Differences Between Matchlocks and Wheel-Locks of ca. 1625 and the 1640's
Once again the matchlock musket and wheel-lock pistols on display at the Vasa Museum, 1640's-50's, in comparison with samples of the 1620's-30 from the Army Museum Stockholm.
While, amongst other details, the older muskets have broad fishtail butt stocks, the one on display at the Vasa Museum shows the more advanced rounded belly butt of the 1640's. After ca. 1650, the rounded form took over and the pronounced sides of the earlier years began to vanish.
From ca. 1670 onward, the "modern" musket butt stock had reached its final form still featured on 21st century British shotguns.
The wheel-lock pistols of ca. 1625-30 were shorter than those of the the late 1640`s-50's.
Michael
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