Gun:

Introduction:

A gun is a long-range weapon that fires projectiles out of a shooting tube, or barrel. The projectiles are usually solid, but they can also be charged particles or pressurised liquid (such as in water guns or cannons, spray guns for painting or pressure washing, projected water disruptors, or technically flamethrowers) (e.g. plasma gun). Solid projectiles can either be tethered or free-flying (like bullets and artillery shells) (as with Taser guns, spearguns and harpoon guns). A cannon is another name for a large-caliber firearm.

 

Gun

Although the methods of projectile propulsion vary depending on designs, they are often pneumatically influenced by a high gas pressure enclosed within the barrel tube, produced either through the quick exothermic burning of propellants (as with firearms) or by mechanical compression (as with air guns). Once the propelling gas stops acting on the projectile after it exits the muzzle, the high-pressure gas is introduced behind it, pushing and accelerating it along the length of the tube and imparting enough launch velocity to maintain its further passage towards the target. In place of the barrel, new-concept linear motor weapons may use guide rails (as in railguns) or magnetic coils to create an electromagnetic field to accelerate (as in coilguns).

 

From about 1000 AD, the earliest objects classified as weapons or proto-guns appeared in China. They had evolved into "real guns" by the end of the 13th century, metal barreled weapons that discharged solitary bullets that blocked the barrel. During the 14th century, gunpowder and gun technology were widely used across Eurasia.

 

History:

Proto-gun:

The fire lance, which initially appeared in China during the 10th and 12th centuries, was the world's first firearm. Although it was represented in a silk picture from the middle of the tenth century, literary proof of its use doesn't occur until 1132, when it is used to describe the siege of De'an. It was made out of a spearhead or other polearm and a bamboo tube filled with gunpowder. By the end of the 1100s, components like porcelain shards or tiny iron pellets were introduced to the tube in order to be blown out by the gunpowder. By the early 13th century, it had a range of around 3 metres, which was comparatively short.Some historians believe that this fire lance was a "proto-gun" since the projectiles did not block the barrel. According to Joseph Needham, there was also another "proto-gun" known as the eruptor that didn't have a lance but didn't blast projectiles that blocked the barrel either.

 

Transition to true guns:

To maximise the propellant's explosive potential, saltpeter's proportion was eventually raised. The fire-lance barrels' original materials of paper and bamboo were eventually changed to metal in order to better endure that explosive force. The shrapnel was eventually replaced by projectiles whose size and form more closely matched the barrel in order to fully utilise that power. Metal fire lance barrels first appeared around 1276.

 

The first documented bullet in history was a pellet wad that filled the barrel and was used as a fire lance projectile earlier in 1259. With this, the three fundamental components of a gun were established: a metal barrel, high-nitrate gunpowder, and a projectile that completely occludes the muzzle to maximise the propulsive impact of the powder charge. By the late 13th century, the metal barrel fire lances were being used without the lance and had evolved into cannons.

 

By the 1280s, the Yuan dynasty was using weapons like the hand cannon. The Heilongjiang hand cannon and the Xanadu Gun, which date to the late 13th century and maybe earlier in the early 13th century, are examples of surviving cannons.

In order to put down a rebellion led by the Mongol ruler Nayan in 1287, the Yuan dynasty sent Jurchen warriors with hand cannons. The cannons of Li Ting's soldiers "did great damage" and "generated such confusion that the enemy soldiers assaulted and murdered one other," according to the History of Yuan. At the start of 1288, the hand cannons were once more in service. The hand cannons were carried "on their backs" by Li Ting's "gun-soldiers," or chongzu ().

 

Gun

The word chong () with the metal radical jin () for metal-barrel guns is also used for the first time in the section about the fight of 1288. In place of the older and less precise name huo tong (fire tube; ), which could also apply to the tubes of fire lances, proto-cannons, or signal flares, Chong was adopted. Possibly hand cannons were employed during the Mongol invasions of Japan. Iron and bamboo pao are described as producing "light and fire" and spewing between 2,000 and 3,000 iron bullets in Japanese accounts of the invasions. Huo tong (fire tubes) at the Battle of Tsushima in 1274 and the second coastal attack headed by Holdon in 1281 are mentioned in the Nihon Kokujokushi, which was published around 1300.

