RWClist Workshop – Weapon Info

Many people have an inordinate fear of firearms. This comes mostly from a lack of familiarity
with firearms in general and a lack of understanding of what they are and what they do. We are
going to have a short overview of the history of firearms and a discussion of the various types of
firearms as well as some photos and descriptions of the various action types.

Firearms evolved from the famous discovery of gunpowder during the middle ages. History
books used to tell us that the Chinese first discovered gunpowder, and used it for ceremonial and
military uses. Europeans found out about gunpowder following Marco Polo’s famous journeys
to the Far East. That was the common wisdom for centuries. However, there is now
disagreement amongst historians whether Europe received knowledge about gunpowder from the
Chinese, or if gunpowder was discovered in China and Europe and developed at the same time.
You have to remember that during this period there were plenty of alchemists trying to mix
various things together for various purposes, the most famous of which was to turn things into
gold.

Whether gunpowder originated in China and came to Europe, or was discovered and developed
in both areas about the same time, it began to be used for military purposes on both continents.
Towards the end of the middle ages, the “Handgonne” was developed, which, although heavy
and producing almost as much of a punch to the user as to the target, was used on the battlefield
to overcome armored knights. This original firearm was simply a metal tube, usually with a
wooden “stock” attached which was held under the arm or butted into the ground, and a touch
hole in the top rear of the tube whereby the powder was ignited. This form of a firearm was the
norm well into the era of the 1500's. This is when we first saw what we would recognize today
as a firearm. The ignition system was no longer a “match” held in the hand, but a match
(burning fuse) held in a small vise which was connected to a trigger, which when pulled, applied
the match to the touch hole. The caliber of this firearm was much smaller than the original
Handgonne, and it had a stock similar to what we see on rifles and shotguns today.

People had been using flint rocks to start fires for centuries, and someone, we don’t know who,
got the bright idea that they could use flint to ignite the powder in the touch hole. This was a
bright idea, as keeping a match lit on a battle field, or while stalking game was not always easy.
Plus, to get the match lit was a problem, especially in inclement weather. So, the flintlock and
wheellock were born. The wheellock was a flintlock of sorts, except the mechanism was much
more intricate, but had numerous flints on a wheel which, when wound up and released, would
rotate the flints under the striker, causing a veritable continuous shower of sparks (until the
spring wound down, that is) ensuring the powder in the touch hole was ignited. The flintlock
used only one flint, and it was held in a hammer vise which had to be cocked and fell only once,
vice numerous times, hitting the frizzen, sending a couple of lonely sparks into the touch hole.
So, you may ask, why did the flintlock survive and the wheellock fall by the side of the road?
Like all things in life, the cost of buying something and maintaining it is the bottom line. So it
was with the wheellock. It cost far more to buy and maintain one wheellock than to buy and
maintain several flintlocks. Therefore, kings and such, like all leaders, were concerned about the
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bottom line. They could buy flintlocks and outfit several half trained soldiers or they could buy
one wheellock and outfit one soldier.

Flintlocks had another advantage. Up to now, only the very rich could afford firearms. Now, the
ability to hunt and provide for one’s family when game was wary and didn’t allow hunters to get
very close was within reach of the rising middle class. In addition, you could now afford to buy
something to protect your family from brigands and such whereas before you were limited to
poleaxes, pitchforks, etc.

The flintlock reigned supreme for many years. Because of the manner of loading and the type of
warfare practiced, most flintlocks were smoothbores. That is, they had no rifling. Germany
began to change this in a small measure through the introduction of what was called a Jaeger
rifle. This was designed for hunting, and used rifling to stabilize a ball by imparting spin to it.
This had the added advantage of extending the range at which a gun could be shot. Thus,
firearms went from a 100 foot to 50 yard weapon to a 100 yard plus weapon. Quite an
improvement. The American frontier took the Jaeger to heart and adopted it as their own. They
developed it into what we now call the Kentucky, or Pennsylvania, rifle.

During the late 1700's to the early 1800's a Scottish preacher, who had more than one outing
hunting for game ruined due to inclement weather, developed what is called a percussion cap.
This is a small metal (usually brass) cap (so called because it looked like a small men’s top hat)
lined with fulminate of mercury. When struck by a hammer on a firearm, this produced a strong
spark. The minister, in conjunction with others, developed the first caplock firearm, whereby the
frizzen and touch hole were replaced by a “nipple” on top of the touch hole, and the cap was
placed on top of the nipple. The hammer was changed from a vise to a solid design. When fired,
the hammer struck the cap, producing a spark, which was directed directly into the touchhole,
instead of in the direction of it. This ensured ignition, allowing a shooter a better chance to hit
his/her target.

