Evolution of gun actions
There are many different types of actions still today when you take a look at firearms, some are inspired by an older design, whereas others are made with a completely new style. Some guns are made to look one way just for show while others are set up with a purpose to be used and some started with a purpose that is now forgotten and the design is just copied because people like the old design and feel the need to replicate it for style. (Supica) (Firearms history) The very first firearms every created really did not have names but they strongly resembled cannons because you had to load it through the barrel and lit a wick on the other end and wait until it fired. These were used for some time mainly used by two …show more content…
These were reliable for some time but then they found the faults like the wick not staying lit and that these could not be shot in the rain. They also discovered that depending on how far the wick was burnt the gun may not fire right away leaving the soldiers unaware of if the gun would fire and when. (Supica) (Firearms history) The next rifle solved some of these problems it was called the wheellock. It took advantage of the fact that you could make a spark with metal and certain rocks and do away with the wick and replace it with a gear system to form a better trigger to get more reliable shots out of the weapon. Unfortunately these guns were hard to fix and cost a lot and did not work the best so the matchlock remained popular during its time. (Supica) (Firearms …show more content…
The next shotgun was the double barreled shotgun. This shotgun came around after the invention of the modern gun cartridges and had two barrels. The main reason for this was one barrel would have a smooth bore to fire regular shotgun bullets, but the other barrel had a rifled bore and was used much like today 's modern slug where it shoots like an oversized rifle bullet. The thought for this was that you could have both types of guns in one gun and you could hunt birds and other animals at the same time. The two barrels, at first, were placed side by side and used a hammer to cock both barrels, But later they placed them on top of each other and they used the action of swinging the barrels down it would cock the gun. (Supica) (Firearms history)
After this they tried many new ways to expose the loading chambers of the double barrel like swinging it sideways, or pulling the barrels out, but these proved to be unconventional and they were quickly dismissed by most people. (Supica) (Firearms history)
They quickly started to make single barreled shotguns and eventually made guns like the lever action, bolt action and the pump action which mimicked some of the rifles being produced at the time. This in time lead to the semi automatic
There are many different types of actions still today when you take a look at firearms, some are inspired by an older design, whereas others are made with a completely new style. Some guns are made to look one way just for show while others are set up with a purpose to be used and some started with a purpose that is now forgotten and the design is just copied because people like the old design and feel the need to replicate it for style. (Supica) (Firearms history) The very first firearms every created really did not have names but they strongly resembled cannons because you had to load it through the barrel and lit a wick on the other end and wait until it fired. These were used for some time mainly used by two …show more content…
These were reliable for some time but then they found the faults like the wick not staying lit and that these could not be shot in the rain. They also discovered that depending on how far the wick was burnt the gun may not fire right away leaving the soldiers unaware of if the gun would fire and when. (Supica) (Firearms history) The next rifle solved some of these problems it was called the wheellock. It took advantage of the fact that you could make a spark with metal and certain rocks and do away with the wick and replace it with a gear system to form a better trigger to get more reliable shots out of the weapon. Unfortunately these guns were hard to fix and cost a lot and did not work the best so the matchlock remained popular during its time. (Supica) (Firearms …show more content…
The next shotgun was the double barreled shotgun. This shotgun came around after the invention of the modern gun cartridges and had two barrels. The main reason for this was one barrel would have a smooth bore to fire regular shotgun bullets, but the other barrel had a rifled bore and was used much like today 's modern slug where it shoots like an oversized rifle bullet. The thought for this was that you could have both types of guns in one gun and you could hunt birds and other animals at the same time. The two barrels, at first, were placed side by side and used a hammer to cock both barrels, But later they placed them on top of each other and they used the action of swinging the barrels down it would cock the gun. (Supica) (Firearms history)
After this they tried many new ways to expose the loading chambers of the double barrel like swinging it sideways, or pulling the barrels out, but these proved to be unconventional and they were quickly dismissed by most people. (Supica) (Firearms history)
They quickly started to make single barreled shotguns and eventually made guns like the lever action, bolt action and the pump action which mimicked some of the rifles being produced at the time. This in time lead to the semi automatic