. The COMPLETE ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE WORLD’S FIREARMS Military and civilfirearms from the beginnings to thepresent day. . An A-Z directory ofmakes and makersfrom 1830 Karina Branch 098086 6 RESPONSIBILITY CHARGE PATRONS PLEASE NOTE CHARGES WILL BE MADE TO YOU IF BOOK IS FOUND DAMAGED ON ITS RETURN. THIS BOOK WAS CHECKED FOR DAMAGE UPON ITS RETURN BY INITIAL DATE + 'ci 127 «rr -\\vY^ yyvy \ X. 4 - x-x \X x t \v -^ww* \\ 5^'^ ’v X v^\ V\ a:; y- X\ - X ^ » r .vVTx \ » . The COMPLETE ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE WORLD’S FIREARMS The COMPLETE ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA THE WORLD’S FIREARMS Hogg IanV. W A & Publishers, Inc. New York CA Pufek Lmrary ban Mateo, A QUARTO BOOK © Copyright 1978 byQuartoLimited All rightsreserved. Nopartofthisworkmaybe reproducedortransmittedin anyformorbyany means, electronicormechanical, includingphotocopying, recording, oranyinformationstorage andretrieval system, without permissioninwritingfrom the publisher. First published inthe UnitedStatesofAmericain 1978by A&W Publishers, Inc., 95 Madison Avenue NewYork, NewYork 10016 Byarrangementwith QuartoLimited LibraryofCongressCatalogCardNumber: 78-56305 ISBN: 0-89479-031-5 Thisbookwasdesigned andproducedby QuartoPublishingLimited 13 NewBurlingtonStreet, LondonW1 ArtEditor: RogerDaniels Design Assistant: Marian Sanders TextEditor: DonaldClarke PhototypesetinEnglandby Vantage PhotosettingCompanyLimited, Southampton Printed inHongKong byLeefung-Asco PrintersLimited Jacketfront illustrationbyJimBamber Endpapers Aninternationalshootingcompetition betweenAmericaand Ireland,1875 Frontispiece Anelaborate example ofacasedpairof pistolswith matchingaccessories. They are breech-loadingcentre-fire target pistolswith ebonystocks fittedwith mountsofchiselled iron in the Gothic style. Austrian (Vienna), about 1860. 4 06584 80 CONTENTS A HISTORY OF FIREARMS 6 TheHandGonne 6 The Matchlock 10 TheWheel-lock 14 The Snaphaunce 20 TheFlintlock 24 The PercussionPrinciple 28 Breech-loadingFirearms 34 The Revolver 38 The Rifle 44 The Machine Gun 48 AutomaticPistols 54 AutomaticRifles and Submachine Guns 58 The FirearmsoftheFuture 62 AN A-Z OF FIREARMS FROM 1830 TO THE PRESENT 65 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS 309 GLOSSARY 314 FOREWORD Although the firearm has a long In order to keep this book to a we think deserve mention for their history, as the introductory section of manageable size, some decisions had innovation, their effect on firearms this bookoutlines, the amountoftech- to be taken about the scope of its history and design, their wide use in nical progress during the first five contents, and the primary decision war and recreation, and their outright hundred years was relatively small. was of a date at which to begin our fame. It might be thought that there is Apart from the flintlock mechanism, survey. After much discussion, we a bias toward military weapons rather there was little in a musket of 1800 have selected 1830. Forsyth’s percus- than sporting ones, but the fact, un- which would have puzzled an sion principle had been patented and palatable as it may be, remains that arquebusier of 1400 had he lived to was entering common use; percussion the far greater part of firearms de- see one. But the opening years of the caps had appeared; Dreyse was work- velopment has its roots in military re- 19th century saw two significant ad- ing on his bolt-action Needle Gun and quirements, and it is after the military vances: the adoption ofthepercussion Lefaucheaux was developing the pin- application has been seen toworkthat principle and of rifling, and these fire cartridge. From 1830 onward, the the idea then passes to the sporting began a revolution in weapons design. inventions and designs, stimulated by side. In other hands, the mixture and Ignition ofthe propellant became cer- the inventive awareness of the 19th balance might well have been differ- tain and instantaneous, and the flight century and aided by the rapid im- ent; but we believe that the following of the bullet became accurate. Within provements in machinery and manu- pages offer the reader the significant a comparativelyfewyearstherevolver facturing technique due to the Indus- elements of the history offirearmsin a had taken shape, the bolt-action trial Revolution, became an ever- convenient and concise form. breech-loading rifle hadbeendevised, widening stream. and the metallic self-contained