The Chinese began using fireworks in the seventh century as a way to scare off evil spirits. Fireworks evolved into gunpowder and the Chinese invented the first firearm during the thirteenth century. This rudimentary firearm was used to signal others and to begin celebrations. By the ninth century, the Chinese had invented black powder and by the tenth century, they had created the fire lance which is the predecessor to all firearms. Gunpowder made its way to Europe either by traders along the Silk Road from the Middle East or was brought during the Mongol invasion in the beginning of the thirteenth century. What began as hand-held cannons became flintlock rifles, then breechloaders and finally the automatic weapon of today. Springfield Armory in Springfield, Massachusettes, debuted the Springfield rifle in the 1850's. At this time brass was able to be worked into a more stable ammunition. Fixed ammunition put a primer,charge, projectile in a brass cartridge. This replaced the need for custom making each round and the erratic performance of earlier guns. Just before the turn of the twentieth century, a new revolver was debuted by Colt and the S&W. It had a solid frame but the cylinder swung to the side to load and unload. It was double action meaning the trigger would both cock the hammer and drop the hammer to fire the weapon. evolved rapidly from this point and many advancements were made during World War I and II. These brought us the automatic weapons of today.
