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75-411: A gun is a device designed to propel a projectile using pressure or explosive force. The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns / cannons ), or gas (e.g. light-gas gun ). Solid projectiles may be free-flying (as with bullets and artillery shells ) or tethered (as with Tasers , spearguns and harpoon guns ). A large- caliber gun is also called

150-436: A cannon . The means of projectile propulsion vary according to designs, but are traditionally effected pneumatically by a high gas pressure contained within a barrel tube ( gun barrel ), produced either through the rapid exothermic combustion of propellants (as with firearms ), or by mechanical compression (as with air guns ). The high-pressure gas is introduced behind the projectile, pushing and accelerating it down

225-426: A "proto-gun" for the same reason. He defined a fully developed firearm, a "true gun," as possessing three basic features: a metal barrel, gunpowder with high nitrate content, and a projectile that occluded the barrel. The "true gun" appears to have emerged in late 1200s China, around 300 years after the appearance of the fire lance. Although the term "gun" postdates the invention of firearms, historians have applied it to

300-467: A bulbous base at the breech called the yaoshi ( 藥室 ) or gunpowder chamber, where the explosion that propels the projectile occurs. The diameter of the Heilongjiang hand-guns powder chamber is 6.6 cm (2.6 inches). The walls of the powder chamber are noticeably thicker to better withstand the explosive pressure of the gunpowder. The powder chamber also has a touch hole , a small hole for

375-407: A bullet that fits the barrel as opposed to one which does not, such as the shrapnel shooting fire lance . As such, the fire lance, which appeared between the 10th and 12th centuries AD, as well as other early metal barrel gunpowder weapons have been described as "proto-guns" Joseph Needham defined a type of firearm known as the "eruptor," which he described as a cross between a fire lance and a gun, as

450-439: A combination of these mechanisms. Railguns utilize electromagnetic fields to provide a constant acceleration along the entire length of the device, greatly increasing the muzzle velocity . Some projectiles provide propulsion during flight by means of a rocket engine or jet engine . In military terminology, a rocket is unguided, while a missile is guided . Note the two meanings of "rocket" (weapon and engine): an ICBM

525-458: A copper base that incorporated a primer pellet. While rifled guns did exist prior to the 19th century in the form of grooves cut into the interior of a barrel, these were considered specialist weapons and limited in number. The rate of fire of handheld guns began to increase drastically. In 1836, Johann Nicolaus von Dreyse invented the Dreyse needle gun , a breech-loading rifle which increased

600-455: A date of manufacture is a bronze cannon. It is dated to 1298 according to an inscription in the 'Phags-pa script . Outside of archaeological finds, appearances of the cannon in Chinese art may suggest that the cannon was invented as early as the 12th century. The oldest artistic representation of a cannon is a stone relief sculpture dated to 1128. The sculpture was discovered in 1985 carved in

675-608: A mechanical bolt throwing weapon of enormous size, mounted at Windsor Castle during the 14th century. This name in turn may have derived from the Old Norse woman's proper name Gunnhildr which combines two Norse words referring to battle. "Gunnildr", which means "War-sword", was often shortened to "Gunna". The earliest recorded use of the term "gonne" was in a Latin document c.  1339 . Other names for guns during this era were "schioppi" (Italian translation-"thunderers"), and "donrebusse" (Dutch translation-"thunder gun") which

750-437: A pellet wad that filled the barrel was recorded to have been used as a fire lance projectile, making it the first recorded bullet in history. With this, the three basic features of a gun were put in place: a barrel made of metal, high- nitrate gunpowder, and a projectile which totally occludes the muzzle so that the powder charge exerts its full potential in propellant effect. The metal barrel fire lances began to be used without

825-412: A projectile." Gunpowder and firearm historian Kenneth Chase defines "firearms" and "guns" in his Firearms: A Global History to 1700 as "gunpowder weapons that use the explosive force of the gunpowder to propel a projectile from a tube: cannons, muskets, and pistols are typical examples." According to Tonio Andrade , a historian of gunpowder technology, a "true gun" is defined as a firearm which shoots

