Firearm History
History of the Handgun
Many newcomers to handguns have erroneous views about handgun barrel lengths. It is widely believed that long barrels are the most accurate and that extremely short barrels are best for carrying. In both cases, these assumptions are not necessarily true. Longer barrels are generally best for hunting and target shooting. Advantages of the longer barrel include more precise sight alignment because of the greater sight radius (distance between the front and rear sight). Longer-barreled handguns are steadier and offer greater stability on the target. Matters of balance and sight radius can be very subjective, however. Many older shooters find that they can see the sights more clearly if the sight radius is shorter. For example, when Ruger first brought out the Target Model of the popular .22 pistol, the initial barrel length was 6 7/8 inches. However, in response to popular demand, a 5 1/2-inch bull (heavy) barrel version was introduced shortly thereafter. Today, variants of this pistol can also be had with four-inch or 10-inch bull barrels.
It is commonly believed that the longer the barrel, the greater the velocity from a handgun. As a general matter, this is true. The longer barrel permits more complete combustion of the powder, with greater velocities resulting. However, many variables govern velocity. Among these are barrel-to-cylinder gap (in revolvers) and barrel dimensions and internal polishing. Thus, it is by no means uncommon for a revolver with a four-inch barrel to equal or even surpass the velocities attainable from a similar gun with a six-inch barrel.
It is also largely a myth that longer barrels are intrinsically more accurate. In fact, bullets are stabilized after a very short amount of barrel travel, and short-barreled handguns can be remarkably accurate.
An undeniable advantage of longer barrels, especially with powerful magnum calibers, is that by placing weight toward the muzzle, they help reduce the punishment of recoil. They also do a lot toward muting muzzle blast. A 7 1/2-inch .44 Magnum revolver is much more pleasant to shoot than one with a four-inch barrel.
Shorter barrels are customarily considered handier to carry, but careful holster selection can often make it just as convenient to carry a longer handgun or nearly so. The vertical shoulder holster or a canted crossdraw holster are particularly useful with long-barreled handguns.
The trend in defense guns has been toward shorter barrels. In the days of the old West, many a peace officer favored a 7 1/2-inch Peacemaker. A couple of generations ago, six-inch revolvers were widely issued to uniformed police. In later years, police revolvers for uniformed carry were almost invariably four-inchers. Today, most pistols intended for police duty have barrel lengths in the vicinity of four inches. Thus, the barrels on Ruger centerfire pistols range between 3.9 and 4.5 inches.
Many people believe that a very short barrel is best for concealed carry (where legally permitted). For certain situations this is true. If the gun is to be carried in an ankle holster or in certain shoulder holsters, then the short barrel is preferable. If the revolver is to be carried in a belt holster, a three- or four-inch gun can be carried just as well and offers more power and practical accuracy. An advantage of the short barrels is that they make it harder for an adversary to wrest the gun from your hand.
Most Ruger revolvers are available in a wide range of barrel lengths. The same holds true for Ruger .22 pistols. The Ruger centerfire pistols are available in several barrel lengths within the range that has proven most practical and versatile for guns of this type. Balance your needs and your personal preferences in choosing a barrel length carefully, and you should come up with a very satisfactory personal firearm.
History of the Shotgun
A Tradition of Performance and Safety
In 1816 Eliphalet Remington was confident he could make a flintlock that was as good or better than any he could buy. His confidence was well founded. The barrel he handcrafted set a new standard for firearm accuracy and spawned generations of products that have made Remington® Arms America’s leading gunmaker. While performance and style are certainly hallmarks of Remington firearms, one factor ultimately drives their performance.
Safety. Eliphalet Remington never lost sight of the fact that his rifles were potentially lethal and could kill someone if handled improperly. And after more than 180 years the same holds true for any firearm, including your new Remington. Eliphalet Remington’s first flintlock launched a proud tradition of accuracy and responsibility.
Safety is Critical to Performance
A superbly crafted gun is only as good as the hands that hold it. You can never be too careful. Shooting accidents are often caused by careless oversights such as failing to control the direction of the muzzle, failing to fully engage the safety, leaving ammunition in the chamber or using improper loads. These oversights can result in the destruction of life, limb or property. There’s no calling back a bullet once it’s been fired, so it’s critical that you know the principles of safe gun handling and storage before you ever take your new Remington firearm out of the box.
