Bullpup

:For the air to surface missile, see AGM-12 Bullpup

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Bullpup refers to a firearm configuration in which the firearm action (or mechanism) and magazine are located behind the trigger, increasing the barrel length relative to the overall weapon length, thus permitting shorter weapons for the same barrel length or longer barrels for the same weapon length. The concept was first used in bolt action rifles such as the Thorneycroft carbine of 1901, and is known to have been applied to semi-automatic firearms no later than 1936, the year a bullpup pistol was patented by the Frenchman Henri Delacre. A 7.62 mm caliber assault rifle was developed by 1946 in Tula, Russia, but it was an experimental design and did not enter service. The EM2 was adopted by the United Kingdom in 1951 as the world's first (limited) service bullpup rifle; the nation had been considering the idea of a bullpup service rifle since 1944.

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