3 thoughts on “Can a Static Charge Set Off Black Gunpowder?”

  1. Just curious, but I play with historical black powder weapons. Most of them have designations in Pounds or Inches; but the odd musket [rifled or otherwise] has been involved, one of which has been breach-loading. Are you up to anything interesting?

    Subotai Bahadur

  2. Subotai Bahadur,

    I’m just interested in technological history. I wanted to know why it took so long to develop useful breach loading weapons. The idea itself is as old as firearms themselves but not tell the mid-1800s did they become practical. I like to understand the little fiddling details that often get ignored but which usually determine the success of failure of a technology.

  3. I suppose you might ask why no one invented the compound bow (the one with the pulleys) until 1969 – even though men and women have used bows since the beginning of history. For the same reason you can ask ewhy clovis points were used without any improvement for 4000 years. The answer to these questions and why it took so long the develop a breach loader is the same.

Comments are closed.