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Strange But True the Weird History of Firearms: Duck's-Foot Pistols, Pocket Cannons, Volley Guns, Bizarre Revolvers, Failed Inventions, Famous Misfire
Paperback
Series: Sparktrail Strange But True, Book 56
Technology & EngineeringGeneral Antiques & CollectiblesWeaponry & Vehicles
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Sep 21 2026
Pages: 218
Weight: 0.59
Height: 0.55 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
The history of firearms has never suffered from a shortage of strange ideas. Good judgment occasionally arrived late.
STRANGE BUT TRUE: THE WEIRD HISTORY OF FIREARMS takes you through seven centuries of ingenious inventions, spectacular miscalculations, and weapons that make you wonder who agreed to test them first.
Meet Chinese experimenters searching for long life whose discoveries helped unleash gunpowder. Follow early gunners into the awkward business of carrying a cannon on a stick. Discover beautiful dueling pistols built for ugly disagreements, pocket guns crowded with barrels, and inventors who kept answering every problem with What if we added another one?
Along the way, explore the enormous Colt Walker, the repeating rifles that astonished Civil War soldiers, Dr. Gatling's unsettling vision of progress, and the days when the Tommy gun was advertised to ordinary buyers. Step inside a world of disguised firearms, miniature masterpieces, oversized hunting guns, and museum collections filled with mechanical oddities.
Surviving weapons, historical accounts, and personal stories bring the people behind the metal into view: ambitious gunsmiths, skeptical soldiers, determined collectors, and the unfortunate souls asked to find out whether the latest invention actually worked.
Told with curiosity, cheeky humor, and an appreciation for human ingenuity, this is a journey through the peculiar corners of history that a tidy timeline leaves out.
Some inventions changed the world. Others made everyone nearby take several steps back. Meet both.
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