The proper use and performance of your firearm depends on correct assembly and maintenance, so it’s critical that you familiarize yourself with the information in this instruction book. Even if you’re a veteran shooter with a collection of Remington firearms, take the time to read this literature. Not all firearms are the same. That means the first step in safe handling is to learn the features and requirements of your new Remington.
History of the Rifle
Nothing since the dawn of time has influenced our lives more than the firearm, well, maybe the automobile. For over 500 years, it has provided us with protection and food. I often wondered how the development of the firearm progressed through the years, so I decided to do a little research and write down what I found. I am, by no stretch of the imagination, a professional writer. If I was, I would have kept track of the sources of my information and put it in a Bibliography Table. This is my first attempt at writing an article for possible publication and is a work in progress. I will update this page as more information is gathered and illustrations are added.
The exact date of the development of gunpowder is unknown, but is believed to be early 11th century in China. The earliest record of the use of gunpowder in the western world was in the mid 11th century. Roger Bacon was one of the greatest scientists of the Middle Ages. He was born in 1241 in Somerset, England. Between 1257 and 1265, Bacon wrote a book of chemistry called Opus Majus in which he included a recipe for gunpowder. The earliest picture of a gun is in a manuscript dated 1326 showing a pear-shaped cannon firing an arrow. Crude cannons were used by King Edward III against the Scots in the following year. The design of the firearm components has remained almost unchanged since the first hand-held weapons were built; with the exception of the firing mechanism. The earliest guns had a simple hole in the barrel, called a touch-hole, where the powder inside the barrel was exposed. The gun was fired by touching either a burning wick, called a match, or a red-hot iron to the exposed powder in the touch-hole. Over the centuries, the development of more sophisticated and reliable firing mechanisms marked the progression of firearm development from the earliest crude cannon to the modern cartridge fed firearms we have today.
Early cannons were prone to bursting and, in many cases, convicts were released from prison for the purpose of loading and firing cannons. The first rifled gun barrels were made in the 1400s. This early date may be surprising, but makes perfect sense when one considers that arrow makers had learned to angle the fletchings on an arrow's shaft to make it spin as it flew through the air, giving it greater stability. This technique carried over to firearms. Rifled barrels were rare until improvements in manufacturing techniques in the 1800s made them easier to fabricate.
The hand-held firearm has its roots from large crude cannon which caused mass casualties to amassed foot soldiers. These 
soldiers quickly learned to avoid the gaping maw of the cannon and the fusiliers realized they needed a more mobile "Hand Cannon" to provide more accurate fire at the dodging forces. The earliest 'hand gonne', as it was called, was developed in the fifteenth century, but was not a great influence in battle. It was a small cannon with a touch-hole for ignition. It was unsteady, required that the user prop it on a stand, brace it with one hand against his chest and use his other hand to touch a lighted match to the touch-hole, and had an effective range of only about thirty to forty yards. It surely must have taken iron nerves to use one of these against a charging knight, nearly within his lance's reach, when the powder might not even ignite.
Users of primitive cannons and 'hand gonnes' came to realize that a more reliable ignition system was needed. It was just too difficult to use one hand to touch a lit match to an open hole in the gun barrel in the heat of battle while trying to hold the gun steady with the other hand. Also, there was often not enough gunpowder exposed at the touch-hole to ignite reliably. So, the gun designers had to come up with a more reliable system to get the gunpowder lit in a hurry.
Eventually, a clever invention was devised to solve the problem. The touch hole was moved to the side of the gun barrel, and a cup was placed at the opening with a lid on it. This cup would hold a small amount of gunpowder which could be easily ignited. When the powder began to burn, some of the fire would go through the touch hole and ignite the gunpowder inside the barrel, thereby firing the gun. This cup was called the "Flash Pan". The cover on the flash pan prevented the powder from blowing away in the wind or from getting wet in a fog.
All the later ignition systems on guns with a flash pan were designed to automatically ignite the gunpowder in the flash pan at the press of a lever or trigger. This was accomplished by either putting the end of a burning wick into the flash pan or using a flint and steel combination to throw sparks into the flash pan.
