Geschichte

1147: Arabs used firearms against Spaniards and Normans in Lisbon. 1193: The so called Greek fire was used in the Port of Dieppe against English ships. It was used without artillery. Ca. 1260: In the book ‘Opus Majus’ the Franciscan monk Roger Bacon from Ilchester, England, (1214 to 1294) a recipe for black powder is mentioned: Seven parts saltpeter, five parts sulfur, five parts charcoal. Ca. 1280: In ‘De mirabilibus mundi’ Alberta Magnus, bishop of Regensburg describes rockets with propellant powder andfire ignition compound. The compound consisted of saltpeter, sulfur and linseed oil with high saltpeter content and less sulfur. 1324: The city of Venice contracts the making of Cannoni and iron balls to defend the city. Ca. 1310: Presumably first application of firearms. 1326: In the two manuscripts ’De Nobilitatibus, Sapientiis et Prudentiis Regum’ and ‘De Secretis Secratorum’of chaplain Walter de Milemete, written in 1326 for King Eduard III of England, there are illustrations on the edges, depicting armored knights with a hook shaped rod that is held to a vase shaped barrel. Presumably there is glowing coal or moss attached to this rod. Arrows are shot from the muzzle of the vase shaped barrel. This is possibly the oldest illustration of a firearm. Ca. 1340: The oldest still existing firearm, the so called Loshult-Büchse was found in the Swedish place of Loshult in 1861. Theodor Jakobson is the first person to refer to the similarities of the Milemete illustration. 1346: First mention of firearms in documents of Venice. Ca. 1350: First artillery with barrels cast from bronze, are used to shoot round chiseled rocks. Making of the largest known mortar from forged iron with a caliber of 882 mm with the name: “Der grosse Pumphart’ von Steyer”. 1356: Use of firearms in Nuremberg. Ca. 1370: One of the oldest small wall guns in the Historic Museum in Bern. The barrel is held with two rings. It is presumed that the hooks were attached into a vertical gap later. Ca. 1575: First application of timber stocks. Ca. 1575: Oldest known fist cannon forged from iron, with large reinforcement in the area of the powder chamber and shrunk on reinforce- ment ring at the muzzle. The touch hole with cross-shaped flash pan on the top side. The Barrel is split in the handle area. (City museum of Moravska Czech Republic) Ca. 1380: Introduction of the tinder polypore to ignite the priming powder in the flash pan. Ca. 1385: First appearance of timber stocks. Ca. 1390: Organ guns with handgun barrels. Ca. 1395: Schalenförmige Erweiterung des Zündkanals. 1398: Breech loader made in Wrought iron in Geldern. Before 1399: Tannenberg hand cannon from bronze with a small flash pan slightly to the right on the topside. Integral receptical at the breech to insert a wooden rod. Found in the fortress of Tannenberg in Hessen, destroyed in 1399. Oldest precisely dated pole gun. Ca. 1400: First appearance of wall guns. 1408: Braunschweig has a cannon the “Faule Metze” that shoots 300 pound rocks. Ca. 1420: Invention of the match: Hemp string of finger thickness, soaked in lead acetate, with the capability of glowing for a long time. The technique of sizing black powder grains for even burning is developed. Ca. 1430: Wall gun has larger caliber and a longer barrel than the hand cannon. Attached hook absorb the recoil. Multi-layered forged iron barrel. Early hand cannon with barrel forged from rods in layers. Eight reinforcement rings are shrunk on. Tiber by Rome. Ca. 1435: Bronze Pole gun with original pole, dug up in 1871 in Kurdischen Haff. The touch hole in the top of the octagonal barrel can be covered with a rotating lid. 1439: Breech loading handgun with 6 pouder chambers, Frankfurt on the Main. Ca. 1450: First Matchlocks with trigger bar. The matchlock has a cock, the so called serpentine. At the upper end the match is secured in a clamp with a screw. The trigger bar slowly lowered the match onto the flash pan. Introduction of organ artillery with up to 40 barrels on a two wheeled carriage. Firing is done individually, by hand with a match, or combined with a common flash pan. Ca. 1460: Deployment of barrels the length of a hand span, called Scopizus with matchlocks, used by the Italian light cavalry. Firing was done forwardly from the horse with a forked support attached to the saddle. 1461: First mention of a flash pan lid in writings from Nürnberg. 