Every industry uses a shorthand. It’s efficient, impresses friends and becomes part of the vernacular. Gun enthusiasts have their own jargon, an alphabet soup of acronyms so confusing that we maintain a list for reference when editing stories. Here are a few explanations that might be helpful to the uninitiated.
We’ll start with the bullet nomenclature often employed by gun enthusiasts:
FMJ—Full metal jacket; best for practice ammo only.
JHP—Jacketed hollow point; best for personal protection.
BTHP—Boattail hollow point; low-drag and capable of going some distance.
OTM—Open tip match; makes steel ring at long range.
Here are a few of the non-ballistic terms seen in the pages of this magazine, along with their translations:
IFAK—Individual first-aid kit
TQ—Tourniquet
QD—Quick disconnect
IWB—Inside the waistband
OWB—Outside the waistband
AIWB—Appendix inside the waistband
EDC—Everyday carry
CQB—Close-quarters battle
BLK—Blackout (in reference to the cartridges bearing that name)
SOCOM—Special Operations Command
PDW—Personal defense weapon; a semi-automatic, large-format pistol or short-barrel rifle wearing a frame with more accessories or attachment points than typical for a compact handgun.
MSR—Modern sporting rifle; any semi-automatic carbine or rifle fed from a removable magazine. ARs, AKs, AUGs, FALs, Tavors and many others are members of this large family of firearms.
AR—ArmaLite Rifle
MOA—Minute of angle; angular measure, with 60 minutes in every degree, that measures 1.047 inches wide at 100 yards.
Mil—Milliradian; angular measurement that is .001 radian, which converts to 10 centimeters (3.94 inches) wide at 100 meters.
MRDS—Miniature red-dot sight
WML—Weapon-mounted light
