Repeating and Multi-Fire Weapons

<p> From the very earliest days of organized warfare combatants have wanted to develop weapons with more firepower. This has inevitably led to a wide variety of repeating weapons capable of a degree of sustained fire without reloading.</p><p> Based largely upon new research this book explores the history of repeating and multi-fire weapons beginning with the Chinese repeating crossbow in the 4th century BCE and ending with the world's most common firearm the Kalashnikov AK-47. The author describes the potency of the machine gun in World War I the development of the semiautomatic pistol and the role of the submachine gun in improving the effectiveness of the infantryman.</p>