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The handcannon design would focus more on a single musketball as its ammunition; being mussel-loaded into a thin tight barrel to significantly reduce the ball from bouncing in the tube, thus maintaining a more precise forward movement. The smaller chamber also required less gunpowder (which could be carried in containers like bullhorns) and smaller musketballs; allowing foot soldiers to reload during a battle.
The Nayan Rebellion of 1287 is cited as the first major conflict using Hand Cannons (with the Chinese designed called the Huochong): however similar weapons did exist before this time period. The Heilongjiang hand cannon is an artifact believed to have been used in this same war. The 1320s and 1330s were the first reports of handcannons in Europe and by the late 1330s they gradually gained popularity throughout France. These guns most likely arrived in India and Arabia first. However due to Mongol Conquests; historical documentation in these countries were pillaged along with accounts of Hand Cannons.
By the mid to late 14th Century; Handcannons spread across nearly all of EuroAsia.
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