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Firearms represent the culmination of man's efforts to disable his adversary in combat at a distance. The sling was probably the first weapon used for discharging missiles, but its origin is lost in history, although the biblical story of David and Goliath portrays the effectiveness of the sling as a weapon.
A form of long bow was invented around the same time. The long bow followed by the crossbow remained the principle missile launching weapons up to the time the gun took over.
The composition of gun powder was first recorded by Roger Bacon in 1248: whilst its first application to the propulsion of missiles is generally attributed to Bernard Schwarz, a German monk who lived in the 14th Century. The first use in Europe is thought to be in the year 1346, the same year as the battle of Crecy. Small arms were introduced into the English Army in the year 1471 and were called Matchlock Muskets. These weapons were smooth bore muzzle loaders. 'Brown Bess' the famous flintlock musket was first issued as an official British Infantry Small Arm in the 1700's and remained practically unchanged until 1842. W W Greener in the 'The Gun' says - " Little was expected of Brown Bess and she did that little well".
The lock is the name of the firing mechanism of a weapon and should not be confused with the breech locking system which closes the rear end of the barrel of a breech loading weapon. Although there have been a number of variations the lock has evolved through six main stages: cannon lock, match lock, wheel lock, flint lock, percussion lock and the centre fire cartridge.
The cannon lock is the earliest known ignition system which survived on artillery pieces long after hand guns were fitted with more advanced locks. There is no form of mechanism in this type of lock. After the weapon had been loaded by ramming powder, shot and wad into the barrel, priming powder was placed into a touch hole at the rear of the barrel and ignited by means of a piece of smouldering tow or wood. It is possible that the first small arms were small portable cannon fitted with a wooden staff and rested on a forked stick. During the 15th Century a great diversity of these weapons were developed. They became smaller and handier and were sometimes mounted in battle axes and maces. The cannon locks were obviously vulnerable to weather and the weapons were difficult to aim and slow to load and discharge.
The first reliable description of a match-lock occurs in the early 15th Century. It retained the same means of ignition as the cannon-lock but utilised a mechanical means of applying the burning match to the touch hole. The match was secured in a curved arm and pressure on a lever beneath the butt stock would cause the arm to rotate forward and plunge the match into the primed touch hole, This was a great step forward for now two hands were free to hold and steady the weapons. The next refinement was to improve the arm or 'serpentine' as it was called, by spring loading it and arranging a trigger and trigger release so that it moved forward into the pan and backward away from the pan by mechanical means.
The touch hole was improved by forming a pan to contain the priming powder and this pan was provided with a hinged cover to prevent the priming from getting wet or blowing away prior to ignition. It was at this period that a certain amount of experiment was made with both rifling and breech loading methods, but did not meet with much success.
It is generally believed that the wheel-lock was invented about 1517 in Nuremburg. Leonardo da Vinci wrote a description of it and claims to have fired it. All early specimens are of German manufacture. The mechanism was similar in principle to the modern mechanical petrol cigarette lighter. A serrated steel wheel was mounted near the flash pan, and a piece of iron pyrites fixed in a clamp was pressed against the periphery of the wheel. A spring was attached to the shaft of the wheel and a key was supplied to wind up the contraption prior to firing. The trigger secured the wheel in the wound up position. Pressure on the trigger released the wheel which revolved under the pressure of the spring and showered sparks into the priming pan. Later the pyrites were replaced by flint, but the system remained unchanged. The advantages of the wheel lock were a more positive ignition and the trigger pressure was much shorter and lighter than that of the match-lock: this was of great assistance in the steadying and aiming of the weapon. The wheel-lock was not generally put to military use as it was expensive to make and required considerable skill in maintaining it in a serviceable condition.