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900-457: A result armor declined, which also made the heavy musket obsolete. Although there is relatively little to no difference in design between arquebus and musket except in size and strength, it was the term musket which remained in use up into the 1800s. It may not be completely inaccurate to suggest that the musket was in its fabrication simply a larger arquebus. At least on one occasion the musket and arquebus have been used interchangeably to refer to

975-580: A single soldier is the MP 18.1 , invented by Theodor Bergmann . It was introduced into service in 1918 by the German Army during World War I as the primary weapon of the Stosstruppen (assault groups specialized in trench combat). In civilian use, the captive bolt pistol is used in agriculture to humanely stun farm animals for slaughter. The first assault rifle was introduced during World War II by

1050-687: A specific angle θ {\displaystyle \theta } : 1. Time to reach maximum height. It is symbolized as ( t {\displaystyle t} ), which is the time taken for the projectile to reach the maximum height from the plane of projection. Mathematically, it is given as t = U sin ⁡ θ / g {\displaystyle t=U\sin \theta /g} where g {\displaystyle g} = acceleration due to gravity (app 9.81 m/s²), U {\displaystyle U} = initial velocity (m/s) and θ {\displaystyle \theta } = angle made by

1125-538: A weapon called huotong ( 火筒 ; "fire tube") can either denote fire lances or metal-barrel firearms. The Xingjun Xuzhi ( 行軍須知 ; "What an Army Commander in the Field ought to Know") dated 1230, lists huotong among other gunpowder weapons, but may refer to either a fire lance or a hand cannon. This has been attested to by surviving metal cannons and hand cannons in China from the 13th and 14th centuries. The oldest among

1200-508: Is a projectile weapon based solely on a projectile's kinetic energy to inflict damage to a target, instead of using any explosive , incendiary / thermal , chemical or radiological payload . All kinetic weapons work by attaining a high flight speed — generally supersonic or even up to hypervelocity — and collide with their targets, converting their kinetic energy and relative impulse into destructive shock waves , heat and cavitation . In kinetic weapons with unpowered flight ,

1275-529: Is a bronze hand cannon manufactured no later than 1288 and is the world's oldest confirmed surviving firearm . It weighs 3.55 kg (7.83 pounds) and is 34 centimeters (13.4 inches) long. The Heilongjiang hand cannon was excavated during the 1970s in Banlachengzi, a village in Acheng District , Heilongjiang province, China. It was found alongside other bronze artifacts made in the style of

1350-429: Is a guided missile with a rocket engine. An explosion, whether or not by a weapon, causes the debris to act as multiple high velocity projectiles. An explosive weapon or device may also be designed to produce many high velocity projectiles by the break-up of its casing; these are correctly termed fragments . In projectile motion the most important force applied to the ‘projectile’ is the propelling force, in this case

1425-400: Is dated to 1288, the invention of the hand cannon likely occurred in the mid-13th century. The invention of the metal-barrel hand cannon in China did not diminish the popularity of the earlier bamboo-barrel fire lances. The fire lance was cheaper and more portable than the hand cannon and was still used in China until the 16th century when the musket replaced the fire lance. The hand cannon

1500-400: Is much faster than that of any bullet, and would leave the gun as sound either through the barrel or the bullet itself rather than contributing to the bullet's velocity. Barrel types include rifled —a series of spiraled grooves or angles within the barrel—when the projectile requires an induced spin to stabilize it, and smoothbore when the projectile is stabilized by other means or rifling

1575-433: Is the maximum height attained by the projectile OR the maximum displacement on the vertical axis (y-axis) covered by the projectile. It is given as H = U 2 sin 2 ⁡ θ / 2 g {\displaystyle H=U^{2}\sin ^{2}\theta /2g} . 4. Range ( R {\displaystyle R} ): The Range of a projectile is the horizontal distance covered (on

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1650-483: Is the only metal-barrel hand-gun so far discovered which almost certainly belongs to the 13th century." ^   a:  Hand-gun is an alternative name for the hand cannon and should not be confused with modern handguns. Particularly in British English, the term hand-gun refers to historical cannons that could be carried by a single individual due to their small size. ^   b:  The journal

1725-421: Is undesired or unnecessary. Typically, interior barrel diameter and the associated projectile size is a means to identify gun variations. Bore diameter is reported in several ways. The more conventional measure is reporting the interior diameter (bore) of the barrel in decimal fractions of the inch or in millimetres. Some guns—such as shotguns —report the weapon's gauge (which is the number of shot pellets having

