Who invented automatic rifle

The flintlock pictured here is a typical British "Brown Bess" musket. Marks on the gun indicate that it was used by German mercenaries during the American Revolution. Around , men stop carrying rapiers, and guns became the weapon of choice for a duel. Various guns were used, until a true dueling pistol was officially standardized in , as "a 9 or 10 inch barreled, smooth bore flintlock of 1 inch bore, carrying a ball of 48 to the pound. This pair of flintlock pistols was made with ivory stocks and unusually elaborate decorative details.

Samuel Colt developed the first mass-produced, multi-shot, revolving firearms. Various revolving designs had been around for centuries, but precision parts couldn't be made with available technologies. Colt was the first to apply Industrial Age machining tools to the idea. Mass production made the guns affordable. Reliability and accuracy made the Colt a favorite of soldiers and frontiersmen. The Colt depicted is a Third Model Dragoon percussion revolver ca.

A Colt with such lavish decoration and gold inlay is extremely rare. In the second half of the 18th century, musket design branched out. This period produced a number of single-purpose firearms. The forerunner of modern shotguns was the fowling piece, developed specifically for hunting birds.

Among the upper classes, fowling was a leisure sport. Fowling pieces for the very affluent were often lovely works of art, but impractical for hunting. The last war to use only muzzle-loaded guns.

John Browning advanced the gun industry during the late 19th and early 20th centuries by designing pioneering, commercially successful guns, including the lever-action repeating rifle, semi-automatic shotgun,.

Over thirty million modern weapons are based on his designs. Born in Ogden, Utah, Browning worked in his father's shop, creating his first rifle from scrap iron at thirteen. In , Browning received his first patent for his breech-loading, single-shot rifle, selling the design to the Winchester Repeating Arms Company.

By the s, Browning began developing ways to use gases and recoil from exploding ammunition to automatically eject, reload, and fire guns. It appears that you are accessing the Browning Website from outside North America. Would you like to visit Browning International?

The U. Accouterments courtesy Chris J. Anderson and Ivan F. MA2 courtesy National Firearms Museum. NRA photo. A review of Bruce N. Canfield's article. The military version of the Browning Automatic Rifle has been a mainstay of infantry firepower at the squad level since its baptism by fire in the closing days of World War I. Recently renowned gun writer and historian Bruce N.

It was unanimously and rapidly accepted by an Ordnance Department board.