TODAY, the ease of finding a fine off-the-rack defensive revolver or auto subtly belies the tortuous history of personal-protection arms through the past few centuries. In the 14th century, despite innovations, formative, awkward handgonnes’ general inefficiency relegated them almost to the novelty category. The heavy lifting by gunpowder arms, even in warfare, was principally provided by various types of cumbersome cannons at the time.
When true pistols first made an appearance around 1500 A.D., though intended primarily as combat arms, the complicated wheellock mechanisms, by the nature of the size and number of components involved, initially made employing guns anything but easy to carry on the person.
True, wheellocks were a large step forward from the primitive handgonnes and matchlocks that preceded them, but the expense and intricate works relegated…