1800-552: The Gyrojet and certain other types combine the projectile and propellant into a single item. Anti-drone rifle Projectile In ballistics mathematical equations of motion are used to analyze projectile trajectories through launch, flight , and impact . Blowguns and pneumatic rifles use compressed gases, while most other guns and cannons utilize expanding gases liberated by sudden chemical reactions by propellants like smokeless powder . Light-gas guns use

1875-578: The Henry rifle , the first reliable repeating rifle . An improved version of the Henry rifle was developed by Winchester Repeating Arms Company in 1873, known as the Model 1873 Winchester rifle . Smokeless powder was invented in 1880 and began replacing gunpowder , which came to be known as black powder. By the start of the 20th century, smokeless powder was adopted throughout the world and black powder, what

1950-599: The Jingkang Incident , when the Jurchen Jin dynasty besieged the Song capital of Kaifeng. The Song defenders launched explosive bombs called pili pao ( 霹雳炮 ) at the besiegers. The predecessor of the hand cannon, the fire lance, was a spear tied with a bamboo or paper barrel that could fire projectiles. The transition between the fire lance to the cannon or hand cannon was gradual, so literary references to

2025-581: The Jurchen Jin Dynasty (12th–13th century). The hand cannon was probably used in battles fought nearby in Banlachengzi in 1287 and 1288. The History of Yuan states that a Jurchen commander by the name of Li Ting led a group of soldiers equipped with hand cannons into a military camp in 1288, as part of an anti-rebellion campaign for the Yuan dynasty. The cannon currently resides at

2100-462: The Mongol prince Nayan . The History of Yuan records that the cannons of Li Ting's soldiers "caused great damage" and created "such confusion that the enemy soldiers attacked and killed each other." The hand cannons were used again in the beginning of 1288. Li Ting's "gun-soldiers" or chongzu ( 銃卒 ) carried the hand cannons "on their backs". The passage on the 1288 battle is also the first to use

2175-1025: The Portuguese introduced matchlocks which were known as tanegashima to the Japanese. Gunpowder technology entered Java in the Mongol invasion of Java (1293 A.D.). Majapahit under Mahapatih (prime minister) Gajah Mada utilized gunpowder technology obtained from the Yuan dynasty for use in the naval fleet. During the following years, the Majapahit army have begun producing cannons known as cetbang . Early cetbang (also called Eastern-style cetbang) resembled Chinese cannons and hand cannons. Eastern-style cetbangs were mostly made of bronze and were front-loaded cannons. It fires arrow-like projectiles, but round bullets and co-viative projectiles can also be used. These arrows can be solid-tipped without explosives, or with explosives and incendiary materials placed behind

2250-574: The Silk Road through the Middle East. Hasan al-Rammah had already written about fire lances in the 13th century, so proto-guns were known in the Middle East at that point. Another theory is that it was brought to Europe during the Mongol invasion in the first half of the 13th century. The earliest depiction of a cannon in Europe dates to 1326 and evidence of firearm production can be found in

2325-724: The muzzle velocity or launch velocity often determines the effective range and potential damage of the kinetic projectile. Kinetic weapons are the oldest and most common ranged weapons used in human history , with the projectiles varying from blunt projectiles such as rocks and round shots , pointed missiles such as arrows , bolts , darts , and javelins , to modern tapered high-velocity impactors such as bullets , flechettes , and penetrators . Typical kinetic weapons accelerate their projectiles mechanically (by muscle power , mechanical advantage devices , elastic energy or pneumatics ) or chemically (by propellant combustion , as with firearms ), but newer technologies are enabling

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2400-413: The 1480s show little difference and surprising similarity with cannons later in the 1750s. This 300-year period during which the classic gun dominated gives it its moniker. The "classic gun" has also been described as the "modern ordnance synthesis." Gunpowder was invented in China during the 9th century. The first firearm was the fire lance , which was invented in China between the 10–12th centuries. It

2475-417: The 19th century led to the development of modern guns. In 1815, Joshua Shaw invented percussion caps , which replaced the flintlock trigger system. The new percussion caps allowed guns to shoot reliably in any weather condition. In 1835, Casimir Lefaucheux invented the first practical breech loading firearm with a cartridge . The new cartridge contained a conical bullet, a cardboard powder tube, and

