Early firearms

thumb|right|Muskets and bayonets aboard the [[frigate Grand Turk]]

thumb|Japanese arquebuses on a rack at Himeji Castle

thumb|right|upright=1.5|A "Brown Bess" muzzle-loading musket, used by the [[British Army from 1722 to 1838]] A muzzleloader is any firearm in which the user loads the projectile and the propellant charge into the muzzle end of the gun (i.e., from the forward, open end of the gun's barrel). This is distinct from the modern designs of breech-loading firearms, in which user loads the ammunition into the breech end of the barrel. The term "muzzleloader" applies to both rifled and smoothbore type muzzleloaders, and may also refer to the marksman who specializes in the shooting of such firearms. The

thumb|upright=1.4|A flintlock blunderbuss, built for [[Tipu Sultan]] The blunderbuss is a 17th- to mid-19th-century firearm with a short, large caliber barrel. It is commonly flared at the muzzle to help aid in the loading of shot and other projectiles of relevant quantity or caliber. The blunderbuss is commonly considered to be an early predecessor of the modern shotgun, with similar military usage. It was effective only at short range, lacking accuracy at long distances. A blunderbuss in handgun form was called a dragon, and it is from this that the term dragoon evolved.

thumb|Early German musket with [[serpentine lock.]] A matchlock or firelock is a historical type of firearm wherein the gunpowder is ignited by a burning piece of flammable cord or twine that is in contact with the gunpowder through a mechanism that the musketeer activates by pulling a lever or trigger with his finger. This firing mechanism was an improvement over the hand cannon, which lacked a trigger and required the musketeer or an assistant to apply a match directly to the gunpowder by hand. The matchlock mechanism allowed the musketeer to apply the match himself without losing his concen

earliest form of firearm used in 13th century China, 14th century Europe

300px|thumb|upright=1.6|Flintlock of an 18th-century hunting rifle, with flint missing.

right|thumb|A wheellock pistol or puffer, Augsburg, c. 1580 A wheellock, wheel-lock, or wheel lock is a friction-wheel mechanism which creates a spark that causes a firearm to fire. It was the next major development in firearms technology after the matchlock, and the first self-igniting firearm. Its name is from its rotating steel wheel to provide ignition. Developed in Europe around 1500, it was used alongside the matchlock (), the snaplock (), the snaphance (), and the flintlock ().

Japanese firearm

The hwacha or '''''hwach'a''''' () was a fifteenth-century Korean weapons platform capable of performing both the multiple rocket launcher or a volley gun roles. The overall design resembled a wooden cart with a launch pad attached; depending on the specific version and type, it could fire up to 200 singijeon (rocket-powered) arrows, or several dozen iron-headed arrows or bolts out of gun barrels. The term was also used to refer to other war wagon- or cart-based artillery in later periods, such as that developed by Byeon Yijung in the 1590s.

10th Century firearm of Chinese origin

World's first rocket missile ammunition, developed by Tipu Sultan, an emperor of India

thumb|right|300px|The 'divine fire flying crow' (shen huo fei ya), an aerodynamic winged rocket bomb from the Huolongjing

container for storing and dispensing gunpowder or priming powder

small container for gunpowder

Chinese gunpowder projectile

thumb|A matchlock petronel, ca. 1570.

large-calibre handgun with two or four barrels

type of firearm

25-barrel volley gun made by Giuseppe Marco Fieschi in 1835

thumb|300px|An Edo period wood block print showing samurai gunners firing bo-hiya with hiya-zutsu (rocket guns)

method used by a firearm to fire multiple shots

firearm, short version of blunderbuss

thumb|Hand cannon from the Chinese [[Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368)]] Huochong () is a Chinese name for firearms. In pre-modern China, the terms chong and pao were used interchangeably at times without clearly distinguishing between a gun and cannon. By the early Ming dynasty (1368–1644), it could refer to both cannons or hand cannons. The term chong has been applied to numerous types of firearm weapons in China, including the hand cannons (shou chong), bowl-mouth cannons (wankou chong), double edged gun (liangtou chong), and big 100-bullet gun (da chong baizi). The Koreans and Vietnamese (sung and

Type of firearm mechanism

thumb|Swedish snaphance guns from the mid 17th century

high-caliber, smoothbore firearm of the 16th to 18th centuries

thumb|Three of the large chongtong in Jinju Fortress. The closest is a "Cheonja", the second is a "Jija", and the third is a "Hyeonja".

thumb|480px|right|This toradar is probably used for hunting. The decoration on the stock shows various animal figures e.g. buffaloes, panthers, etc. A toradar (, , ) is a South Asian matchlock primarily found in the Mughal Empire, dating from the 16th century. It was a preferred firearm in India well until the mid-19th century because of its economical and simple design.

thumbnail|right|Shown is a small Type 2 English lock of the English Civil War era. The lock is in the full-cock position. The dog has been automatically pushed out of the notch in the back of the cock and is lying back horizontally.

type of volley gun

thumb|Bajōzutsu The was a tanegashima in the form of a pistol. Bajō-zutsu were used by mounted samurai in feudal Japan.

type of matchlock mechanism used to ignite early firearms

thumb|An ōdzutsu (top) from the Edo period thumb|Man with an ōdzutsu (Ukiyo-e painting by [[Utagawa Kuniyoshi)]]

Renaissance cannon

Several type of firearms from Vietnam

early American-made pump-action shotgun