1380 - Hand guns are known across Europe ... the pistols are made until dueling falls out of favor in the mid-1800s. This pair of 1786 flintlock pistols was made with ivory stocks and unusually ...

And as they roast slabs of buffalo meat over a fire sparked with flint and steel, they share tips on how best to trap beavers and load a flintlock rifle ... from roughly 1800 to 1840.

The Brown Bess was one of the best-known flintlock guns in military use. Eventually the flintlock was replaced by the percussion cap. BBC History Best of History websites The British Museum The ...