History of Firearms

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History of Firearms
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Goals

• Develop a general understanding of the history
  and development of firearms.
• Gain a basic understanding of the function of
  firearms.

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Word of Caution

• Beware Gun store Commandos, Sales person SEALs,
  Space Shuttle Door Gunners.
• There's tons of bullshit about firearms out
  there. Internet, magazines and conversation.
  Trust but verify/

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Before we start

• You folks have things to bring to the table,
  please do.
• This is a field you will continue to learn as
  long as you live

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What came first

• By the early 1200s the Chinese had invented
  gunpowder. But it wasnt until later that the
  earliest firearms were used.

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The first

• By the mid 1300s the first recorded use of a
  firearm was noted.
• These were primitive muzzle loading black powder
  firearms.
• Referred to has hand cannons or hand gonnes.

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Before we go further
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Recap

• An assembly of a barrel and action from which a
  projectile(s) is propelled by products of
  combustion.
• Powder burns, creates gas, gas makes pressure,
  pressure launches projectile.

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Muzzleloaders

• Muzzle loaders are firearms that are loaded from
  the muzzle end of the barrel.
• You will need to know and be able to give
  examples of muzzleloaders.

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Matchlock Guns
http//www.youtube.com/watch?vKUE4dzFPFJU
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Matchlock

• 1400s
• Primitive triggers allow the mechanical firing of
  guns

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Matchlock

• Complicated and fragile firing system.
• Gunpowder was placed in a flash pan
• Lit fuse ignited the flash pan which ignited the
  main powder charge

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Matchlock

• Pros- First trigger
• Cons- Fragile, weather sensitive, poor accuracy

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Matchlock

• Define touchhole
• Must be in a firearms context.

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Wheel lock guns

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vWTsl0BcVpog

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Wheel lock guns

• Early 1500s
• Think of cigarette lighters.
• Flint and steel ignition.

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Wheel lock
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Wheel lock

• Flint Steel sparks

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Wheel lock

• Pros- Shorter lock time, better accuracy, Less
  weather sensitive.
• Cons- Fragile operating system, very expensive to
  manufacture.

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Flintlocks
http//www.youtube.com/watch?vDJCH5W2Z1pU
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Flintlocks

• On the scene by 1630
• Cheaper to produce then wheel locks.

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Flintlock

• Pros- Cheap to produce, relatively fast reloads,
  work well for pirate movies.
• Cons- weather sensitive, fragile

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Flintlocks
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Percussion Caps

• 1820s
• Making serious strides towards cartridges
• Explosive pressure sensitive
• Ignition system much less sensitive to weather.

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Percussion Caps
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Percussion Caps
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Percussion Caps
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Percussion Caps
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Percussion Caps

• Pros- Cheap, fast lock time, improved weather
  resistance, multi-shot (repeater) action, looks
  good in Westerns
• Cons- Slow reload time, possible sympathetic
  detonations.

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Percussion Caps
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Percussion Caps
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• 1835 Samuel Colt introduced the first mass
  produced revolver.
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vHbUE1ozd0fQ

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Word of Caution

• Sympathetic ignition is when you fire one chamber
  and one or more of the adjacent cylinders fire.

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Pinfire

• 1840
• Off set primer
• Firing pin part of cartridge.

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Pinfire
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Pinfire
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Pinfire
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Rimfire

• 1840s
• Round of ammo is complete.
• No cartridge pin
• Longest lived cartridge to date is rimfire

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Rimfire

• BB caps
• One of the oldest cartridges used for indoor
  gallery shooting.
• Primer only, no gunpowder

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Rimfire

• Rimfire has the priming compound in the rim of
  the cartridge.
• Cartridge is self contained allows fast
  reloading, repeating action, reliability

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Early Rimfire

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Modern Rimfire

• Most common ammunition sold in the world.
• Pros- Cheap, Accurate, reliable
• Cons- limitations of velocity and caliber

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22LR
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22LR

• Most common cartridge
• Very accurate
• Cheap
• Reliable
• Virtually no recoil minimal noise

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22LR
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Center fire
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Center fire
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Why Center fire

• Reloadable
• Capable of big projectiles and high velocities
• Reliable
• Very weather resistant

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Center fire Cons

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Modern Firearms
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Modern Firearms

• 2 main groups
• Handguns
• Longguns

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What's a Revolver

• A repeating firearm that has a cylinder with
  multiple chambers. The cylinder rotates when
  trigger is pulled.

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Handguns-Revolvers

• Single Action vs. Double Action
• Various loading methods

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Revolvers

• Break top

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Revolvers

• Break top

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Revolvers

• Gate loading

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Revolvers

• Gate loading

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Revolver

• Pull out cylinder

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Revolver

• Swing out cylinder

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Revolver

• Swing out cylinder is activated by the cylinder
  release

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Derringers
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Derringers

• Single or multi-shot handgun generally small in
  size and can be one or more barrels.

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Derringers

• 4 barrel model

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Derringers

• Flip action

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Pistols

• Generally a semi-automatic firearm designed to be
  handheld

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Pistols

• Single Action

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Pistols

• Safe Action

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About Glocks

• 1st successful polymer frame gun
• Will set off metal detector
• Bruce Willis in Die Hard Movie
• Controversy sells
• Intro in 1985

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About Glocks

• Pros- Tough and reliable.
• Cons- no lead ammo , Bad gun to reload for

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Shotguns

• Long gun designed with a smooth barrel (no
  rifling).
• Shoulder fired
• Pellets or slugs

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Pellets
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Pellets
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Pellets
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Slug
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Slug
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Shotguns

• Pump

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Shotguns

• Pump

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Shotguns

• Semi-automatic

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Shotguns

• Over-under

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Shotguns

• Side by side

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Winchester 21
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Rifles

• Lever

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Rifles

• Pump

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Rifles

• Semi-automatic

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Assault Rifles
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Assault Rifles

• Legal term vs. military term
• Typically applied to semi-automatic firearms

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Military term

• Small caliber or intermediate caliber firearm
  capable of select or automatic fire.

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Machine guns

• Heavy firearms designed for sustained automatic
  fire
• Legal term any firearm capable of firing more
  then 1 round per pull of trigger

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Submachine gun

• Pistol caliber firearm capable of automatic fire.