24/7 Wall St. Posted: January 26, 2025 | Last updated: March 19, 2025 Firearms originated in 14th-century China as "hand cannons" and gradually spread globally, with Europe developing the ...

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 ...