FUNDAMENTALS OF MARKSMANSHIP

DEFINITION OF TERMS ORIGIN OF FIREARMS AND THE

EVOLUTION OF WEAPONS
1. FIREARM
Firearms
• It is a device which projects either
single or multiple projectiles at high Technical Definition: It is an instrument
velocity through a controlled that is used for the propulsion of
explosion. projectiles by means of expansive force of
• This process of rapid burning is gases from the burning powder.
technically known as deflagration.
Legal Definition: It refers to any handheld
• In older firearms, this propellant
or portable weapon, whether a small arm
was typically black powder, but
or light weapon, that expels or is designed
modern firearms use smokeless
to expel a bullet, shot, slug, missile or any
powder, cordite, or other
projectile, which is discharged by means of
propellants.
expansive force of gases from burning
2. HANDGUN gunpowder or other form of combustion or
any similar instrument or implement. The
• Refers to small arms, such as pistol
barrel, frame or receiver is concerned a
revolver.
firearm (Sec 3, RA 10591).
3. MARKSMANSHIP
Origin of Firearms
• The skills of the marksman
As long as man has used tools, weapons
especially in firearms (rifle and
have been among those of foremost
handgun).
importance. They have been used to
4. PISTOL provide food and protection since the
formation of the earliest social units. For
• A hand firearm usually applies to
centuries, and continuing through today,
single shot and automatic loading.
men and women have used firearms as the
5. REVOLVER most effective weapons individuals can
wield.
• A hand firearm in which a rotating
cylinder successively places The origin of gunpowder is unknown, and
cartridges into position for firing. may have occurred in China, Turkey, or
Europe. The first record describing the
6. RIFLE
combination of charcoal, sulphur, and
• A type of weapon fired from saltpetre, to produce a rapidly burning
shoulder. powder is a coded writing by Franciscan
monk Roger Bacon shortly before 1250 AD.
 FUNDAMENTALS OF MARKSMANSHIP
Development of Firearm
The development of modern weapons
started in 1364 with the first recorder use
of a firearm and ending in 1892 with the
introduction of automatic handguns. Man,
never satisfied with himself, he is always
trying to improve himself and its
surroundings. Man created some crude or
primitive weapons, which were
subsequently developed into sophisticated
firearms of modern times.
The following are the stages of
development of man’s weapon:
1. Stones
2. Clubs
3. Knives
4. Spears and darts
5. Slingshots to hurl objects
6. Bows and arrows
7. Cross-bows
8. Guns
9. Missiles
10. Guided missile
PERSONALITIES BEHIND FIREARMS
1. Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson
• They formed a partnership in 1852
• They managed by producing what
is probably the best double action
revolver in the world. (Dan Wesson
left the company to set up his own
firearms business).
2. John M. Browning
• Born in 1856
• Started the production of a single
shot rifle that was adopted by
Winchester.
3. John T. Thompson
• Born in 1960 in Newport, Kentucky
• Pioneered the making of Thompson
submachine gun in 1920.
4. David “Carbine” Williams
• Maker of first known carbine.
5. Alexander John Forsyth
• Father of the percussion ignition.
6. Elisha King Root
• Designed machinery of making Colt
firearms.
7. Eliphalet Remington
• One of the first rifle makers.
8. John Mahlon Marlin
• Founder of Marlin Firearms
Company
9. John Wolfe Ripley
• He development of the model 1855
rifled musket
10. Samuel Colt (1814-1862)
• Produced the first practical
revolver
11. Henry Derringer
• He manufactured pocket pistol
12. John C. Garand
• He designed and developed the
semi-automatic US rifle, Cal.20 M1
garand in 1931, known as the
world’s first self-loading rifle.
 FUNDAMENTALS OF MARKSMANSHIP
13. Oliver F. Winchester
• He led the formulation of the
Winchester Company
IMPORTANT DATES IN FIREARMS
HISTORY
Handguns
1364 First recorded use of a firearm.
1380 Handguns are known across Europe.
1400s The matchlock gun appears.
• Before the matchlock, guns were fired by
holding a burning wick to a “touch hole” in
the barrel igniting the powder inside. A
shooter uses one hand for firing, and a
prop to steady the gun. The first device, or
“lock,” for mechanically firing a gun is the
matchbook. Powder is held in a “flash
pan,” and ignited by a wick, or match, in a
movable clamp. Both hands remain on the
gun, vastly improving aim. Early matchlock
guns are extremely rare. The matchlock
shown here was made around 1640, and is
typical of the muskets used by militia in
Colonial America.
1498 Rifling principle is discovered.
1509 Invention of wheel lock (rose lock).
• The next major advance, the wheel lock,
generates a spark mechanically. With no
wick to keep lit, the wheel lock is easier to
use and more reliable than the matchlock.
However, wheel locks are expensive to
produce. Matchlocks, at half the cost,
remain in common use.
1540 Rifling appears in firearms.
1607 Settlers arrive in Jamestown, Virginia.
1630 The first true flintlock.
• Expose or protect the powder, the lid
had to be moved manually. The flintlock
mechanism was designed to push back the
