b'By Jim Olson, 2019 motion of the flint and hammer pushed the frizzen back, opening a cover on the WesternTradingPost.com flash pan which contained the gunpowder. As a flint struck the frizzen, it created a spark which fell into the pan and ignited the powder. Flame burned through a I t has been reported, the oldest surviving firearm is the Heilongjiang handsmall touchhole in the barrel and ignited the main powder charge, causing the cannon dated to 1288, which was discovered at a site in modern-day China,weapon to fire. This greatly improved firearms as powder ignition was now even where recorded battles were fought. more reliable (and less susceptible to weather conditions). The flintlock system was in use for almost two centuries, with very little alteration.In the beginning, firearms were fired by lighting a wick to spark the powder in the barrel. Loading and firing it was similar to how one would fire an antiqueIn the early 1800s, the percussion firing system was invented in Europe. The cannon (hence the term hand cannon). One hand steadied it while the other litpercussion cap is a small cylinder of copper or brass with one closed end. Inside the fuse. The operator had to brace the gun on something to fire it and accuracythe cap is a small amount of explosive material, such as fulminate of mercury. was not that great. Sometimes two men were used to improve accuracy.The percussion cap is placed over a hollow metal "nipple" at the rear of the gun barrel. Pulling the trigger releases the hammer that strikes the percussion cap Then, in the 1400s, the first device, or "lock," for mechanically firing a gun cameand ignites the primer. A tiny flame travels through the hollow nipple to ignite about. It was called the matchlock and the Portuguese are credited with itsthe main powder charge. It was an improvement over the flintlock system and invention. With the matchlock, powder was held in a "flash pan" and ignited by firearms continued to advance and become more user-friendly. a match (or wick) in a revolving clamp (which the operator had to light first).For 50 years or so, the percussion system was king (although there were other inventions tried at various times). However, there were no major changes to firearms until the invention of metallic cartridges in about the 1850s. It was the first time the powder charge and the projectile were all in one handy package. This was revolutionary! It was faster, easier and more reliable than anything else up to this point.About 1852, a man named Rollin White, came up with the idea of having a Authentic revolver cylinder bored through to accept these matchlocks arenew metallic cartridges. Although the very firstThe Colt a rare find. in the world to use bored-through cylinders wasbecame the reported to be a Frenchman named Lefaucheuxmost widely (about 1845). He invented a pepperbox typeknown metallic The lock held the slow-burning wick in a clamp at the end of a small curvedrevolver that loaded from the rear, using bored- cartridge lever (the serpentine). When you pulled the trigger, the clamp dropped down,through cylinders. revolver in lowering the match into the flash pan and igniting the powder. The powderhistory.ignition in the flash pan went through a touchhole, igniting the main charge ofHowever, White, who worked for Samuel Colt at the time, patented the idea. He powder in the gun barrel, firing the weapon. With this new method, both handstried to sell Colt on it however, Sam Colt refused the idea. So White left Colt, could remain on the gun, vastly improving aim. Authentic matchlocks are a rarewent to Smith & Wesson and rented them the license for his patent. This is how find nowadays. Smith & Wesson wound up producing the first widely used cartridge revolver. Their patent didn\'t expire until 1870 and by then, Sam Colt realized the error The next major advancement in firearms came in the early 1500s. It was calledhed made. So in 1871, the first Colt Single Action revolver was produced at the wheel-lock and it was a German innovation. The wheel-lock generated aColts factory. Eventually, this became the most widely known metallic cartridge spark mechanically. The wheel-lock works by spinning a steel wheel against arevolver in history.piece of pyrite to generate a spark (similar to a Zippo lighter). This ignited thegunpowder in the flash pan, which flashed through a small touchhole to igniteFrom the 1870s thru the 1890s, most firearm inventions conceived of and tried the main charge in the barrel. With no match to lite, the wheel-lock was moreeventually went by the wayside. However, lever action repeating rifles and reliable than the matchlock (especially on windy days).revolving cylinder pistols (both using metallic cartridges) pulled ahead of all However, wheel-locks were expensive toothers and reigned top dogs. This is the period where men like John Browning, produce, so matchlocks remainedSamuel Colt, and Oliver Winchester became household namesand also a part in common use forof history.a number of years alongside the The wheel-lock The 1800s was an exciting time for firearm innovations. The era started using generated a wheel-lock.spark mechanically. flintlocks and ended with the invention of semi-automatics using metallic cartridges. There were numerous inventions tried and produced during this era There were a couple improvements to the wheel-lock along the way (such as theand firearms advanced more during this 100-year period than any other time, snaplock about 1540 and the snaphance about 1560), but these were more or lessbefore or since. As the end of the century came about, smokeless powder was improvements to the wheel-lock type system and were also predecessors (whichinvented and this change, from black powder to smokeless in late 1890s, marked paved the way) for the flintlock. the end of the antique firearm era. According to statutes, the cutoff for firearmsto be considered an antique is 1898. Anything from 1899 or later likely In the early 1600s, the flintlock was invented in France. It was anfires modern ammunition and is thereby considered a modern firearm improvement over the other lock systems which had been(with a few exceptions). in place for over a century. The flintlock mechanism had a piece of flint which is held between aModern firearms have gotten set of jaws on the end of a short hammer.lighter and quicker as time This hammer was pulled back into thewent by, but the same basic way "cocked" position. When releasedthey function has been in place by the trigger, the spring-loadedsince the turn of the last century. The 19th century (last 100 years of the period hammer caused the flint toof antiques) was the most exciting era for firearms in the opinion of this author. strike a piece of steel called theThe flintlock systemConsequently, it is what a large majority of firearms collectors look for and frizzen." At the same time, thewas in use for almostcollect to this day. two centuries.24 April 2019'