![Musee-historique-lausanne-img 0086](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Musee-historique-lausanne-img_0086.jpg)
Flintlock is a general term for any
firearm
A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions).
The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes ...
that uses a
flint
Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and start fir ...
-striking
ignition mechanism, the first of which appeared in
Western Europe
Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context.
The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...
in the early 16th century. The term may also apply to a particular form of the mechanism itself, also known as the ''
true flintlock'', that was introduced in the early 17th century, and gradually replaced earlier firearm-ignition technologies, such as the
matchlock
A matchlock or firelock is a historical type of firearm wherein the gunpowder is ignited by a burning piece of rope that is touched to the gunpowder by a mechanism that the musketeer activates by pulling a lever or trigger with his finger. Before ...
, the
wheellock
A wheellock, wheel-lock or wheel lock is a friction-wheel mechanism which creates a spark that causes a firearm to fire. It was the next major development in firearms technology after the matchlock and the first self-igniting firearm. Its name is ...
, and the earlier flintlock mechanisms such as
snaplock
A snaplock is a type of lock for firing a gun or is a gun fired by such a lock.
A snaplock ignites the (usually muzzle-loading) weapon's propellant by means of sparks produced when a spring-powered cock strikes a flint down on to a piece of harde ...
and
snaphaunce
Swedish snaphance guns from the mid 17th century
A snaphance or snaphaunce is a type of firearm lock in which a flint struck against a striker plate above a steel pan ignites the priming powder which fires the gun. It is the mechanical progressio ...
.
The true flintlock continued to be in common use for over two centuries, replaced by
percussion cap
The percussion cap or percussion primer, introduced in the early 1820s, is a type of single-use percussion ignition device for muzzle loader firearm locks enabling them to fire reliably in any weather condition. This crucial invention gave rise t ...
and, later, the
cartridge-based systems in the early-to-mid 19th century. Although long superseded by modern firearms, flintlock weapons enjoy continuing popularity with
black-powder shooting enthusiasts.
History
French court gunsmith
Marin le Bourgeoys
Marin le Bourgeoys (c. 1550–1634) was a French artist and inventor, known for inventing a flintlock mechanism that was used in firearms for over two centuries.
Life
Marin le Bourgeoys was born into a noted artisan family in Lisieux, in Normandy ...
made a
firearm
A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions).
The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes ...
incorporating a flintlock mechanism for King
Louis XIII
Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown ...
shortly after his accession to the throne in 1610. However, firearms using some form of flint ignition mechanism had already been in use for over half a century. The first proto-flintlock was the snaplock, which was probably invented shortly before 1517 and was inarguably in use by 1547.
[Arne Hoff. “What do we Really Know About the Snaphaunce?”. The American Society of Arms Collectors Bulletin, No. 22, (1970) pp. 11- 18]
Transcript
Their cost and delicacy limited their use; for example around 1662, only 1 in 6 firearms used by the British royal army was a snaphaunce, the rest being matchlocks.
[Christopher L. Scott. "The Maligned Militia The West Country Militia of the Monmouth Rebellion, 1685." Taylor and Francis: March 2016. Page 186.] The development of firearm lock mechanisms had proceeded from the
matchlock
A matchlock or firelock is a historical type of firearm wherein the gunpowder is ignited by a burning piece of rope that is touched to the gunpowder by a mechanism that the musketeer activates by pulling a lever or trigger with his finger. Before ...
to
wheellock
A wheellock, wheel-lock or wheel lock is a friction-wheel mechanism which creates a spark that causes a firearm to fire. It was the next major development in firearms technology after the matchlock and the first self-igniting firearm. Its name is ...
to the earlier flintlocks (
snaplock
A snaplock is a type of lock for firing a gun or is a gun fired by such a lock.
A snaplock ignites the (usually muzzle-loading) weapon's propellant by means of sparks produced when a spring-powered cock strikes a flint down on to a piece of harde ...
,
snaphance
Swedish snaphance guns from the mid 17th century
A snaphance or snaphaunce is a type of firearm lock in which a flint struck against a striker plate above a steel pan ignites the priming powder which fires the gun. It is the mechanical progressio ...
,
miquelet
Miquelet lock is a modern term used by collectors and curators for a type of firing mechanism used in muskets and pistols. It is a distinctive form of snaplock, originally as a flint-against-steel ignition form, once prevalent in the Spanish, ...
, and
doglock
A doglock is a type of lock for firearms that preceded the 'true' flintlock in rifles, muskets, and pistols in the 17th century. Commonly used throughout Europe in the late seventeenth century, it gained popular favor in the British and Dutch ...
