the feed slide: somewhat like a traditional slide, but inverted. This cradle has the breech face and locking lugs. However, the barrel never separates from the cradle: it pivots at the muzzle end and is rotated upwards after firing to expose the chamber - somewhat like a break action shotgun. [1]
An animation of the operation of the Wildebeest pistol shows its unique features. [2]
A revolver is a repeating handgun that has at least one barrel and uses a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers for firing. Because most revolver models hold up to six cartridges, before needing to be reloaded, revolvers are commonly called six shooters or sixguns. Due to their rotating cylinder mechanism, they may also be called wheel guns.
In firearm designs, the term single-shot refers to guns that can hold only a single round of ammunition inside and thus must be reloaded manually after every shot. Compared to multi-shot repeating firearms ("repeaters"), single-shot designs have no moving parts other than the trigger, hammer/firing pin or frizzen, and therefore do not need a sizable receiver behind the barrel to accommodate a moving action, making them far less complex and more robust than revolvers or magazine/belt-fed firearms, but also with much slower rates of fire.
A cartridge, also known as a round, is a type of pre-assembled firearm ammunition packaging a projectile, a propellant substance and an ignition device (primer) within a metallic, paper, or plastic case that is precisely made to fit within the barrel chamber of a breechloading gun, for convenient transportation and handling during shooting. Although in popular usage the term "bullet" is often used to refer to a complete cartridge, the correct usage only refers to the projectile.
In firearms terminology, an action is the functional mechanism of a breech-loading firearm that handles the ammunition cartridges, or the method by which that mechanism works. Actions are technically not present on muzzleloaders, as all those are single-shot firearms with a closed off breech with the powder and projectile manually loaded from the muzzle. Instead, the muzzleloader ignition mechanism is referred to as the lock.
A semi-automatic pistol is a handgun that automatically ejects and loads cartridges in its chamber after every shot fired. Only one round of ammunition is fired each time the trigger is pulled, as the pistol's fire control group disconnects the trigger mechanism from the firing pin/striker until the trigger has been released and reset.
A lever action is a type of action for repeating firearms that uses a manually operated cocking handle located around the trigger guard area that pivots forward to move the bolt via internal linkages, which will feed and extract cartridges into and out of the chamber, and cock the firing pin mechanism. This contrasts to other type of repeating actions such as the bolt-action, pump-action, semi-automatic, fully automatic, and/or burst mode actions. A firearm using this operating mechanism is colloquially referred to as a levergun.
The Desert Eagle is a single-action, gas-operated, semi-automatic pistol known for chambering the .50 Action Express, the largest centerfire cartridge of any magazine-fed, self-loading pistol.
Blowback is a system of operation for self-loading firearms that obtains energy from the motion of the cartridge case as it is pushed to the rear by expanding gas created by the ignition of the propellant charge.
The M1901 Mannlicher Self-Loading, Semi-Automatic Pistol was an early semi-automatic pistol design. The Bundeswehr Museum of German Defense Technology in Koblenz has one of these specimen in its collection.
A breechblock is the part of the firearm action that closes the breech of a breech loading weapon before or at the moment of firing. It seals the breech and contains the pressure generated by the ignited propellant. Retracting the breechblock allows the chamber to be loaded with a cartridge.
The Mannlicher M1894 was an early blow-forward semi-automatic pistol.
Gas-operation is a system of operation used to provide energy to operate locked breech, autoloading firearms. In gas-operation, a portion of high-pressure gas from the cartridge being fired is used to power a mechanism to dispose of the spent case and insert a new cartridge into the chamber. Energy from the gas is harnessed through either a port in the barrel or a trap at the muzzle. This high-pressure gas impinges on a surface such as a piston head to provide motion for unlocking of the action, extraction of the spent case, ejection, cocking of the hammer or striker, chambering of a fresh cartridge, and locking of the action.
Break action is a type of firearm action in which the barrel(s) are hinged much like a door and rotate perpendicularly to the bore axis to expose the breech and allow loading and unloading of cartridges. A separate operation may be required for the cocking of a hammer to fire the new round. There are many types of break-action firearms; break actions are universal in double-barreled shotguns, double-barreled rifles, combination guns, and are commonly found in single shot pistols, rifles, shotguns, including flare guns, grenade launchers, air guns, and some older revolver designs. They are also known as hinge-action, break-open, break-barrel, break-top, or, on old revolvers, top-break actions.
The Grizzly Win Mag pistols were conceived, invented, designed, engineered and developed in the 1980s by the sole inventor, Perry Arnett, who licensed his patent for an interchangeable caliber semi-automatic pistol to L.A.R. Manufacturing Inc. Perry Arnett's designs were initially flawed and were improved upon by Heinz Augat. The L.A.R. Grizzly was the most powerful semi-automatic pistol ever commercially produced after the Desert Eagle.
A pistol is a type of handgun, characterised by a barrel with an integral chamber. The word "pistol" derives from the Middle French pistolet, meaning a small gun or knife, and first appeared in the English language c. 1570 when early handguns were produced in Europe. In colloquial usage, the word "pistol" is often used as a generic term to describe any type of handgun, inclusive of revolvers and the pocket-sized derringers.
The following are terms related to firearms and ammunition topics.
Muzzle rise, muzzle flip or muzzle climb refers to the tendency of a firearm's or airgun's muzzle to rise up after firing. It more specifically refers to the seemingly unpredictable "jump" of the firearm's muzzle, caused by combined recoil from multiple shots being fired in quick succession. It has an adverse effect on maintaining accuracy with using automatic weapons or rapid-firing semi-automatic firearms, as a moving muzzle can throw off the shooter's aim, causing subsequent shots to miss the intended target.
Recoil operation is an operating mechanism used to implement locked-breech autoloading firearms. Recoil operated firearms use the energy of recoil to cycle the action, as opposed to gas operation or blowback operation using the pressure of the propellant gas.
A feed ramp is a basic feature of many breech loading cartridge firearm designs. It is a tightly machined and polished piece of metal which guides a cartridge from the top of the magazine into the firing chamber of the barrel. The feed ramp may be part of the magazine (AR-7), part of the receiver or frame, part of the barrel or part of the barrel nut/locking lugs (AR-15). Some firearms, like the FN Five-seven, have a beveled chamber instead of a feed ramp.
A repeating firearm or repeater is any firearm that is capable of being fired repeatedly before having to be manually reloaded with new ammunition into the firearm.