| The Development of the gun |
| History | British Military Weapons | Repeating Rifles | Breech Loader Hammer Shotgun | Hammerless Shotgun |
| Sporting weapons obviously
followed the development of weapons of war and quite a few of the
inventions, improvements and adaptations of sporting weapons were
driven by the search to kill enemies in war with greater and greater
efficiency.
Gunpowder had been discovered and commercialised by the Chinese
and by the commencement of fourteenth century small cannon were
being used in European theatres of war. The first hand weapons
being introduced to England by Edward IV when he landed in Yorkshire
with 300 Flemings all armed with what appears to have been a very
basic matchlock - where the touch hole was ignited by a hand held
match. |
Manton Flintlock
 Click image to enlarge |
| The first real casualty of the introduction of such weapons was the armoured Knight who basically became a sitting target and, as Shakespeare said, many seceded from the ranks: "and but for those vile guns, he would himself have been a soldier". The next casualties were the long bow and crossbow, which had been used for military and sporting purposes. |
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