As the inventor of firearms, Chinese were also one of the first (if not the very first) to build their guns out of non-standard materials such as wood and bamboo, or even stone. These guns offered several advantages over their metal counterparts, namely lower cost, easier manufacture and portability. They were, however, less durable and very prone to catastrophic accident. Ming army used bamboo and wooden guns to supplement its metal guns, most often as one-use, disposable weapon.
For the purpose of this article, I will exclude fire lances (as these were proto-guns), Pen Tong (噴筒) (as these did not shoot bullets), rockets, dart guns and bombs. Only bamboo or wooden guns meant as low-cost substitute for metal tube firearms will be covered.
For the purpose of this article, I will exclude fire lances (as these were proto-guns), Pen Tong (噴筒) (as these did not shoot bullets), rockets, dart guns and bombs. Only bamboo or wooden guns meant as low-cost substitute for metal tube firearms will be covered.
Zhu Huo Qiang (竹火鎗, bamboo handgonne)
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| Drawing of a Zhu Huo Qiang, from 'Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》)'. |