) in the previous two centuries, and each type had been an improvement, contributing design features to later firearms which were useful. Le Bourgeoys fitted these various features together to create what became known as ''the'' flintlock or ''true'' flintlock.
Flintlock firearms of various types were in use by elite infantry, scouts, artillery guards, and private individuals in European armies throughout most of the 16th and 17th centuries, though matchlocks continued to overwhelmingly outnumber them. The early Dutch States Army used flintlocks on an unusually large scale, issuing snaphances to its infantry in the 1620s and true flintlocks by 1640. While it is known that the Dutch were the first power to adopt the flintlock as the standard infantry weapon, the exact chronology of the transition is uncertain.
The new flintlock system quickly became popular and was known and used in various forms throughout Europe by 1630, although older flintlock systems continued to be used for some time. Examples of early flintlock muskets can be seen in the painting "Marie de' Medici as Bellona" by
Rubens
Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque traditio ...
(painted around 1622-25). These flintlocks were in use alongside older firearms such as matchlocks, wheellocks, and miquelet locks for nearly a hundred years. The last major European power to standardize the flintlock was the Holy Roman Empire, when in 1702 the Emperor instituted a new regulation that all matchlocks were to be converted or scrapped.
[Hochedelinger, Michael. "Austria's Wars of Emergence, 1683-1797." Taylor and Francis: 2015. Page 127.] The "true" flintlock was less expensive to manufacture than earlier flintlocks, which along with general economic development allowed every European soldier to have one by the 18th century. Compared to the earlier matchlock, flintlocks could be reloaded roughly twice as fast, misfired far less often, and were easier to use in various environments due to the fact that they did not require a lit match. This instantly changed the calculus of infantry combat; by one calculation, a formation equipped entirely with flintlocks (with paper cartridges) could output ten times as many shots in an equivalent period of time as a typical early 17th-century pike and shot formation equipped with matchlocks (pike:shot ratio of 3:2).
[Philip T. Hoffman. "Why Did Europe Conquer the World?". Princeton University Press: January 2017. Pages 56-58. The assumed ratio was 3:2 pikes to muskets.]
Various breech-loading flintlocks were developed starting around 1650. The most popular action has a barrel that was unscrewed from the rest of the gun. This is more practical on pistols because of the shorter barrel length. This type is known as a
Queen Anne pistol
Queen Anne pistols are a type of breech-loading flintlock pistol known as a turn-off pistol, in which the chamber is filled from the front and accessed by unscrewing the barrel. Another distinguishing feature of the design is that the lock-plate ...
because it was during
her reign that it became popular (although it was actually introduced in the reign of King
William III William III or William the Third may refer to:
Kings
* William III of Sicily (c. 1186–c. 1198)
* William III of England and Ireland or William III of Orange or William II of Scotland (1650–1702)
* William III of the Netherlands and Luxembourg ...
). Another type has a removable screw plug set into the side or top or bottom of the barrel. A large number of sporting rifles were made with this system, as it allowed easier loading compared with muzzle loading with a tight-fitting bullet and patch.
One of the more successful was the system built by Isaac de la Chaumette starting in 1704. The barrel could be opened by 3 revolutions of the triggerguard, to which it was attached. The plug stayed attached to the barrel and the ball and powder were loaded from the top. This system was improved in the 1770s by Colonel
Patrick Ferguson
Patrick Ferguson (1744 – 7 October 1780) was a Scottish officer in the British Army, an early advocate of light infantry and the designer of the Ferguson rifle. He is best known for his service in the 1780 military campaign of Charles C ...
and 100 experimental rifles used in the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
. The only two flintlock breech loaders to be produced in quantity were the Hall and the Crespi. The first was invented by
John Hall John Hall may refer to:
Academics
* John Hall (NYU President) (fl. c. 1890), American academic
* John A. Hall (born 1949), sociology professor at McGill University, Montreal
* John F. Hall (born 1951), professor of classics at Brigham Young Unive ...
and patented c. 1817. It was issued to the U.S. Army as the
Model 1819 Hall Breech Loading Rifle.
The Hall rifles and carbines were loaded using a combustible
paper cartridge
A paper cartridge is one of various types of small arms ammunition used before the advent of the metallic cartridge. These cartridges consisted of a paper cylinder or cone containing the bullet, gunpowder, and in some cases, a primer or a lubri ...
inserted into the upward tilting breechblock. Hall rifles leaked gas from the often poorly fitted action. The same problem affected the muskets produced by Giuseppe Crespi and adopted by the Austrian Army in 1771. Nonetheless, the Crespi System was experimented with by the British during the
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
, and percussion Halls guns saw service in the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
.
