Hello all,
this is my first post here so let me also take the chance and briefly introduce myself. My main interest actually lies outside the scope of this forum, it being the research of historical leather items of all sorts and periods as well as their reproduction, I am in the process of recreating a Landknecht of the first half of the 16th century. I have recently had a replica of a Schwammschlossbüchse (snap tinder lock gun) made, the original of which has been protryed elsewhere here. I am now experimenting with how the gun might have been fired under contemporary conditions.
From Matchlock's excellent postings I understand that the tinder was
Quote:
... cut in rectangular, rather short pieces, each meant to be used for one shot only. This piece of tinder was put in the small head of the matchholder; with 15th to mid-16th century guns, the heads of their matchholders were actually too tiny to receive the rather thick matchcord.
The tinder was lit by means of a piece of glowing coal or smoldering match.
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This already solves one part of the puzzle for me, namely the method of ignition!
Firing the gun I found that the tinder actually can be good for up to about 5 shots (the piece being about 2-3 cms long). What happens is that the part protruding from the holder burns off quickly but then, the tinder being encased by the tubular holder seems to get little oxigen and only glows very slowly. if pushed forward be means of a needle of sorts and blown on, it rekindles and is good for the next shot.
My questions are
1) can you point me to the written sources describing the usage of tinder snap locks please if there are any?
2) are there any sources that detail the loading sequence of such guns? (the earliest I know of at the moment are from the early 17th century)
I attach a few pictures of the gun fyi.
Thanks and best,
Martin