| Event | Date |
| The first record of the actual use of gunpowder in Europe is a statement by Bishop Albertus Magnus in 1280 that it was used at the Siege of Seville in | 1247 |
| Roger Bacon gives an account of gunpowder in his Opus Majus. (Actually his account was written in cryptic form. See Read, T. Explosives (Pelican Books, 1942) | 1267 |
| Edward III used cannon against the Scots * [*Date may be wrong as this is year of Edward’s birth according to one site visitor.] |
1327 |
| Hand Cannon had appeared in the field of battle during the reign of Edward III in | 1364 |
| Hand guns were known in Italy in 1397, and in England they appear to have been used as early as | 1375 |
| The first mechanical device for firing the hand gun made its appearance in | 1424 |
| We hear of armour being penetrated by bullets and the hand gun showing signs of becoming a weapon capable of rudimentary precision by | 1425 |
| Henry VII organized the corps of Yeomen of the Guard, half of whom were to carry bows and arrows while the other half were equipped with harquebuses. This represents the first introduction of firearms as an official weapon of the Royal Guard | 1485 |
| Columbus discovers the Americas | 1492 |
| Rifling was invented in | 1498 |
| The first wheel lock or “rose lock” was invented somewhere about | 1509 |
| Firearms were recognized as hunting arms as early as 1515, and a book (Balleates Mosetuetas y Areabuces Pablo del Fucar, Naples, 1535) on sporting firearms appeared in | 1535 |
| Rifled arms had been made since | 1540 |
| The hair trigger was a German invention of about | 1540 |
| The invention of the typical Spanish lock is attributed by some writers to Simon Macuarte the Second, about | 1560 |
| The snaphaunce lock, the forerunner of the true flintlock, was invented about, or considerably earlier than | 1580 |
| Settlers arrive in Jamestown, VA Settlers arrive in Plymouth, MA |
1607 1620 |
| The standard flintlock gun came in about | 1630 |
| The rates of pay for repairs and new arms were fixed in | 1631 |
| The London Gunmakers’ Company initiated proofs when it was first incorporated, but it is not clear whether private proofs or a trade proof-house common to the Company was used. (A crowned A was given as the mark). | 1637 |
| The screw or cannon barrel pistol came in probably prior to | 1640 |
| The bayonet was introduced by the French; it was a long narrow blade with a wooden plug handle and was simply dropped into the muzzle of the musket | 1640 |
| The London Gunmakers’ Company enjoyed powers which enabled them to enforce proof when the second charter was granted in | 1672 |
| A ring attachment was added to the bayonet so that it no longer served as a muzzle plug | 1680 |
| The earliest known English breech-loading rifle was made by Willmore, who was apprenticed to Foad in | 1689 |
| The “Brown Bess” was known in Ireland as a “King’s Arm” from its use by William at the Battle of the Boyne | 1690 |
| The whole English army was equipped with flintlocks in | 1690 |
| Snaphaunces continued to be made on the Continer%+, till about | 1700 |
| In the reign of Queen Anne the “Brown Bess” was known as the “Queen’s Arm” in Ireland | 1702-1714 |
| The socket bayonet had appeared and was adopted in the British service about | 1710 |
| The letters G.R. were adopted as a mark in the reign of George 1, (1714-27) but successive Georges did not add any variant | 1714-1830 |
| The broad arrow as a sign of government property, was adopted during the reign of George 1, and the word TOWER is marked on the lock plate of many of these arms | 1714-1727 |
| The French established their “Manufacturers Royales” at Charleville, St. Etienne and Maubeuge in | 1718 |
| The large box lock type of pistol made its appearance about | 1730 |
| A few hammerless flintlock sporting guns were made by Stanislaus Paczelt, of Prague in Bohemia about | 1730 |
| The French introduced the double-necked hammer and the steel ramrod inNote- The double-necked hammer or cock was not a new invention, for it is often found on dog locks of 1670 and other early arms. | 1746 |
| The use of pistols for duelling purposes became general as the practice of carrying the rapier or small sword died out between | 1750-1765 |
| French & Indian War | 1756-1763 |
| The duelling pistol was entirely unknown until about | 1760 |
| Note: Meetings were fought with horse pistols prior to this date. The horse pistol shows a marked development into the true duelling pistol from | 1760-1775 |
| Double shotguns were rather peculiar arms, usually of the under and over revolving barrel type until About | 1760 |
| No official pistol was issued by the French prior to | 1763 |
| The French introduced the muzzle band with a funnel or guide for the ramrod and acorn sight integral with the band in | 1763 |
| American Revolution wins independence from England | 1776-1783 |
| Duelling pistols became officially standardized weapons -then it was laid down that they should be 9 or 10 inch barreled, smooth bore flintlocks of 1 inch bore, carrying a ball of forty- eight to the pound | 1777 |