2550-472: The 9th century. One of the first references to gunpowder occurs in the Taoist alchemical text known as Zhenyuan miaodao yaolüe ( 真元妙道要略 ), composed during the mid-800s, containing a passage mentioning the use of gunpowder. By the 12th century, Song dynasty forces were utilizing gunpowder weapons such as fire lances , grenades , and metal bombards . Exploding gunpowder bombs were used as early as 1126 during

2625-452: The Battle of Tsushima in 1274 and the second coastal assault led by Holdon in 1281. The Hachiman Gudoukun of 1360 mentions iron pao "which caused a flash of light and a loud noise when fired." The Taiheki of 1370 mentions "iron pao shaped like a bell." The exact nature of the spread of firearms and its route is uncertain. One theory is that gunpowder and cannons arrived in Europe via

2700-505: The Germans, known as the StG44 . It was the first firearm to bridge the gap between long range rifles, machine guns, and short range submachine guns. Since the mid-20th century, guns that fire beams of energy rather than solid projectiles have been developed, and also guns that can be fired by means other than the use of gunpowder. Most guns use compressed gas confined by the barrel to propel

2775-564: The Heilongjiang Provincial Museum in Harbin , China. The Heilongjiang hand cannon is 34 centimeters (13.4 in) long without a handle and weighs 3.55 kg (7.83 pounds). The diameter of the interior at the end of the barrel is 2.6 cm (1.02 inches). The barrel is the lengthiest part of the hand cannon and is 17.5 cm (6.9 inches) long. There is no inscription on the hand cannon. The hand cannon has

2850-526: The Ottoman Empire in the early 15th century. Its name is derived from the German word Hackenbüchse . It originally described a hand cannon with a lug or hook on the underside for stabilizing the weapon, usually on defensive fortifications. In the early 1500s, heavier variants known as " muskets " that were fired from resting Y-shaped supports appeared. The musket was able to penetrate heavy armor, and as

2925-521: The Spanish and Portuguese at Zamora. Likewise, the Castilians used arquebuses as well in 1476. Later, a larger arquebus known as a musket was used for breaching heavy armor, but this declined along with heavy armor. Matchlock firearms continued to be called musket. They were used throughout Asia by the mid-1500s. Guns reached their "classic" form in the 1480s. The "classic gun" is so called because of

3000-508: The beginning of 1288. Li Ting's "gun-soldiers" or chongzu ( 銃卒 ) were able to carry the hand cannons "on their backs" according to the History of Yuan . The passage on the 1288 battle is also the first to coin the name chong ( 銃 ) for metal-barrel firearms. Chong was used instead of the earlier and more ambiguous term huo tong ( 火筒 ), which may refer to the tubes of fire lances , proto-cannons, or signal flares. Wei Guozhong ( 魏國忠 )

3075-411: The bullet up to high speed, though devices operating in other ways are sometimes called guns. In firearms the high-pressure gas is generated by combustion, usually of gunpowder . This principle is similar to that of internal combustion engines , except that the bullet leaves the barrel, while the piston transfers its motion to other parts and returns down the cylinder. As in an internal combustion engine,

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3150-465: The chest, tucked under one arm, while the other arm maneuvered a hot pricker to the touch hole to ignite the gunpowder. The Ottomans may have used arquebuses as early as the first half of the 15th century during the Ottoman–Hungarian wars of 1443–1444. The arquebus was used in substantial numbers during the reign of king Matthias Corvinus of Hungary (r. 1458–1490). Arquebuses were used by 1472 by

3225-454: The combustion propagates by deflagration rather than by detonation , and the optimal gunpowder , like the optimal motor fuel, is resistant to detonation. This is because much of the energy generated in detonation is in the form of a shock wave , which can propagate from the gas to the solid structure and heat or damage the structure, rather than staying as heat to propel the piston or bullet. The shock wave at such high temperature and pressure

3300-408: The development of potential weapons using electromagnetically launched projectiles, such as railguns , coilguns and mass drivers . There are also concept weapons that are accelerated by gravity , as in the case of kinetic bombardment weapons designed for space warfare . Some projectiles stay connected by a cable to the launch equipment after launching it: An object projected at an angle to

