content_output-092_7 (Q6896)

As a sporting weapon, the gun dates from the invention of the wheel-lock; before that period the long-bow in England and the cross-bow on the Continent were the usual weapons of the chase. In the fifteenth century fire-arms were used for sporting purposes in Italy, Spain, Germany, and to a lesser extent in France. In Great Britain little use appears to have been made of them for game-shooting