This was the standard for over 50 years until Smith and Wesson, an American manufacturer
brought out the first cartridge firearm. The S&W #1 revolver. This was effectively a .22 caliber
handgun, and revolutionized the world of firearms. It was so revolutionary that some Union
officers during the Civil War even bought (what we would nowadays consider to underpowered
to use in battle) as personal sidearms. The ammunition was basically what might be called a
large percussion cap with s small lead ball in the end of it. The hammer was changed to include
a firing pin on the nose of the hammer, which struck the base of the ammunition, thus igniting
the primer (fulminate of mercury), setting off the small charge of powder.

For several years S&W held off competitors until their patent on bored through cylinders was
opened to all comers, at which time Colt, Remington, and others began producing bored through
cylinder firearms. Two other technologies developed along the same time. They included
primers and pinfire rounds. The primer was similar to a tiny percussion cap set into the center of
the ammunition case. Pinfire ammunition had the firing pin installed directly into the side of the

© Weapons_Info – Mark Pfeiffer

 RWClist Workshop – Weapon Info

base of the cartridge. When loaded, the “pin” stood up and the hammer dropped on the pin,
igniting the primer.

I mentioned Revolvers earlier when talking about ammunition development, and we need to
know about the development of revolvers. From the earliest days of firearms, one of the things
which limited them was the fact that only one shot could be fired at a time prior to reloading.
Through the years many different types of firearms were developed to overcome this. There was
the over/under flintlock. The barrels rotated on a central rod, and were fired one at a time prior
to being reloaded, giving up to four shots before the firearm had to be reloaded. In the early
1800's the Pepperbox was developed, so called because the barrels (which were like an extended
cylinder) looked like a pepper shaker of sorts. This was a percussion cap handgun, and each pull
of the trigger brought a different barrel into line with the hammer, allowing up to eight shots
prior to reloading. Development even went so far as to include some rifles. Rather heavy
affairs. In 1836, Samuel Colt developed and patented the Patterson revolver. For the first time a
handgun which most would recognize as a revolver had appeared. It was a 5 shot and had a
trigger which folded up into the frame when not in use. It was relatively fragile, but many
bought it, including Kit Carson, who is reputed to have dueled with another man,over a woman’s
affections, using Patterson’s on horseback. Colt was not successful in this venture, and went
bankrupt. However, he found other backers and received a contract with the new government of
Texas for his newest revolver, the famous Walker Colt. This was a 6 shot revolver produced at
the request and with the design assistance of Captain Walker of the Texas Rangers, and, whereas
the Patterson was a “minuscule” .31 caliber and very refined, the Walker was a .44 caliber and
massive. It was what was known as a “horse pistol” as it was a heavy revolver and, as stated by
some, “the only thing needed to make it an artillery piece was wheels....” From this was
developed the Colt’s Dragoons, a slightly smaller version of the Walker, still in .44 caliber, but
easier to carry on a person. In the 1850's, what would become the standard against which all
other single action revolvers were judged, the Colt’s Navy was developed and produced. It was
a .36 caliber revolver and was considered so well balanced that it became the epitome of what a
revolver should be. Shortly after, the Colt’s Army revolver was developed. It was a little larger
and was in .44 caliber. In 1860, both of these revolvers were updated in design. This eventually
led, following S&W’s development of the bored through cylinder, to the 6 gun design most
people are familiar with, the Single Action Army. The SAA was developed in various calibers,
not least of which was the .45 Colt for the US Army. S&W came out with their famous
Schofield #3, which was a large revolver in .45 Schofield, a slightly shorter round than the .45
Colt. The major difference between two revolvers was the method of loading and unloading.
The Colt used a “loading gate”and ejector rod, while the Schofield was a break action which
allowed all spent cartridge casings to be expelled (loaded rounds stayed in the cylinder), and
multiple rounds to be loaded at once. The Army ordered both pistols, but, for the sake of
keeping supplies simple, ordered only .45 Schofield ammunition. In the late 1800's both Colt
and S&W developed double action revolvers. These were rather sensitive to dirt and, in the case
of Colt, rather delicate. The problems were resolved and in the 1890's the US Army ordered
replacements for it’s aging SAA’s and Schofields. Colt won the contract and produced the Army
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revolver in .38 Long Colt (LC). This round was touted as the way to go, until reports from the
Philippines following the Spanish American war showed it didn’t fare well as a manstopper. The
end result was that the old SAA’s were reissued, and an order was put out for a new handgun in
the then new auto loading design, in .45 caliber. Colt won the contract and the rest is history
(except one point I will add before talking about autoloaders, rifles, and shotguns. Luger had a
sample in this same contract contest, but lost out to Colt.)

In the late 1800's, in both America and Europe, gun manufacturers began to experiment with
firearms based on one of Newton’s laws of physics. For every action, there is an opposite and
equal reaction. This experimentation brought about what we know today as autoloaders, or
semi-automatic firearms. These included some really far out designs, as well as designs we are
more familiar with. However, if you were to take one of our auto-loaders from today back to the
designers of yesteryear, they would immediately recognize it for what it is, an auto loading
handgun. Perhaps the biggest design differences in auto loaders are the type of action (blow
back versus gas retarded-aka the Browning design) and the type of magazine. The basic
magazine differences were internal and detachable. The internal magazine required a “stripper”
clip to load, whereas the detachable magazine was separate from the firearm and could be loaded
one round at a time. The blowback action is used ONLY for low powered rounds such as the .25
acp (automatic colt’s pistol), .32 acp, and .380. The gas retarded is used for the various 9mm’s,
.40's, .45's, etc, as they create higher pressures and require that the pressure drop to safe levels
before the action is allowed to unlock and open, ejecting the empty shell casing.

