Varun`s Small Arms Page.

Welcome to the modern weapons page.!

you will find all the information you will need about the evolution of various weapons in what is today called the small arms, firearms and side arms.

After the discovery of gunpowder ,  there was a change in the field weapons. Catapults which were used for more than 500 years were replaced by cannons.Weapons that used fire or and explosion to propel a projectile were called Fire Arms.

The Cannon was a device which was made of a huge amount of Iron and steel and these weapons propelled spherical ball of metal of various weights and sizes by gunpowder. These weapons were generally huge and needed at least 5 men to operate. Gradually using the same principle of the cannons muskets and pistols were invented to arm the ordinary soldier and replace weapons like the Bow and arrow , spears and lances. The pistol used by the officers and aristocrats in the place of the sword or as an emergency weapon as these weapons took a lot of time to reload.

The rifle evolved out of the smooth bore flint locks as it was discovered that a system of Land And Grooves called rifling caused the Ball to revolve and hence stabilize and overcome the imperfections in the round , It also brought about  a uniform trajectory. These weapons were very small when compared to the Cannons and hence were called Small Arms.

The Early rifles were long and could be fired and reloaded (this included cleaning , charging and rounding) only if the operator was standing on solid ground.  This gave rise to the carbine.

A Carbine was a weapon that was short and could be used by a horseman and fit into the saddle and carried about easily. The Blunderbuss is a classic example of a Carbine. These days any weapon with a short barrel is called a carbine.

Click here to go through a guided tour of Some of the modern fire arms..

Click on the weapon name to go to the page where it is listed if you are looking for something specific.