Previous firearms were types where live coals (matches and so on) were pushed down by hands (a touch-hole type) ('flame-spurting lance' - a bamboo gun in the Sung dynasty, 'a fire lance' [a gunpowder weapon] in the Ming dynasty, 'madfa' in Russia around 1300 and so on) which was difficult to handle, and the firing accuracy was low.
それ以前の銃器は、火種（火縄など）を手で押し付ける方式（タッチホール式）であった（宋(王朝)の「突火槍」、明の「火竜槍」、1300年頃のロシアの「マドファ」など）ことから、扱いが難しく命中精度も低かった。