car- Into this stream we have cast a very tridge appeared. There has beenmore selective line; the sheer number of technical advance in the last 150years firearms designs patented since 1830 than had taken place in the previous would fill several volumes, and we five hundred or so. have, therefore, chosen those which 5 — t A HISTORY OF FIREARMS THE HAND GONNE c.1350 Theearlyhistory <LmtJ^<<0'z,**Twt' VIUNT twM«»e iipcj-n\jj • - From this, the of firearms is, of Wlktipcfatteyymn Pmymtxjntt Ax vtw: Pno, 'pm-rpwi AWhflU*i story ran, he deduced p, course, allied with • nic$tJi aftne-»tHheyvfb w b(« the use ofgunpowder qU that of gunpowder, [he fpvifhfml}tkcu /mtvrG-W' ^35n»<&«£ in a closed vessel and and it is a matter for > ofta iafcHcta*tv«<a«v: vVoeini wire invented the gun, and regret among stu- * ^ TtPi^fet |)om n»n&& k^vf Vvtj^eI the use of the word dents andresearchers ‘mortar’ for a par- that no-one in the ticular piece of ord- Middle Ages appears nance commemor- to have been suffi- ates this occasion. ciently impressed by Unfortunately, no either one to have two authorities seem made some reliable to have agreed on record of their first when Berthold per- appearance. As a re- formed this vital ex- sult, speculation has periment, and the run rife, and it is only earliest date ascribed in thepresentcentury to it is a good deal that most of the later than that of de- legend and conjec- finite and proveable ture has been ex- records of cannon. posed to detailed Moreover, the term scrutiny and swept ‘mortar’ was not to away, to be replaced !W SaK\\f<F appear for many by more reasoned years, and recent re- conclusions. searchers have sug- In the past, the in- gested that Berthold vention of gunpow- never existed at all der hasbeen ascribed but was pure legend Illustrationfromamanuscriptc.1400,showingahandgonnebeingignitedbyahotiron. to such very varied from start to finish. sources as the Chinese, the Greeks, while in essays written in 1267-8 he The earliest incontestable record of the Arabs and the Hindus, butnoneof referred to it openly as ‘the powder, a firearm is the famous ‘Millimete these claims will withstand critical known in divers places, composed of Cannon’, so-called from being de- testing. One remarkable thing is that saltpetre, sulphur andcharcoal.’ From picted in a manuscript by Walter de while each of these races has records that time on, records became more Millimete of England and dated 1326. and artifactsreachingbackwellbefore numerous and gunpowder (or black In the same year there is reference in the period of interest to us, none can powder), though an expensive com- the records of Florence to the provi- produce valid evidence of a know- modity, became more common. sion ofgunsandshotfordefendingthe ledge of gunpowder or firearms any But thequestionnowarises: towhat town. It would thus seem that by 1326 earlier than can be proved in Western purpose was it put? Bacon refers to it the cannon was known across Europe Europe. Certainly the Greeks had being wrapped in parchment and ig- and, by inference, must have been ‘Greek Fire’ and the Chinese emp- nited to give a ‘blindingflashandstun- known for some time to allow such loyed various pyrotechnic substances, ning noise’, and it seemsprobablethat distribution to take place. The princi- but neither of these were gunpowder the earliestdayssawitusedprincipally pal difficulty in identifying the early nor did they possess explosiveproper- as a novelty. How, and when, and by use of firearms is the haphazard useof ties: to argue otherwise is like assert- whom the ability to use it to propel a the word ‘artillery’ interchangeably ing that automobiles must have ex- missile was discovered is not known between mechanical engines isted in 1880 because there are re- with any certainty. For years the c—atapults, ballistae and mangonels cords of bicycles at that date. legend of ‘Black Berthold’, the mys- and firearms: since the oneusurped The first undisputed records of the terious monk of Freiburg, held sway; the function of the other, it adopted existence of gunpowder occur in the that one day he was preparing gun- the same genericterm, andintheearly writings of Roger Bacon, aFranciscan powder in an apothecary’s mortar Handgonnesaccompanyingfull-sizedcannon Friar of Ilchester; in about 1260 he when the mixture ignited andblewthe andarchersina15thcenturysiege.Explosive buried the formula in an anagram. pestle from the mortar. ordnancedevelopmentwasunderway. 6