Guns: The Evolution of Firearms

Episode one begins with the development of gunpowder by a Chinese alchemist, used for fireworks displays and later military applications, including gunpowder-packed arrows, cannons, and grenades. The episode examines the "fire lance," believed to be the first firearm. It was a bamboo tube with gunpowder and a projectile packed into it, highly effective but only at short ranges. Gunpowder remained a Chinese secret until the 13th century when Roger Bacon, a Franciscan monk, learned of it, saying, "the sound of thunder may be artificially produced in the air with greater resulting horror than if it had been produced by natural causes." As the episode jumps ahead to more modern times, it examines the development of hand cannons made of bronze metal tubes and the development of the Matchlock, the Wheellock, and the Snaplock..

Episode three focuses in on the guns of the North and South, notably the smoothbore muskets on both sides, some converted to percussion guns, some not, and some coming straight from the armories as percussion tools. The episode looks at the evolution of arms in the Civil War, beginning with the model 1855, a smaller caliber but more accurate "tape primer" firearm invented by a dentist named Edward Maynard that ultimately proved unreliable in practice. The model 1861 was developed in response, a classic percussion fired weapon that added in a rear sight and that would become the most widely used arm in the war. Episode three also examines the Confederate raid on the Harpers Ferry armory and the Confederacys dire need for arms and their purchase and trading of cotton for arms with Europe, notably acquiring the British Enfield and Austrian Lorenz.

Episode five focuses largely on the U.S. weapons of World War I, a war in which American soldiers would first face the devastating Maxim machine gun, a weapon that used recoil to eject the spent casing and load the next round. Other machine guns highlighted are the crew-served German MG08, the .303 British Vickers gun, the Lewis gun with a 47-round drum magazine, the gas-operated Hotchkiss machine gun, and the Chauchat. Episode five also looks at the machine guns produced by John Moses Browning, including the M1917 and the Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR). Infiantry weapons highlighted include the American 1903 Springfield and P-14 (or American Enfield), the M1897 Winchester shotgun, the German G98, the British Lee-Enfield, and the French Lebel 1886 and Berthier models.

Two decades after World War II, American forces entered into the Vietnam Conflict and required a new weapon to face a new enemy on a new battlefield. The heavy hitting (and flat-out heavy) M14 was developed and deployed but short-lived as a main battle rifle as its limitations were exposed in the conflict. It was replaced by the lightweight M16, a smaller-caliber .223 rifle described as a "Mattel toy" upon its initial deployment. It, too, was limited in battle, at first, lacking a chrome-lined barrel and chamber and cleaning instructions and equipment for operators. But with the introduction of the A1 model, the weapon began to prove its worth. Examined later in episode seven is the development of the A2 version and on through to todays M4 carbine. Also highlighted are the M60 machine gun, the M249 machine gun, the M79 "thumper" grenade launcher, and the M203 weapons-mounted grenade launcher. Of course, the piece also explores the origins and the proliferation of the AK-47.