Flintlock weapons were commonly used until the mid 19th century, when they were replaced by
percussion lock
The percussion cap or percussion primer, introduced in the early 1820s, is a type of single-use percussion ignition device for muzzle loader firearm locks enabling them to fire reliably in any weather condition. This crucial invention gave rise ...
systems. Even though they have long been considered obsolete, flintlock weapons continue to be produced today by manufacturers such as Pedersoli, Euroarms, and Armi Sport. Not only are these weapons used by modern re-enactors, but they are also used for hunting, as many U.S. states have dedicated hunting seasons for black-powder weapons, which includes both flintlock and percussion lock weapons.
Even after it became dominant in Europe, the flintlock did not proliferate globally. Flintlocks were far more complicated to manufacture than simple matchlocks, thus less-developed countries continued to use the latter into the mid 19th century, long after Europe had made the switch in the late 17th. In the
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...
, the natively-manufactured
toradar
A toradar is a South Asian matchlock primarily found in the Mughal Empire, dating from the 16th century. It was a preferred firearm in India well until the mid-19th century because of its simple and cheap design.
History
When the Portuguese Empir ...
matchlock was the most common firearm type until about 1830.
[Gahir, Sunita; Spencer, Sharon, eds. (2006). "Weapon - A Visual History of Arms and Armor". New York City: DK Publishing. Page 260.] The
Sinhalese Kingdom
The Sinhala Kingdom or Sinhalese Kingdom refers to the successive Sinhalese kingdoms that existed in what is today Sri Lanka. The Sinhalese kingdoms are kingdoms known by the city at which its administrative centre was located. These are in chrono ...
s locally produced flintlock mechanisms for long-barreled muskets known as the Bondikula known for its unique bifurcated butt and heavy ornamentation. These were widely used during the 17th-18th centuries. In China, some flintlocks had been acquired and illustrated by 1635, but they were not adopted by the army.
[刘旭 (2004). ''中国古代火药火器史 History of gunpowder and firearm in ancient China. 大象出版社''. p. 84. ISBN 7534730287.] An 1836 British report about the Qing dynasty's military strength noted that all Chinese firearms were "ill-made" matchlocks, with no flintlocks or any of the other "tribes of firearm."
Southeast Asia was in a similar position to China and India. The Vietnamese were introduced to flintlocks by the Dutch in the 1680s, and bought some from European merchants. Flintlocks began to appear in Javanese arsenals in the first decade of the eighteenth century and the Dutch began to supply flintlocks to the rulers of Surabaya in the 1710s and 1720s. But matchlocks remained prominent until the mid-19th century, and the Southeast Asian states generally lacked the ability to natively produce the flintlock. The
Jiaozhi arquebus
Jiaozhi arquebus (''Giao Chỉ'' arquebus or Vietnamese arquebus) refer to several type of gunpowder firearms produced historically in Vietnam. This page also include Vietnamese muskets — since the early definition of musket is "heavy arquebus". ...
was still the main firearm of
Nguyễn dynasty
The Nguyễn dynasty (chữ Nôm: 茹阮, vi, Nhà Nguyễn; chữ Hán: 阮朝, vi, Nguyễn triều) was the last Vietnamese dynasty, which ruled the unified Vietnamese state largely independently from 1802 to 1883. During its existence, ...
musketeers at the end of the 18th century. The Burmese only obtained a majority of flintlocks in their armed forces by the 1860s (the Burmese kings demanded to be paid in surplus European muskets instead of currency), at which point the European powers had already moved on to percussion cap firearms.
[Charney, Michael (2004). "Southeast Asian Warfare, 1300-1900." Page 55-56, 246.]
Subtypes
Flintlocks may be any type of
small arm
A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions).
The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes c ...
:
long gun
A long gun is a category of firearms with long barrels. In small arms, a ''long gun'' or longarm is generally designed to be held by both hands and braced against the shoulder, in contrast to a handgun, which can be fired being held with a single ...
or
pistol
A pistol is a handgun, more specifically one with the chamber integral to its gun barrel, though in common usage the two terms are often used interchangeably. The English word was introduced in , when early handguns were produced in Europe, an ...
,
smoothbore
A smoothbore weapon is one that has a barrel without rifling. Smoothbores range from handheld firearms to powerful tank guns and large artillery mortars.
History
Early firearms had smoothly bored barrels that fired projectiles without signi ...
or
rifle
A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves ( rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with ...
