Table Of Content.
The
COMPLETE
ILLUSTRATED
ENCYCLOPEDIA
OF
THE
WORLD’S
FIREARMS
Military and civilfirearms from the
beginnings to thepresent day.
.
An A-Z directory ofmakes and makersfrom 1830
Karina Branch
098086 6
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The
COMPLETE ILLUSTRATED
ENCYCLOPEDIA
OF
THE WORLD’S
FIREARMS
The
COMPLETE ILLUSTRATED
ENCYCLOPEDIA
THE
WORLD’S
FIREARMS
Hogg
IanV.
W
A &
Publishers, Inc.
New York
CA
Pufek Lmrary ban Mateo,
A QUARTO BOOK
©
Copyright 1978 byQuartoLimited
All rightsreserved. Nopartofthisworkmaybe
reproducedortransmittedin anyformorbyany
means, electronicormechanical, includingphotocopying,
recording, oranyinformationstorage andretrieval
system, without permissioninwritingfrom the
publisher.
First published inthe UnitedStatesofAmericain 1978by
A&W
Publishers, Inc.,
95 Madison Avenue
NewYork, NewYork 10016
Byarrangementwith QuartoLimited
LibraryofCongressCatalogCardNumber: 78-56305
ISBN: 0-89479-031-5
Thisbookwasdesigned andproducedby
QuartoPublishingLimited
13 NewBurlingtonStreet, LondonW1
ArtEditor: RogerDaniels
Design Assistant: Marian Sanders
TextEditor: DonaldClarke
PhototypesetinEnglandby
Vantage PhotosettingCompanyLimited, Southampton
Printed inHongKong
byLeefung-Asco PrintersLimited
Jacketfront illustrationbyJimBamber
Endpapers
Aninternationalshootingcompetition
betweenAmericaand Ireland,1875
Frontispiece
Anelaborate example ofacasedpairof
pistolswith matchingaccessories. They
are breech-loadingcentre-fire target
pistolswith ebonystocks fittedwith
mountsofchiselled iron in the Gothic
style. Austrian (Vienna), about 1860.
4
06584
80
CONTENTS
A HISTORY OF FIREARMS
6
TheHandGonne
6
The Matchlock 10
TheWheel-lock 14
The Snaphaunce 20
TheFlintlock 24
The PercussionPrinciple 28
Breech-loadingFirearms 34
The Revolver 38
The Rifle 44
The Machine Gun 48
AutomaticPistols 54
AutomaticRifles and Submachine Guns 58
The FirearmsoftheFuture 62
AN A-Z OF FIREARMS
FROM 1830 TO THE PRESENT 65
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS 309
GLOSSARY 314
FOREWORD
Although the firearm has a long In order to keep this book to a we think deserve mention for their
history, as the introductory section of manageable size, some decisions had innovation, their effect on firearms
this bookoutlines, the amountoftech- to be taken about the scope of its history and design, their wide use in
nical progress during the first five contents, and the primary decision war and recreation, and their outright
hundred years was relatively small. was of a date at which to begin our fame. It might be thought that there is
Apart from the flintlock mechanism, survey. After much discussion, we a bias toward military weapons rather
there was little in a musket of 1800 have selected 1830. Forsyth’s percus- than sporting ones, but the fact, un-
which would have puzzled an sion principle had been patented and palatable as it may be, remains that
arquebusier of 1400 had he lived to was entering common use; percussion the far greater part of firearms de-
see one. But the opening years of the caps had appeared; Dreyse was work- velopment has its roots in military re-
19th century saw two significant ad- ing on his bolt-action Needle Gun and quirements, and it is after the military
vances: the adoption ofthepercussion Lefaucheaux was developing the pin- application has been seen toworkthat
principle and of rifling, and these fire cartridge. From 1830 onward, the the idea then passes to the sporting
began a revolution in weapons design. inventions and designs, stimulated by side. In other hands, the mixture and
Ignition ofthe propellant became cer- the inventive awareness of the 19th balance might well have been differ-
tain and instantaneous, and the flight century and aided by the rapid im- ent; but we believe that the following
of the bullet became accurate. Within provements in machinery and manu- pages offer the reader the significant
a comparativelyfewyearstherevolver facturing technique due to the Indus- elements of the history offirearmsin a
had taken shape, the bolt-action trial Revolution, became an ever- convenient and concise form.
breech-loading rifle hadbeendevised, widening stream.
