The aim is not to include everything, but just to fit in some dates which crop up when club members ask me questions. These dates are just to give a guide. I am not a History expert, so if you are and you think I am wrong about something then don't expect me to get too excited about it. Before patents there are no accurate records of inventions, so dating is extremely approximate. This is the best I can do. Remember that there will be considerable overlap when previously popular arms continue to be used following the introduction of a new type of arm.
| Year | Event |
| Circa 1000AD | Chinese or Arab discovers gunpowder. (plus or minus who knows how long???) |
| Circa 1250 | Francis Bacon experiments with gunpowder (mixture of sulphur, saltpetre and carbon) |
| Circa 1300 | Cannon invented |
| Circa 1350 | Simple hand cannon in use (some use of lead projectiles) |
| Circa 1450 | Matchlock invented |
| Circa 1500 | Wheel-lock invented |
| Circa 1500 | Rifling of barrels began, rare at this time |
| Circa 1550 | Corned gunpowder invented, big improvement over simple mixture. |
| Circa 1550 | Early flintlock invented (snaphaunce and miquelet early types) |
| Circa 1600 | Lead ball almost universally used as projectile |
| Circa 1600 | Greased patched ball in rifled arms, most barrels rifled by this time. |
| 1608 | True flintlock invented |
| 1782-1864 | Bartholomaus Joseph Kuchenreuter gunsmith. |
| Circa 1800 | Fulminate of mercury discovered - detonates on impact |
| Circa 1815 | The percussion cap invented |
| 1836 | Paterson Colt .44 percussion revolver |
| 1840-1850 | Henri Le Page duelling/target pistols. |
| 1846 | guncotton invented too unstable for use in guns |
| 1847 | Walker Colt .44 percussion revolver |
| 1848 | Colt Dragoon .44 percussion revolver |
| 1851 | Adams percussion revolver (UK) double action 5 shot. |
| 1851 | Pinfire cartridge + revolver |
| 1851 | Colt .36 Navy percussion revolver |
| 1856 | Le Mat .44 percussion revolver 9 chambers plus buckshot barrel |
| 1858 | Smith & Wesson .22 (Long Rifle) Black Powder rimfire cartridge + revolver |
| 1858 | Remington New Army .44 percussion revolver |
| 1860 | Smith & Wesson .32 Black Powder rimfire cartridge + revolver |
| 1860 | Colt .44 Army percussion revolver |
| 1861-1865 | American Civil War. The end of this is often taken as a timeline for the Mariette division. |
| 1864/5 | Rogers and Spencer .44 percussion revolver |
| 1866 | Berdan and Boxer centre fire primed cartridges |
| 1870 | Smith & Wesson .44 revolver (.44 special) |
| 1873 | Colt .45 (long Colt) Single Action "Peacemaker" |
| 1877 | .38 Special cartridge |
| 1884 | Poudre B smokeless gunpowder invented |
| 1887 | Cordite smokeless powder invented led to modern cartridge powders. |
| 1935 | .357 Magnum cartridge |
| 1956 | .44 Magnum cartridge |