There are literally millions of facts floating around about guns, from types of ammo to muzzle velocities, from reload times to rates of fire. Anyone can find those, just look up a blog. This Top 5 feature, however, looks behind the traditional ‘interesting’ weapon facts (and by ‘weapons’ we mean handguns, rifles and machine guns, not artillery pieces) to give you a list of 5 facts that you don’t already know about guns!). We’ve searched countless pages of weaponry fan-boy webzines, dusted off dad’s old military history books for your leisure and now we’re cocked, locked and ready to rock.

1. The Earliest Guns
The world’s very oldest weapons were developed in China in the mid 12th century AD. Included in an important find in the early 1970s in Pan-la-ch’eng-tzu village, Manchuria, was a barreled powder-operated projectile weapon dating to about 1290AD. The functionality of these old weapons has been questioned as a result of the fact that the weapons of ancient and mediaeval China were primarily designed to strike fear into the hearts of the enemy. Some scholars simply think that the idea of the working gun was enough to deter an enemy assault.

2. Popular Weapons
The American-made M16 and the Russian-made AK-47 assault rifles are the two most well-liked firearms in use today. Both guns offer variable firing modes, quick rates of fire, reliability, medium-long range high levels of accuracy and moderate-high power.

3. Very Accurate Weapons
The longest kill on record was recently established in Afghanistan.An American sniper who was using the unmistakeable Barett .50 Cal Sniper Rifle shot and killed an enemy from a distance of over two miles away. Before the sound of either shot alerted the insurgent to the presence of an enemy sniper, the sniper apparently missed with his first shot, corrected and fired again, killing his target.

4. Heckler and Koch- Revolutionizing the Sub Machine Gun
This great small arms manufacturer was based in West Germany in the 1960s when it revolutionized the design of the modern submachine gun with the MP5. The weapon is so user-friendly so it’s no surprise that it is the standard weapon of choice for close-quarters spec ops teams all over the world including the SAS and many state SWAT teams.

5. The Sniper – Forever a Specialist Soldier
The term ‘sniper’ has described someone with a knack for a particular ability since the earliest use of the word. That ability is sharpshooting over long distances, most likely from a hidden position. The term was created among Imperial British soldiers in Commonwealth India in the late 18th century. Vefore you were considered a sniper, you had to shoot down a snipe, a small and fleeting type of bird. As a result of the skill involved in being a sniper meant (and still means) that he acts as a single unit, finding and taking out targets at will. This makes him the most feared and hated member of the enemy force and perhaps the most valued asset among your allies.

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