 

Spread:

Uncertainty surrounds the precise nature and path of the guns' spread. One idea holds that the Silk Road, which passed through the Middle East, brought cannons and gunpowder to Europe. Proto-guns were already well-known in the Middle East at that time, since Hasan al-Rammah described fire lances in his writings in the 13th century. It may have been introduced to Europe during the Mongol invasion in the first half of the 13th century, according to another idea.

 

The earliest cannon portrayal in Europe dates to 1326, and the next year shows that weapons were being produced. Two mounted German knights using some type of gunpowder weaponry assaulted Cividale del Friuli in 1331, marking the first known use of explosive weapons in Europe. Hand cannons had become widely used in France by 1338. In the 1340s, "ribaldis," a form of cannon, is mentioned in English Privy Wardrobe accounts. In 1346, the English utilised siege cannons at Calais.

 

The stench of sulphur on battlefields caused by the firing of guns, together with the muzzle explosion and accompanying flash, strengthened the idea that early firearms and the soldiers who wielded them were frequently associated with the devil and that the craft of the gunner was a black art.

 

Smaller and more transportable hand-held cannons were produced in Europe around the late 14th century, effectively producing the first smooth-bore personal firearm. The Ottoman Empire employed firearms in its regular infantry in the latter half of the 15th century.

 

The Arabs in the Middle East appear to have utilised the hand cannon to some extent in the fourteenth century. In India, cannons have been documented as early as 1366.

 

By 1372, the Korean Joseon monarchy had learnt from China how to make gunpowder, and by 1377, it had begun to manufacture cannons. By 1390, Vietnamese soldiers were using hand cannons in Southeast Asia when they slew Champa monarch Che Bong Nga.

 

It was established that Java used hand cannons in 1413 during Zheng He's expedition. Due to Mongol invasions in the 13th century, Japan was aware of gunpowder. However, it did not own a cannon until a monk brought one back from China in 1510, and it took the Portuguese until 1543 to bring matchlocks, also known as tanegashima, to the Japanese.

 

During the Mongol invasion of Java, gunpowder technology was introduced (1293 A.D.). Majapahit's naval navy made use of gunpowder technology acquired from the Yuan dynasty under Mahapatih (prime minister) Gajah Mada. The Majapahit army started making cetbang guns in the years that followed.

 

Early cetbang, also known as Eastern-style cetbang, had features in common with hand and Chinese cannons. Eastern-style cetbangs were front-loaded cannons manufactured primarily of bronze. It can also shoot circular bullets and co-viative projectiles in addition to projectiles that resemble arrows. These arrows can either have a solid tip without explosives or a solid tip with explosives and incendiary materials concealed underneath it. A combustion chamber, sometimes known as a room, is located close to the back of the weapon where the gunpowder is stored. The cetbang can be used as a hand cannon at the end of a pole or installed on a fixed mount. On the back of the cannon, there is a part that resembles a tube.This tube is utilised as a location to stick poles in the hand cannon style cetbang.

 

Arquebus and musket:

Early in the 15th century, the arquebus was a type of gun that was used in both Europe and the Ottoman Empire. From the German word hackenbüchse, it gets its name. It originally referred to a hand cannon having a lug or hook for supporting the weapon on the underside, typically on defensive fortifications. Heavy versions, called "muskets," that were fired from resting Y-shaped supports first appeared in the early 1500s. Heavy armour became less effective as a result of the musket's ability to penetrate it, which also rendered the heavy musket obsolete.

 

Despite the fact that the arquebus and musket differ only in size and strength in terms of design, the term "musket" persisted in usage well into the 1800s. The idea that the musket was only a bigger arquebus in its construction might not be wholly untrue. At least once, the terms "musket" and "arquebus" have been interchanged to describe the same weapon, with the latter term even being used to describe a "arquebus musket." A Habsburg commander once referred to muskets as "double arquebuses" in the middle of the 1560s.

 

Around 1470, the arquebus received a shoulder stock, and before 1475, a matchlock mechanism. The matchlock arquebus was both the first portable shoulder-arms weapon and the first firearm having a trigger mechanism. Before the invention of the matchlock, handguns were fired from the chest while concealed under one arm, with the other arm guiding a hot pricker to the touch hole where the gunpowder was ignited.