3375-529: The earliest firearms such as the Heilongjiang hand cannon of 1288 or the vase shaped European cannon of 1326. Historians consider firearms to have reached the form of a "classic gun" in the 1480s, which persisted until the mid-18th century. This "classic" form displayed longer, lighter, more efficient, and more accurate design compared to its predecessors only 30 years prior. However this "classic" design changed very little for almost 300 years and cannons of

3450-537: The emperor of the Yuan dynasty. An account of the 1287 and 1288 battles is documented in the History of Yuan , which references the use of hand cannons. In 1287, a group of soldiers equipped with hand cannons led by commander Li Ting ( 李庭 ) attacked Nayan's camp. The History of Yuan reports that the hand cannons not only "caused great damage," but also caused "such confusion that the enemy soldiers attacked and killed each other." The hand cannons were used again at

3525-459: The end of the 13th century, they had become "true guns", metal barrel firearms that fired single projectiles which occluded the barrel. Gunpowder and gun technology spread throughout Eurasia during the 14th century. The origin of the English word gun is considered to derive from the name given to a particular historical weapon. Domina Gunilda was the name given to a remarkably large ballista ,

3600-627: The excavated cannons is the Wuwei cannon dated to 1227. It was discovered in Wuwei, Gansu and likely originates from the Western Xia period. The Wuwei cannon weighs 108.5 kilograms (239 pounds), a diameter of 12 centimeters (4.7 inches), and a length of 1 meter (3 feet 3 + 3 ⁄ 8  inches). An iron cannonball and a small quantity of gunpowder were also discovered at the Wuwei archaeological site. The earliest cannon inscribed with

3675-505: The following year. The first recorded use of gunpowder weapons in Europe was in 1331 when two mounted German knights attacked Cividale del Friuli with gunpowder weapons of some sort. By 1338 hand cannons were in widespread use in France. English Privy Wardrobe accounts list "ribaldis", a type of cannon, in the 1340s, and siege guns were used by the English at Calais in 1346. Early guns and

3750-413: The fuse that ignites the gunpowder. Behind the gunpowder chamber is a socket shaped like a trumpet where the handle of the hand cannon is inserted. The bulbous shape of the base gave the earliest Chinese and Western cannons a vase-like or pear-like appearance, which gradually disappeared when advancements in metallurgical technology made the bulbous base obsolete. Gunpowder was invented in China during

3825-481: The horizontal has both the vertical and horizontal components of velocity. The vertical component of the velocity on the y-axis is given as V y = U sin ⁡ θ {\displaystyle V_{y}=U\sin \theta } while the horizontal component of the velocity is V x = U cos ⁡ θ {\displaystyle V_{x}=U\cos \theta } . There are various calculations for projectiles at

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3900-467: The lance and became guns by the late 13th century. Guns such as the hand cannon were being used in the Yuan dynasty by the 1280s. Surviving cannons such as the Heilongjiang hand cannon and the Xanadu Gun have been found dating to the late 13th century and possibly earlier in the early 13th century. In 1287, the Yuan dynasty deployed Jurchen troops with hand cannons to put down a rebellion by

3975-639: The late 15th century the Ottoman empire used firearms as part of its regular infantry. In the Middle East, the Arabs seem to have used the hand cannon to some degree during the 14th century. Cannons are attested in India starting from 1366. The Joseon kingdom in Korea learned how to produce gunpowder from China by 1372 and started producing cannons by 1377. In Southeast Asia , Đại Việt soldiers used hand cannons at

4050-580: The length of the tube, imparting sufficient launch velocity to sustain its further travel towards the target once the propelling gas ceases acting upon it after it exits the muzzle . Alternatively, new-concept linear motor weapons may employ an electromagnetic field to achieve acceleration, in which case the barrel may be substituted by guide rails (as in railguns ) or wrapped with magnetic coils (as in coilguns ). The first devices identified as guns or proto-guns appeared in China from around AD 1000. By

