The first gun ever used was made 700 years go in the 1300's in china. It was a simple metal tube with a bor drilled out and a small hole used for the ignition source. The early gun was a small calibre ball and only had a effective range of 50 feet. This weapon was a grew served weapon which means there is a small team to operate and move the thing.
In the 1300 a bow and arrow was much more useful then the gun, but the gun had a fear factor to the plate that the bow just could not do. The enemy was terrified of this new invention. So an arms race began to improve a pone the design. All thoughts improvements where apparent in the Archibus made in the 1500. This was a mussel loading weapon firing a laid ball. The thing that made this unique was the fact that one man can carry the ammo, the primer and the powder. Now a army could have a division dedicated to this weapon, it was used to effect in mass volleys of fire at a target's around 100 yards away. This is still a crewed weapon and the barrel was prone to fowling up. This meant that the soldier would have to use a ball that was smaller then the bore of the rifle. Ones the rifle was fired this ball would bounce down the barrel and what ever way the ball bounced at the end that's the way it flies. In my opinion armies in the 1500 should have just used bows and arrows seeing at they could do the same amount of damage and had about the same range. The only reason I could see y armies used them is for the fear factor. Every shot is load and has a big cloud of white smoke after.
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