A
little bit of history
Arms are old as humanity. Firearms date back to some hundred years only. As
soon as the explosive powder wasdiscovered (a mix of approximately 75 volumes of
salpetre, 15 volumes of carbon and 10 volumes of sulphur) and its potential
understood, the race to inventions was launched.
From around 1600 to around 1840 -
This long period of time saw the development of the flintlock pistol. More
than 240 years of evolution have allowed to produce a great variety of models,
like the one pictured on the right band. These firearms were muzzle loaded. The
powder was first poured in the barrel, and the round bullet followed, forced by
a steel rod often attached in the frame below the barrel. A small quantity of
very fine powder (primer) was placed in a pan from the inner base of which was
drilled a tunnel through the barrel to join the combustion chamber. The pan was
protected by a steel cover. Upon firing, the cock slammed down against the steel
cover initiating a burst of sparks. Under the shock, the cover rotated and the
primer was ignited by the sparks, communicating the fire to the main charge in
the chamber through the drilled channel. This principle entailed some drawbacks
as the risk to expose the primer to humidity, the quick worsening of the flint
and the danger of burning gazes near the face of the shooter.
From around 1820 -
At the beginning of the 19 century, the discovery of high explosive
substances like fulminate of Mercure allowed to get rid of the weakest points of
the flintlock system. The priming of the main charge was then obtained by the
strike of a small copper cap enclosing a coat of fulminate. The percussion cap
was placed on a nipple screwed on the barrel, which hole communicated with the
chamber. This new principle appeared around 1820 and displaced the flintlock
around 1840. The advantages of the percussion system were quickly taken to
develop multi-shot firearms like the pepperboxes (shown on the right). Several
barrels were concentrically drilled out of a large cylinder. Each trigger pull
inducing a rotation and alignment of a new chamber holding its own nipple and
percussion cap. The second step was naturally to reduce the barrel length and
incorporate a unique barrel, foreshadowing the next step : the true revolver.
With a small cylinder behind a long barrel, the weapon was lighter and could be
loaded more quickly and easily. The muzzle loading was virtually out. The barrel
could now be rifled which is of prime interest for precision.
It is quite impossible to speak of the revolver without evoking the name of
Samuel Colt. Even if the rotating cylinder was still known, back to the
flintlock period , Samuel Colt was the first to put it in practical using the
percussion advantages. The very first Colt revolvers are known as "Paterson", a
town where they were produced from 1837, onward. The relating patents granted to
Colt insured a monopoly upon that kind of firearms until 1857. The rights
covered the rotating cylinder and the priming system by cap on nipple in the
chamber extension. The cylinder's rotation being phased with the hammer and the
right alignment of the chamber obtained through a blocking device engaging a
notch on the external cylinder's face. The Paterson venture failed in 1842. Five
years later, the production resumed at Whitneyville, with the Walker model.
From around 1830 -
If the percussion was undeniably a significant progress, an ammunition with
seperate parts remained a disadvantage. To ease the loading procedure the
solution was to gather all the components in one single unit. The principle of a
metallic cartridge was already understood at the beginning of the century, but
it was the French gunsmith Casimir Lefaucheux who gave it a substance with the
pin-fire cartridge (+- 1828). However, its common use was not generalized in
Europe before the 1840 period. At the same time (1854) in the U.S.A., the firm
Smith & Wesson was granted a patent relating to a rim-fire cartridge.
In 1855, the American Rollin White, thought of drilling a cylinder from end to
end enabling a rear loading. The firm Colt, first approached for the commercial
exploitation, discarded the invention as devoid of interest. Eventually, it was
the firm Smith & Wesson who bought the rights in 1856, very happy to get the
opportunity to exploit the only one barrel type, likely to accept their new
rim-fire cartridge. When the Colt patent relating to the barrel expired (1857),
at its turn, Smith & Wesson benefited from the Rollin White barrel monopoly
until 1869.
The main pin-fire characteristic was its main drawback as well. This thin pin
jutting out from the case base, first compels the cartridge to be introduced in
the right way into the barrel chamber. Otherwise, the risks to inadvertently
crush such an exposed pin was not insignificant.
The rim-fire cartridge, if more practical, suffered from the weakness of its
case base which had to be soft enough to allow a crunch. This characteristic
forbade the use of hot loadings and thus limitated the cartridge power
potential.
From around 1860 -
From the start of the 1860's, several gunsmiths and inventors set about
preparing a center-fire cartridge prototype. Among them was the French Clément
Potet and François Schneider, the English Edward Boxer and George H. Daw, the
American Hiram Berdan. All these gentlemen did their best to have the new
ammunition ready for the end of the 1870 decade.
With the advent of the center-fire cartridge, the revolver quickly achieved a
high technical level. The French "réglementaire" model Chamelot - Delvigne of
1874 (see picture), in calibre 11.4 mm, represents a first threshold toward
modern revolvers. All great European armourer centers like for instance the
Belgian town of Liège, began to produce quantities of revolvers, progressively
improving some details of operation relating to security (bouncing hammer) or
loading easiness.
The smokeless powder 1880-90 -
If the 1870's saw the center-fire cartridges consecration, the event of the
years 1880-90 was incontestably the appearance of the smokeless powder. Three
times more powerful than the old black powder, its complete combustion avoided
the usual quick fouling of the chamber and barrel. With it, a new tendency
emerged, advocating a use of lighter bullets with higher velocities and flat
trajectory. The French "réglementaire" model of 1892 in caliber 8 mm Lebel is a
typical exemple of that new trend.
The first semi-automatic pistols -
This short time line ends with the advent of a new class of handguns : the
semi-automatic pistols. Thanks to the smokeless powder preventing usual chamber
clogging, it was then possible to take advantage of the gazes pressure to induce
an automatic reloadind after each shot. Many inventors looked into the problem
with more or less success. Among them the Austrian Georg Luger who improved the
pistol invented by Hugo Borchardt and the American John Browning, inventor of
the Colt and FN pistols. To know what comes afterwards, take a look in the
sections relating to the Luger and the Colt pistols
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