TFL One weapon pick

divil said:
But the revolver did. You could "load it on Sunday and fire it all week" as the saying went.
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Actually, that quote is attributed to the Henry repeating rifle, not the revolver.
 
Actually, that quote is attributed to the Henry repeating rifle, not the revolver.
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Yep you're right, thanks...I was thinking about the Henry when I was writing my post, and I wasn't sure which came first, the revolver or the repeating rifle. The repeating rifle may have come a little later, but on the other hand rifles have probably been more important and influential than handguns. So I'll revise my post to say that I think it's between these 2 firearms :)
 
Gun powder
Primers
Cartridges
Automatic actions (semi or full)

Next will be:

guided rounds for small arms
energy weapons

Then:

Rock and clubs
 
divil posted;
All these other things just made guns slightly better at doing what they already did. None of the above things changed anything, fundamentally. But the revolver did.
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So did the repeater. Without so many of the others you think are so trivial there would not have been a revolver.

(* *), whatever that means, posted;
Flint lock
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The Flintlock ignition system was a VERY MAJOR change in firearms. This system meant that unlike the matchlock, wheellock and cannon cannonlock that were predecessors, the flintlock could be loaded and set in a handy place and when it was needed all one had to do was cock it and fire, unlike all previous systems when a lit match of another mechanism had to be initiated.
 
So did the repeater. Without so many of the others you think are so trivial there would not have been a revolver.
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Well I don't regard any of those things as trivial, but in any case I disagree that many of things things had anything to do with the principle of the revolver. Examples of the things listed up to that point: rifling, metallic cartridges, smokeless powder, mass production techniques. None of these things are required for the revolver to be effective. In fact the earliest revolvers did not make use of any of these things at all! (Except maybe rifling, I'm not sure about that).

Primers were mentioned by someone - certainly crucial, but not game-changing on their own.
 
(* *), whatever that means, posted;
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See its a little guy with a flat mouth: (*_*). :D

Edit: see in the edit thingy date/time mark below. I was considering (*|*) or (*!*) or even (*^*) but (*_*) was clearly the winner.
 
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so if you were to say in order of importance
1) gunpowder
2) metallic cased cartridge
3) Breach loading
4) rifling
5) Repeater

would most agree in that order? or somewhat close
 
Just a note - the OP's title said "One Weapon Pick".....but the post refers to "one thing". I think Colt invented the first multi-shot (revolver) gun that worked. I look at it this way - there were one-shot guns. Then there were various inventive ways to fire successive shots without having to reload each shot. In that regard, revolvers, pepper boxes, repeaters, semi and full autos are just variations and improvements on that same theme.
 
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