If you’re looking for a single name—some guy in a lab with a patent—you aren’t going to find him. Honestly, the question of who invented the gun is more like asking who invented the "car" or the "computer." It wasn't one person. It was a slow, explosive, and often accidental transition from alchemy to warfare that took place over hundreds of years.
It started with a search for eternal life. Seriously.
Around the 9th century, Chinese alchemists were busy mixing sulfur, charcoal, and saltpeter. They weren't trying to blow things up; they were trying to find an elixir of immortality. Instead, they created huoyao—"fire medicine." It didn't take long for the Song Dynasty military to realize that this "medicine" was much better at burning down fortifications than it was at extending life. By the 10th century, we see the first real ancestor of the firearm: the fire lance.
The bamboo tube that changed everything
The fire lance was basically a bamboo tube strapped to a spear. You’d pack it with gunpowder and shards of metal or stones. You’d light it, and it would spew flames and shrapnel at your enemy. It was a one-shot deal, mostly used for psychological warfare or clearing a path in close-quarters combat. You’ve probably seen depictions of these in historical manuscripts like the Huolongjing, an incredible 14th-century military treatise. This book is a goldmine for understanding early ballistics. It describes "flying fire" and "ground-thundering cannons."
But was it a gun? Not quite.
A gun, by definition, uses the pressure of an explosion to launch a projectile through a barrel. The transition from a "spewing flame" tube to a "launching bullet" tube happened somewhere in the late 1200s. The oldest surviving firearm we actually have our hands on is the Heilongjiang hand cannon. It’s a bronze tube, heavy and clunky, dating back to roughly 1288. It was found in Manchuria, and it’s about as "original" as it gets. There’s no trigger. No stock. You just held the metal pipe and touched a hot wire or match to a touch-hole.
Imagine trying to aim that thing while someone is charging at you with a sword. It’s terrifying for everyone involved.
📖 Related: Meta Quest 3 Bundle: What Most People Get Wrong
Europe joins the arms race
While China was perfecting the hand cannon, the technology was leaking westward. Silk Road traders and the Mongol invasions are the likely culprits for how gunpowder hit the Middle East and eventually Europe. By the 1300s, Europeans were obsessed. They had a knack for metallurgy, thanks to centuries of bell-casting. If you can cast a giant church bell, you can cast a bronze cannon.
The 14th century was a chaotic testing ground. We see mentions of "vasi" (vases) or "schioppi" in Italian records. These were essentially miniature cannons.
People often ask about Roger Bacon or Berthold Schwarz. You might have heard the legend that Schwarz, a German monk, accidentally invented the gun while grinding ingredients in a mortar. Most historians today agree Schwarz is a mythical figure—a bit of folklore meant to give Europe its own "inventor." Roger Bacon did write down a formula for gunpowder in the 1260s, but he didn't "invent" the gun. He just recorded the chemistry that was already trickling in from the East.
The mechanical leap: Triggers and stocks
By the 1400s, things got technical. This is when the firearm started looking like what we recognize today.
Hand cannons were a nightmare to use. You needed two hands to hold the barrel and a third hand to light the fuse. Since humans only have two hands, soldiers started mounting the barrels on wooden stocks that they could tuck under their arms. This led to the matchlock.
The matchlock was the first real mechanical "action." It used a lever (the trigger) to drop a smoldering piece of hemp rope into the powder pan. For the first time, a soldier could keep both hands on the weapon and actually aim. It changed everything on the battlefield. The Spanish arquebus became the gold standard.
👉 See also: Is Duo Dead? The Truth About Google’s Messy App Mergers
Then came the wheel-lock. Think of it like a Zippo lighter. It used a rotating steel wheel against a piece of pyrite to create sparks. It was expensive. It was complex. It was the "iPhone" of the 16th century—only the ultra-wealthy or specialized cavalry could afford them. But it meant you could keep a gun loaded and ready to fire instantly, which led to the invention of the pistol.
Why the flintlock won the world
If you look at the 17th century, the flintlock is the undisputed king. It’s the mechanism that defined the American Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars, and the expansion of empires.
It was simple: a piece of flint hits a steel "frizzen," creating sparks that ignite the pan. Marin le Bourgeoys is often credited with perfecting the "true" flintlock for King Louis XIII of France around 1610. He didn't "invent the gun," but he streamlined the design so well that it remained the primary firearm technology for over 200 years.
That’s an insane lifespan for a piece of tech.
The shift to modern ballistics
The 19th century was a fever dream of innovation. We went from muzzle-loaders (shoving everything down the front of the barrel) to breech-loaders (loading from the back) in a few decades.
- The Percussion Cap (1807): Alexander Forsyth, a Scottish clergyman, got tired of ducks flying away because they saw the flash of his flintlock's pan. He invented a system using fulminate of mercury that exploded on impact. No more open sparks. No more "flash in the pan."
- Rifling: This wasn't a new idea—it had been around since the 1500s—but it didn't become standard until the mid-1800s. By cutting spiral grooves inside the barrel, the bullet spins. Spinning bullets are accurate. Suddenly, you could hit a target from 300 yards instead of 50.
- The Revolver (1836): Samuel Colt didn't invent the idea of a rotating cylinder, but he was the first to mass-produce it successfully. He understood the "business" of guns better than anyone before him.
- Self-contained Cartridges: This is the big one. Putting the primer, the powder, and the bullet into one brass case. This allowed for rapid fire and led directly to the Gatling gun and, eventually, the Maxim gun (the first true machine gun).
Misconceptions you probably believe
Most people think guns immediately replaced bows and arrows. They didn't.
✨ Don't miss: Why the Apple Store Cumberland Mall Atlanta is Still the Best Spot for a Quick Fix
For a long time, a skilled longbowman could shoot faster, further, and more accurately than a guy with a hand cannon. The reason guns took over wasn't because they were "better" initially; it was because you could train a peasant to use a gun in two weeks. Training a longbowman took a lifetime. Guns were the "great equalizer" because they lowered the barrier to entry for lethal force.
Another one: "The West invented the gun."
Nope. As we covered, the foundational tech is 100% Eastern. The West just industrialized it.
Practical insights for history buffs and researchers
If you're looking to dig deeper into the actual mechanics of how these early weapons worked, you should look into the work of Dr. Tonio Andrade. His book The Gunpowder Age is basically the definitive modern text on how the East and West diverged in firearm development.
If you want to see these things in person:
- The Royal Armouries in Leeds (UK) has some of the finest early European examples.
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC) has an incredible collection of wheel-locks that look more like jewelry than weapons.
- The Palace Museum in Beijing holds the keys to the early Ming Dynasty developments.
Moving forward with your research
Understanding who invented the gun requires looking at the evolution of chemistry and metallurgy rather than a single patent office. It was a global effort, spanning from 9th-century Chinese monks to 17th-century French gunsmiths.
To continue your journey into ballistics history, focus your next steps on:
- Researching the "Military Revolution" thesis by Geoffrey Parker to see how guns changed global politics.
- Studying the chemical transition from "serpentine" powder to "corned" powder, which was the real secret to making guns powerful enough to pierce plate armor.
- Exploring the development of the Minie ball, the specific bullet design that made the rifled musket the most lethal tool of the 19th century.