Top 5: Intriguing Historical Facts About Firearms
There are literally millions of facts floating around about weapons, from reload times to rates of fire, from muzzle velocities to types of projectile. Just look up a blog, anyone can find these. This Top 5 feature, however, looks behind the traditional ‘interesting’ weapon facts (and by ‘weapons’ we mean handguns, rifles and machine guns, not artillery pieces) to give you a list of 5 facts that you don’t already know about guns!). For your leisure, we’ve searched countless pages of weaponry fan-boy webzines, dusted off dad’s old military history digests and now we’re cocked, locked and ready to rock.
1. The Oldest Weapons
The world’s very earliest guns were developed in China in the mid 12th century AD. In the early 1970s in Pan-la-ch’eng-tzu village, Manchuria, an important find included a barreled powder-operated projectile weapon dated to around 1290AD. As a result of the fact that the weapons of ancient and mediaeval China were usually designed to strike fear into the hearts of the enemy, the functionality of these old weapons has been questioned. Simply, some scholars feel that the idea of the working firearm was enough to deter an enemy assault.
2. Popular Firearms
The American-made M16 and the Russian-made AK-47 assault rifles are the two most fashionable guns in use today. Both weapons offer variable firing modes, fast rates of fire, moderate-high power, reliability, medium-long range and high levels of accuracy.
3. Accurate Weapons
Recently, the longest kill on record was established.An American marksman using the famed Barett .50 Cal Sniper Rifle shot and killed an enemy from over two miles away. Before the sound of either shot alerted the insurgent to the presence of an enemy sniper, the sharpshooter allegedly missed with his first shot, corrected and fired again, killing his target.
4. Heckler and Koch- Revolutionizing the Sub Machine Gun
Based in West Germany in the 1960s, this huge small arms manufacturer revolutionized the design of the modern submachine gun with the MP5. The weapon is so user-friendly so it’s no surprise that it is the standard weapon of choice for close-quarters spec ops teams all over the world including the SAS and many state SWAT teams.
5. The Sniper – Forever a Specialist Soldier
The term ’sniper’ has denoted someone with a knack for a particular specialism since the earliest use of the word. That specialism is sharpshooting over very long distances and most likely from a concealed position. The word was created among Imperial British soldiers in Commonwealth India in the late 18th century. To be a sniper, you had to shoot down a snipe, a small and very quick type of bird. The sniper, as a result of the skill he deploys, acts as a single unit, finding and taking out foes at will. This makes him the most sought after and feared member of the enemy force and perhaps the most valued asset among your allies.