,
muzzleloader
A muzzleloader is any firearm into which the projectile and the propellant charge is loaded from the muzzle of the gun (i.e., from the forward, open end of the gun's barrel). This is distinct from the modern (higher tech and harder to make) design ...
or
breechloader
A breechloader is a firearm in which the user loads the ammunition (cartridge or shell) via the rear (breech) end of its barrel, as opposed to a muzzleloader, which loads ammunition via the front ( muzzle).
Modern firearms are generally breech ...
.
Pistols
![Pistolet à silex Queen Anne IMG 3172](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Pistolet_%C3%A0_silex_Queen_Anne_IMG_3172.jpg)
Flintlock pistols were used as self-defense weapons and as a military arm. Their effective range was short, and they were frequently used as an adjunct to a
sword
A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...
or
cutlass
A cutlass is a short, broad sabre or slashing sword, with a straight or slightly curved blade sharpened on the cutting edge, and a hilt often featuring a solid cupped or basket-shaped guard. It was a common naval weapon during the early Age of ...
. Pistols were usually smoothbore although some rifled pistols were produced.
Flintlock pistols came in a variety of sizes and styles which often overlap and are not well defined, many of the names we use having been applied by collectors and dealers long after the pistols were obsolete. The smallest were less than long and the largest were over . From around the beginning of the 1700s the larger pistols got shorter, so that by the late 1700s the largest would be more like long. The smallest would fit into a typical pocket or a hand warming muff and could easily be carried by women.
The largest sizes would be carried in holsters across a horse's back just ahead of the saddle. In-between sizes included the coat pocket pistol, or coat pistol, which would fit into a large pocket, the coach pistol, meant to be carried on or under the seat of a coach in a bag or box, and belt pistols, sometimes equipped with a hook designed to slip over a belt or waistband. Larger pistols were called horse pistols. Arguably the most elegant of the pistol designs was the
Queen Anne pistol
Queen Anne pistols are a type of breech-loading flintlock pistol known as a turn-off pistol, in which the chamber is filled from the front and accessed by unscrewing the barrel. Another distinguishing feature of the design is that the lock-plate ...
, which was made in all sizes.
Probably the high point of the mechanical development of the flintlock pistol was the British
duelling pistol
A duelling pistol is a type of pistol that was manufactured in matching pairs to be used in a duel, when duels were customary. Duelling pistols are often single-shot flintlock or percussion black-powder pistols which fire a lead ball. Not all fin ...
; it was highly reliable, water resistant and accurate. External decoration was minimal but craftsmanship was evident, and the internal works were often finished to a higher degree of craftsmanship than the exterior. Dueling pistols were the size of the horse pistols of the late 1700s, around long and were usually sold in pairs along with accessories in a wooden case with compartments for each piece.
Muskets
Flintlock
muskets
A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually dis ...
were the mainstay of European
armies
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
between 1660 and 1840. A musket was a muzzle-loading smoothbore long gun that was loaded with a round lead ball, but it could also be loaded with
shot
Shot may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Shot'' (album), by The Jesus Lizard
*''Shot, Illusion, New God'', an EP by Gruntruck
*''Shot Rev 2.0'', a video album by The Sisters of Mercy
* "Shot" (song), by The Rasmus
* ''Shot'' (2017 fi ...
for
hunting
Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...
. For military purposes, the weapon was loaded with ball, or a mixture of ball with several large shot (called
buck and ball
Buck and ball was a common load for muzzle-loading muskets, and was frequently used in the American Revolutionary War and into the early days of the American Civil War. The load usually consisted of a .50 to .75 caliber round lead musket ball tha ...
), and had an effective range of about 75 to 100 metres. Smoothbore weapons that were designed for hunting birds were called "fowlers." Flintlock muskets tended to be of large caliber and usually had no
choke, allowing them to fire full-caliber balls.
Military flintlock muskets tended to weigh approximately ten pounds, as heavier weapons were found to be too cumbersome, and lighter weapons were not rugged or heavy enough to be used in hand-to-hand combat. They were usually designed to be fitted with a bayonet. On flintlocks, the bayonet played a fairly insignificant role - casualty lists from several battles in the 18th century showed that fewer than 2% of wounds were caused by bayonets.
Antoine-Henri Jomini
Antoine-Henri Jomini (; 6 March 177922 March 1869) was a Swiss military officer who served as a general in French and later in Russian service, and one of the most celebrated writers on the Napoleonic art of war. Jomini's ideas are a staple at ...
