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..

The strain between the colonists and the British Parliament, the threat of conflict, and the colonists' stockpiling of arms and ammunition for use in the coming war for independence begins episode two. The segment examines the arms of both the colonists and the English, most of which were covered in the previous episode. Also featured are the weapons acquired form the French and those produced in the colonies. Episode two also looks at the flintlock handguns carried at the time of the revolution and General Washington's "buck and ball" loading system. Examined in detail is the battle of Lexington, the burning of supplies at Concord, and the Battle of Saratoga and the critical role of "Morgan's riflemen.. Episode two also sees the development of the Minié ball, which facilitated firing accurately from a rifled barrel, and the development of Sharp's rifle and its place in the pre-Civil War era. Also: the innovations of Samuel Colt in the development of handguns.

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 Harper's Ferry armory and the Confederacy's dire need for arms and their purchase and trading of cotton for arms with Europe, notably acquiring the British Enfield and Austrian Lorenz.