The Matchlock was a welcome improvement in the mid-fifteenth century and remained in use even into the early 1700s, when it was much cheaper to mass produce than the better classes of firearms with more sophisticated ignition systems. The Matchlock secured a lighted wick in a moveable arm which, when the trigger was depressed, was brought down against the flash pan to ignite the powder. This allowed the musketeer to keep both hands on the gun, improving his aim drastically. The gun had its weaknesses, though. It took time to ignite the end of the wick, which left the musketeer useless in case of a surprise attack. Also, it was difficult to keep the wick burning in damp weather. For the most part, longbowmen were more effective in battle than the musketeers. The one real advantage the musketeers possessed was the intimidation factor which their weapons provided. The first important use of musketeers was in 1530 when Francis I organized units of Arquebusiers or matchlock musketeers in the French army. By 1540 the matchlock design was improved to include a cover plate over the flash pan which automatically retracted as the trigger was pressed.
The matchlock was the primary firearm used in the conquering of the New World. In time, the Native Americans (Indians) discovered the weaknesses of this form of ignition and learned to take advantage of them. Even Henry Hudson was defeated by an Indian surprise attack in 1609 due to unlit matches. The matchlock was introduced by Portuguese traders to Eastern countries around 1498, particularly India and Japan, and was used by them well into the 19th century.
The Wheel Lock was the next step in firearms evolution. It is said to have been invented by Johann Kiefuss of Nuremberg in 1517, and the idea probably came from the spring driven tinder lighter in use at the time. The idea of this mechanism is simple, similar to a modern lighter which has a flint pressed up against a roughened metal wheel. When you spin the wheel with your finger, the flint pressed against its surface throws off sparks. The same system was used in these firearms to create sparks as needed to ignite the gunpowder to fire the gun. No more waiting to get a wick lit, and no more stressing about it going out when it rains. The wheel lock design was eventually improved with more durable springs, their main weak point, and a cover over the wheel mechanism to protect it and keep it dry. The wheel lock was an expensive gun to make and a matchlock cost less than half as much, so it was impossible to equip a complete army with the more costly mechanism. Only a person of substantial wealth could afford one for himself.
In 1530, Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor who ruled over Spain and Austria, imported the brothers Marquarte to transfer their workshops from Augsburg to Madrid. They brought to Spain unsurpassed knowledge of firearms production. By around 1560, German gunsmiths were using wooden stocks and adorning them with inlays of ivory and horn. At about this time the metal parts were fire-blued to add extra beauty and to protect against corrosion. Also, metallurgy had improved to the point that gun barrels were no longer bursting very often. The strongest barrels were of damascene manufacture. In this process, strips of metal about the thickness of a man's finger are wound together. Then, another strip is wound around them for the full length of the piece, then the whole thing is heated and welded. It is hammered and forged into the final shape, then bored out. The damascene barrel was the only one that could survive being packed for its full length with gunpowder then fired. Other gun barrels were at risk with only a quarter of their length packed.
The Snaphaunce first appeared around 1570, and was really an early form of the Flintlock. This mechanism worked by attaching the flint to a spring-loaded arm. When the trigger is pressed, the cover slides off the flash pan, then the arm snaps forward striking the flint against a metal plate over the flash pan and hopefully produces enough sparks to ignite the powder. This mechanism was much simpler and less expensive than the Wheel Lock. The German gunsmiths, who tended to ignore the technical advances of other nationalities, continued to produce and improve upon the wheel lock up until the early 18th century.
The Flintlock was developed in France around 1612. A key contributor to this development was Marin le Bourgeoys who was assigned to the Louvre gun shops by King Henri IV of France. The Flintlock's manufacture slowly spread throughout Europe, and by the second half of the century it became more popular than the Wheel Lock and Snaphaunce. The main difference between the Flintlock and Snaphaunce is that in the Flintlock the striking surface and flashpan cover are all one piece, where in the Snaphaunce they are separate mechanisms. This made the mechanism even simpler, less expensive, and more reliable than its predecessor. This simplicity allowed for more creative gun designs, such as guns with multiple barrels and miniature pistols which could be concealed easily inside a garment. By 1664 experiments with rotating-block repeated fire guns were under way (like a revolver which holds a number of shots in a rotating cylinder) but such weapons were dangerous to operate and would have to wait for another century and a half to be made a standard weapon.
