For hundreds of years, the manufacture of small arms was relegated to highly specialized makers who handcrafted each component, resulting in variances that made every firearm unique. Starting in ...

Early matchlock guns are extremely rare. The matchlock shown here was made around 1640, and is typical of the muskets used by militia in Colonial America. 1498 - Rifling principle is discovered.

Bill Harriman, firearms specialist on BBC One's Antiques Roadshow, told Making History that a flintlock ... before it was generally used in infantry muskets, by which time it had been perfected.

Demonstrations and programs throughout the day will highlight military and civilian life during the Civil War, with a special ...

Nearly 250 years ago, hundreds of militiamen lined a hillside in Massachusetts and started firing a barrage of musket balls toward retreating British troops, marking the first major battle in the ...