The flint-lock was a natural development from the wheel lock and had none of its disadvantages. It was easily constructed. easy to maintain, safe to use and rugged in its construction. It first appeared in England in the first half of the 16th Century and the early form was referred to as the 'Snaphaunce'. This word probably came from the Dutch 'Snappen' to snap and 'haan' a cock. The most highly developed flint-locks included a cover to the pan which also incorporated the steel striking plate; the falling cock carried the flint in a small clamp, which simultaneously struck the steel striking plate and uncovered the pan, showering sparks down on the priming powder. It was in about 1690 when the flint-lock superseded the match-lock in the British Army. All of Marlborough's campaigns were fought with it and there was little change in it until well after Waterloo. It remained the principal system for more than 200 years. It could be aimed to hit a man at 50 yards and a trained soldier could reach a rate of fire of three shots a minute.
The Rev Alexander Forsyth, a Scottish Minister, invented the percussion method of discharging a firearm. In 1805 he built a lock mechanism using a fulminate of mercury cap as a means of igniting the charge. Research had been carried out by the French into the use of fulminates as a substitute for black powder and also ignition agents, and in 1808, Pauly from Geneva, working in Paris, did some useful work on fulminate ignition caps. The advantage of percussion ignition was immediately recognised by the majority of leading British gunsmiths and numerous types of percussion-locks were soon developed. The most common type of lock consisted of a hollow nipple screwed into the barrel on which was placed a small copper cap or pellet containing fulminate of mercury, and as the trigger was pulled the hammer rotated downwards crushing the cap. The fulminate exploded under the blow producing a flame which travelled down the hollow nipple and ignited the charge.
Conversion from flint-lock to percussion lock was a simple matter of changing the old cock with its clamp that held the flint for a slightly capped hammer and removing the flash pan and cover and replacing it with a hollow nipple. A number of British service flint-locks were converted in this manner until the percussion system became available in sufficient quantity.
The percussion lock led up to the development of the modern centre fire cartridge. The principle is the same but the cap hitherto affixed to an external nipple on the barrel, was now mounted in the base of a metal cartridge case, containing the charge and the bullet; the original separate items: charge, wad, bullet and cap, were now all combined into one unit, called a 'round'.
There was, of course, intermediate stages in cartridge development. In 1846 an efficient cartridge was developed whereby the charge and bullet were contained in a metal case; inside the base of this case at its rear end was located the cap; a pin which protruded from the outside of the case and internally to the cap, was struck by the hammer; this drove the pin into the cap and exploded it which in turn ignited the charge.
Rim fire cartridges were developed about the same time, but instead of having the fulminate contained in a cap inside the metal cartridge case, it was distributed around the rim of the cartridge case so that as the hammer or firing pin struck anywhere on the periphery of the base of the case. the ignition charge was fired. This system is still used on .22 inch cartridges used in small bore rifles and pistols.
The centre fire cartridge originated from an 1852 design by Charles Lancaster. His principle was different from the modern although it demonstrated the immense advantages of the centre fire system. In 1861 an improved cartridge was introduced by Daw, an English gun maker (the patent of F E Schneider of Paris). Colonel Boxer patented a modified form in which the cartridge case was made of thin sheet brass coiled up and mounted on an iron disc which formed the base. This was the 'Boxer' cartridge used in the Snider rifle.
About 1882 'solid drawn brass cases' were being manufactured instead of the built-up case, and in 1870 Colonel Hiram Berdan of the US Ordnance Department introduced a solid drawn brass bottle-necked cartridge with the head of the case thickened to contain a recess known as the cap chamber, which formed an integral nipple in the centre acting as an anvil and a flash hole drilled on either side. The manufacture of the cap chamber is a simple punching process. Today a rather odd situation exists with Britain using the American Berdan cap chamber, and the USA preferring the Boxer cap with a separate component for an anvil and a single central fire hole.
Matchlocks in the Collection
Flintlocks in the Collection
Percussion Locks in the Collection
Percussion Lock and Early Breechloading
Rifles in the Collection
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Page produced by Peter Eldred - Last updated 3 August 2004