Matchlock Hand Mortar

[Matchlock]

Hi Deus,


Welcome to the forum.

No single hand mortar (Katzenkopf) solely equiped with a matchlock ignition is recorded.
Wheellock hand mortars of the late 16th-early 17th c. however were often combined with an additional snap-matchlock or tinderlock serpentine on the left side of the wheel.
They are also called grenade launchers.
Most of them feature cast-bronze barrels but a few samples are known to be mounted with wrought-iron barrels (see bottom attachments in post # 4).

Atached first are two mortars in the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum München, both made in Nuremberg:
the upper with a combined snap-matchlock and wheellock, ca. 1590, the safety-catch missing;
the lower with a wheellock, and featuring an extremely flared fishtail butt, ca. 1600;

next a sample with combined snap-matchlock and wheellock ignition, Nuremberg, ca. 1590, and retaining its safety-catch; in the British Museum London.


Best,
Michael

[Matchlock]

Two more instances in the Bayerisches Armeemuseum Ingolstadt, both equiped with wheellock mechanisms:

- the first Nuremberg, ca. 1590, retaining its safety-catch

- the other Nuremberg, ca. 1600, part of the inside mechanism missing


- a similar sample equiped with a wheellock mechanism and left-hand side safety-catch, Nurembeg, ca. 1610, sold Christie's, Oct 25, 2001

- and the only known illustrative source of period artwork, ca. 1600, showing the way a wheellock hand mortar was rested upright on top of the shoulder when firing.


m

[Matchlock]

Two very rare wheellock hand mortar pistols, ca. 1600, almost forming a pair; and a common wheellock mortar;
all Nuremberg, ca. 1590; in Skokloster Castle, Sweden.

A military pistol, ca. 1620, in the museum of Mühlhausen, Alsace.

And a fine Nuremberg wheellock mortar, ca. 1590, the trigger guard with hinged fold-out finger grip; in the Wallace Collection, London.


m

[fernando]

Welcome to the forum, Deus.
I hope Michael has satisfactorily answered your question .

[Deus Vult]

Thank you very much! The illustration of the man firing the mortar is most interesting. I wonder, wouldn't one have to brace the pistols from the recoil as well? Would they be held against the shoulder as well? Or perhaps against the leg?

[Matchlock]

Two late wheellock grenade launchers.

The first of Netherlandish manufacture, ca. 1630, in the Musee de l'Armee, Paris.

The second probably Strasbourg, now preserved in the National Museum Krakow; contrary to what the description states, the stock is absolutely contemporary and the gun can be safely attributed to ca. 1655-60.

And one of the latest grenade launchers, flintlock, ca. 1730, in the Army Museum Stockholm.


m

[Emanuel]

Wow! talk about hand cannons!!

Thank you Michael for these wonderful pictures. The wheel-lock examples are especially interesting. I recently saw two very large wheel-lock guns at a museum in Montreal and I find them to be a fascinating bit of construction.

Emanuel

[Matchlock]

Hi Emanuel,


Yes, the wheellock was the most fascinating but also the most accident-sensitive igniting mechanism.


Best,
m