Longarms began, as mentioned earlier, as matchlocks, wheellocks, flintlocks, and caplocks. In

the mid 1800's a development was introduced which would lead to the long arms we are familiar
with today. This was the “Breechloader”. Perhaps the one most Americans know about is the
Springfield “Trapdoor”. This was a firearm in which the breech was cut out and a hinge
installed, allowing pre-formed paper rolled cartridges to be loaded directly into the breech. This
signficantly increased the rate of fire a soldier could lay down. The only problem with it was the
trap door was a weak point, and only relatively low powered rounds could be used. Shortly after
this, the Rolling Block and Falling Block’s were developed. These both used massive blocks
and could handle progressively higher pressure rounds. This allowed the shooter to obtain
ranges and rates of fire unheard of before. Remember that with the old smoothbore flintlock you
had a maximum effective range of about 50 yards, MAYBE 100 yards, if you were good. The
best shot recorded with a breech loader was made with a Sharps Falling Block by a buffalo
hunter named Billy Dixon. His shot of over 1,000 yards was not the longest ever taken, but was
the longest recorded and verified at the time.

In the late 1871, the German brothers Mauser developed the first bolt action rifles, followed soon
after by many other countries. Most of these bolt action rifles had a cock on opening feature
which, following Mauser’s lead, made for an easier action to manipulate. Several, most notably
the British Lee Enfield, used a cock on closing. This meant that the firing pin cocked on closing
the action, making the action a little harder to close than the Mauser design. Magazine designs
included the internal box magazine of the Mauser, the tubular under barrel magazine of the

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 RWClist Workshop – Weapon Info

French Lebel, the detachable box magazine of the Lee Enfield, and the side loading gate rotary
magazine of the Krag-Jorgensen. The US adopted the Krag, on the assumption that it would aid
in preventing wasting ammunition. This was the idea until the Spanish American war when US
troops armed with Krags faced Spanish troops armed with German Mausers. The accurate fire
and the ease of loading the Mausers far outpaced the slower reload of the Krags, as well as the
fact that a soldier on the ground behind cover loading a Krag had to expose himself to load,
whereas a soldier in the same situation with a Mauser didn’t have to expose himself. This led to
new trials in the US which led to the adoption of the 1903 Springfield. The Springfield drew
heavily from the Mauser. A little too heavily, though. So much so that during WW-I, while the
US was at war with Germany, they had to pay patent royalties to the German Government for
“stealing” Mauser’s designs.

The first self loading/semi-auto rifles were produced in the late 1800's/early 1900's. They were
originally .22 caliber for hunting. Military’s soon saw the potential and adapted them for
military use. Perhaps the most famous of all semi-auto rifles was the M-1 Garand of WW-II
fame.

The next real change in Semi-auto rifles was brought about by the Soviets through the use of
conscripts and indigenous personnel in 3rd world countries. A firearm which was functional but
able to be maintained/used by persons with little experience in modern firearms was needed.
This brought about the SKS and AK-47 series of rifles. These are robust and designed to be used
by those with minimal training.

Shotguns generally followed rifle technology. Though some would think that only shotguns
were made with double barrels, that is not true. There were/are double barreled rifles, most
notably for areas such as Africa where one might encounter dangerous game. This allowed the
hunter two sure shots vice a bolt action/semi-auto/pump action which might jam at the wrong
time.

The major development in shotguns was chokes which allowed the shooter to choose how close
to the barrel the shot would begin to spread. Perhaps the earliest view of a “choke” was the
blunderbuss, which was designed to allow faster loading and ensure maximum spread upon
shooting. As you can tell from the idea, a choke that is tighter keeps the shot pattern denser,
allowing a more accurate longer range shot.

There is much more. In fact, there have been books written on just one type of rifle, the Mauser.
This should give you a good overview of firearms in general and their general history.
There are MANY other facets which can be discussed, so, please feel free to ask questions. I
will tell you that the only dumb question is the one which is never asked.

One last thing, a short anecdote to illustrate what true gunfighters think about handguns. A
deputy sheriff was attending a dinner one day, and a socialite noticed he was wearing his
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sidearm. She asked him why he had worn a handgun to the event. The deputy replied, “because
they wouldn’t let me bring my rifle with me.....”

There are two kinds of stupid, the man who brings a knife to a gunfight, and the man who brings
a handgun when he could have brought a shotgun or rifle.

© Weapons_Info – Mark Pfeiffer