Firearm History

    The first firearms were invented in 10th century China when the man-portable fire lance (a bamboo or metal tube that could shoot ignited gunpowder) was combined with projectiles such as scrap metal, broken porcelain, or darts/arrows. Over the centuries in China, several improvements were made to the fire lances and slowly transformed it into the metal-barreled hand cannon (huochong). Such improvements included increasing the proportion of saltpeter in gunpowder formulas to enhance explosive force. To withstand the greater explosive force produced, barrels were constructed from metal rather than bamboo or wood. At the same time, loose shrapnel loads were replaced with solid projectiles sized to fit the barrel more closely. Together, these improvements resulted in the hand cannon, featuring a metal barrel, high-nitrate gunpowder, and a fitted projectile.

An early depiction of a firearm is a sculpture from a cave in Sichuan, China. The sculpture dates to the 12th century and represents a figure carrying a vase-shaped bombard, with flames and a cannonball coming out of it. The oldest surviving gun, the Heilongjiang hand cannon, was a hand cannon made of bronze, dating to 1288 because it was discovered at a site in modern-day Acheng District, Heilongjiang, China, where the Yuan Shi (History of Yuan) records that battles were fought at that time. It describes a Jurchen commander by the name of Li Ting who led a group of soldiers equipped with hand cannons in 1288, to put down a rebellion in the region. The History of Yuan reports that the hand cannons not only "caused great damage," but also caused "such confusion that the enemy soldiers attacked and killed each other." The firearm had a 17.5 cm (6.9 in) barrel of a 2.5 cm (1 in) diameter, a 6.6 cm (2.6 in) chamber for the gunpowder and a socket for the firearm's handle. It is 34 centimetres (13 in) long and 3.54 kilograms (7.8 lb) without the handle, which would have been made of wood.

The Arabs and Mamluks had firearms in the late-13th century. Europeans obtained firearms in the 14th century. The Koreans adopted firearms from the Chinese in the 14th century. The Iranians (first Aq Qoyunlu and Safavids) and Indians (first Mughals) all got them no later than the 15th century, from the Ottoman Turks. The people of the Nusantara archipelago of Southeast Asia used the long arquebus at least by the last quarter of the 15th century.

Even though the knowledge of making gunpowder-based weapons in the Nusantara archipelago had been known after the failed Mongol invasion of Java (1293), and the predecessor of firearms, the pole gun (bedil tombak), was recorded as being used by Java in 1413, the knowledge of making "true" firearms came much later, after the middle of 15th century. It was brought by the Islamic nations of West Asia, most probably the Arabs. The precise year of introduction is unknown, but it may be safely concluded to be no earlier than 1460. Before the arrival of the Portuguese in Southeast Asia, the natives already possessed firearms, the Java arquebus.

The technology of firearms in Southeast Asia further improved after the Portuguese capture of Malacca (1511). Starting in the 1513, the traditions of German-Bohemian gun-making merged with Turkish gun-making traditions. This resulted in the Indo-Portuguese tradition of matchlocks. Indian craftsmen modified the design by introducing a very short, almost pistol-like buttstock held against the cheek, not the shoulder, when aiming. They also reduced the caliber and made the gun lighter and more balanced. This was a hit with the Portuguese who did a lot of fighting aboard ship and on river craft, and valued a more compact gun. The Malaccan gunfounders, compared as being in the same level with those of Germany, quickly adapted these new firearms, and thus a new type of arquebus, the istinggar, appeared. The Japanese did not acquire firearms until the 16th century, and then from the Portuguese rather than from the Chinese.

Developments in firearms accelerated during the 19th and 20th centuries. Breech-loading became more or less a universal standard for the reloading of most hand-held firearms and continues to be so with some notable exceptions (such as mortars). Instead of loading individual rounds into weapons, magazines holding multiple munitions were adopted—these aided rapid reloading. Automatic and semi-automatic firing mechanisms meant that a single soldier could fire many more rounds in a minute than a vintage weapon could fire over the course of a battle. Polymers and alloys in firearm construction made weaponry progressively lighter and thus easier to deploy. Ammunition changed over the centuries from simple metallic ball-shaped projectiles that rattled down the barrel to bullets and cartridges manufactured to high precision. Beginning in the 20th century particular attention has focused on accuracy and sighting to make firearms altogether far more accurate than ever before. More than any single factor though, firearms have proliferated due to the advent of mass production—enabling arms-manufacturers to produce large quantities of weaponry to a consistent standard.

Velocities of bullets increased with the use of a "jacket" of metals such as copper or copper alloys that covered a lead core and allowed the bullet to glide down the barrel more easily than exposed lead. Such bullets are known as "full metal jacket" (FMJ). Such FMJ bullets are less likely to fragment on impact and are more likely to traverse through a target while imparting less energy. Hence, FMJ bullets impart less tissue damage than non-jacketed bullets that expand. This led to their adoption for military use by countries adhering to the Hague Convention of 1899.

That said, the basic principle behind firearm operation remains unchanged to this day. A musket of several centuries ago is still similar in principle to a modern-day rifle—using the expansion of gases to propel projectiles over long distances—albeit less accurately and rapidly.