lid and spark a flint at the same time. The
flintlock ignition system reigned for two
centuries, with virtually no alteration. The
flintlock pictured here is a typical British
“Brown Bess” musket. Marks on the gun
indicate what it was used by German
mercenaries during the American
Revolution.
1637 First use of firearms proof-marks.
1750-1850 Dueling pistols come into
fashion.
• Around 1750, men stopped carrying
rapiers, and guns became the weapon of
choice for a duel. Various guns were used,
until a true duelling pistol was officially
standardized in 1777, as “a 9 or 10 inch
barrelled, smooth bore flintlock of 1 inch
bore, carrying a ball of 48 to the pound.”
Often lavishly decorated, the pistols are
made until duelling falls out of favor in the
mid-1800s. This pair of 1786 flintlock
pistols was made with ivory stocks and
unusually elaborate decorative details.
Percussion Detonating principle patented.
1825 ca. Percussion-cap guns are in
general use.
1835 The back action lock appears.
1835 The first Colt revolver.
1836 Pin-fire cartridge.
• Developed by Le Faucheux in 1836 was
probably the first self-exploding cartridge
to come into general use.
 FUNDAMENTALS OF MARKSMANSHIP
• Samuel Colt developed the first mass-
produced, multi-shot, revolving firearms.
Various revolving designs had been around
for centuries, but precision parts couldn’t
be made with available technologies. Colt
was the first to apply Industrial Age
machining tools to the idea.
1840 Guns begin to use pin-fire cartridges.
1847 The telegraph is invented.
1850 True shotguns in common use.
• In the second half of the 18th century,
musket design branched out. This period
produced a number of single-purpose
firearms. The forerunner of modern
shotguns was the fowling piece, developed
specifically for hunting birds.
1854-56 The Crimean War. The last war to
use only muzzle-loaded guns.
1859 The first full rim-fire cartridge.
1860 Spencer repeating carbine patented.
• Introduced at the start of the Civil War,
Spencer repeating guns were technically
advanced, used cartridges (a recent
development), and could fire 7 shots in 15
seconds. But the Army didn’t want a
repeating gun, fearing that soldiers would
fire more often, constantly need fresh
ammunition, and overtax the supply
system. But in 1863, President Lincoln test-
fired a Spencer.
His approval led to the purchase of 107,
372 Spencer repeating carbines and rifles
(of 144, 500 made), and the Spencer
became the principal repeating gun of the
Civil War.
1861 Breech loaded guns in common use.
1861-1865 American Civil War. Both
breech and muzzle loaded guns used.
1862 The Gatling Gun is invented.
1869 Center-fire cartridge introduced.
1870-1871 The Franco-German War.
Breach-loaded guns are dominant.
1871 First cartridge revolver.
1873 Winchester rifle introduced.
• Winchester rifles were affordable and
produced in such great numbers, that the
Winchester became the generic rifle. The
Winchester had such a powerful hold in
some regions that it actually became
known as “the gun won the West.” In 1887,
Winchester came out with their first
repeating shotguns. The next major
milestone for Winchester came in 1903,
when the company introduced the first
automatic rifle that would become widely
used.
1876 Custer defeated at Little Big Horn.
1877 First effective double-action revolver.
1879 Lee box magazine patented.
1892 Advent of automatic handguns.
• The first automatic pistol was created by
Joseph Laumann in 1892. But the
Borchardt pistol of 1893 was the first
automatic with a separate magazine in the
grip, and this remains the defining feature
of the breed. More automatics came in
rapid succession, including Browning,
Luger, Mauser, and Colt models. By the
turn of the century, just 8 years after
Laumann, automatics were firmly
established.
 FUNDAMENTALS OF MARKSMANSHIP

4 TYPE OF FIREARMS to the orientation of the weapon.

When the projectile leaves the
Handguns or Short Arms Revolvers
barrel, the conservation of angular
- A repeating firearm that consists of momentum improves accuracy and
multiple chambers and at least one range.
barrel for firing.
- As the user cocks the hammer, the
cylinder revolves to align the next
round with the barrel, which gives
this type of firearm its name.

Pistols

- A handgun in which the chamber is

part of a barrel, usually applied to a
single shot and semi-automatic
loading. A firearm designed to be
held in one hand when used, with
the other hand supporting the
shooting hand. This characteristics
differentiates handguns as a
general class of firearms from their
larger counterparts.

Long Guns or Shoulder Arms

1. Shotguns A firearm that is usually

designed to be fired from the
shoulder, which uses the energy of
a fixed shell to fire a number of
small aspherical pellets called shot
or a solid projectile called a slug.

2. Rifles A firearm that is usually

designed to be fired from the
shoulder, with a barrel that has a
helical groove or pattern of groves
(rifling) cut into the barrel walls.
The raised areas of the rifling are
called “lands”, which make contact
with the projectile (for small arms
usage, called a bullet), imparting
spin around an axis corresponding