4125-557: The long duration of its design, which was longer, lighter, more efficient, and more accurate compared to its predecessors 30 years prior. The design persisted for nearly 300 years and cannons of the 1480s show little variation from as well as surprising similarity with cannons three centuries later in the 1750s. This 300-year period during which the classic gun dominated gives it its moniker. The classic gun differed from older generations of firearms through an assortment of improvements. Their longer length-to-bore ratio imparted more energy into

4200-420: The men who used them were often associated with the devil and the gunner's craft was considered a black art , a point reinforced by the smell of sulfur on battlefields created from the firing of guns along with the muzzle blast and accompanying flash . Around the late 14th century in Europe, smaller and portable hand-held cannons were developed, creating in effect the first smooth-bore personal firearm. In

4275-542: The name chong ( 銃 ) with the metal radical jin ( 金 ) for metal-barrel firearms. Chong was used instead of the earlier and more ambiguous term huo tong (fire tube; 火筒 ), which may refer to the tubes of fire lances , proto-cannons, or signal flares. Hand cannons may have been used in the Mongol invasions of Japan . Japanese descriptions of the invasions mention iron and bamboo pao causing "light and fire" and emitting 2–3,000 iron bullets. The Nihon Kokujokushi , written around 1300, mentions huo tong (fire tubes) at

4350-447: The projectile with the horizontal axis. 2. Time of flight ( T {\displaystyle T} ): this is the total time taken for the projectile to fall back to the same plane from which it was projected. Mathematically it is given as T = 2 U sin ⁡ θ / g {\displaystyle T=2U\sin \theta /g} . 3. Maximum Height ( H {\displaystyle H} ): this

4425-648: The propelling forces are the muscles that act upon the ball to make it move, and the stronger the force applied, the more propelling force, which means the projectile (the ball) will travel farther. See pitching , bowling . Many projectiles, e.g. shells , may carry an explosive charge or another chemical or biological substance. Aside from explosive payload, a projectile can be designed to cause special damage, e.g. fire (see also early thermal weapons ), or poisoning (see also arrow poison ). A kinetic energy weapon (also known as kinetic weapon, kinetic energy warhead, kinetic warhead, kinetic projectile, kinetic kill vehicle)

4500-448: The proportion of saltpeter in the propellant was increased to maximise its explosive power. To better withstand that explosive power, the paper and bamboo of which fire-lance barrels were originally made came to be replaced by metal. And to take full advantage of that power, the shrapnel came to be replaced by projectiles whose size and shape filled the barrel more closely. Fire lance barrels made of metal appeared by 1276. Earlier in 1259

4575-690: The rate of fire to six times that of muzzle loading weapons. In 1854, Volcanic Repeating Arms produced a rifle with a self-contained cartridge . In 1849, Claude-Étienne Minié invented the Minié ball , the first projectile that could easily slide down a rifled barrel, which made rifles a viable military firearm, ending the smoothbore musket era. Rifles were deployed during the Crimean War with resounding success and proved vastly superior to smoothbore muskets. In 1860, Benjamin Tyler Henry created

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4650-445: The same diameter as the bore produced from one English pound (454g) of lead) or—as in some British ordnance—the weight of the weapon's usual projectile. A gun projectile may be a simple, single-piece item like a bullet, a casing containing a payload like a shotshell or explosive shell, or complex projectile like a sub-caliber projectile and sabot. The propellant may be air, an explosive solid, or an explosive liquid. Some variations like

4725-439: The same weapon, and even referred to as an "arquebus musket." A Habsburg commander in the mid-1560s once referred to muskets as "double arquebuses." A shoulder stock was added to the arquebus around 1470 and the matchlock mechanism sometime before 1475. The matchlock arquebus was the first firearm equipped with a trigger mechanism and the first portable shoulder-arms firearm. Before the matchlock, handheld firearms were fired from

4800-419: The shot, enabling the projectile to shoot further. They were also lighter since the barrel walls were thinner, allowing faster dissipation of heat. They no longer needed the help of a wooden plug to load since they offered a tighter fit between projectile and barrel, further increasing the accuracy of firearms – and were deadlier due to developments such as gunpowder corning and iron shot. Several developments in

4875-657: The style of the Jurchen Jin dynasty. The Jin dynasty collapsed after the Mongols besieged and captured Caizhou in 1234, which suggests that the Heilongjiang hand-gun can reasonably be dated to the 13th century at the latest. The dating of the Heilongjiang hand-gun is based on battles in 1287 and 1288 that were fought near the site where the archaeologists discovered the hand-gun. The battles were part of Mongol prince Nayan 's rebellion in Manchuria against Kublai Khan ,

