THE FIREARM

From Fire Lance to Modern Precision

The weapon that ended knights, built empires, and shaped the modern world. From Chinese bamboo tubes to the rifles of today — 800 years of controlled explosions.

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The Proto-Gun

1132

THE FIRE LANCE: WORLD'S FIRST GUN

Song Dynasty soldiers strapped bamboo tubes filled with gunpowder to their spears. When ignited, they shot flames, shrapnel, and poisonous smoke at enemies. It was terrifying — and it worked.

By the late 1200s, Chinese engineers replaced bamboo with bronze and iron. The Heilongjiang hand cannon (1288) is the oldest surviving firearm — proof that the jump from fire lance to true gun happened quickly.

Historical accounts describe fire lances spitting flames for up to five minutes, burning everything before them.

Europe Adopts the Gun

1364

THE HANDGONNE: THUNDER STICKS

European blacksmiths forged iron tubes mounted on wooden tillers. To fire, soldiers had to hold the “thunder stick” with one hand while applying a burning match to the touch hole with the other. Accuracy was terrible. The psychological impact was immense.

At Crécy (1346), English cannons roared. By 1400, handgonnes were common across Europe. The armored knight's days were numbered — a peasant with a gun could kill a lord in plate armor.

Early guns were so inaccurate they were aimed at formations, not individuals.

The Repeater Revolution

1836

SAMUEL COLT'S REVOLVER

“God created men. Sam Colt made them equal.” — Popular frontier saying, origin disputed. The revolving cylinder meant six shots without reloading — a massive advantage when your opponent had a single-shot weapon.

Colt's genius wasn't just the design — it was manufacturing. Using interchangeable parts and assembly lines, he made guns affordable and reliable. The Colt “Peacemaker” (1873) became the gun that “won the West.”

By 1856, Colt's factory produced 150 guns per day using 1,400 machine operations.

GLOBAL FIREARM STATISTICS

The scale of an industry

1 BILLION+

Firearms in circulation worldwide

$98 BILLION

Global firearms market (2023)

393 MILLION

Civilian guns in the United States

The Automatic Era

1947

THE AK-47: MOST PRODUCED GUN IN HISTORY

Mikhail Kalashnikov, a Soviet tank commander, designed a weapon that could survive mud, sand, ice, and abuse. Simple enough for conscripts to maintain, reliable enough to fire 600 rounds per minute.

Over 100 million AK-47s and variants have been produced. It appears on national flags (Mozambique), in revolutions, and conflicts worldwide. No other firearm has shaped modern warfare so profoundly.

The AK-47 has only 8 moving parts. A soldier can field-strip it in 30 seconds.

800 YEARS OF EVOLUTION

1132

Fire Lance

1364

Handgonne

1836

Revolver

1911

Semi-Auto

1947

Assault Rifle

The gun became the great equalizer — taking away the advantage of the strong over the weak, the many over the few. For better or worse, it changed the calculus of power forever.

— Editorial synthesis