Projectile weapon

Projectile weapons were mostly relatively primitive armaments that accelerated and directed bullets or other solid objects toward a target to achieve damaging effects by direct application of kinetic energy. Hand-held projectile weapons that utilized chemical combustion for projectile propulsion were also known as firearms. Such weapons have been used by most species prior to the development of directed energy weapon technologies. Despite their "primitiveness", projectile weapons were still considered potent, effective, and reliable weapons by many civilizations in the 23rd and 24th centuries. While most societies largely abandoned the use of such weapons, they remained largely potent weapons namely because they didn't require electricity, plasma, or technologically-derived energy sources in order to run. They were invulnerable to electronic countermeasures, dampening fields, and radiological environments, basically any environment in which phasers, disruptors, or other energy weapons would be rendered useless. 
==History==
Examples of projectile weapons include their most primitive forms, the sling and the bow and arrow. () Steel crossbows were used on Earth in the 14th century. () The Akaali still used them in the 22nd, () and the Ligonians and the Klingons still made use of them in the 24th century. ()
More advanced projectile weapons, flintlocks for instance, propel their projectiles by means of an explosive chemical reaction, such as that provided in igniting gunpowder. () Cannons were larger projectile weapons that fired cannonballs. () To defeat the Gorn, Captain James T. Kirk once even constructed a primitive makeshift cannon by making gunpowder out of potassium nitrate, sulphur and coal, with a bamboo stick as the cannon and a diamond as the projectile. () Muskets and dueling pistols were other antiquated firearms used on Earth. (; )
The Buntline Special, Colt .45 "peacemaker" and the Winchester rifle were 19th century Earth weapons. (; ) The .38 police special was a 20th century pistol made specially for police and law enforcement officers. ()
Some of the German soldiers who had invaded the United States of America in an alternate 1944 used Mauser Karabiner 98ks. P-51 Mustang aircraft attacked a Starfleet with their .50 caliber machine guns. () The Japanese Zero was another form of WWII airplane which was equipped with a machine gun. It likewise made a series of strafing runs at a landing party on the Shore Leave Planet in 2267. ()
Shotguns were a type of projectile weapon used on Earth well into the 21st century. During the Bell Riots of 2024, the residents who held the government personnel hostage used acquired police shotguns to ensure their cooperation. ()
In 2063, Lily Sloane attempted to kill Lieutenant Commander Data with a Calico M960 submachine gun in Montana. Also in that same year, Captain Jean-Luc Picard enjoyed mowing down two Borg drones with a holographic recreation of a Thompson submachine gun from the 1920s, the time period his holo-novel was set in. ()
In the mirror universe, used a shotgun in 2063 to kill the first Vulcan who set foot on Earth. Commander kept this weapon in his quarters aboard the . ()
The MK-33 and MK-34 were also weapons of the 2060s. The crew of the was equipped with them when they departed Earth to found the Terra Nova colony in 2069. () Wrist-mounted machine guns were used by soldiers on Earth in the 2070s. ()
In the mid-22nd century, guns (particularly revolvers) were highly prevalent on a Skagaran colony planet in the Delphic Expanse. ()
In 2168, a book on gangs in Chicago during the 1920s was left on Sigma Iotia II, it became a blueprint for the natives' culture. Virtually everyone carried a gun, known in slang as "heaters", including guns resembling "Tommy guns" of Earth's history. One brand of firearms was called Bang Bang. ()
In 2259 of the alternate reality, Starfleet security personnel at Starfleet Headquarters in San Francisco on Earth had access to automatic grenade launcher-type artillery weapons that fired small torpedo-shaped rocket-propelled grenades with aerodynamic attachments. ()
 
In 2268, the Ekosian Nazis and the natives from 892-IV were armed with various firearms similar to Earth weapons of the mid-20th century. () 
-type grenade launchers were standard-issue weaponry used by Starfleet in the late 2260s. () Torpedo launchers were used on starships and other spacecraft and installations as projectile weapons, accelerating a torpedo for launch. While some types of torpedoes couldn't be fired without a launcher, most types of torpedoes had internal engines to sustain their flight. (; et al.)
In 2287, the inhabitants of Nimbus III, barred from using conventional weaponry, devised improvised projectile weapons which fired rocks or other debris through the apparent use of compressed air. The Galactic Army of Light also used a single minigun. ()
On the in 2374, the crew fought in a holodeck recreation of World War II using various American projectile weapons of the period (M1 Garands and Colt M1911A1s) and captured German weapons (Gewehr 98/40s and MP40s). Captain Kathryn Janeway threatened to kill Seven of Nine with a holographic Colt M1911A1 when she believed Seven was a Nazi spy. She also killed the lead Hirogen with a holographic Mauser Kar 98k after he had killed the original leader Karr, and hunted Janeway with it. ()
In the 2370s, the Delta Quadrant pre-warp civilizations on Makull's homeworld and the Vori-Kradin planet both made use of projectile weapons. ()
Sometime prior to 2375, Starfleet experimented with projectile weapons for possible use in areas where energy weapons were subject to the effects of dampening fields. One such weapon was the TR-116 rifle, which fired tritanium bullets and could be modified with a miniature transporter and exographic targeting sensor to allow use from longer distances and through walls. ()
In 2379, the pre-warp Kolaran civilization made use of several types of machine guns and other firearms. ()
==Hand-held projectile weapons==
* .38 police special
* .45 automatic
* Automatic weapon
* Bang Bang (A "heater")
* Beretta 92
* Bow and arrow
* Buntline Special
* Calico M950
* Calico M960
* Colt .45
* Colt AR-15
* Colt Army Model 1860
* Colt Detective Special
* Colt Official Police
* Colt Police Positive
* Crossbow
* DefTech 37 mm launcher
* Derringer
* Double-barreled shotgun
* Dueling pistol
* Enfield L85A1
* Flintlock
* Franchi SPAS-12
* Gewehr 98/40
* Grenade launcher
* Heckler & Koch MP5
* Henry 1860
* High Standard HDM
* Karabiner 98k
* M1 Carbine
* M1 Garand
* M16A1 assault rifle
* M203 grenade launcher
* Mauser C96
* MG42
* MK-33
* MK-34
* Mossberg 500
* MP40
* Musket
* Nambu pistol
* Pistol
* Remington Model 870
* Revolver
* Shoe gun
* Shotgun
* Sniper rifle
* Smith & Wesson Model 15
* Springfield model 1873
* M1921/28 and M1 Thompson submachine gun
* TR-116 rifle
* Walther P38
* Walther PP
* Winchester
* Winchester Model 1200
* Winchester Model 1892
== See also ==
* 
** Rifled barrel
== External links ==
* 
* 
* at 
de:Projektilwaffe
Category:Hand-held weapons
Category:Projectile weapons