, a celebrated military author of the
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
ic period who served in numerous armies during that period, stated that the majority of bayonet
charge
Charge or charged may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Charge, Zero Emissions/Maximum Speed'', a 2011 documentary
Music
* ''Charge'' (David Ford album)
* ''Charge'' (Machel Montano album)
* ''Charge!!'', an album by The Aqua ...
s in the open resulted with one side fleeing before any contacts were made. Flintlock weapons were not used like modern rifles. They tended to be fired in mass volleys, followed by bayonet charges in which the weapons were used much like the pikes that they replaced. Because they were also used as pikes, military flintlocks tended to be approximately in length (without the bayonet attached), and used bayonets that were approximately in length.
Rifles
In Germany the
jäger rifle was developed by the late 18th century. It was used for hunting, and in a military context, skirmishing and by specialist marksmen.
In the United States, the small game hunting
long rifle
The long rifle, also known as the longrifle, Kentucky rifle, Pennsylvania rifle, or American longrifle, a muzzle-loading firearm used for hunting and warfare, was one of the first commonly-used rifles. The American rifle was characterized by a ...
("Pennsylvania rifle" or "Kentucky rifle") was developed in southeastern Pennsylvania in the early 1700s. Based on the Jäger rifle, but with a much longer barrel, these were exceptionally accurate for their time, and had an effective range of approximately 250 meters. They tended to fire smaller caliber rounds, with calibers in the range of .32 to .45 being common - hence being sometimes referred to as a "pea rifle".
The
jezail
The jezail or ''jezzail'' ( ps, جزائل, ultimately from the plural form ar, جزایل, "long arrels) is a simple, cost-efficient and often handmade long arm commonly used in South Asia and parts of the Middle East in the past. It was popula ...
was a military long flintlock rifle, developed and popular throughout
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
, India,
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
and parts of the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
.
However, while European military tactics remained based on loosely-aimed mass volleys, most of their flintlocks were still smoothbore - as the spiral grooves of rifling made rifles take more time to load, and after repeated shots
black powder
Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). Th ...
tended to foul the barrels.
Rifled flintlocks saw most military use by sharpshooters, skirmishers, and other support units. While by the late 18th century there were increasing efforts to take advantage of the rifle for military purposes, with specialist rifle units such as the
King's Royal Rifle Corps
The King's Royal Rifle Corps was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army that was originally raised in British North America as the Royal American Regiment during the phase of the Seven Years' War in North America known in the United St ...
of 1756 and
Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own)
The Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own) was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army formed in January 1800 as the "Experimental Corps of Riflemen" to provide sharpshooters, scouts, and skirmishers. They were soon renamed the "Rifle ...
, smoothbores predominated until the advent of the
Minié ball
The Minié ball or Minie ball, is a type of hollow-based bullet designed by Claude-Étienne Minié, inventor of the French Minié rifle, for muzzle-loading rifled muskets. It was invented in 1847 and came to prominence in the Crimean War and ...
– by which time the
percussion cap
The percussion cap or percussion primer, introduced in the early 1820s, is a type of single-use percussion ignition device for muzzle loader firearm locks enabling them to fire reliably in any weather condition. This crucial invention gave rise t ...
had made the flintlock obsolete.
Multishot flintlock weapons
Multiple barrels
Because of the time needed to reload (even experts needed 15 seconds to reload a smooth-bore, muzzle-loading musket), flintlocks were sometimes produced with two, three, four or more barrels for multiple shots. These designs tended to be costly to make and were often unreliable and dangerous. While weapons like double barreled shotguns were reasonably safe, weapons like the
pepperbox revolver
The pepper-box revolver or simply pepperbox (also "pepper-pot", from its resemblance to the household pepper shakers) is a multiple-barrel firearm, mostly in the form of a handgun, that has three or more gun barrels in a coaxially revolving me ...
would sometimes fire all barrels simultaneously, or would sometimes just explode in the user's hand. It was often less expensive, safer, and more reliable to carry several single-shot weapons instead.
Single barrel
Some repeater rifles, multishot single barrel pistols, and multishot single barrel revolvers were also made. Notable are the
Puckle gun
The Puckle gun (also known as the defence gun) was a primitive crew-served, manually-operated flintlock revolver patented in 1718 by James Puckle (1667–1724), a British inventor, lawyer and writer. It was one of the earliest weapons to be ref ...
,
Mortimer
Mortimer () is an English surname, and occasionally a given name.
Norman origins
The surname Mortimer has a Norman origin, deriving from the village of Mortemer, Seine-Maritime, Normandy. A Norman castle existed at Mortemer from an early point; ...
, Kalthoff, Michele Lorenzoni,
Abraham Hill
Abraham Hill Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (19 April 1633 in London – 5 February 1721) was a British merchant.
