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| c. 1450 |
| | | The matchlock, ignited from a smouldering length of rope, becomes the standard form of musket | |
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| 1450 |
| | | The French bring two small cannon on to the battlefield at Formigny, where they have a significant effect in achieving the French victory | |
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| 1453 |
| | | The Turks terrify Constantinople by lobbing vast stones at the city from a 19-ton bombard of cast iron | |
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| c. 1610 |
| | | A flintlock designed in France (possibly by Marin Le Bourgeoys) becomes the standard firing mechanism for muskets | |
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| 1688 |
| | | Sébastien de Vauban's socket bayonet is introduced in the French army | |
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| 1775 |
| | | General Gage sends a detachment of British troops to seize weapons held by American Patriots at Concord | |
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| 1807 |
| | | A Scottish clergyman, Alexander Forsyth, invents the percussion cap to help in his pursuit of wildfowl | |
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| 1846 |
| | | The self-contained metal cartridge, with a percussion cap in its base, is patented by a Paris gunsmith named Houiller | |
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| 1848 |
| | | The Prussian army is the first to adopt a breech-loading rifle, the 'needle-gun' developed by gunsmith Johann Nikolaus von Dreyse | |
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| 1884 |
| | | US-born British inventor Hiram Maxim demonstrates the first prototype of his machine gun, using the recoil force to eject the spent cartridge and insert a new one | |
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