Small Arms provides ideal grounding in the application, design, and operation of small arms as used by modern military powers. It explains the methods of achieving automatic operation, both by self power and external power; discusses the advantages and disadvantages of each type of operating method; gives design and constructional details of ammunition; and describes the individual components, such as breeches, locking mechanisms, barrels, triggers and firing mechanisms, ammunition feed, and sights. This important book also discusses future developments in the search for improved weapon performance and the direction these developments are likely to take.