Which handgun "changed everything"?

Was the pepperbox practical? I thought the Paterson was the 1st practical repeater. Reading up, I see the pepperbox was sometimes dangerous,as flash from 1 barrel could ignite others, until that was corrected. But I also see it was made in large numbers, so maybe it was practical enough for use in that day.

If the Mauser Broomhandle was more practical than the C93, I would vote for it. But I'm sure the M1911 was the pistol that really made a permanent place for autos.

My thinking was that the first quality repeater deserved a place in history, as it spurred further development of repeaters & that the first practical auto loader opened a new chapter in firepower & convenience.

As far as firearms in general, I would agree with whoever mentioned the transition from muzzle loading to breech loading. That was a major improvement, along with cartridges. Rifled barrels made their big contribution too. Of course, the Gatling Gun was a breakthrough in rapid fire weapons.

One of my questions is how in the world did gun makers in the 1600's & 1700's rifle a barrel? I didn't think they had very precise tools for such procedures in those days. How much testing did someone have to do to figure out the best twist ratios for different calibers? Did some barrels explode from too sharp a twist?
 
ncpatriot: Somewhere on the intertubes there is a video from colonial Williamsburg on making flintlock rifles. I remember watching it in 7th grade wood shop.

iirc Rifling was made by drawing a pair of bits through a hot barrel. Twist rate was very slow.
 
"Was the pepperbox practical?"

Define practical. They were workable, they were relatively popular, and they continued to be made in numbers right up through the 1850s.


"But I'm sure the M1911 was the pistol that really made a permanent place for autos."

I'd say that's a bit of a stretch when it comes to the United States, and not even remotely close to accurate when it comes to world-wide usage.


"Rifling was made by drawing a pair of bits through a hot barrel."

Nope.

The barrel was forged, either from a piece of flat iron stock, or in Damascus fashion, of several strips, around a mandrel using bic (forming) irons (anvils).

The barrel was then bored out internally to smooth it, formed at least partially externally, and then rifled.

Early rifling machines such as this one http://www.flickr.com/photos/23221316@N06/4532629725/ were generally hand operated. The spiral pattern cut in the wood body imparted the twist to the barrel.

What's not shown in that image is the iron rod that held a steel cutter. One pass of the cutter through the barrel would cut the groove, after which it was spaced, often with a bit of paper under the cutter head, and the next pass made.

Rifling was a time consuming and labor intensive process.

But, if you're interested in building your own rifling machine...

http://www.ajarmsbooksellers.com/cgi-bin/ajarms/10120


The gunsmith at Colonial Williamsburg and the subject of that video was Wallace Gussler. He's retired now.
 
"But I'm sure the M1911 was the pistol that really made a permanent place for autos."

I'd say that's a bit of a stretch when it comes to the United States, and not even remotely close to accurate when it comes to world-wide usage.
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I'd have to agree. The 1911 wasn't much of a game changer at all. It's certainly a great design that continues to prove itself today, but nothing really changed after the the 1911 was introduced. Arguably not that much has changed since then either. We have new materials, and a few different ways of getting the firing pin to hit the primer, but the majority of today's designs still feature a tilting barrel that fires a metallic cartridges feed from a magazine in the grip.
 
anybody got any facts or is this just another one of those opinion threads?
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Huh?
This whole thread is filled with facts.
It's also filled with how people interpert "changed everything".
Pick a fact and make your case for it.

An object doesn't have to be new and/or innovative to be a game changer.
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That is so true! A lot of times, it's the complete opposite.
The Puckle Gun is a good example.

You have to admit, a gun that could fire 9 rounds a minute in 1718 was a quantum leap in innovation that went exactly nowhere.....for about a hundred years....
 
I vote for the Colt '51 Navy.

Handguns were around long before the Navy. In the beginning they were a rich mans toy.

In the late 18th/early 19th century, single shot pistols became more affordable and in more widespread use. They were still only one shot, however, and a good large knife or sword were relied on for any extended engagement.

Pepper box type pistols came next, but they were neither reliable nor accurate.

Colt's Patterson was a leap forward, but the mechanism overly complicated, the Walker and Dragoon were quite heavy and intended for saddle holsters. They sold boatloads of '49 Pocket models, but its .31 caliber load was pretty anemic.

With the introduction of the '51 Navy, however, the average person had a reliable multi-shot weapon that could be fired fairly accurately, had adequate stopping power, and was light enough to be carried on one's person- it was the first handgun to put it all in one package.
 
IMO the gun changed the world at the point where a samurai, who trained his whole life with weapons, was no longer at a distinct advantage against 3-4 peasants with guns. The point at which the politically powerful warrior class becomes a thing of the past. Even Navy Seals, which aren't quite the same to begin with, are somewhat regularly killed/wounded by barely trained peasants.

You pick which handgun contributed to that one.
 
"This gun won the west and can still be bought and is carried over 120 years +"

Hum...

I'd have to give that title not to a handgun, but to a class of rifles -- the Buffalo Rifles -- that ended up doing more to pacify the Plains Indians by starving them into submission than the military every did.
 
What was the sidearm that changed everything and got us to where we are today?
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The hand gun that killed someone...
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If those are the base criterias, the Derringer (Deringer) would be a viable candidate. It's easy to imagine an America much different than today's had President Lincoln not been assassinated with a ball from history's first popular "snubby".
 
Lots to think about with the Lincoln assassination. But following that line of thought would be way off topic.

The French invention of Smokeless powder changed a lot of things. More than the powder it was the manufacturing techniques that made guns which could take advantage of high pressure rounds.

Which came first, modern powder or modern manufacturing techniques? Chicken meet egg.

Another way to look at it is, there are lots of modern guns that work fine with black powder, not so many old guns that work with smokeless.
 
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