History of handguns show

September 12, 2007 12:09 PM

Help me figure out the TV show and episode I saw on the history of handguns (or specifically the revolver).

I saw a show on the History Channel (or was it Discovery? A&E? They're all so alike these days) which traced the development of the handgun from early times to modern times. The part that I was most interested in was the discussion of a sort of early pepperbox style revolver which was actually invented and built in the early Renaissance. I distinctly remember this being a key part of the show, but I remember few details.

The episode included some footage of reenactors dressed up in period clothing, firing the various weapons.

posted by doctorcurly to media & arts (7 comments total)

Was it The Story of the Gun? Looks like it was A&E (the first google hit is for store.aetv but I'm not able to get to it. I remember seeing it on TV.
posted by peep at 12:25 PM on September 12, 2007

There's an entire series called "Tales of the Gun" which includes costume reenactments of various historical events. It's possible that it was one episode of that which you saw.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 12:28 PM on September 12, 2007

Tales of the Gun was originally produced in the late 1990s, so the History Channel's site doesn't seem to list the show anymore, but here are the episodes on DVD.
posted by waxpancake at 12:32 PM on September 12, 2007

Sounds like maybe an episode of Modern Marvels on the History Channel? I have a vague recollection of this episode as well.
posted by dreaming in stereo at 1:35 PM on September 12, 2007

Wild West Tech has a lot of stuff like this, they may have had an entire episode on handguns.
posted by sanka at 1:40 PM on September 12, 2007

Modern Marvels has been re-broadcasting old Tales of the Gun shows as re-branded Modern Marvels shows.
posted by popechunk at 7:39 PM on September 12, 2007

Jeremy Clarkson's Inventions That Changed The World had an episode on the history of the gun.
posted by SpacemanRed at 4:49 AM on September 13, 2007