Firearm

The muzzle-loading firearm of the early modern era

The musket is a muzzle-loading smoothbore long gun used from the 15th to the 19th century, the revolutionary firearm that ended the age of armor. Grown from the hand cannon, it was refined by ignition system from the matchlock to the flintlock to the percussion cap. Its effective range was about 100 m and it fired two or three rounds a minute; individual accuracy was poor, but in the linear tactics of hundreds of men ranked side by side and firing in volley it was immensely powerful. No plate armor could stop a musket ball, so the military supremacy of the armored knightly class finally vanished. From the 16th century to the Napoleonic Wars it was the standard infantry firearm, and with a bayonet fixed it doubled as a spear for close combat.

A single-shot pistol ignited by striking flint

The flintlock pistol is a single-shot pistol fired when flint strikes a steel frizzen, the sparks ignite priming powder in the pan, and that flash passes through the touchhole to set off the main charge. Born when the flintlock mechanism perfected in early-17th-century France was applied to the pistol, it replaced the earlier matchlock and wheellock and spread widely for military and civilian use from the 17th to the 19th century. Its effective range was a mere 15 m or so and its accuracy poor, and after one shot reloading took a long time — so once fired, the pistol was often reversed and used as a club, striking with the heavy butt. It was the emblem of pirates and cavalry, and the standard weapon of the honor duel.

The earliest portable gunpowder weapon

The hand cannon is humanity's first personal firearm, invented in 13th-century Yuan China (the Mongol Empire). Of utterly simple form — a short iron tube fixed to the end of a wooden stave (tiller) — it was loaded with powder and a projectile (a lead, stone, or iron ball) and fired by holding a lit coal or match to the touchhole on the side of the barrel. The gunner usually braced the stave under the arm or on a rest and ignited it with the other hand. Its accuracy was wretched, loading took minutes, and the risk of a burst was real, yet its armor-piercing power and the thunderous noise and flame — terrifying to men and horses alike — were immense. This primitive gun is the starting point of every firearm that followed, from the matchlock to the musket to the modern rifle.