4950-433: The tip. Near the rear, there is a combustion chamber or room, which refers to the bulging part near the rear of the gun, where the gunpowder is placed. The cetbang is mounted on a fixed mount, or as a hand cannon mounted on the end of a pole. There is a tube-like section on the back of the cannon. In the hand cannon-type cetbang, this tube is used as a socket for a pole. The arquebus was a firearm that appeared in Europe and

5025-590: The very latest by 1390 when they employed them in killing Champa king Che Bong Nga. Chinese observer recorded the Javanese use of hand cannon for marriage ceremony in 1413 during Zheng He 's voyage. Hand guns were utilized effectively during the Hussite Wars . Japan knew of gunpowder due to the Mongol invasions during the 13th century, but did not acquire a cannon until a monk took one back to Japan from China in 1510, and guns were not produced until 1543, when

5100-527: The walls of Cave 149 of the Dazu Rock Carvings in Dazu , Chongqing . The Heilongjiang hand-gun is dated to 1288. At 3.55 kg (7.83 pounds) and is considerably lighter than older projectile devices such as the bulky trebuchets that were used to launch explosive bombs. Since the earliest textual reference to a "huo chong," or "fire tube," is dated to 1230 and the oldest surviving hand cannon

5175-479: The x-axis) by the projectile. Mathematically, R = U 2 sin ⁡ 2 θ / g {\displaystyle R=U^{2}\sin 2\theta /g} . The Range is maximum when angle θ {\displaystyle \theta } = 45°, i.e. sin ⁡ 2 θ = 1 {\displaystyle \sin 2\theta =1} . Heilongjiang hand cannon The Heilongjiang hand cannon or hand-gun

5250-412: Was depicted in a silk painting dated to the mid-10th century, but textual evidence of its use does not appear until 1132, describing the siege of De'an . It consisted of a bamboo tube of gunpowder tied to a spear or other polearm. By the late 1100s, ingredients such as pieces of shrapnel like porcelain shards or small iron pellets were added to the tube so that they would be blown out with the gunpowder. It

5325-521: Was discovered in July 1970 at an archaeological site in Banlachengzi village ( 半拉城子 ). The village is situated on the shores of the Ashi River in Harbin 's Acheng District . The archaeologists discovered several bronze objects that were excavated with the hand cannon. The excavated objects were a bronze vase, a bronze mirror, and a bronze cooking pan. All the bronze artifacts were manufactured in

5400-464: Was incorporated into the English language as "blunderbuss". Artillerymen were often referred to as "gonners" and "artillers" "Hand gun" was first used in 1373 in reference to the handle of guns. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a gun could mean "a piece of ordnance usually with high muzzle velocity and comparatively flat trajectory," " a portable firearm," or "a device that throws

5475-735: Was previously known as gunpowder, was relegated to hobbyist usage. In 1861, Richard Jordan Gatling invented the Gatling gun , the first successful machine gun, capable of firing 200 gunpowder cartridges in a minute. It was fielded by the Union forces during the American Civil War in the 1860s. In 1884, Hiram Maxim invented the Maxim gun , the first single-barreled machine gun. The world's first submachine gun (a fully automatic firearm which fires pistol cartridges) able to be maneuvered by

5550-402: Was relatively short ranged and had a range of roughly 3 meters by the early 13th century. This fire lance is considered by some historians to be a "proto-gun" because its projectiles did not occlude the barrel. There was also another "proto-gun" called the eruptor, according to Joseph Needham, which did not have a lance but still did not shoot projectiles which occluded the barrel. In due course,

5625-653: Was the archaeologist who excavated and dated the cannon. He wrote a description of the archaeological find in the article "A Bronze Bombard Excavated at Banlachengzi in Acheng Xian in Heilongjiang Province," which was published in 1973 for the journal Reference Materials for History and Archaeology . Wei proposed a connection between the hand cannon discovered in Banlachengzi and the nearby battle sites. The historian Joseph Needham remarked that Wei's "find will long remain of capital importance since it

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