History of Gunpowder

By D@v1D.5
  • Period: 919 BCE to 919 BCE

    Discovery/invention of bangy-powder

    Was invented in China to find a life-enhancing potion when an alchemist discovered that when Potassium Nitrate charcoal and sulfur are mixed it becomes quite reactive under a flame
  • 1000

    First gun like device [Fire lance]

    found in china and was similar to a spear gun or shrapnel launcher/shotgun
  • 1364

    First recorded use of a firearm

    muzzleloader that was very crude and was most likely used against the Japanese samurai
  • 1400

    Match lock

    gun designed with a slow-burning wick to ignite powder used primarily by early American colonists
  • 1498

    principle of rifling

    a spiral design on the interior of the barrel used to cause a projectile to spin and increase accuracy
  • first true flintlock

    like a flint and steel the spring system on the hammer would make a piece of flint hit a piece of steel causing sparks allowing for faster ignition of the gunpowder
  • The first colt revolver

    allowed for multiple shots to be fired before reloading but reloading was super time consuming
  • true shotguns

    a rifle like guns designed to fire many projectiles used to hunt birds and home defense
  • rim-fire cartriges

    a round that no longer had to be loaded one piece at a time allowing it to be quickly loaded and the position of the round did not have to be precise
  • smokeless powder

    powder that did not create a cloud of smoke giving away a person position containing 68.2% insoluble nitrocellulose 29.8% soluble nitrocellulose 2% paraffin
  • First full auto machine gun

    the maxim machine gun
  • invention of automatic handguns

    allowed for amazingly fast reload and firing