| The top rib in double-barreled guns appeared about | 1780 |
| Spring bayonets are common on blunderbusses and pistols of the period subsequent to the date of the patent (John Waters, Pat. No. 1284) in | 1781 |
| The first patent for single trigger locks for double arms (James Templeman, Pat. No. 1707) was in | 1789 |
| Single trigger pistols, with side by side, and also under and over barrels, were made by Egg about | 1789 |
| The acorn pattern trigger guard extension toward the barrel used up to about | 1790 |
| The duelling pistol approached perfection by | 1790-1800 |
| Joseph Manton’s first patent (No. 1865) introduces the “break-off” breech, into which the barrel fits with a lump instead of being secured by a tang and screw as previously used | 1792 |
| Springfield Armory established | 1795 |
| Barrels with a number and the letters D.C. (Dublin Castle) were personal arms registered at Dublin Castle after the rebellion and disarmament of Ireland inNote, As the act was in force for some Years it is only of relative value in dating pieces and indicates that the piece is prior to
[Webmaster’s note- The first “gun registration” scheme in Ireland to prevent gun violence, totally failing for over 200 years, but politicians want to try it in the U.S.] |
1798 |
| The duelling pistol was customarily full stocked down to | 1800 |
| Pistols appear to have been seldom used in the East prior to | 1800 |
| The swivel ramrod attached to the piece by a stirrup appeared about | 1800 |
| The “First Baker Rifle” was issued in | 1800 |
| The half stocked pistol with the lower rib beneath the barrel fitted to carry the ramrod came in during | 1800 |
| Louisiana Purchase | 1803 |
| The “Second Baker Rifle” was introduced in | 1807 |
| Alexander Forsyth patented the detonating or percussion principle in | 1807 |
| The revolving principle is as old as firearms, but manufacturing methods permitting sufficient accuracy of workmanship and precision of boring for a really safe cylindered or chambered weapon date from | 1810-1820 |
| The first serious military breech loader was an American invention, Colonel John H. Hall’s patent of Note: This was made first as a flintlock, then as percussion, and is the first breech loader officially adopted by any army. The flintlocks were made till 1832, the percussion model from 1831 |
1811 |
| War of 1812, Washington DC burned by British, Battle of New Orleans | 1812-1815 |
| The copper percussion cap is not definitely alluded to in the patent records till 1823, but appears to have been invented about | 1814-1816 |
| The saw handle was very popular, both in flint and percussion pistols about | 1815-1825 |
| The true flintlock revolver is the very rare weapon made by Collier about | 1820 |
| Flints were converted to percussion cap, and the flint principle lost favor from | 1820 |
| The percussion cap came into universal use on private arms about | 1826 |
| The Delvigne (French) service rifle was invented in | 1826 |
| The “Third Baker Rifle” was issued about | 1830 |
| The back action lock made its appearance about | 1830 |
| The Robert rifle was invented by Robert, a gunsmith of Paris in | 1831 |
| The needle fire cartridge was patented by Adolph Moser in last | |
| The percussion cap system of ignition was in common use before it was adopted for the service weapon. It was tested at Woolwich in | 1843 |
| Coach pistols supplied to the guard of public stage coaches are extremely rare, but were made with flintlocks and brass lock plates until | 1835 |
| Percussion cap locks fitted with a pierced platinum disc below the nipple gradually fell into disuse and are seldom found in arms subsequent to | 1835 |
| The rim fire cartridge evolved naturally out of the percussion cap, and was first made by Flobert of Paris, a maker of saloon arms, about | 1835 |
| Colt claims the ratchet motion, locking the cylinder and centre fire position of the nipples as particular points of his specification | 1835 |
| Colt did not know that the revolving principle was an age-old European idea until he visited England in | 1835 |
| The Enfield percussion carbine – .65 inch calibre with hinged spring triangular bayonet folding below the barrel was made for Constabulary service in | 1835 |
| The true pin-fire cartridge emerged about | 1840 |
| It was not until 1840 that we definitely find a breech-loading needle gun cartridge patented (Wm. Bush, Pat. No. 8513) in | 1840 |
| The Brunswick rifle superseded the Baker model about 1840 | 1840 |
| Duelling declined in England after | 1840 |
| The period of decadence of duelling was noticeable for the production of rather short barreled pistols | 1840-1850 |
| A few service arms were converted to the percussion cap system in 1839, and it was officially adopted in | 1842 |
| The service percussion musket was mainly experimental until | 1844 |
| A double-barreled 26 inch barrel, .67 inch calibre arm was issued for constabulary use in | 1845 |
| Mexican War Telegraph invented |
1846 1847 |
| The Prussians concentrated on experiments with the needle gun in 1844, and it was used in the war ofNote: The device was largely perfected by Dreyse of Sommerda, in 1831. | 1848 |
