Development of firearms in 1750 to 1850

The two pictures below are taken from two different websites. The first one is about the history/evolution of guns – an article that talks about gun control – which also links to the second source. The second source is taken from PBS.org from a timeline about guns. These pictures relate to the technological inventions of the firearm during the early 1800s.

During the 1750 to the 1850 America was involved in a number of wars against different groups of people, some example would be the French-Indian war, the American Revolution, the war of 1812 and the Mexican-American war. Back then and like in modern time the nation with the most advanced technologies and power will win, and during this mentioned time period there were some small but very important inventions to the firearm. The three most important improvements were the minié ball, the percussion cap and the bullet cartridge.

As mentioned before, during this time period America was involved in many battles and was in the great need of good technology. The development of the minié ball, the percussion cap and the bullet cartridge made it easier to shoot, making the firearms more accurate and precise. You could shoot from further distances, not needing to reload after every time you have taken a shot which would make you more productive during battle. The invention of the minié ball made the firearm more accurate, instead of having a round ball this “minié ball was elongated, had groves towards the back and had a concave bottom. What this design allowed the slug to do was, first, expand at the base which forced it to grab more firmly to the rifled barrel and then created a much more effective spin. The rounded, yet somewhat pointed nose of the slug gave it better aerodynamic capabilities increasing the effective range of firearms considerably” (http://www.gunsandammo.info/guns/the-19th-century-great-advancements-in-firearms). Also the change in bullets instead of gunpowder also made it possible to use the firearm even when raining or when wet.
Without these inventions within the firearm the American might not have won the wars and would therefore not be the nation it is today. Since the Americans had well developed and advance war technologies they were able to fight through even when the odds might not have been in their favor. It requires good engineering skills with knowledge of science and technology to build and develop a firearm, which the Americans obviously had.
In 1835 Samuel Colt came out with the first Colt revolver, which became very popular and would later develop into the first mass-produced, multi-shot firearm. According to the Colt Company the Texas Rangers and US Dragoon forces contributed their success to Colt’s firearms for winning the fight against the Indians in Texas during the 1840s. Today the function of the firearms are the same as they were two hundred years ago, the innovations of the minié ball, the percussion cap and the bullet cartridge have been successful enough to live through all these years of technological developments.