Historian, writer, teacher, lecturer

 There can be no question that the invention and implementation of Gunpowder changed history and the world. We have come a long ways from the first Chinese "fire sticks" to today's rapid-fire assault rifles. For the sake of argument, here is a list of ten firearms that have made the greatest impact on the history of firearms.
 The first hand-held fire arms consisted of a tube with a powder pan on the end. A burning match would be stuck in the pan to ignite the powder. As early as 1388, a s-shaped lever was devised to enable the match to be lowered to the pan while keeping two hands on the weapon.

 

This "Matchlock" lead to many improvements: the trigger, the spring-loaded serpentine, the wheel-lock which spun a steel wheel against a flint, the snaphance which moved a plate under the flint and, finally, the flintlock.

No firearm better embodies the flintlock like England's "Brown Bess" musket. The standard military long arm from 1722 to 1838, this .75 caliber smooth bore musket set the standard for military weapons.

 
 In the 1740s, in Pennsylvania and Virgina, German gunsmiths began to experiment with rifling to improve accuracy of their "rifles."

 

The Pennsylvania - Kentucky rifles won American independence, opened the frontier and ended the reign of the musket.

 Small firearms for personal protection have been around since the beginning of firearms. Users soon wanted multipe shots available. While there are many examples of manually rotated multi-shot weapons exist, it wasn't until Sam Colt patented in 1836 a pistol that automatically rotated the cylinder to the next loaded chamber.

 

The Paterson Colt was a forerunner to the revolving "six-shooters" that won the West and the world in the nineteenth century.

 The introduction of "smokeless gunpowder" in the 1880s necessitated stronger firing chambers.

 

The Mauser model 1898, with its 3 lug bolt mechanism and staggered cartridge box set the standard for all future bolt-action rifles.

 In the 1890's, militaries began seeking a self-loading semi-automatic weapon to replace the revolver. In 1904, the .45 caliber cartridge was deemed the best for military useage.

 

In 1906, tests began that resulted in the selection of Colt's model 1911 as the new military side-arm. It set the standard for much of the 20th century pistols to follow.

 Along with semi-automatic self-loaders came a demand for full automatic weapons; ones that would fire repeatedly as long as the trigger was pulled. Hiram Maxim developed the first gas-operated MACHINE GUN.

 

Maschinengewehr delveloped Maxim's design into an effective frontline weapon - the MG08-1915.

The US Army at first made use of British and French light machine guns but dissatisfaction lead John Browning to design a new automatic rife for infanty use. Using the .30-06 cartridge, the BAR laid down supression fire as troops advanced.

 The Browning BAR 19182A was introduced in 1940 and saw extensive use in WW2. It could fire full automatic at a rate upto 600 round per minute. The rapid supression fire sit a new standard for infantry tactics.

 Studies of combat in WW1 revealed that shot to shot response time was too low. This lead to studies into semi- and full-automatic weapons for infantry use.

 After years of testing, the Army adopted the 1922 MI Garand and had an significant advantage over German and Japanese troops in WW2.

 In WW2, Germany developed the assualt rifle concept; rapid fire, short range sub-machine guns. After the war, many nations sought to develop similar weapons. In 1947, Russia produced the AK-47.

 

The Kalashnikov model automatic rifle of 1947 is the most widely produced and used assault rifle of all time.