A fine Styrian snap tinderlock gun, ca. 1525, in the Graz Armory

Matchlock · 16th December 2008, 12:31 PM

Hi, Richard,

In fact, both the Pilsen gun and the litlle guy did lose a few pieces of wood covering the trigger/sear spring. They have been repaced in both guns but are completely original in the Hofkircher gun in Graz which retains them all.

Interesting enough, in the little harquebus, the rear little piece of wood is not held at all, just inserted (!); there are no old traces of glue whatsoever. The forward splice of wood is, as you wrote, just barely kept in place by the mainspring.

Of course, those two pieces would have fitted in much better when the wood was new and without any shrinkage. The part locks disappeared from the scene very soon, though, and complete lock plates took over for evidently practical reasons.

Michael

16th December 2008, 12:31 PM	#12
Matchlock (deceased) Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bavaria, Germany - the center of 15th and 16th century gunmaking Posts: 4,310	Hi, Richard, In fact, both the Pilsen gun and the litlle guy did lose a few pieces of wood covering the trigger/sear spring. They have been repaced in both guns but are completely original in the Hofkircher gun in Graz which retains them all. Interesting enough, in the little harquebus, the rear little piece of wood is not held at all, just inserted (!); there are no old traces of glue whatsoever. The forward splice of wood is, as you wrote, just barely kept in place by the mainspring. Of course, those two pieces would have fitted in much better when the wood was new and without any shrinkage. The part locks disappeared from the scene very soon, though, and complete lock plates took over for evidently practical reasons. Michael