he first recorded use of a firearm was in 1364. It was a hand gun called a “hand cannons.”(see appendix C)

Only 14 years later hand cannons made it to Europe. Early 1400’s they discovered how to change the way they were fired. They started using a string and setting it on fire near where the gunpowder was kept. Wicks (candle) were now attached to a clamp that sprang into gunpowder that was placed in a “flash pan”.(Bellis, 2015)

In Europe, they made the matchlock;(see appendix D) which uses a bar to ignite the powder. By the 1500’s they made the hammer pin that strikes a pin and creates a spark to shoot the bullet. The Europeans used this methode for centries. While the Chinese were still using their hand cannons. The evolution of firearms has developed over centuries.(Edward, 2010)

The rifles were just starting out in Europe. The blacksmiths and carpenters who worked on the rifles had to figure out how to attach the barrel to the wood stalk it would sit in. They eventually figured it out. But England was a little late in the gun making business.(N.P. 2015) They only had one gun maker that ended up buying as many guns that he could.

The Colt revolver(see appendix E) was made in the 17th century as the beginning of the single action revolver. It started as a great idea and ended up to the beginnings of the old west.(Borden, 2015) The gun played a big role in the American West and in the evolution of guns. You can see this gun in the Greg Martin Colt Gallery.

Musket guns were invented by the europeans when they figured out how to attach the barrel to the stalk. It is a flintlock model(see appendix F) that shoots one iron ball at a time. They have perfected the firing pin and hammer to a more powerful gun. The barrels are longer and smoothed down inside.(Spirko, 2015) The musket gun was used in the Revolution war.

After the revolutionary war, the west made the first fully automatic gun.(see appendix G) It was made of 6 barrels that was held together by strips of metal and rested on wheels. The accuracy was horrible because it sits on the ground without sights. The distance was about two and a half miles each bullet. It could fire 400 bullets per minute.(Keller, 2011)

Samuel Colt developed the first mass-produced, multi-shot, revolving firearms.(see appendix H) Various revolving designs had been around for centuries, but precision parts couldn’t be made with available technologies. Colt was the first to apply Industrial Age machining tools to the idea. Mass production made the guns affordable. Reliability and accuracy made the Colt a favorite of soldiers and frontiersmen.”(Pbs, 2015)