 

During the Ottoman-Hungarian Wars of 1443–1444, the Ottomans may have utilised arquebuses as early as the first part of the 15th century. King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary utilised the arquebus frequently during his rule (r. 1458–1490).By 1472, the Spanish and Portuguese at Zamora were employing arcebuses. In 1476, the Castilians also employed arquebuses. Later, a larger arquebus called a musket was employed to pierce heavier armour, although it also became less common. Matchlock weapons were still referred to as muskets. By the middle of the 1500s, they were in use all over Asia.

 

 

Transition to classic guns:

In the 1480s, guns took on their "classic" form. The term "classic gun" refers to a long-lasting design that was longer, lighter, more efficient, and more accurate than its forebears from 30 years earlier. The design survived for almost 300 years, and cannons from the 1480s exhibit surprisingly little difference from and striking similarities to cannons from the 1750s, which were built three decades later. Its name comes from the 300-year era in which the traditional gun reigned.

 

The traditional gun had a number of advancements over earlier models of guns. Since they had higher length-to-bore ratios, the shot had more energy, which allowed the projectile to travel farther. Additionally, they dispersed heat more quickly due to the thinner barrel walls, which made them lighter. Since they offered a tighter fit between projectile and barrel, further boosting weapon accuracy, they no longer required the assistance of a wooden plug to load. Additionally, thanks to advancements like gunpowder corning and iron shot, they were deadlier.

 

Modern guns:

Modern firearms were created as a result of several advances in the 19th century.

 

Joshua Shaw created percussion caps in 1815, which took the place of the flintlock trigger mechanism. The new percussion caps made it possible for weapons to fire dependably in any kind of weather.

 

 

 

Casimir Lefaucheux created the first effective cartridge-loaded breech loading gun in 1835. The new cartridge had a copper base with a priming pellet embedded in it, a conical bullet, and a cardboard powder tube.

 

Rifles:

 

Prior to the 19th century, there existed rifled firearms in the form of grooves cut into the inside of barrels, but these were specialised weapons with a small number of them.

 

Handheld weapons started to shoot at an incredibly rapid rate. Johann Nicolaus von Dreyse created the Dreyse needle gun, a breech-loading rifle with a six-fold improvement in fire rate over muzzle-loading weaponry, in 1836. A self-contained rifle with repeating action was created in 1854 by Volcanic Repeating Arms.

 

The smoothbore musket period came to an end in 1849 when Claude-Étienne Minié created the Minié ball, the first projectile that could readily slide down a rifled barrel. During the Crimean War, rifles were successfully used and outperformed smoothbore muskets by a wide margin.

 

The Henry gun, the first trustworthy repeating weapon, was developed by Benjamin Tyler Henry in 1860. The Model 1873 Winchester rifle, an enhanced variation of the Henry rifle, was created by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company in 1873.

 

In 1880, smokeless powder—later referred to as "black powder"—began to take the place of gunpowder. Black powder, sometimes known as gunpowder, was relegated to hobbyist use by the turn of the 20th century when smokeless powder became the standard.

 

Machine guns:

The first successful machine gun, the Gatling gun, which can fire 200 gunpowder cartridges in a minute, was created by Richard Jordan Gatling in 1861. In the 1860s, the Union armies used it in the American Civil War. The Maxim gun, the first single-barreled machine gun, was created by Hiram Maxim in 1884.

 

The MP 18.1, created by Theodor Bergmann, is the first submachine gun (a fully automatic handgun that fires pistol cartridges) that can be operated by a single soldier. When World War I broke out, the German Army put it into use as the Stosstruppen's main armament in 1918. (assault groups specialised in trench combat).

 

The captive bolt pistol is employed in agriculture for the humane stun of farm animals prior to slaughter.

 

Gun

During World War II, the Germans developed the StG44, the first assault rifle. Since long-range rifles, machine guns, and short-range submachine guns all functioned differently, it was the first weapon to span this gap. Guns that fire energy beams rather than solid projectiles have been created since the middle of the 20th century, as have firearms that can be fired using methods other than gunpowder.