Entry8: Guns, Guns And More Guns!!!

          Hey everyone this post will be talking about the history of the firearm and how they evolved to todays firearms that we use for hunting game, protection, and within our military.  I will also go over the rounds or "bullets" also and the meaning of the word.  The firearm was invented in China during the 13th centruy AD, after the Chenese invented black powder during the 9th century AD.  These inventions were later transmitted to the Middle East, Africa, and Europe.  The direct ancestor of the firearm is the fire lance, the prototype gun.  The fire lance was invented in China during the 10th century and is the predecessor of all firearms.  The first fire lances were made out of a tube and bamboo and later on a metal that shot a weak gunpowder blast of flame and shrapnel.

                     The earliest fire lances were spear- like weapons combining a tube caontaining gunpowder and projectiles tied to a Chinese spear.  Upon firing, the charge ejected a small projectile or poison dart along with a flame.  These fire lances had a range of only a few feet.  Being a weaponn that combines with a spear, it was initially used as a hand- to- hand weapon with the unpowder shot designed to give the wielder an edge in close- quarter combat.  This weapon paved the way for further imporvements to gunpowder weapons and is the direct ancestor of the modern- day firearm and artillery.
          Next would be the first machine gun ever built and how it was used.  A machine gun as we all know would be a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, designed to fire bullets in quick succession from an ammunition belt or magazine, typically at a rate of 300 to 1800 rounds per minute.  Fully automatic firearms are generally categorized as submachine guns, assault rifles, battle rifiles, automatic shotguns, machine guns, or autocannons.
         In 1873 Helge Palmcrantz (1842- 1880), Swedish inventor and industrialist, patented the multi- barrel, lever- actuated, machine gun that would later be known as the 'Nordenfelt machine- gun" after his financial backer, Thorsten Nordenfelt.  Palmcrantz met Nordenfelt in 1875 and the latter's company became his British agent.  They agreed to market the "machine gun" under the then well known Nordentfelt brand.  It was Nordenfelt who convinced Palmcrantz to increase the caliber of his gun to one inch, makint it a suitable weapon for use against the growing threat of torpedo boats.  After Palmcrantz succumbed to an early death from a bleeding ulcer, Winborg and Nordenfelt continued to develope and manufactrue his guns in Sweden, England and Spain.

          With the first firearm, to the first machine gun, they have significantly improved over time with distance, and accuracy.  Today, we have all different types of guns that we could choose form and with different calibers.  For guns, "caliber" means the diameter of the barrel and thus, the diameter of the bullet that is going through it.  Also for terminology sake, "bullet" just means the matal projectile, while the entire thing is called a cartridge.  To make things a little more confusing, there's a mixtrue of measurements in inches and millimeters.  There's also a unit of weight called a "grain" which is used to denote the witght of bullets.  A "grain" is really small since 7000 grains make up one pound.  When you talk about bullets at this high of a level, the most high level tarit is "Stopping Power".  This is a relatively vague trait and somewhat controversial.  What it boils down to is how many bullets does it take to drop a person.  Granted, it you hit someone ini the right spot it only ever takes on but in Most situations you're aiming for center mass (a.k.a the chest, a.k.a the largest target available).  Thus, it goes for game and war.
 

This picture show the different types of rounds there are and some of them could contain some deadly ingredients.

This picture is self- explanatory.

Heres another picture of what it looks like inside a round.

When you pull the triger of a gun, a spring mechanism hammers a metal firing pin into the back end of the bullet. igniting the small explosive charge in the primer.  The primer then ignites the propellant- the main explosive that occupies about two thirds of a typical bullet's volume.

Here is a picture of someone firing a gun to get the idea.

I hope that you enjoyed this post, it was fun making it and I learned acouple of things about the history of firearms.  I hope you learned something too, let me know what you thought!