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The first successful self-loader was the Gatling gun, a hand-cranked revolver. It was invented by Richard Jordan Gatling and fielded by the Union forces during the American Civil War. Self-loaders use energy to reload. The world's first machine gun was the Maxim gun, developed by British inventor Sir Hiram Maxim in 1884.
The atlatl, one of the "newest" popular primitive hunting weapons. The most popular hunting weapons during antiquity were the bow and the spear. [8] During pre-history, prior to the invention of the bow, the most popular was arguably the atlatl; archaeological finds of atlatls have occurred on all continents except Antarctica.
In 1915, the first propeller plane that could safely fire a machine gun through the propeller blades was invented. This led to later dogfights during World War I. [65] Tanks were also used for the first time during World War I, but they were often slow and unreliable at first. However, they did allow more mobility in the war.
The world's first submachine gun (a fully automatic firearm which fires pistol cartridges) able to be maneuvered by a single soldier is the MP 18.1, invented by Theodor Bergmann. It was introduced into service in 1918 by the German Army during World War I as the primary weapon of the Stosstruppen (assault groups specialized in trench combat).
The long rifle was the product of German gunsmiths who immigrated to new settlements in southeastern Pennsylvania in the early 1700s, and later in Virginia and other territories, reproducing early Jäger rifles (meaning "hunter" and sometimes anglicized Jaeger), which were used for hunting in Germany in the 17th and early 18th century. [3]
An automatic firearm is capable of firing multiple rounds with one pull of the trigger. The Gatling gun may have been the first automatic weapon, though the modern trigger-actuated machine gun was not widely introduced until the First World War (1914–1918) with the German "Spandau" (adopted in 1908) and the British Lewis gun (in
The word "gun" is used to describe a firearm in English for the first time. [72] 1340: China: A "watermelon bomb" containing miniature rockets known as "ground rats" is employed by Liu Bowen against rebels and pirates in Zhejiang. [73] 1344: West: Wooden cannons appear in Europe. [74] 1346: 26 August: West: Battle of Crécy: Organ guns are used ...
These harpoons were fairly small and narrow for they were used primarily to stab seals from their breathing hole under the ice. [9] Once the hunter has set up his hunting area, he would stand by the breathing hole until he knows there is a seal on the under-side. [ 10 ]