Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

Philip · 18th June 2010, 07:54 AM

Thank you, Dmitry, for posting these pics, especially those showing detached locks, exterior and interior views. Mechanically, these are among the earliest manifestations of flint-and-steel mechanisms on guns that are known, and it is believed that they first appeared in Scandinavia in the mid-16th cent. Blackmore (p. 28, cat. no. 134) discusses what is perhaps one of the oldest dated examples, now in Stockholm's Royal Armory and thought to be one of several guns with Nuremberg barrel marks, converted to this early flint mechanism by Swedish technicians at Arboga in 1556. This style of lock quickly spread throughout the Baltic area and not long after to Russia where they were well-known by the beginning of the 17th cent.

Strictly speaking, these locks and the examples in your pics are not true flintlocks, for reasons discussed previously. They are SNAPHAUNCES, the distinction being in the separation of the steel (which is struck by the flint) and the priming-pan cover into separate units. A true flintlock has, besides an internal mainspring and sear system, a COMBINED steel and pan-cover (the unit looks like a letter L).

Be that as it may, the examples shown here, like their Scanian counterparts, have a primitive character to them which is not only charming but speaks to their antiquity. The pan-covers are opened manually, like those on matchlocks, before firing. Some of the covers slide, others pivot like those on matchlocks. Note how the first example shown in your post has a lockplate which bulges out on the bottom. This is a hold-over from the style of lockplate on the earlier wheel-lock, it is a vestigial stylistic element which is functionally irrelevant on a snaphaunce because no wheel is necessary!

Snaphaunces were made also in Holland, Italy, and later Morocco but these are more advanced since the mechanism is provided with a push-rod and bell-crank linkage between the tumbler and pan-cover so that the cover AUTOMATICALLY opens when the gun fires. (See Blackmore, appendix, pp 112-13 for operational diagrams).

The primitive flint mecanisms had a long life in the Baltic regions and Russia as well. They remained in use in rural parts of Sweden, Finland, and Norway until the beginning of the 19th cent., and I recall reading a memoir by a Western traveler seeing them for sale in a market in western Siberia ca. 1900.

18th June 2010, 07:54 AM	#16
Philip Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: California Posts: 1,036	Early Russian flint mechanisms Thank you, Dmitry, for posting these pics, especially those showing detached locks, exterior and interior views. Mechanically, these are among the earliest manifestations of flint-and-steel mechanisms on guns that are known, and it is believed that they first appeared in Scandinavia in the mid-16th cent. Blackmore (p. 28, cat. no. 134) discusses what is perhaps one of the oldest dated examples, now in Stockholm's Royal Armory and thought to be one of several guns with Nuremberg barrel marks, converted to this early flint mechanism by Swedish technicians at Arboga in 1556. This style of lock quickly spread throughout the Baltic area and not long after to Russia where they were well-known by the beginning of the 17th cent. Strictly speaking, these locks and the examples in your pics are not true flintlocks, for reasons discussed previously. They are SNAPHAUNCES, the distinction being in the separation of the steel (which is struck by the flint) and the priming-pan cover into separate units. A true flintlock has, besides an internal mainspring and sear system, a COMBINED steel and pan-cover (the unit looks like a letter L). Be that as it may, the examples shown here, like their Scanian counterparts, have a primitive character to them which is not only charming but speaks to their antiquity. The pan-covers are opened manually, like those on matchlocks, before firing. Some of the covers slide, others pivot like those on matchlocks. Note how the first example shown in your post has a lockplate which bulges out on the bottom. This is a hold-over from the style of lockplate on the earlier wheel-lock, it is a vestigial stylistic element which is functionally irrelevant on a snaphaunce because no wheel is necessary! Snaphaunces were made also in Holland, Italy, and later Morocco but these are more advanced since the mechanism is provided with a push-rod and bell-crank linkage between the tumbler and pan-cover so that the cover AUTOMATICALLY opens when the gun fires. (See Blackmore, appendix, pp 112-13 for operational diagrams). The primitive flint mecanisms had a long life in the Baltic regions and Russia as well. They remained in use in rural parts of Sweden, Finland, and Norway until the beginning of the 19th cent., and I recall reading a memoir by a Western traveler seeing them for sale in a market in western Siberia ca. 1900.