In the early 1700s the Brown Bess Flintlock made its appearance. It probably got its name from the acid-brown treatment of its barrel. By this time, the flintlock was accurate up to about 80 yards but nobody could aim at a man and kill him at 200 yards. A shooter of average experience could load and fire two to three rounds per minute. Going through several incarnations, it wasn't until the 1760s that the Brown Bess was standardized.
In the late 1740s, the first Kentucky rifles began to be produced in America. Several gunmakers in the colonies made them, the most famous being those made in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania.
The Percussion Cap ignition system was developed in 1805 by the Reverend John Forsyth of Aberdeenshire. This firing mechanism was a great step in advancement from its predecessors because it does not use an exposed flashpan to begin the ignition process. Instead, it has a simple tube which leads straight into the gun barrel.
The key to this system is the explosive cap which is placed on top of the tube. The cap contains fulminate of mercury, a chemical compound which explodes when it is struck. This is the same stuff as is used in the paper or plastic caps in a child's cap gun. When the cap is struck by the hammer, the flames from the exploding fulminate of mercury go down the tube, into the gun barrel, and ignite the powder inside the barrel to propel the bullet.
This firing mechanism provided a major advance in reliability, since the cap was almost certain to explode when struck. This mechanism is almost immune to dampness, though in a rainfall one must still be cautious to avoid getting water in the gun barrel or into the ignition system while loading the weapon. The percussion cap was the key to making reliable rotating-block guns (revolvers) which would fire reliably, and in the early 1800s several manufacturers began producing these multiple-shot sidearms in mass quantities. The percussion cap firing mechanism gave an individual soldier a weapon of precision and reliability which was used to devastating effect in the U.S. Civil War.
History of the M1 and M1A1 .30 Caliber Carbines
This History is only on the M1 and M1A1 .30 Carbine
Operation: M1, M1A1 Semiautomatic; M2, M3 Selective
Length: 35.65 in. (905 mm)
Weight unloaded: 5 lb 7 oz (2.48 kg)
Barrel: 18 in. 4 grooves, right hand twist
Magazine: 15 or 30 round detachable box
Muzzle: velocity 1990 fps, 967 ft-lbs.
Rate of Fire: M2 on full auto, 650-700rpm
300 yds: 1035 fps, 262 ft-lbs
Ammunition: 108 gr bullet, 13 gr charge, US Service M1
Effective Range: 300 yds
Rear Sites
The M1 Garand was the weapon of choice for infantry. The M1 Carbine, half the weight and with a less powerful cartridge, was the weapon of choice for support troops, and others not primarily involved in infantry combat. It was designed to meet combat needs less demanding than the M1 Rifle, but more than can be met by the M1911A1 pistol. It was more convenient to use than the M1, and less intrusive to their other duties, while still much more effective than hand guns.
Originally, the M1 was to be capable of selective fire control, but this was dropped. Because a demand arose for an automatic capability, the M2 was developed, with a selective-fire switch added to the left side of the receiver, operating on the sear mechanism.
The US Carbine, Caliber .30in, M3, or T3, was simply an M2 with suitable mountings prepared on the receiver to take various models of infra-red night-sighting devices. No open or conventional sights were provided, and the IR carbine mounted an M3 flash hider, a simpler design than that for the M1C Garand. The M3 carbine, (its development title was T3), was produced in limited numbers as a semi-prototype. Only about 2100 were manufactured compared to 5,510,000 M1 carbines, 150,000 M1A1 carbines and 570,000 M2 carbines.
The M1 and M2 Carbines were also much more powerful than the Russian type burp guns used by the North Koreans and, later, the Chinese, having more than twice their muzzle energy.
In the infantry, the M2 Carbine was carried by Staff NCOs and officers. With its 30 round magazine, rapid fire and greater stopping power, it was an effective counter to the various submachine guns used by the Communists in the Korean War.
In intense cold, however, such as the Chosen battle, light weapons such as the carbine and air-cooled .30 calibre light machine guns malfunctioned much more often than the M1 and the water-cooled heavies, with anti-freeze in their jackets. The Marines used alcohol based hair tonic as anti-freeze lubricants for all light weapons, with good success, but the carbine components were small and fragile, and repeatedly malfunctioned.
The Carbine continued to be used in Viet Nam, until replaced by the M16.
Home | Firearm Courses | Firearm History | Downloads | Associates | Gallery | Contact Us | Sitemap | Disclaimer
