Title:
Repeating and multi-fire weapons : a history from the Zhuge crossbow through the AK-47 / Gerald Prenderghast.
Author:
Prenderghast, Gerald, 1954- author.
Publication Information:
Jefferson, North Carolina : McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, [2018]
Call Number:
U884 .P74 2018
Abstract:
"From the earliest days of organized warfare, combatants have been anxious to develop weapons with more firepower. This inevitably led a wide variety of repeating weapons, capable of a degree of sustained fire without reloading. Based largely upon new research, this book explores the history of repeating and multi-fire weapons"-- Provided by publisher.
ISBN:
9781476666662
Physical Description:
viii, 426 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm
Contents:
Repeating weapons from the ancient world -- Perkin's steam gun and other oddities -- Early military rockets -- Early black powder weapons -- Early repeating pistols and Colt's percussion revolvers -- The rimfire revolver and Rollin White's patent -- Pinfire and centerfire revolvers -- Repeating rifles and shotguns -- Early machine guns and repeating cannon -- The Gatling gun: Gatling's 150-year-old masterpiece -- Maxim's automatic machine gun: "the devil's paintbrush" -- Smokeless powder and repeating rifles -- Self-loading or semiautomatic pistols -- The development of repeating and multi-fire weapons in the early 20th century -- Light machine guns in World War I -- Medium and heavy machine guns in World War I -- Submachine guns, semiautomatic rifles and postwar changes -- Light machine gun development after World War I -- Heavy machine gun and automatic cannon development after World War I -- Assault rifles and the rise of the "Woolworth's" gun -- Perspectives.
Personal Author:
