Firearm

"Just once I'd like to meet an alien menace which wasn't immune to bullets!"

- Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart

Firearm is a term encompassing a variety of weapons, generally which utilise a projectile fired from the weapon relying on chemical explosives to propel the projectile at high velocities away from the firearm.

General Description

Weapons that fall into the 'firearm' category are:

Handguns, small Weapons designed for one-handed use. usualy with a short cased and often high-calibre cartridge
Rifles, refers to rifling inside the barrel of the gun causing the projectile to rotate in flight. differ from pistols in size and cartridge. generaly using a long-cased cartidge for superior velocity and range to simelar callibre handgun cartridges. Combat rifles (subdevided into Assualt and battle rifles depending on how powerfull it is) are capable of selective fire. Assault rilfes are the most common standard weapons in modern milataries.
Shotguns, usualy smoothbore (some specialized for slugs are rifled) which mainly use shells filled with numerous small projectiles instead of a single bullet.
Machine guns, Using the same cartidges as Rifles but capable of sustined automatic fire
Sub-machine guns, Pistol-cartridge weapons capable of automatic fire.

This list is incomplete, as the simplicity of the basic design allows for a wide range of variations.

Firearms are also sometimes classified by their loading mechanism. A single shot weapon such as a shotgun or musket must be reloaded after each firing, while a semi-automatic weapon reloads mechanically after each shot, but only discharges once with each trigger pull. An automatic weapon reloads and fires continuously as long as the trigger is held down and it has ready ammunition.

Often, these two systems of classification are used in tandem, e.g. semi-automatic pistol or automatic rifle. In this way, both the loading mechanism and the configuration of the firearm are described.

A common military weapon, used by armed forces such as UNIT, is the assault rifle. It it is a magazine-fed automatic firearm with a rifled barrel of varying length, and can be fired in single shots, in intermittent bursts, or continuously. As the name implies, it is designed for offensive combat, due to its versatility, amount of ammunition, and power with which it launches projectiles.

Carbines are a variety of weapons that either use a short barrel and rifle cartridges or a rifle-like construction (long barell and stock) with pistol cartridges

Pistols typically are used as a more defensive weapon, to counter or discourage a personal attack, or as a back-up to a larger weapon. While primitive pistols are single-shot weapons, most carried by Humans following the 19th century are semi-automatic weapons of either a revolver or magazine-fed design. Fully automatic pistols exist, but are not as common due to cost of production, failure rate, and ammunition consumption. The advantages of a pistol come from its small size; it is easily portable and concealable, making them suited for use by organizations such as Torchwood, whose agents may not wish to advertise that they are armed, or may need to have a weapon with them at all times. Its disadvantages are its relatively low ammunition capacity, and lack of accuracy or range compared to larger weapons.

Shotguns and more primitive forms of rifle are often seen used by hunters, and can be pressed into service as combat weapons, but are generally less effective than weapons intended for military or self-defense weapons.

Generally, most types of firearm have been ineffective against armored alien races such as Daleks and Cybermen, though specifically designed bullets have been produced to utilise alien race's weaknesses (Gold in the Cybermen's case). (DW: Battlefield) Standard bullets are effective though against biological species that are similar to Humans, such as the Ood. (DW: Planet of the Ood)

Firearms, as a relatively primitive technology, can be neutralized by more advanced technology. For example, Sontaran soldiers have employed a cordolaine field that affects certain metals such as copper, causing weapons using copper casings on their projectiles not to fire. (DW: The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky). but humans, being as inventive as they are, can often find ways to counter these such as the Steel cased ammunition

Technological improvements such as the Bastic bullet can make firearms more effective, to the point of being a viable weapon even against a Dalek. (DW: Revelation of the Daleks, The Parting of the Ways)

One practical limit on the use of firearms is that they are primarily lethal weapons, and while it is possible to use a firearm to incapacitate rather than kill, this can often only be achieved by inflicting serious injury and pain. For this reason, individuals such as the Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith refuse to use them on moral grounds. A large variety of non-lethal or less-lethal ammunitions are available specificaly for incapacitation.

Despite their limitations, Humans are known to use firearms well into the 2001st century and beyond. Likely reasons for this are the fact that firearms are simple and cheap to produce and maintain, as well as being easy to use. Their continued use may also be an example of sentimentality on the part of Humanity, as they have been seen to fetishize firearms to an unusual degree. They may simply have continued to improve them as time went on and they remained a usable and viable weapon.

