Leonardo's snap lock. The missing link ?

[Philip]

Originally Posted by Raf

Also interesting is the lack of a frizen spring and no evidence that one was ever fitted at least to this gun. Which suggest what I suspected; that early snaplocks may have relied simply on the inertia of a relatively heavy steel creating enough resistance to create a spark. Difficult to argue that something like this could not have been knocked up by any blacksmith sometime in the fifteenth century...

Hi, Raf
There are a number of extremely primitive snaplock guns kicking around the States, having been brought back by American servicemen during the Vietnam War. Smallbore, pistol grip stock not fitted for ramrod, and a very rudimentary flint mechanism with external mainspring and no screw-tightened jaws for the flint which was apparently lashed in place with rawhide or the like. THESE LOCKS OFTEN LACK A FRIZZEN SPRING AS WELL.

The guns do not even belong to the Vietnamese culture-sphere, they are aboriginal artifacts associated with the diverse tribes of the Annam/Lao/Cambodia highlands.

As re your comment about the inertia of a heavy frizzen, my examination of a good number of these guns indicates that the steel is not especially massive, and is a rather loose fit on its pivot. But apparently, these things worked! Unfortunately I do not have a photo handy at moment, if I do locate an image, will post it here.

[Raf]

Hi Philip
Reposted here is an excavated Russian snaplock originally posted by Evegeny. K . Evidence for the possible early evolution of these primitive locks will have to wait until one turns up in an establishable archaeological context.

[Philip]

Originally Posted by Raf

Hi Philip
Reposted here is an excavated Russian snaplock originally posted by Evegeny. K . Evidence for the possible early evolution of these primitive locks will have to wait until one turns up in an establishable archaeological context.

Thanks, Raf! Would be interesting to know the location of the find and its cultural and historic context, especially considering that during the period in question, the lands of the eastern Baltic and the Slavonic territories to the south and east were a crossroads for invasion and rule under different crowns.

This is an interesting one. Mainspring bears down on the front of the cock's foot, as on the Kremlin example I posted above. Snaphaunce configuration, with a vertical post on the pan indicating a pivot for a (matchlock-type) manually opened pan-cover (which is also seen on some primitive Scandinavian designs).

Do you have Yuri Miller's Russian Arms and Armour ? More princely examples of Russian snaplocks in the Kremlin Armory, and during the period in which they were in vogue, there was quite a spectrum of design variations. You see lockplates with a bulging contour on the bottom imitating the style of wheellocks, external and internal mainsprings, decorative and stylistic touches echoing Scottish, Dutch, and English snaphaunces, etc.