Snaplock
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Snaplock refers to a mechanism for igniting a firearm's propellant usually in a muzzleloading gun. The mechanism, which first appeared in the late 1540s, probably in southern Germany, uses flint and steel to create a shower of sparks to ignite the propellant in the gun.
The flint is held in a clamp at the end of a bent lever called the cock. Upon pulling the trigger, this moves forward under the pressure of a strong spring and strikes a curved plate of hardened steel - called simply the steel, or in 17th century English dialect the frizzen - producing a shower of sparks (actually white hot steel shavings). These fall into a flash pan holding priming powder. The flash from the pan travels through the touch hole causing the main charge of gunpowder to detonate.
Broadly speaking, the term Snaplock is used to describe all locks which strike flint against steel, but do not have the lateral sear mechanism of the Flintlock proper, or the sliding pan cover of the Snaphance (similar to that used in the Wheel-lock). However, the term is usually used to refer exclusively to the Scandinavian, German, and Russian varieties of lock. The early Snaplock had a manually operated pan cover similar to that of the Matchlock. Later Snaplocks had a combined steel/pan cover like that of the Flintlock. Generally, no safety mechanism was fitted to the Snaplock, although some types had an external hook fitted to the lock plate which could engage the end of the cock preventing the gun from firing. Alternately, in the early models with a separate pan cover, the steel could be swung out of the path of the flint until just before firing.
The Snaplock was used from the late 1540s until modern times (in Scandinavia and Russia), but by about 1640 it was out of fashion almost everywhere else. Regional varieties include the Baltic Lock, the Russian Snaplock, the Roman Lock, and the Spanish Snaplock or Agujeta Lock. The Snaplock had a reputation for being a crude and unsafe peasant's weapon, but it was cheap and easy to produce. The Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus had many matchlock muskets converted to snaplocks during his military reforms.
See also
External links
- [Baltic lock diagram (in Spanish)]
- [Magnus Wiberg - Snaplock maker]
- [The Rifle Shoppe -Reproduction Snaplock parts]
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