Best / favorite personal fighting firearm by era and type.

[Float Pilot]

Ok instead of a general question that results in splits between muskets and rifles, lets see your onions when the question is more historically relevant.

Your opinion or favorite of the best infantry or individual soldier / sailor / adventurer, firearm by period type. You can just copy the various categories and put your answer behind it.


1. Matchlock

2. Wheel Lock

3. Snaphance

4. Flintlock Musket

5. Flintlock Rifle

6. Percussion Musket

7. Percussion Rifle

8. Black powder cartridge Rifle single shot

9. Black powder cartridge Rifle repeating

10. Smokeless powder single shot

11. Smokeless powder early repeating

12. 1899 to 1920

13. 1920 to 1940

14. 1940 to 1960

15. 1960 to 1980

16. 1980 to present



Yes I said adventurer,,, not every battle was fought with standard govt' / military issue firearms...

 

[elmerfudd]

Recently I've developed a desire for a hakenbuchse.

For those of you who don't know what one is, it's not even on this list. It's kind of like a matchlock without the lock.

Basically they're a short cannon on a stick, usually somewhere around .60 to .75 caliber. Welded to the bottom of the barrel you've got a pick shaped hook. You could place the hook over a wall or other support and it would absorb the recoil, then after firing it you'd use it to clobber your opponent with.

It looks like the sort of weapon one of the orcs would have been carrying in the Lord of the Rings movies.

 

[Float Pilot]

Elmer; The French eventually called it an arquebuse, from Dutch haakbus haak, hook, and bus, box, barrel of a gun or the original German hakenbuchse.


1. Matchlock

2. Wheel Lock

3. Snaphance

4. Flintlock Musket Brown Bess

5. Flintlock Rifle Kentucky rifle

6. Percussion Musket 1842 smoothbore musket

7. Percussion Rifle (Enfield 3 groove carbine)

8. Black powder cartridge Rifle single shot SHARPS

9. Black powder cartridge Rifle repeating Spencer

10. Smokeless powder single shot Remington and Swede license Rolling Block

11. Smokeless powder early repeating 1893, 1894 Swede , 1895 and 1896 Mausers

12. 1899 to 1920 Lee Enfield

13. 1920 to 1940 M1 garand for rifle and the Thompson for a Sub Gun

14. 1940 to 1960 M1 garand during WWII, FN FAL in the 50s

15. 1960 to 1980 AR series and the AK series

16. 1980 to present Undecided

 

[elmerfudd]

I'll make another stab at your list.

Matchlock-the Tanegashima were undoubtedly the best matchlocks produced. Unfortunately the best ones came about centuries after the rest of the world had moved on to better things.

Wheellock and Snaphaunce. So far as I know, there was never a standardized model of either and unfortunately I'm a little ignorant of the various designs.

Flintlock musket-Charleville.

Flintlock rifle-Pennsylvania rifle.



I'll get back to the rest later. That's a lot of categories.

 

[Onmilo]

The long bow followed by the Sharps followed by the Spencer followed by the Henry followed by the 1876 and 1886 lever actions followed by the Lebel followed by the Mauser M98 followed by the M1 Garand followed by the M14 followed by the M16.

Unless there were a bunch of you, muzzle loaders would get a person killed in combat in short order.