Origins of Gunpowder and Guns

The discover of gunpowder has been credited to a Chinese alchemist attempting to produce the mystical substance known as the "philosopher's stone." Presumably the ingredients the alchemist was using in his experiment exploded after he heated them, and thus gun powder was born. Credit for inventing gunpowder has also been given to Arabs and Hindus (although later than the Chinese), so it is uncertain who actually invented gun powder, or what the original ingredients were. However, gunpowder was not originally used for guns, but employed mainly in fireworks.

Technically, gunpowder (or black powder) is made from charcoal, sulfur, and potassium nitrate (a.k.a. saltpetre) mixed together, which when combined forms an explosive. Friar Roger Bacon of Oxford was the first person to publish a recipe for an explosive made from potassium nitrate in the year 1242; and for over 500 years this recipe produced the only substance used to propel shot out of guns!

Black powder wasn't called 'black' until smokeless powder was invented. Smokeless powder was eventually needed since smoke from black gunpowder caused military men numerous problems on the battlefield. Smokeless powder is made from nitroglycerin and nitrocellulose, along with various 'stabilizing' and 'modifying' agents. (One story about the discovery of smokeless gunpowder runs that a chemist placed a rag over some nitric acid he had spilled and the rag vanished in an explosion.) Smokeless or white gun powder is known to be cleaner burning, less corrosive, and produces much less smoke; and because it is also faster burning than black, smokeless powder can't be used in guns designed for black powder, or major injuries could result.

The cannon was invented by a German monk named Berthold Schwartz in the early 14th century. Large cannons were originally fixed to platforms or carriages, but later small hand cannons were developed, which resembled modern rifles and shotguns - but they were fired using a wick or a match. These hand cannons were also known as muskets; and they actually changed history by enabling foot soldiers to overthrow armored knights, which helped them to eventually defeat feudalism.

Later, guns were equipped with spark producing ignition systems called wheel locks and flint locks. The wheel lock operated by spinning a wheel against a piece of pyrite; and the flint lock was powered by a flint held in a vise. A spring mechanism set the flint in motion when the trigger was pulled so that the flint scraped a piece of steel and created sparks. The percussion or caplock gun was invented by Joshua Shaw in 1816. It was the forerunner of the modern rifle and used gun cartridges that are common today.

Rifles are named for the 'rifling' down their barrels. Early gun powder fouled gun barrels so that residue had to be cleaned off from inside the gun barrels before they could be reloaded. Gun makers then cut shallow grooves lengthwise inside the gun barrels, which worked to collect the residue and allowed the gun to be reloaded more often before cleaning or scrubbing had to be performed. Kaspar Kollner of Vienna cut spiralled grooves inside a barrel so they would hold more residue. He found that these grooves gave a spinning effect to bullets, thus providing greater range and accuracy. And guns equipped with these grooves are now known simply as rifles.

Sources:

Guns of the World, Bonanaza Books, New York, 1977.

Gun Digest Book of the Hunting Rifle, Jack Lewis, DBI Books, Illinois.

Wikipedia, Gunpowder, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpowder