The Sharps 50 caliber influenced the history in the west..buffalo and all

I'm going to say that while Bigfoot may be right with the 2 world wars obviously shaping maps and power today, jeffbird has a great point too. Without the American influence, especially in the WWII, the world could be quite different today. The Japs woke a sleeping giant in 1941 and today that giant enjoys power to this day because of WWII. Thanks to the rifles that killed redcoats. That could also be my American pride wanting to say the Kentucky rifle is as important as the Browning pistol though. Merica

It's not written down in history (to my knowledge) so the exact gun isn't known but is thought to be the Chinese Fire Lance...but the one that would undoubtedly have had the most impact was in 9th Century China - the first gun had by far the most impact and changed history the most. It set in motion an arms race that will continue as long as man exists to make guns. Before the existence of that first gun, only arrows and bolts existed. After man first used gunpowder to propel a projectile, everything else became obsolete and killing became much easier.

870

Good grief ya'll

The Daisy Red Ryder

No Brainer

Exactly what I was thinking...you just got to it before I did.

How about the Arquebus? Although there were many variations, this early adaption of the first feasible firearm ended the Middle Ages, the Feudal system, and the age of Chivalry. The armored knight became obsolete almost overnight.

Maxim machine gun

That was one I was thinking of also. The Kentucky rifle which had the first rifling and hence "snipers"

I guess one particular single gun is too narrow of a subject because the Browning I named would be hard to beat.

The peacemaker, the mauser, the maxim and the gatlin are game changers for sure.

I dont see how a kalshnikov changed history just because they made a lot of them.

Hungarian Revolution of 1956
Colombian conflict
Moro Conflict
South African Border War
Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
War of Attrition
Six Day War
Yom Kippur War
Ogaden War
Vietnam War
Laotian Civil War
Cambodian Civil War
Cambodian–Vietnamese War
Sino-Vietnamese War
Sri Lankan Civil War
Chadian–Libyan conflict
Afghan Civil War
Afghan-Soviet War
First Liberian Civil War
Second Liberian Civil War
First Sudanese Civil War
Second Sudanese Civil War
South Sudanese Civil War
Somali Civil War
Algerian Civil War
Abkhaz–Georgian conflict
Georgian–Ossetian conflict
Georgian Civil War
Tajikistani Civil War
Transnistria War
East Prigorodny Conflict
1991–1992 South Ossetia War
War in Abkhazia (1992–1993)
War in Abkhazia (1998)
First Chechen War
Second Chechen War
War in Afghanistan
Iran–Iraq War
Gulf War
Lebanese Civil War
South Lebanon conflict (1985–2000)
Yugoslav Wars
Croatian War
Bosnian War
Iraq War
First Congo War
Second Congo War
Mexican Drug War
2006 Lebanese War
Russo-Georgian War
Insurgency in the North Caucasus
Northern Mali Conflict
Libyan Civil War
Second Libyan Civil War
Boko Haram insurgency
Syrian Civil War
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
Yemeni Civil War (2015–present)
Saudi-led intervention in Yemen (2015–present)
Conflict in Najran, Jizan and Asir

The AK has played a major role in history.

Not sure which individual weapon is THE most important in history, but this one would have to rank pretty high.

You'll shoot your eye out!

Changed history the most? That’s difficult to quantify. The very first firearm would seem the obvious choice, but that was going to happen, sooner or later, so it hardly seems significant enough to consider. When you think about the sheer volume of use, and the world wide impact that its had a hand in, I think Payne is correct. The AK-47 didn’t make a singular huge impact, but overall, it’s had an incredible influence in the world of weaponry.

Never have so many missed the point of a post. And that's saying something for THF.

AK47 for sure.

If you want the American twist, reading Chris Kyle's American Gun offers some pretty good candidates.

Or that it was ambiguous.

The colt 1836 revolver the first made
The matchlock rifle are my top two
. Nothing can be invented without these guns

Maxim machine gun

Single, one gun, then yes the Browning that killed Ferdinand.

Type of gun, without a doubt Hiram's Machine Gun, changed warefare forever.... after centuries of infantry charges, they were over in a flash...

There was a book I saw in a book store years ago; Sci-Fi, what if, alternate history kind of thing. Basic premise is that round 1864 a stranger shows up (from the future?) and arms Robert E. Lee with 500 Kalashnikov AK-47s and thousands of rounds for each one.

Guns of the South

by Harry Turtledove

I used to think that as well. It's a common misconception and even the name Kentucky rifle. You can read more about it to find the real history. It was the Pennsylvania rifle which later morphed into the Kentucky rifle. They were used by militia and in guerrilla warfare of the day. They were also used by individuals for sniping British officers but they had to be protected while doing so. Mostly muskets were used in battles by soldiers.

The Pennsylvania rifle had a part to play but has been romanticized to be something greater in terms of influence. Not any type of revisionist history. It's worth digging into and interesting.

Note: Pennsylvania and Kentucky rifles are pretty much the same. But the Kentucky rifle became a more common term after the war of 1812. They are sort of different in that the Kentucky rifle had some years of development and improvement.

Game over.

Really, no firearm "changes" history. No person changes history. History is not made, not changed. The idea of changing history is just a bit too Orwellian, IMO. Just thought I'd point that out.

Another particular firearm that shaped history was Oswald's 6.5 Carcano. To have been alive when that happened is still incredible to me.