Life
Hill was baptised on 16 June 1635 at St Dionis Backchurch, London. His father, Richard Hill, a merchantElisha Collier revolver
Elisha Haydon Collier (1788–1856) of Boston, USA, invented a flintlock revolver around 1814. His weapon is one of the earliest true revolvers, in contrast to the earlier pepperboxes which were multi-barreled guns. Collier's revolver was not self ...
.
Drawbacks
Flintlocks were prone to many problems compared to modern weapons. Misfires were common. The flint had to be properly maintained, as a dull or poorly
knapped
Knapping is the shaping of flint, chert, obsidian, or other conchoidal fracturing stone through the process of lithic reduction to manufacture stone tools, strikers for flintlock firearms, or to produce flat-faced stones for building or facing w ...
piece of flint would not make as much of a spark and would increase the misfire rate dramatically. Moisture was a problem, since moisture on the frizzen or damp powder would prevent the weapon from firing. This meant that flintlock weapons could not be used in rainy or damp weather. Some armies attempted to remedy this by using a leather cover over the lock mechanism, but this proved to have only limited success.
Accidental firing was also a problem for flintlocks. A burning ember left in the barrel could ignite the next powder charge as it was loaded. This could be avoided by waiting between shots for any leftover residue to completely burn. Running a lubricated cleaning patch down the barrel with the ramrod would also extinguish any embers, and would clean out some of the barrel fouling as well. Soldiers on the battlefield could not take these precautions though. They had to fire as quickly as possible, often firing three to four rounds per minute. Loading and firing at such a pace dramatically increased the risk of an accidental discharge.
When a flintlock was fired it sprayed a shower of sparks forwards from the muzzle and another sideways out of the flash-hole. One reason for firing in volleys was to ensure that one man's sparks didn't ignite the next man's powder as he was in the act of loading.
An accidental frizzen strike could also ignite the main powder charge, even if the pan had not yet been primed. Some modern flintlock users will still place a leather cover over the frizzen while loading as a safety measure to prevent this from happening. However, this does slow down the loading time, which prevented safety practices such as this from being used on the battlefields of the past.
The black powder used in flintlocks would quickly foul the barrel, which was a problem for rifles and for smooth bore weapons that fired a tighter fitting round for greater accuracy. Each shot would add more fouling to the barrel, making the weapon more and more difficult to load. Even if the barrel was badly fouled, the flintlock user still had to properly seat the round all the way to the breech of the barrel. Leaving an air gap in between the powder and the round (known as "short starting") was very dangerous, and could cause the barrel to explode.
Handling loose black powder was also dangerous, for obvious reasons. Powder measures, funnels, and other pieces of equipment were usually made out of brass to reduce the risk of creating a spark, which could ignite the powder. Soldiers often used pre-made "cartridges", which unlike modern cartridges were not inserted whole into the weapon. Instead, they were tubes of paper that contained a pre-measured amount of powder and a lead ball. Although paper cartridges were safer to handle than loose powder, their primary purpose was not safety related at all. Instead, paper cartridges were used mainly because they sped up the loading process. A soldier did not have to take the time to measure out powder when using a paper cartridge. He simply tore open the cartridge, used a small amount of powder to prime the pan, then dumped the remaining powder from the cartridge into the barrel.
The black powder used in flintlocks contained sulfur. If the weapon was not cleaned after use, the powder residue would absorb moisture from the air and would combine it with the sulfur to produce sulfuric and sulfonic acids. These acids would erode the inside of the gun barrel and the lock mechanism. Flintlock weapons that were not properly cleaned and maintained would corrode to the point of being destroyed.
Most flintlocks were produced at a time before modern manufacturing processes became common. Even in mass-produced weapons, parts were often handmade. If a flintlock became damaged, or parts wore out due to age, the damaged parts were not easily replaced. Parts would often have to be filed down, hammered into shape, or otherwise modified so that they would fit, making repairs much more difficult. Machine-made,
interchangeable parts
Interchangeable parts are parts ( components) that are identical for practical purposes. They are made to specifications that ensure that they are so nearly identical that they will fit into any assembly of the same type. One such part can freely r ...
began to be used only shortly before flintlocks were replaced by caplocks.
Method of operation
![Flintlock ignition movie](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Flintlock_ignition_movie.gif)
* A cock (
hammer
A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nails into wood, to shape metal (as w ...
) tightly holding a sharp piece of
flint
Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and start fir ...
is rotated to
half-cock
Half-cock is when the position of the hammer of a firearm is partially—but not completely—cocked. Many firearms, particularly older firearms, had a notch cut into the hammer allowing half-cock, as this position would neither allow the gun to ...
