Volume I establishes how, where and from whom the East India Company's smallarms were procured, and surveys the weapons' classification, design and quality control, stretching from the crude matchlock `hargabush of croke' to the bolt-action needle-fire rifle.
Chapter 1. SMALLARMS PROCUREMENT BY THE EAST INDIA COMPANY 1600-1800
Chapter 2. CUNINGHAME'S FOUNDING OF THE MILITARY STORE DEPARTMENT 1800-17
Chapter 3. FORREST, BONNER, THE GUN TRADE AND THE THREE ARMIES 1817-c1840
Chapter 4. SMALLARMS PROCUREMENT UNDER BONNER IN THE 1840s AND 1850s
Chapter 5. THE GREAT PROCUREMENT CRISIS 1851-56
Chapter 6. DESIGN SURVEY: CLASSIFICATION AND BORE SIZE
Chapter 7. DESIGN SURVEY: MATCHLOCKS AND FLINTLOCKS 1600-1839
Chapter 8. DESIGN SURVEY: PERCUSSION ARMS 1840-56