Mongols. Pucha Guannu led 450 Jin fire lancers and routed an entire Mongol encampment. The Mongol soldiers were apparently disdainful of other Jin weapons, but greatly feared the fire lance. In 1259 a pellet wad that occluded the barrel was recorded to have been used as a fire lance projectile, making it the first recorded bullet in history. By 1276 fire lances had transitioned to metal barrels. Fire lances were also being used by cavalrymen at this point, as evidenced by the account of a Song-Yuan battle in which two fire lance armed Song cavalrymen rushed a Chinese officer of Bayan of the Baarin. The Huolongjing also mentions a gourd fire lance which was used by cavalrymen as well as foot soldiers. The metal-barreled fire lance began to be used independently of the lance around the mid to late 13th century. These proto-cannons which fired co-viative projectiles, known as 'eruptors,' were the forerunners of the hand cannon. Later history By 1280 the Middle East had acquired fire lances. In 1396 European knights took up fire lances as mounted weapons. In 15th century Japanese samurai used fire lances. The last recorded usage of fire lances in Europe occurred during the Storming of Bristol in 1643 although the Commonwealth of England was still issuing them to ships in 1660. Troncks Versions where the fireworks and shot were placed in a wooden tube at the end of a pole were known as Troncks, fire-trunks or bombas in Europe. The fireworks had alternating slow and fast burning sections. They were frequently issued to warships and a surviving example was found in the wreck of the La Trinidad Valencera. Testing of an attempted reconstruction was carried out in 1988. During the test multiple sections of the Tronck ignited at once. Gallery See also Early modern warfare Science and technology of the Song dynasty Jiao Yu Huolongjing Xun Lei Chong Citations References . . . . . . . . Hadden, R. Lee. 2005. "Confederate Boys and Peter Monkeys." Armchair General. January 2005. Adapted from a talk given to the Geological Society of America on March 25, 2004. . . . . . . . . . . . . Schmidtchen, Volker (1977a), "Riesengeschütze des 15. Jahrhunderts. Technische Höchstleistungen ihrer Zeit", Technikgeschichte 44 (2): 153–173 (153–157) Schmidtchen, Volker (1977b), "Riesengeschütze des 15. Jahrhunderts. Technische Höchstleistungen ihrer Zeit", Technikgeschichte 44 (3): 213–237 (226–228) . . . External