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Apr 18, 1400
Matchlock Guns show up
Matchlocks were fired using a burning wick and holding them up to a part of the gun called a 'touc hole'. The matchlock used the first mechanical lock to fire. A shooter would commonly have a prop e.g. bipod to steady the gun, and then ignite the power inside using a wick. -
Jul 3, 1509
Invention of the Wheel Lock
The wheel lock was a upgrade to the matchlock, instead of requiring a buring wick to fire, the wheel lock used a mechanical spark to ignite the powder inside. The wheel locks where more effective and reliable than the matchlocks, but were also more expensive and difficult to produce. -
Flintlocks are invented
Instead of using friction to create sparks, like the wheel lock, the flintlock uses fixed pieces of flint that spark against the frizzen when the the trigger is pulled, crreating a spark and firing the gun. The flintlock was designed to spark the flint while also pushing back the lid. The design of the flictlock lasted for 2 centurires before a new design made it obsolote -
Dueling pistols are made popular
It is the mid 1700's and it is common for men to duel eachother with swords such as the rapier, but towards the late 1750's pistols are mommonly used when dueling rather than swords. Dueling pistols are basically flitlock pistols that are specfically made identical to eachother for fareness, they have a few modications to make them more suitable for duels such as heavier barrels and hair triggers. -
Percusion lock is patented
The percusion lock, or caplock replaced the flintlock, instead of using a piece of flint to create a spark the caplock uses a percusion cap that is struck by a hammer, which create a charge. One reason that this was prefered other the flintlock was because of hunting reasons, flintlocks produced alot of smoke when fired due to the flint, which can startle birds and give them a warning to fly away. -
Caplocks are widely used over flitlocks
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Samuel Colt ivents the first Colt revlover
While revolving/multishot designs had been around for centuries, but due to lack of technology parts could not be made with percesion, until Colt used industrial machineray to mannufacture his idea. Colt was the first to mass produce the gun. Mass produvtion also made the colt revolver cheaper. -
Propper shotguns in common use
The fowling peice was a shotgun designed specifically to hunt birds, howver because fowling was more of a upper class sport fowling peices were often esquisite artworks rather than practical hunting shotguns. -
Spencer Repeating Carbine patented
During the start of the American Civil War the Spencer reapeating carbine was capable of firing 7 shots within 15 seconds, this was because the carbine used recently developed cartridges. However the carbine was turned down by the American army because the thought that soldiers would shoot too often and ammo consumption would require more bullets to be produced, in the end costing more money. -
The first Gatling gun is invented
invented by Richard Jordan Gatling, this rapid firing gun was introduced to the American Civil War and was used for it's firepower, firing spead and it's independence of reloading. Altough being outdated by newer gun designs the gatling gun has since been upgraded and is now used by the U.S Army today -
Winchester Rifle is introduced
Because of the cheapness and reliability of this gun the Winchester rifle soon became the common and generic rifle. It was introduced alongside the repeating shotguns. Soon the Winchester is designed as the first automatic rifle that will be populary used.
