Musket and Rifle: Part I
T.H. McGuffe describes the history of fire-arms, from the fourteenth century onwards, considering their uses and effectiveness in war, in sport, and for display.
The rifle issued to British troops today is the F.N. (Fabrique Nationale) Type B automatic, in the standard United Nations calibre of .300; it is gas-operated, with a piston housing, an optical backsight and a quickly replaced magazine carrying twenty rounds. This weapon, of great accuracy and rugged construction, is the most recent successor of the early handguns, matchlocks, wheel-locks, snaphaunces, flint-locks, smoothbores, rifles, percussion and other explosive infantry arms that history has seen employed in battle.
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