hand gun

…Rifles were developed step by step by miniaturizing cannons, and were developed about 50 years behind artillery. The first rifles in Europe were invented in the 15th century as hand guns, a miniaturized version of the hand cannons invented at the end of the 14th century. By the end of the 15th century, they had spread throughout Europe, and Charles VIII of France organized cavalry and musketeers. These guns were operated by two people, a gunner and a carrier, and the bullets were spherical lead bullets with a caliber of about 12 to 20 mm, with no trigger or sights, and were fired by directly igniting them with a matchlock. …

*Some of the terminology that mentions "hand gun" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…小銃は大砲を小型化することによって逐次開発され，火砲に約50年遅れて発達した。ヨーロッパにおける初期の小銃は，14世紀末に考案されたhand cannonを小型化したhand gun(手銃)として15世紀に発明され，15世紀末には全ヨーロッパに普及し，フランスのシャルル8世は銃騎隊や銃兵隊を組織した。この銃の操作は銃手と運搬手の2名で行い，弾丸は球形鉛弾で口径12～20mm前後，引金や照準器はなく，火縄で直接点火し発射する方式であった。…

※「hand gun」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報