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The Kentucky long rifle: America’s first contribution to firearm engineering

Flintlock firing: When the trigger is pulled, the hammer strikes the flint. The impact of the flint against the steel of the frizzen creates a shower of sparks, which fall into the pan, igniting the powder. That spark then ignites the main powder charge and discharges the lead ball. (Contributed photo)

The use and development of firearms has been vital to the survival and prosperity of our nation since the first permanent English colony was established more than 400 years ago in what is now Virginia. These settlers brought with them the best available firearms, which they knew would be needed to defend the colony and provide food from the new world’s wild game.
Those early smoothbore matchlocks and wheellocks were replaced during the following decades by guns with rifling developed in Germany and Switzerland, and the flintlock mechanism that was developed in France, which contains the trigger, sear, mainspring and frizzen.

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