It included history of firearm.

1. History of
firearms
Submitted by:-
Sikha singh
Y23242020
Submitted to:-
Dr. Navjot Kaur

2. 01
03
02
Introduction
History of firearm
References
CONTENTS

3. Introduction: Firearm
A firearm is a device that has the appearance of a firearm, and has the
potential to fire an object (shot, bullet or other missile) by the expansion of
gases produced in the device by the ignition of strongly combustible
materials, compressed air or other gases whether stored in the device in
pressurised containers (bullets) or produced by mechanical means. A firearm
can be assembled or in parts, and is still a firearm whether operable, or made
temporarily or permanently inoperable. There are essentially two types of
firearms:
Handguns – firearms that do not exceed 65cm from the butt to the muzzle,
are easily concealable and can be fired from one hand (hence the term
‘handgun’), and,
Longarms – firearms that are not handguns.

4. History of firearm
During the Stone Age axes, knives
and spears appeared and around
6000 BC the bow made its debut. This
was the first weapon, after the
throwing spear, that could be used at
some distance from the intended
target, though possibly slings
also were used to hurl stones. The
bow and arrow was the portable
projectile weapon of choice until the
end of the Middle Ages.

5.  Gunpowder
It is not certain who invented
gunpowder, though many countries lay
claim to it. It is generally assumed
that the recipe for gunpowder was first
put onto paper around 1260 in England.
This gunpowder consisted of
a mixture of saltpetre, sulphur and
charcoal, a recipe that, for six centuries,
remained virtually unchanged.
Gunpowder, nowadays known as “black
powder”,is a relatively mild explosive.
When ignited in the open air it does not
explode, it only burns violently. When
ignited in a closed vessel it produces
moderate pressures.

6.  Portable weapons
The first portable firearms were nothing
more than scaled down cannons. They
were introduced around 1380 and
generally referred to as “handgonne”.
These weapons consisted of a cast
barrel (or several barrels together)
attached to the end of a pole. While the
shooter held the pole under his arm he
used a glowing poker to fire the gun
with his other hand.

7.  Match lock guns
Match lock guns appear around 1400.
Match lock guns are also termed as
button lock or snap-lock or tinder lock.
It is the first and simplest firearms firing
mechanism developed. In this
mechanism, the powder that is present
in the gun barrel was ignited by a piece
of burning cord. The match was wedged
into one end of an S-shaped piece of
steel. As the trigger was pulled the
match was brought into the open end of
a touch hole at the base of the gun
barrel, which contained a very small
quantity of gun powder, igniting the
main charge of gun powder in the gun
barrel.

8.  Wheel lock guns
The first flint-fired arms were wheel
locks from the early sixteenth century.
History credits the wheel lock to
Germany and Austria. A steel wheel with
a serrated or knurled outer edge
projected through the lock plate. A cock
gripped a piece of flint (or iron pyrite)
and could be lowered onto the wheel.
Pulling the trigger momentarily released
the wheel and lowered the flint on the
spinning wheel, producing sparks. The
sparks fell into a small pan containing a
few grains of powder.

9.  Snaphaunce
The snaphaunce shared the side-
mounted powder pan of later match
locks and wheel locks. It used the basic
spring cock and replaced the match
holder with a flint holder. To provide a
sparking surface for the flint, designers
fitted a steel striking plate (anvil) that
pivoted over the side pan. When the
cock fell against the anvil curved inner
surface, it pushed the hinged anvil up
and created a shower of sparks
downward into the pan.

10.  Flintlock
The flintlock ignition system really
signalled the advent of an easy-to-use
firearm with simple mechanism for the
discharge of a missile via a powdered
propellant. In this type of weapon, the
propellant was ignited via a spark
produced by striking a piece of flint
against a steel plate. The piece of flint
was held in the jaws of a small vice on a
pivoted arm, called the cock. This is
where the term ‘to cock the hammer’
originated.

11.  Percussion system
Further development eventually
resulted in an ignition system in which a
copper cup, holding the priming
compound, was placed on a hollow anvil
(the nipple) at the rear of the barrel.
Striking the copper cup caused the
compound to ignite, thus, through the
hollow anvil that acted as flash hole,
igniting the powder charge in the barrel.
The system is known as“percussion
ignition” and the copper cup as
“percussion cap”.

12.  The pinfire system
The pinfire was one of the earliest true
breech-loading weapons, using a self-
contained cartridge in which the
propellant, primer and missile were all
held together in a brass case. The
percussion cup was inside the cartridge
case, while a pin, which rested on the
open end of the percussion cup,
protruded through the side of the
cartridge case. Striking the pin with the
weapon’s hammer drove the pin into
the priming cup, causing the mercury
fulminate to detonate and so ignite the
main charge of propellant powder.

13.  The rimfire system
The rimfire system consists of a thin
walled cartridge with a hollow flanged
rim. Into this rim is spun a small
quantity of a priming compound.
Crushing the rim with a firing pin causes
the priming compound to explode, thus
igniting the propellant inside the case.

14.  The centre fire system
This was the great milestone in weapon
and ammunition development. In centre
fire ammunition, only the primer cup
needed to be soft enough to be
crushed by the firing pin. The cartridge
case could thus be made of a more
substantial material, which would act as
a gas seal (obturation) for much higher
pressures than could be obtained with
rimfire ammunition.

15. References
https://vvnw.nl/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/history.pdf
https://www.pbookshop.com/media/filetype/s/p/1
372743808.pdf
https://www.police.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/20
18-11/What-is-a-firearm-v-1-1_3.pdf
https://projects.nfstc.org/firearms/module03/fir_m
03_t05_03_a.htm
https://forensicfield.blog/match-lock-guns/

16. Thank You