, where the
sear
The Sahar Elevated Access Road, abbreviated to SEAR, is a dedicated, elevated, express access road in Mumbai that connects the Western Express Highway (WEH) near Hanuman Nagar junction in Vile Parle, with the forecourts of Terminal T2 of the C ...
falls into a
safety notch on the tumbler, preventing an accidental discharge.
* The operator loads the gun, usually from the muzzle end, with
black powder
Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). Th ...
from a
powder flask
A powder flask is a small container for gunpowder, which was an essential part of shooting equipment with muzzle-loading guns, before pre-made paper cartridges became standard in the 19th century. They range from very elaborately decorated works o ...
, followed by
lead shot
Shot is a collective term for small spheres or pellets, often made of lead. These were the original projectiles for shotguns and are still fired primarily from shotguns and less commonly from riot guns and grenade launchers, although shot shells ...
, a round lead ball, usually wrapped in a piece of paper or a cloth patch, all rammed down with a
ramrod
A ramrod (or scouring stick) is a metal or wooden device used with muzzleloading firearms to push the projectile up against the propellant (mainly blackpowder). The ramrod was used with weapons such as muskets and cannons and was usually held i ...
that is usually stored on the underside of the barrel. Wadding between the charge and the ball was often used in earlier guns.
* The flash pan is primed with a small amount of very finely ground gunpowder, and the flashpan lid or frizzen is closed.
The gun is now in a "primed and loaded" state, and this is how it would typically be carried while
hunting
Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...
or if going into battle.
To fire:
* The cock is further rotated from
half-cock
Half-cock is when the position of the hammer of a firearm is partially—but not completely—cocked. Many firearms, particularly older firearms, had a notch cut into the hammer allowing half-cock, as this position would neither allow the gun to ...
to full-cock, releasing the
safety lock on the cock.
* The gun is leveled and the trigger is pulled, releasing the cock holding the flint.
* The flint strikes the
frizzen
The frizzen, historically called the "hammer" or the steel,This may appear anomalous since, in later firearm designs (e.g. percussion locks), the component operating in the same manner as the ''cock'' is called the hammer. is an "L"-shaped piece of ...
, a piece of steel on the priming pan lid, opening it and exposing the priming powder.
* The contact between flint and frizzen produces a shower of sparks (burning pieces of the metal) that is directed into the gunpowder in the flashpan.
* The powder ignites, and the flash passes through a small hole in the barrel (called a vent or
touchhole
A touch hole, also called a vent, is a small hole at the rear (breech) portion of the barrel of a muzzleloading gun or cannon. The hole provides external access of an ignition spark into the breech chamber of the barrel (where the combustion of ...
) that leads to the combustion chamber where it ignites the main powder charge, and the gun discharges.
The British Army and the Continental Army both used
paper cartridge
A paper cartridge is one of various types of small arms ammunition used before the advent of the metallic cartridge. These cartridges consisted of a paper cylinder or cone containing the bullet, gunpowder, and in some cases, a primer or a lubri ...
s to load their weapons. The powder charge and ball were instantly available to the soldier inside this small paper envelope. To load a flintlock weapon using a paper cartridge, a soldier would
* move the cock to the half-cock position;
* tear the cartridge open with his teeth;
* fill the flashpan half-full with powder, directing it toward the vent;
* close the frizzen to keep the priming charge in the pan;
* pour the rest of the powder down the muzzle and stuff the cartridge in after it;
* take out the ramrod and ram the ball and cartridge all the way to the breech;
* replace the ramrod;
* shoulder the weapon.
The weapon can then be fully cocked and fired.
Cultural impact
Firearms using some form of flintlock mechanism were the main form of firearm for over 200 years. It was not until
Reverend Alexander John Forsyth invented a rudimentary
percussion cap
The percussion cap or percussion primer, introduced in the early 1820s, is a type of single-use percussion ignition device for muzzle loader firearm locks enabling them to fire reliably in any weather condition. This crucial invention gave rise t ...
system in 1807 that the flintlock system began to decline in popularity. The percussion ignition system was more weatherproof and reliable than the flintlock, but the transition from flintlock to percussion cap was a slow one, and the percussion system was not widely used until around 1830. The
Model 1840 U.S. musket was the last flintlock firearm produced for the U.S. military.
[Flayderman, 1998] However, obsolete flintlocks saw action in the earliest days of the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
. For example, in 1861, the Army of Tennessee had over 2,000 flintlock muskets in service.
As a result of the flintlock's long active life, it left lasting marks on the language and on drill and
parade
A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...