However, an appreciation of the usefulness of firearms is not limited to Humanity. On one occasion, a Dalek taskforce was seen to replace their standard armament with some sort of semi-automatic weapon in an environment where their energy weapons were ineffective. (DW: Death to the Daleks)

Instances of Assault or Automatic Rifle use

Weapons resembling M4's with Beta C drum magazines were used to shoot and subdue the Ood both on Sanctuary Base 6 and on the Ood Sphere. (DW: The Satan Pit, Planet of the Ood)
The army and UNIT used them to repel the Sontarans(they appeared to be G36s), Daleks and the Cybermen. (DW: Dalek, The Parting of the Ways, Army of Ghosts, Doomsday, The Poison Sky, The Stolen Earth, Journey's End)
Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones used assault rifles to combat a Dalek in the Torchwood Hub. (DW: The Stolen Earth)
The Hath and Humans on Messaline carried rifles which were used to fight the war over who took control of the planet. (DW: The Doctor's Daughter)
The Master's private armed teams fired on the Doctor, Martha Jones and Jack Harkness with assault rifles. (DW: The Sound of Drums)
Captain Jack led a squad of men to shoot the Toclafane with assault rifles. He also destroyed the Paradox Machine by shooting it with one. (DW: Last of the Time Lords)
The Preachers used a number of automatic weapons to fight the Cybermen. (DW: Rise of the Cybermen)
Miss Foster's guards were armed with assault rifles. (DW: Partners in Crime)
The security guards in the International Gallery and the police units waiting to arrest Christina De Souza at the end of the tunnel were armed with Heckler & Koch G36 assault rifles.
UNIT successfully battled the "Alien Stingray" beings with Heckler & Koch G36 assault rifles and M4 carbines.

Instances of Handgun use

When the lone Dalek escaped The Vault, the security guards used pistols against it. (DW: Dalek)

When Suki Macrae Cantrell got promoted to Floor 500, she pulled a futuristic pistol on The Editor. She fired the pistol at the Jagrafess, but that didn't help. (DW: The Long Game)

Jack Harkness used a 21st century era pistol against the Daleks invading the Game Station. (DW: The Parting of the Ways)

Queen Victoria carried a small pistol in her bag for her protection. (DW: Tooth and Claw)

Jake Simmonds and Mrs. Moore pulled pistols to Mickey Smith when they found out he wasn't Ricky Smith. (DW: Rise of the Cybermen)

Tallulah had a prop pistol to scare The Doctor, Martha Jones and Solomon. (DW: Daleks in Manhattan)
The Master's henchmen pulled out pistols to everyone witnessing when the Toclafane killed President Winters. (DW: The Sound of Drums)
Thomas Milligan used a pistol to lure a Toclafane to the trap set up by Alison Docherty. Lucy Saxon used a pistol to kill The Master. (DW: Last of the Time Lords)

Jack Harkness carried a Webley Mark VI revolver while in service with Torchwood, despite the rest of his team carrying more modern pistols. The Webley Mark VI was the British Army standard sidearm during World War I. (TW: Everything Changes)

General Cobb intended to shoot the Doctor with a pistol but Jenny got in the way. The Doctor later almost shot Cobb as revenge for killing his daughter. (DW: The Doctor's Daughter)

Colonel Mace shot Commander Skorr with a pistol. (DW: The Poison Sky)
General Sanchez attempted to repel the invading Dalek with a pistol. (DW: The Stolen Earth)
John Jefferson shot an Ood with a pistol. He only fired one shot until either the weapon had limited ammunition, or the gun jammed. (DW: The Satan Pit)

Captain Erisa Magambo threatened Malcolm Taylor with a Walther P99 pistol, and later used it to defend against the alien stingrays (DW: Planet of the Dead).

Instances of Machine Gun use

Mounted machine guns were used to shoot the Scarecrow Drones when they attacked the Farringham School for Boys. (DW: The Family of Blood)
On Malcassairo, the guards repelled the Futurekind with machine guns. (DW: Utopia)

Behind the scenes

Most assault rifles used in the 2005 series, are Heckler & Koch G36s. These also appear in some episodes of Torchwood.
The guns carried by Sanctuary Base 6 security in The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit are P90 Personal Defense Weapons fitted with supressors (the same model of weapon commonly associated with the TV series Stargate SG-1 and its spinoffs).
Classic series UNIT troops are often seen using Sterling sub-machine guns or SLRs.