15th Century _The Matchlock

One of the primary challenges in the operation of a firearm was to find a way to integrate the charge into the weapon itself. To achieve this, early guns included a bowl shaped metal plate at the breach called a "flashpan". The flashpan had a small channel connecting it to the breach of the firearm where the gun powder was contained. A small amount of the powder would be contained in the flashpan which, when lit, would in turn ignite the rest of the powder propelling the projectile out of the gun. Initially, the powder in the flashpan was ignited using a handheld cloth or stick with a flame on the end – a match and hence the name. But this came with limitations; the gun was held in one hand with a lit match on the other. So hindrance in aiming was pretty common.

In an effort to improve accuracy and to reduce the delay in the firing process, the powder ignition technique was made simpler with the invention of matchlock in the early 15th century. With the matchlock, no longer did the shooter have to lower a lit match into the flashpan to ignite the powder – the mechanism did it automatically. This advancement freed up both hands to steady the weapon and, more importantly allowed the shooter to keep both eyes on the target. 

The matchlock consisted of a curved metal clamp alongside the gun. It was termed "serpantine". The serpantine would hold a slow burning match and when a lever would be pulled, it would lower the match into the flashpan igniting the powder. Later on, with design improvements, the serpantine ws fitted with a spring and pulled back (cocked) and the trigger was used to release the spring sending the match forward to the flashpan.

Matchlock mechanism

Most of the early matchlock designs were used in the construction of long guns generally smooth barrelled and fired with both hands ergo muskets*. Those who used these weapons were known as musketeers. Very few matchlock designs were made into pistol sized guns. However, some were designed into shotguns which had wider, shorter barrels and fired multiple smaller projectiles with a single shot.

Watch a Matchlock Musket being fired.

History and terminology

On of the older guns (Chineese of course)

This is my first blog, so pardon the errors. The primary aim of this is to enlighten people of similar interest (guns in this case) about of course guns . The term gun may refer to any sort of projectile weapon from large cannons to small firearms including those that are usually hand-held. The use of the term "cannon" is interchangeable with "gun" as words borrowed from the French language during the early 15th century, from Old French canon, itself a borrowing from the Italian cannone. The earliest recorded use of the term "gonne" was in a Latin document circa 1339. Other names for guns during this era were "schioppi" (Italian translation-"thunderers"), and "donrebusse" (Dutch translation-"thunder gun") which was incorporated into the English language as "blunderbuss".  Early guns and the men who used them were often associated with the devil and the gunner's craft was considered a black art, a point reinforced by the smell of sulfur on battlefields created from the firing of guns along with the muzzle blast and accompanying flash. The word cannon is retained in some cases for the actual gun tube but not the weapon system. The title gunner is applied to the member of the team charged with operating, aiming, and firing a gun. That being said, early firearms evolved from simple bambo – and later metal tubes – with powder and shot in them, to craftily made weapons of improved accuracy. The first designs of mass produced early firearms were the matchlocks.