The History of the Shotgun

Throughout it's short history, the shotgun has been the choice weapon of many hunters, outlaws, policemen, and soldiers. Here is the story of how the shotgun as we know it came into existence.

The first guns were small hand cannons, crude pipes that were filled with gun powder and a ball. These hand cannons were used primarily by soldiers.

Then the musket came out. It was a bigger version of the hand cannon that was much more accurate. Loading the musket took as much work as loading the hand cannon.

At the same time, Fowling was a popular sport in Europe. Royalty and other wealthy men would take their trained falcons out with them to hunt birds. One man went out to Fowl one day and brought his musket with him. The falcon was sick and this angered the man, who hit the stock of his musket on the ground. It went off and the ball inside hit a flying duck.

Sport shooting was born. But there was one problem, actually hitting the flying birds with a musket was luck at best. The musket was best on still or reasonably still targets.

In an effort to make Fowling an easier sport, people looked to the popular cannon of the day, which used several smaller balls instead of one. They used one large ball for deer, 3 medium sized balls for smaller game, and several tiny balls for fowl.

George Washington even used this type of shot during the Revolutionary War, he urged his men to load their muskets with one large ball and several small ones. This was called "buck and ball".

Looking to sell a weapon that was made exclusively for this type of ammunition, and working under the belief that a longer barrel made the shot go farther, gun makers created the Fowler, A shot weapon that was lighter than a musket, but had very long barrels. The barrel of a Fowler could easily be 6ft long!

Soon after the Fowler was created, People figured out that a shorter barrel would make the shot scatter sooner and was more deadly and maneuverable than the fowler's long barrel. The Blunderbuss was born. The Blunderbuss was a short version of the fowler, with the barrel being as short as 9 inches. The Blunderbuss was a favorite of pirates and other seafaring people such as the Royal Navy, the Queen, and any other person on the seas who may need protection.

Eventually, the Blunderbuss and the Fowler were called shotguns due to the type of ammunition they shot.

The double barrel shotgun was created for people to have a chance to make 2 shots before they had to reload again. The shots could be fired separately to give one more chance of defense, or together to give an even deadlier blow.

During the Civil War, a man named Lenderhaux created the break-open shotgun. He had to make a new way to load it, so he also created self contained cartridges with a pin that protruded out of it that would get hit by the hammer and explode the charge. This was a boon for the Union, as the Confederacy didn't have the capability to make the cartridges.

Browning invented a 6-shot lever-action shotgun which combined the best features of a lever action rifle and a shotgun. Soon after that, Browning also created the ever-popular pump-action shotgun.Shotguns were used majorly in combat for the first time during the Civil War, since most guns were brought from home and the majority of people had shotguns.

Most people had shotguns because few people could afford more than one weapon and the best choice was a shotgun. It was good for protection and hunting. It was also easier to clean, maintain, and repair due to the fact that it was simpler than a rifle.

In the Wild West, stagecoaches would have a man sitting in the front seat next to the driver with a sawed-off shotgun in his hand. His job was to protect the people or goods that was inside of the stagecoach from robbers. This is where the term "riding shotgun" comes from. By this time, the shotgun was what we know it as today.

The military first employed the widespread use of shotguns during World War One. Soldiers in the trenches were issued shotguns with bayonets attached to aid them in trench warfare. Since the shotgun was still mainly used for sport shooting in Europe, the Germains were shocked by how useful it could be in warfare. They were so shocked that they tried to outlaw the use of the shotgun in warfare. Let me remind you that the Germans were using chemical gases at the time.

Since World War Two, Military and police shotguns have come a long way. There are fully and semi-atomatic shotguns as well as acessories that can be shot out of them such as slugs and beanbags.

The old rule for gun buying still applies today: "If you can only buy one gun, get a shotgun."