1464: Possibly the largest cannon. Bronze barrel length 5 meters, caliber of 66 mm, weight of 18 ¾ tones. The Dardanellen artillery was made at the siege of Constantinople in front of the city’s walls, by Mohamed the II the Turk. 13 cannons were successfully used for the siege. One of them split. The powder chamber could be threaded off and had a thread diameter of approximately 60cm. Weight of the balls 720 pound. Ca. 1490: Leonardo Da Vinci draws plans for a wheel lock with a coil spring and a friction rod lock. It is not clear if this mechanism was a tool to light fires or if it was a lock for firearms. Ca. 1490: Introduction of the hammer spring with button release on matchlocks. Ca. 1490: First use of the breech plug with external thread to close the barrel at the breech. Ca. 1500: The Vicar of the St. Sebalds church, Georg Hartmann, invents the caliber system based on the relation of the diameter of the bore to the weight of the ball. Ca. 1500: Oldest still preserved hand cannon with spark producing ignition mechanism. It is known by the name of ‘Monks Gun’ and is displayed at the ‘Rüstkammer’ in Dresden. First appearance of rifled barrels. Introduction of the tube sight. Ca. 1515: First use of the wheel lock, presumably in Nürnberg. Ca. 1520: Introduction of the pin shaped trigger. Use of bandoliers by musketeers, with powder portions, ball bag and priming powder flask. Ca. 1536: In the battle of Arles, soldiers throw hand grenades. 1537: In his scripture ‘Della nuova Scienca’ Tartaglia describes among other things: “ That the trajectory is arched and not straight as presumed until then and that when the powder is burned before the bullet leaves the barrel, the barrel is too long. If a part of the powder is ejected unburned, it is too short.” Ca. 1540: Introduction of breech loading hand cannons, with removable chamber and side swing lock. First appearance of revolver or wender systems on firearms with flintlocks. Ca. 1550: Introduction of paper cartridges containing lead bullets and black powder. Invention of the snaphaunce lock. Ca. 1550: First use of wheel lock carbines and pistols in the cavalry. Introduction of over under pistols with two barrels on top of each other. Ca. 1560: First appearance of Dutch snaphaunce locks on guns. They have an internal mechanism, forward rotating firing steel and a movable flash pan cover. Ca. 1560: The petrinel, a firearm with a downward curving stock supported on the chest, is used mainly in the cavalry. Ca. 1570: First use of flintlocks with the Spanish snap lock, in the Spanish army. The spark is created by striking a pyrite onto the firing steel combined with the flashpan cover. The mechanism is external. Ca. 1580: Invention of the old German Set Trigger. In southern Germany, so called Nürnberg snaphaunce locks are used in small numbers on hunting rifles and pistols. They are replaced by wheel locks and later by flintlocks. Ca. 1589: Cavalry rifles, the so called carbines, are used in large numbers in the French army for the first time. Ca. 1590: Wender rifles with wheel locks, are manufactured in Germany. Ca. 1550: First use of wheel lock carbines and pistols in the cavalry. Introduction of over under pistols with two barrels on top of each other. Ca. 1560: First appearance of Dutch snaphaunce locks on guns. They have an internal mechanism, forward rotating firing steel and a movable flash pan cover. Ca. 1560: The so called petrinel, a firearm with a downward curving stock supported on the chest, is used mainly in the cavalry. First barrels with spiral rifling are most likely produced in Nürnberg. 1564: Prove stamps introduced in Suhl, Thüringen. First barrels with spiral rifling are most likely produced in Nürnberg. 1564: Prove stamps introduced in Suhl, Thüringen. Ca. 1590: Introduction of the Scandinavian snaphaunce lock. Ca. 1590: Manufacturing of fine rifling by Augustin Kutter from Augsburg. Ca. 1630: Beginning of replacement of pyrite for friction locks, by flint or French sylex, for strike ignition. Ca. 1630: First use of the battery or flintlock, in France. Ca. 1630: Oldest known flintlock repeater rifle by Caspar Kalthof of England, lock with vertical cylinder. Ca. 1640: First manufacturing of bayonets to attach to rifles, in Bayonne, France. 1641: Dutch patent for rifle with cartridg magazin with 30 cartridges by Hendrick Baertmans. Ca. 1640: First manufacturing of bayonets to attach to rifles, in Bayonne, France. 1597: Oldest preserved and dated snaphaunce revolver rifle with a cylinder for eight shots, Nürnberg. Ca. 1600: Air guns with compressed air as propellant in a pressure reservoir are used occasionally. Ca. 1609: Dambach uses grenades filled with lead balls. Before 1615: Apparently the invention of the battery or flintlock by Martin le Bourgeo is from Lisieux in Normandie. 1618 - 1632: Paper cartridges and ammunition bag introduced by King Gustav II. Adolf in the swedish army. Ca. 1620: The ‘Tschinken’, a light wheel lock gun is becoming popular Ca. 1626: Introduction of leather cannons in the Swedish army, by the English baron Robert Scott. These did not prove successful in the battle of Leipzig and were abolished in 1631.