. Terms such as: "
lock, stock and barrel
"Lock, stock, and barrel" is a merism used predominantly in the United Kingdom and North America, meaning "all", "total" or "everything". It derives from the effective portions of a gun: the lock, the stock, and the barrel.
History
The term wa ...
", "
going off half-cocked" and "
flash in the pan" remain current in English. In addition, the weapon positions and
drill commands
Drill commands are generally used with a group that is marching, most often in military foot drills or in a marching band. Drill commands are usually heard in major events involving service personnel, reservists and veterans of a country's arm ...
that were originally devised to standardize carrying, loading and firing a flintlock weapon remain the standard for drill and display (see
manual of arms A manual of arms was an instruction book for handling and using weapons in formation, whether in the field or on parade. Such manuals were especially important in the matchlock and flintlock eras, when loading and firing was a complex and lengthy ...
).
Image:FlintlockFiring.jpg, A flintlock musket
A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually d ...
being fired
Image:Musket.jpg, Reproduction flintlock musket detail
Image:Flintlock5892.jpg, Flintlock firearm ignition sequence
See also
*
Matchlock
A matchlock or firelock is a historical type of firearm wherein the gunpowder is ignited by a burning piece of rope that is touched to the gunpowder by a mechanism that the musketeer activates by pulling a lever or trigger with his finger. Before ...
*
Wheellock
A wheellock, wheel-lock or wheel lock is a friction-wheel mechanism which creates a spark that causes a firearm to fire. It was the next major development in firearms technology after the matchlock and the first self-igniting firearm. Its name is ...
*
Caplock
The percussion cap or percussion primer, introduced in the early 1820s, is a type of single-use percussion ignition device for muzzle loader firearm locks enabling them to fire reliably in any weather condition. This crucial invention gave rise t ...
*
Snaplock
A snaplock is a type of lock for firing a gun or is a gun fired by such a lock.
A snaplock ignites the (usually muzzle-loading) weapon's propellant by means of sparks produced when a spring-powered cock strikes a flint down on to a piece of harde ...
*
Snaphance
Swedish snaphance guns from the mid 17th century
A snaphance or snaphaunce is a type of firearm lock in which a flint struck against a striker plate above a steel pan ignites the priming powder which fires the gun. It is the mechanical progressio ...
*
Miquelet
Miquelet lock is a modern term used by collectors and curators for a type of firing mechanism used in muskets and pistols. It is a distinctive form of snaplock, originally as a flint-against-steel ignition form, once prevalent in the Spanish, ...
*
Doglock
A doglock is a type of lock for firearms that preceded the 'true' flintlock in rifles, muskets, and pistols in the 17th century. Commonly used throughout Europe in the late seventeenth century, it gained popular favor in the British and Dutch ...
*
Blunderbuss
The blunderbuss is a firearm with a short, large caliber barrel which is flared at the muzzle and frequently throughout the entire bore, and used with shot and other projectiles of relevant quantity or caliber. The blunderbuss is commonly consid ...
*
Queen Anne pistol
Queen Anne pistols are a type of breech-loading flintlock pistol known as a turn-off pistol, in which the chamber is filled from the front and accessed by unscrewing the barrel. Another distinguishing feature of the design is that the lock-plate ...
*
Boyer rifle
*
Hand cannon
The hand cannon (Chinese: 手 銃 ''shŏuchòng'', or 火 銃 ''huŏchòng''), also known as the gonne or handgonne, is the first true firearm and the successor of the fire lance. It is the oldest type of small arms as well as the most mecha ...
*
Dane gun
The Dane gun was originally a type of long-barreled flintlock musket imported into West Africa by Dano-Norwegian traders prior to the mid-19th century. The term is now used chiefly by Europeans living along the west African coast to generally desc ...
Notes
Bibliography
*''Flayderman's Guide to Antique Firearms and Their Values'' 7th Edition, by Norm Flayderman 1998 Krause Publications ,
* Blackmore, Howard L., Guns and Rifles of the World. Viking Press, New York, 1965
* Blair, Claude, Pistols of the World. Viking Press, New York, 1968
* Lenk, Torsten, The Flintlock: its origin and development, translation by Urquhart, G.A., edited by Hayward, J.F. Bramwell House, New York 1965
External links
Flintlocks used in the War of 1812A commercial site but has excellent historical information on over 30 different models of flintlocks from the 17th and 18th centuries. Nations covered: France, Germany, United Kingdom, and United States.
Firearms from the collections of the Prince of Liechtenstein an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on flintlocks
{{Early firearms
Early modern firearms
17th-century weapons
18th-century weapons
19th-century weapons
Early firearms
Firearm actions
French inventions
Multiple-barrel firearms