| The shot-gun or fowling piece began its separation from the musket in the latter half of the 18th century and divorce was completed by | 1850 |
| The Minie (English) service rifle was introduced in | 1850 |
| Minie’s patent for the self-expanding bullet was purchased and adopted by the British Government for the Enfield rifle in | 1851 |
| Muzzle loading was so unassailably established we do not find a single breech-loading cartridge weapon shown by a British firm at the Great Exhibition of | 1851 |
| Colt delivered a lecture on Colt revolvers before the Institute of Civil Engineers during his visit to London in | 1851 |
| Charles Lancaster brought out his central fire under lever gun with extractor and the first true centre fire cartridge in | 1852 |
| Colt procured a factory at Thames, Bank, Pimlico, London, and produced replicas of his standard pistols marked on the barrel “Address Col. Colt, London” during the period | 1853-1857 |
| The Pritchett bullet, a plain lead cylindroconoidal plug with a shallow base depression, was selected as the best type of bullet for the new Enfield rifle inNote: Later this was superseded by the Enfield bullet | 1853 |
| During the Crimean War, 25,000 Enfield rifles were made in America.Note: This war was the last in which all combatants used muzzle loaders. | 1854-1856 |
| There never was an official State-maintained arms factory until the Government established Enfield as a Government factory when the Birmingham gun-makers struck for higher wages in the middle of the Crimean War. | 1855 |
| Whitworth rifles were produced in | 1857 |
| Duelling continued in India to the date of the Mutiny | 1857-1858 |
| The first recorded European revolver for central fire cartridges appears to be that patented by Perrin and Delmas in | 1859 |
| The first effective and widely used magazine repeater was undoubtedly the Spencer carbine, patented in the U.S.A. in | 1860 |
| Tyler F. Henry [sic] brought out the Henry rifle in | 1860 |
| In the American Civil War, both breech and muzzle loader were used | 1860-1865 |
| American Civil War | 1861-1865 |
| The true centre fire cartridge as we know it today did not appear till exhibited by G. If. I)aw at the Exhibition of | 1861 |
| Note: It was the patent of Pottet, a French gunsmith. | |
| Breech loaders were coming into general use by | 1861 |
| The first central fire repeater appears to have been Ball’s carbine made by the Lamson Arms Co., Windsor, Vermont, U.S.A., in | 1863 |
| For all practical purposes, metallic cartridges were not widely introduced until | 1863-1864 |
| The first cartridge repeater shot-gun appears to have been the Roper of | 1866 |
| The Snider service rifle was issued in | 1866 |
| The Henry was merged into the Winchester in | 1866 |
| Claims have been made for an American origin for choke boring, but these have never been proved, and there is -no doubt that it was the invention of Pape of Newcastle in | 1866 |
| Duels were fought in Ireland till as late as | 1868 |
| The Martini-Henry rifle was issued in | 1869 |
| The first European magazine military arm was the Swiss Vetterli rifle of | 1869-1871 |
| In 1866, the Chassepot was authorized and all branches of the French army were equipped with the weapon by | 1870 |
| The Franco-German War was almost entirely a breech-loading affair | 1870-1871 |
| The first true hammer-less gun appears to have been that of Murcott in | 1871-1871 |
| The first bolt action military repeater seems to be the Edge rifle (Pat. No. 3643) of | 1874-1875 |
| Custer defeated at Little Big Horn | 1876 |
| Lee patented his box magazine in | 1879 |
| The French adopted the Lebel rifle in | 1886 |
| The Gras-Kropatschek rifle was issued for the French Marine in | 1886-1887 |
| Winchester repeating shot-guns were first introduced in | 1887 |
| The Maxim was officially adopted in the army as a machine gun in | 1887 |
| The Lee-Metford rifle was adopted by Great Britain in | 1888 |
| The first automatic weapon to appear on the market was the Borchardt pistol in | 1893 |
| The Bergmann pistol appeared in | 1894 |
| The first Mannlicher automatic pistol was introduced in | 1894 |
| Spanish American War, Boer War | 1898 |
| The Mauser combination automatic pistol or carbine, the wooden holster serving as a stock attachment was introduced in | 1898 |
| The Browning automatic pistol of .32 inch calibre, made its appearance about | 1898 |
| All automatic pistols were of small bore until | 1903 |
| First airplane flight by Wright brothers, Kitty Hawk, NC | 1903 |
| The Winchester Firearms Company brought out the first widely sold automatic rifle in | 1903 |
| The Webley self-loading .455 inch pistol was adopted for the British Navy in | 1905 |
Information from www.armscollector.com
(Based on A History of Firearms by Major H.B.C. Pollard)
[From “Notable Gun Dates” in Edgar Howard Penrose, Descriptive Catalog of the Collection of Firearms in the Museum of Applied Science of Victoria [Australia], by, Museum of Applied Science of Victoria Handbook No. 1, 1949.] Additional comments by John Spangler in bold italics..