The gunsmith's manual

THE GUNSMITH’S MANUAL;
A COMPLETE HANDBOOK FOR THE AMERICAN GUNSMITH, BEING A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO ALL BRANCHES OF THE TRADE.
By J. P. STELLE and WM. B. HARRISON.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1883, By JESSE HANEY & CO., In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.



Discovery of Gunpowder. —No authentic records have been left to show when or by whom was discovered the wonderful properties of the chemical compound now known as gunpowder; nor have we any information concerning the uses to which it was originally applied. There is little probability that it was at once employed as an agent in fire-arms; indeed, we have pretty strong evidence to show that it was not, for Roger Bacon refers to it in his famous treatise, De Nullitate Magiæ , published A. D., 1216, while fire-arms are mentioned by no writer as having been known earlier than about 1338.
The First Fire-Arms. —The first fire-arms, or guns, as we now call them, are said to have been rude cannon, formed by banding together flat iron bars, something on the plan of our wooden casks or barrels of to-day. These guns were fired with a “slow match,” the gunners retiring to a safe distance while the match was burning to the priming. Their earliest use was as engines of war. The writers of ancient history tell us that they were so employed by the Moors at the noted siege of Algesiras, Spain, in 1341, and at the battle of Calais, in 1346. At the latter battle, Edward III is credited with having had four pieces, which made him victorious.
Earliest Hand-Guns. —It is claimed by Spanish historians that to Spain belongs the honor of having been the first power to furnish her soldiers with fire-arms so small that they could be transported by a single person. They were unwieldy affairs at the beginning, however; really small cannon lashed upon wooden scantlings. The soldier could not fire his piece off-hand, but was forced to carry a “rest” with him wherever he went. Being ready to discharge his arm he balanced it upon the rest, steadied it by holding the scantling under his arm, and then “touched it off” with a live coal of fire, while he sighted along the barrel to take aim at his object. What happened immediately after the coal came in contact with the powder the historian saith not, but a modern writer, who has been examining one of these old guns in a museum, jumps to the conclusion that the soldier, with the scantling under his arm, must have been launched suddenly into an impressive dream of first-class earthquakes, or something else “like unto the combined kicking of about fifty mules.”