A gun is a device designed to propel a projectile using pressure or explosive

force.[1][2] 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 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 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.[3] By the end of the 13th century, they had become "true
guns", metal barrel firearms that fired single projectiles which occluded the
barrel.[4][5] Gunpowder and gun technology spread throughout Eurasia during
the 14th century.[6][7][8]

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, a mechanical bolt throwing weapon of
enormous size, mounted at Windsor Castle during the 14 th 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.[9] “Gunnildr”,
which means “War-sword”, was often shortened to “Gunna”.[10]

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 was incorporated into the English language as “blunderbuss”.
[10] Artillerymen were often referred to as “gonners” and “artillers”[11]
“Hand gun” was first used in 1373 in reference to the handle of guns.[12]

Definition

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 a projectile.”[13]

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.”[14]

True gun

According to Tonio Andrade, a historian of gunpowder technology, a “true

gun” is defined as a firearm which shoots a bullet that fits the barrel as
opposed to one which does not, such as the shrapnel shooting fire lance.[3]
As such, the fire lance, which appeared between the 10 th and 12th centuries
AD, as well as other early metal barrel gunpowder weapons have been
described as “proto-guns”[15] 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 a "proto-gun” for the same reason.[16] 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.[4] The “true gun” appears to have emerged in late 1200s China,
around 300 years after the appearance of the fire lance.[4][5] Although the
term “gun” postdates the invention of firearms, historians have applied it to
the earliest firearms such as the Heilongjiang hand cannon of 1288[17] or
the vase shaped European cannon of 1326.[18]

Classic gun

Historians consider firearms to have reached the form of a “classic gun” in

the 1480s, which persisted until the mid-18 th 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 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.[19]
The “classic gun” has also been described as the "modern ordnance
synthesis.”[20]

Gunpowder was invented in China during the 9 th century.[21][22][23] The

first firearm was the fire lance, which was invented in China between the 10–
12th centuries.[24][25][26] It 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.[24] 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.[27]
It was relatively short ranged and had a range of roughly 3 meters by the
early 13th century.[28] This fire lance is considered by some historians to be a
“proto-gun” because its projectiles did not occlude the barrel.[15] 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.[16]

In due course, the proportion of saltpeter in the propellant was increased to

maximise its explosive power.[29] To better withstand that explosive power,
the paper and bamboo of which fire-lance barrels were originally made came
to be replaced by metal.[23] 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.[29] Fire lance barrels made of metal appeared by 1276.
[30] Earlier in 1259 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.[27] 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.[31] The metal barrel fire lances began to be used without
the lance and became guns by the late 13th century.[27]
Guns such as the hand cannon were being used in the Yuan dynasty by the
1280s.[32] Surviving cannons such as the Heilongjiang hand cannon and the
Xanadu Gun have been found dating to the late 13 th century and possibly
earlier in the early 13th century.[33]

In 1287, the Yuan dynasty deployed Jurchen troops with hand cannons to put
down a rebellion by the Mongol prince Nayan.[32] 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.”[34] 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 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.[35] 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.[36] The Nihon
Kokujokushi, written around 1300, mentions huo tong (fire tubes) at 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.”[37] The Taiheki of 1370 mentions
“iron pao shaped like a bell.”[37]

The exact nature of the spread of firearms and its route is uncertain. One
theory is that gunpowder and cannons arrived in Europe via the Silk Road
through the Middle East.[38][39] 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.[40] Another theory is that it was brought to Europe during
the Mongol invasion in the first half of the 13 th century.[38][39]

The earliest depiction of a cannon in Europe dates to 1326 and evidence of

firearm production can be found in the following year.[8] 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.[41][42] By 1338 hand cannons were in widespread use in France.[43]
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.[44] Early
guns and 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.[45]

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 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.[14] Cannons are attested in
India starting from 1366.[46]

The Joseon kingdom in Korea learned how to produce gunpowder from China
by 1372[6] and started producing cannons by 1377.[47] In Southeast Asia, Đại
Việt soldiers used hand cannons at the very latest by 1390 when they
employed them in killing Champa king Che Bong Nga.[48] Chinese observer
recorded the Javanese use of hand cannon for marriage ceremony in 1413
during Zheng He's voyage.[49][50] Hand guns were utilized effectively during
the Hussite Wars.[51] 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,[52] and guns were not produced
until 1543, when the Portuguese introduced matchlocks which were known
as tanegashima to the Japanese.[53]
Gunpowder technology entered Java in the Mongol invasion of Java (1293
A.D.).[54]: 1–2 [55][56]: 220 Majapahit under Mahapatih (prime minister) Gajah
Mada utilized gunpowder technology obtained from the Yuan dynasty for use
in the naval fleet.[57]: 57 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[58] can also be used. These arrows can be solid-tipped without
explosives, or with explosives and incendiary materials placed behind 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. [59]: 94
The arquebus was a firearm that appeared in Europe and the Ottoman
Empire in the early 15th century.[60] 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.[61] 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 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.
[62] 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 the same weapon,
[63] and even referred to as an “arquebus musket.”[64] A Habsburg
commander in the mid-1560s once referred to muskets as “double
arquebuses.”[65]

A shoulder stock[66] 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[12][67] and the first
portable shoulder-arms firearm.[68] Before the matchlock, handheld firearms
were fired from the chest, tucked under one arm, while the other arm
maneuvered a hot pricker to the touch hole to ignite the gunpowder.[69]

The Ottomans may have used arquebuses as early as the first half of the 15 th
century during the Ottoman–Hungarian wars of 1443–1444.[70] The
arquebus was used in substantial numbers during the reign of king Matthias
Corvinus of Hungary (r. 1458–1490).[71] Arquebuses were used by 1472 by
the Spanish and Portuguese at Zamora. Likewise, the Castilians used
arquebuses as well in 1476.[72] 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.[73] They were
used throughout Asia by the mid-1500s.[74][75][76][77]

Transition to classic guns

Guns reached their “classic” form in the 1480s. The “classic gun” is so called
because of 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.[19]

The classic gun differed from older generations of firearms through an

assortment of improvements. Their longer length-to-bore ratio imparted
more energy into 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[79] – and were deadlier due to developments such as
gunpowder corning and iron shot.[80]

Modern guns

Several developments in 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.[81]

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 a copper base that incorporated a primer pellet.
[82]

While rifled guns did exist prior to the 19 th century in the form of grooves cut
into the interior of a barrel, these were considered specialist weapons and
limited in number.[73]
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 the rate of fire to six times that of muzzle
loading weapons.[82] In 1854, Volcanic Repeating Arms produced a rifle with
a self-contained cartridge.[83]

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.[84] Rifles were deployed during
the Crimean War with resounding success and proved vastly superior to
smoothbore muskets.[84]

In 1860, Benjamin Tyler Henry created the Henry rifle, the first reliable
repeating rifle.[85] An improved version of the Henry rifle was developed by
Winchester Repeating Arms Company in 1873, known as the Model 1873
Winchester rifle.[85]

Smokeless powder was invented in 1880 and began replacing gunpowder,

which came to be known as black powder.[86] By the start of the 20 th
century, smokeless powder was adopted throughout the world and black
powder, what was previously known as gunpowder, was relegated to
hobbyist usage.[87]

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.[88] In
1884, Hiram Maxim invented the Maxim gun, the first single-barreled
machine gun.[88]
The world's first submachine gun (a fully automatic firearm which fires pistol
cartridges) able to be maneuvered by 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). [citation needed]
In civilian use, the captive bolt pistol is used in agriculture to humanely stun
farm animals for slaughter.[89]
The first assault rifle was introduced during World War II by 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.