Important Guns in History #4 & #5

Maxim Gun, 1883

Sir Hiram Maxim was an American inventor who emigrated to Europe. His creations included fire sprinklers and steam-powered aircraft, but his most successful invention was the Maxim fully automatic machine gun. The weapon was recoil-operated, meaning that it didn't need to be cranked by hand to load new cartridges, as the Gatling gun did. Instead, the force of the recoil ejects the spent cartridge and loads a fresh one. The Maxim proved far more effective and reliable than competing weapons. Both sides of combatants in World War I used versions of the gun; it stayed in service into the 1960s.

Colt M1911, 1911

John Browning developed a new .45 cartridge with improved stopping power in 1904. Later, he built a gun around it. Adopted in 1911, the M1911 earned plenty of respect and caused plenty of fear during decades of service, through two world wars and in Korea and Vietnam before it was replaced by the 9-mm M9 Beretta. The M1911 earned a reputation for accuracy and reliability. Although its replacement has twice the magazine capacity and is less prone to accidental discharge many still prefer the M1911.

Important Guns in History #3

Colt Peacemaker, 1873

Samuel Colt did not invent the revolver, but he was the first to introduce an assembly-line system to make them rather than relying on skilled gunsmiths to handcraft each weapon. Colt's company mass-produced weapons like the Single Action Army, better known as the Peacemaker or Colt 45. Originally designed for the U.S. Cavalry, it became the most widely used handgun during the Wild West years. One version, the Colt Frontier Six Shooter, used the .44-40 Winchester caliber so cowboys could use the same ammunition in their handguns and rifles.

Important Guns in History #2

Gatling Gun, 1862

Dr. Richard Gatling's invention was one of the first real machine guns, with a practical rate of fire of more than 700 .50-caliber rounds per minute. The Gatling gun is a rotating six-barreled weapon driven by a hand crank. Each barrel was loaded and fired mechanically in turn as the barrel rotated, with ammunition fed from a clip by gravity. The gun made a brief appearance in the American Civil War but proved more effective in the Spanish-American War. The British used Gatling guns to deadly effect in colonial wars against massed Zulus in South Africa, Mahdists in the Sudan, and many other wars of this period.

Important Guns in History #1

Hand Cannon, 13th century

China had developed a wide variety of gunpowder weapons known as "fire lances" and "fire dragons," as well as flamethrowers and fireworks, as far back as the 10th century. The first true firearms that used gunpowder to launch a projectile can be dated to the Yuan Dynasty in the 13th century. These included bronze hand cannons, which could be held by one man and touched off by another. The range was short and accuracy poor, but the smoke, fire, and roar must have intimidated opponents of the time.

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