In 1534, a Spanish knight, Ignatius of Loyola, and six other students at the University of Paris met in Montmartre outside Paris, in the crypt of the Chapel of St Denis, Rue Yvonne le Tac. This group bound themselves by a vow of poverty and chastity, to "enter upon hospital and missionary work in Jerusalem, [...]

The blunderbuss was a smooth-bore, muzzle-loading gun with a short, large-caliber barrel, which flared at the muzzle to facilitate loading. Using shot, the blunderbuss was an early form of shotgun adapted to military and defensive use. The word blunderbuss is an anglicized version of the early Dutch Donderbuss which translate into "thunder gun." The blunderbuss [...]

A shotgun is a smooth bore firearm that is designed to be fired from the shoulder. Using the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets or a slug, shotguns come in a wide variety of sizes, from .22 inch bore up to 2 inch bore, and in a range [...]

The Browning Auto-5 shotgun was an American recoil-operated shotgun designed by John Browning. Shells were stored in a tubular magazine under the barrel and when a chambered shell was fired, the barrel and bolt recoiled together for a distance a bit longer than the shell length. The hammer recocked, the spent shell ejected as another [...]

The Bodeo M1889 Revolver was the standard issue side arm of the Italian Army. This 10.4mm-caliber Italian revolver was a simple and tough weapon which was in service from 1889 to 1945. The Bodeo M1889 Revolver had a 6-chamber cylinder and a 152mm-long barrel. Two versions were produced one with a trigger guard and fixed [...]

The Webley & Scott Revolver was the standard issue service pistol used by the British armed forces from 1887 until 1963. It was a .455-caliber, top-break revolver with automatic extraction. Breaking the revolver open for reloading also operates the extractor, which removed the spent cartridges from the cylinder. Although the Webley Mk I service revolver [...]