and the metallic self-contained car- Into this stream we have cast a very
tridge appeared. There has beenmore selective line; the sheer number of
technical advance in the last 150years firearms designs patented since 1830
than had taken place in the previous would fill several volumes, and we
five hundred or so. have, therefore, chosen those which
5
—
t
A HISTORY OF FIREARMS
THE HAND GONNE
c.1350
Theearlyhistory <LmtJ^<<0'z,**Twt' VIUNT twM«»e iipcj-n\jj • - From this, the
of firearms is, of Wlktipcfatteyymn Pmymtxjntt Ax vtw: Pno, 'pm-rpwi AWhflU*i story ran, he deduced
p,
course, allied with • nic$tJi aftne-»tHheyvfb w b(« the use ofgunpowder
qU
that of gunpowder, [he fpvifhfml}tkcu /mtvrG-W' ^35n»<&«£ in a closed vessel and
and it is a matter for > ofta iafcHcta*tv«<a«v: vVoeini wire invented the gun, and
regret among stu- * ^ TtPi^fet |)om n»n&& k^vf Vvtj^eI the use of the word
dents andresearchers ‘mortar’ for a par-
that no-one in the ticular piece of ord-
Middle Ages appears nance commemor-
to have been suffi- ates this occasion.
ciently impressed by Unfortunately, no
either one to have two authorities seem
made some reliable to have agreed on
record of their first when Berthold per-
appearance. As a re- formed this vital ex-
sult, speculation has periment, and the
run rife, and it is only earliest date ascribed
in thepresentcentury to it is a good deal
that most of the later than that of de-
legend and conjec- finite and proveable
ture has been ex- records of cannon.
posed to detailed Moreover, the term
scrutiny and swept ‘mortar’ was not to
away, to be replaced !W SaK\\f<F appear for many
by more reasoned years, and recent re-
conclusions. searchers have sug-
In the past, the in- gested that Berthold
vention of gunpow- never existed at all
der hasbeen ascribed but was pure legend
Illustrationfromamanuscriptc.1400,showingahandgonnebeingignitedbyahotiron.
to such very varied from start to finish.
sources as the Chinese, the Greeks, while in essays written in 1267-8 he The earliest incontestable record of
the Arabs and the Hindus, butnoneof referred to it openly as ‘the powder, a firearm is the famous ‘Millimete
these claims will withstand critical known in divers places, composed of Cannon’, so-called from being de-
testing. One remarkable thing is that saltpetre, sulphur andcharcoal.’ From picted in a manuscript by Walter de
while each of these races has records that time on, records became more Millimete of England and dated 1326.
and artifactsreachingbackwellbefore numerous and gunpowder (or black In the same year there is reference in
the period of interest to us, none can powder), though an expensive com- the records of Florence to the provi-
produce valid evidence of a know- modity, became more common. sion ofgunsandshotfordefendingthe
ledge of gunpowder or firearms any But thequestionnowarises: towhat town. It would thus seem that by 1326
earlier than can be proved in Western purpose was it put? Bacon refers to it the cannon was known across Europe
Europe. Certainly the Greeks had being wrapped in parchment and ig- and, by inference, must have been
‘Greek Fire’ and the Chinese emp- nited to give a ‘blindingflashandstun- known for some time to allow such
loyed various pyrotechnic substances, ning noise’, and it seemsprobablethat distribution to take place. The princi-
but neither of these were gunpowder the earliestdayssawitusedprincipally pal difficulty in identifying the early
nor did they possess explosiveproper- as a novelty. How, and when, and by use of firearms is the haphazard useof
ties: to argue otherwise is like assert- whom the ability to use it to propel a the word ‘artillery’ interchangeably
ing that automobiles must have ex- missile was discovered is not known between mechanical engines
isted in 1880 because there are re- with any certainty. For years the c—atapults, ballistae and mangonels
cords of bicycles at that date. legend of ‘Black Berthold’, the mys- and firearms: since the oneusurped
The first undisputed records of the terious monk of Freiburg, held sway; the function of the other, it adopted
existence of gunpowder occur in the that one day he was preparing gun- the same genericterm, andintheearly
writings of Roger Bacon, aFranciscan powder in an apothecary’s mortar Handgonnesaccompanyingfull-sizedcannon
Friar of Ilchester; in about 1260 he when the mixture ignited andblewthe andarchersina15thcenturysiege.Explosive
buried the formula in an anagram. pestle from the mortar. ordnancedevelopmentwasunderway.
6
