An early English dog lock musket

[Philip]

Originally Posted by rickystl

Hi Marcus.


The larger photo shows the retaining piece (the proper name escapes me at the moment) between the frizzen screw and the frizzen spring. This feature is also on Mark's lock.
The smaller photo shows one piece being used as both a frizzen spring and a hammer stop. Appears to be an attempt at simplification. Interesting.


Rick

Rick, I think that connector piece can be termed a frizzen bridle since it provides a two-point support (in conjunction with the lockplate itself) for the pivot screw. It's analogous to the tumbler bridle on the mature French flintlock, and the cock bridle on a miquelet.

You might be interested in the article "The Snaphaunce Muskets of al-Maghreb al-Aqsa" by James Gooding, in ARMS COLLECTING, Vol. 34, No. 3. A very informative intro to the long guns of Morocco. The frizzen bridle is seen on all of the examples illustrated and I'm sure you may have detached locks from Moroccan guns in your collection which feature this component as well. Interesting also are the presence of the cock buffer and the large disc that caps the extremity of the priming-pan on these locks, just as seen on your repro English doglock from TRS. All these on a Moroccan lock strongly point to a Dutch antecedent (see Robert Held, THE AGE OF FIREARMS, fig 149, p 71 for photo of a snaphaunce 1590-1630 which is all but identical in form to the later north African version). Considering that arms development in England and the Netherlands was closely linked, it's not surprising to see similar features common to the (much later) dog-lock as well.