Jarret Warner
When gun powder was first created, it was said to change the world. Gun powder was thought to have been made by the Mongols in 1300 AD, and later adopted by the Chinese. Gun powder was first used to make fire crackers (fireworks). Black powder (the original form of gunpowder) was made by mixing salt, charcoal, and saltpeter. This great discovery led to countless possibilities in warfare. Men could now shoot farther more accurately and kill countless times more people with the same or little effort. These days guns are by some said to be the beginning of the end.
A gun is a weapon consisting essentially of a metal tube from which a projectile is fired. There are many different types of firearms such as handguns, revolvers, rifles, shotguns, carbines, and machine guns. All of which can be single shot, semi automatic, fully automatic, pump action, and lever action.
At first there were very primitive forms of weapons such as cannons, matchlock pistols and rifles (muzzle loaders), which worked by pouring a black powder mixture down the muzzle, followed by the projectile (lead ball). When ready to fire the marksman would light a match (made of hemp soaked in wine and saltpeter). When the flame reached the flash pan it would ignite the powder, thus firing the bullet down and out the barrel.
The next major advancement in firearms was the wheellock design. It was loaded the same way as the matchlock but instead of the unreliable match, it was lit by flint and steel. When the trigger was pulled a steel wheel spun rapidly against the flint. This friction between flint and steel would produce sparks, therefore lighting the powder and firing the gun.
After wheellock, came flintlock and the percussion cap. Both worked on the basis that a hammer was cocked and released by a trigger, the difference being the flintlock used steel, whereas the percussion cap struck a sealed brass cap, these caps contained a new FFFFg powder, that would light after being stuck a hard blow, thus lighting the charge discharging the bullet.
The final advancement in firearms was the development of a cartridge or a modern firearm. With this system the bullet and propellant are loaded into the breech not the muzzle. A cartridge consists of a brass case filled with smokeless powder. The bullet is seated in the forend while the cap or a primer. is seated in the other. When the marksman wanted to fire he would simple place a cartridge into the chamber, close the bolt and fire. This gun was waterproof, quick to reload and far superior to a traditional muzzle-loading weapon.
