Giganotosaurus
Dreaming of Electric Sheep
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In the spirit of
TristramEvans Weapon Porn thread and noticing that several people expressed interest in it I figured I'd make a general guide to firearms.
Mostly I'm going to focus on the general ignition mechanisms (how the gun shoots a projectile) but I welcome everyone else to chip in with other specifications for more particular firearms.
Now let's get started with the beginning:
While gunpowder has existed since roughly the 9th century CE it was mostly used for fireworks and primitive flamethrowers sometimes called "Fire Lances". Starting in roughly the 13th Century metal working finally advanced enough to make primitive cannons and firearms known interchangeably as "Hand Cannon's" and "Handgonne's".
At it's core a Hand Cannon was simply a gun barrel with a small hole in the top of it attached to a pole or handle of some sort to better hold. To load a Hand Cannon you simply had to pour an amount of gunpowder into the barrel followed by a projectile, usually a small rock. To fire a Hand Cannon you simply had to point the barrel at your target and touch a lit candle wick into the small hole on the outer side of the tube igniting the gunpowder and propelling the projectile. This ignition system, called "Touch Hole", was tremendously inaccurate but had a great psychological effect on those who had never encountered it before. The Image above is of a (Presumably German) Hand Cannon minus the pole. The barrel pointing to the left and the Touch Hole is on the right.
Unfortunately Hand Cannons were very dangerous because they could easily blow up due to a variety of factors including but not limited to: loading too much gunpowder, the projectile getting caught in the barrel and the barrel being made of faulty metal.
A interesting side note here is that many cannons were made of bronze. I'm not 100% sure why but I think it had something to do with steel being a pain in the behind to make steel.
Eventually around the late 15th century a new ignition mechanism was invented called the Matchlock. A Matchlock firearm (Also known as an Arquebus or Harquebuse) used a simple mechanical system to automate the firing of the Hand Cannon as well as attaching the barrel to a crossbow stock.
Loading a Matchlock was similar to the Hand Cannon, although small metal balls replaced the stone projectiles and various tools allowed for measuring the ideal (Non-Explody) amount of gun powder.
To fire a Matchlock you simply had to light a small piece of candle wick attached to a lever and pour a small amount of gunpowder into a small "Flash pan" which is connected to the touch hole in the barrel. You would then squeeze a lever with your whole hand (or later pull a trigger with your finger) which would swing the lit end of the candle wick into the flash pan igniting the trail of gunpowder into the touch hole.
Here's a close up of a early matchlock mechanism:
Here's some late Japanese matchlocks
And finally here's a weird Matchlock revolver:
In the next post I'll talk a bit more on matchlocks, followed by wheellocks, flintlocks, caplocks and finally cartridges.
Mostly I'm going to focus on the general ignition mechanisms (how the gun shoots a projectile) but I welcome everyone else to chip in with other specifications for more particular firearms.
Now let's get started with the beginning:
While gunpowder has existed since roughly the 9th century CE it was mostly used for fireworks and primitive flamethrowers sometimes called "Fire Lances". Starting in roughly the 13th Century metal working finally advanced enough to make primitive cannons and firearms known interchangeably as "Hand Cannon's" and "Handgonne's".
At it's core a Hand Cannon was simply a gun barrel with a small hole in the top of it attached to a pole or handle of some sort to better hold. To load a Hand Cannon you simply had to pour an amount of gunpowder into the barrel followed by a projectile, usually a small rock. To fire a Hand Cannon you simply had to point the barrel at your target and touch a lit candle wick into the small hole on the outer side of the tube igniting the gunpowder and propelling the projectile. This ignition system, called "Touch Hole", was tremendously inaccurate but had a great psychological effect on those who had never encountered it before. The Image above is of a (Presumably German) Hand Cannon minus the pole. The barrel pointing to the left and the Touch Hole is on the right.
Unfortunately Hand Cannons were very dangerous because they could easily blow up due to a variety of factors including but not limited to: loading too much gunpowder, the projectile getting caught in the barrel and the barrel being made of faulty metal.
A interesting side note here is that many cannons were made of bronze. I'm not 100% sure why but I think it had something to do with steel being a pain in the behind to make steel.
Eventually around the late 15th century a new ignition mechanism was invented called the Matchlock. A Matchlock firearm (Also known as an Arquebus or Harquebuse) used a simple mechanical system to automate the firing of the Hand Cannon as well as attaching the barrel to a crossbow stock.
Loading a Matchlock was similar to the Hand Cannon, although small metal balls replaced the stone projectiles and various tools allowed for measuring the ideal (Non-Explody) amount of gun powder.
To fire a Matchlock you simply had to light a small piece of candle wick attached to a lever and pour a small amount of gunpowder into a small "Flash pan" which is connected to the touch hole in the barrel. You would then squeeze a lever with your whole hand (or later pull a trigger with your finger) which would swing the lit end of the candle wick into the flash pan igniting the trail of gunpowder into the touch hole.
Here's a close up of a early matchlock mechanism:
Here's some late Japanese matchlocks
And finally here's a weird Matchlock revolver:
In the next post I'll talk a bit more on matchlocks, followed by wheellocks, flintlocks, caplocks and finally cartridges.