DIY matchlock. Matchlock
The 17th century was quite interesting from the point of view of the development of firearms. All kinds of matchlocks, wheel locks, and flintlocks were used by troops around the world. Gradual improvements in both design and production base greatly influenced the armament of armies.
Here we will try to describe the main weapon systems of 1640-1680, which could have been used by musketeers in Eastern Europe. Let's consider the three most popular systems: wick, wheel and flint-impact.
1.Matchlock
Around the end of the 15th century, the design of the matchlock acquired those features that would be characteristic of it in the future.
The structure can be divided, conditionally, into two units - a shelf and a lock. At the beginning of the century they were separated, by the end of the century they began to be combined into one structure.
Seed powder was poured onto the shelf before the shot, intended to ignite the main charge in the barrel. To prevent an accidental shot, the shelf on top was covered with a sliding lid. Before the shot, the shooter moved it away. On the shelf there was also a special shield (fireshield) - a kind of screen that protected the eyes from a flash of flame when fired. As a rule, the shelf was located directly on the trunk on the right side.
The main purpose of the lock is to ignite the seed powder on the shelf. To do this, before firing, the wick was clamped in an arc (serpent) and lowered onto an open shelf using a special mechanism. The design of the drive was very different - from the simplestS- a shaped arc, to more advanced mechanisms driven by springs.
The design itself was very simple and extremely unpretentious. This allowed it to remain in service with the European armies almost until the Northern War.
But it also had some disadvantages. The main thing is the need for the shooter to always have a lit wick with him. And the time required to install the wick on the lock before firing. If the first drawback was combated by forcing every 10th soldier to carry a lit fuse, then there was no need to talk about the suddenness of the use of weapons.
2 Wheel lock
Historians have long debated who should be considered the inventor.wheel lock. We agree on only one thing - this lock could not have been invented without a clock mechanism with numerous wheels, springs and winding keys.
The lock consisted of fifty parts, the most important of which was a gear with notches, the axis of which was connected to a spring. After the spring was cocked with a key and the trigger was pressed, the wheel spun, striking the flint with its notches, and the sparks falling from it fell onto the shelf with the seed powder.
Improving the wheel lock, The craftsmen soon equipped it with a stopper that reliably held the spring in the cocked state, and a sliding shelf cover. At the same time, a loaded weapon could be kept ready for battle for quite a long time. And fire a shot by simply pressing the trigger.
In the 17th century, locks appeared in which the spring was compressed after turning the trigger, equipped with an additional rod. And a little earlier they were equipped with a sneller, which accelerated and softened the descent.
The main disadvantage of such locks is their complexity and, accordingly, price. Therefore, only a few privileged units were supplied with wheeled weapons in sufficient quantities. And in most armies of the world they were in service only with officers. Although well-made samples served for a long time and faithfully (by the way, they were used without alterations until the 18th century).
Wheel locks allowed us to make the weapon compact. Only with the advent of this castle did it become possible to make pistols.
3 Flint-percussion lock
The next step inimproving the ignition system combat charge was the creation of a flintlock in the second half of the 16th century. Unlike the wheeled one, sparks were struck in it after one powerful blow of flint on a steel flint. It turned out to be simpler, and therefore more reliable. And here historians argue about the authorship, although most likely such a device was invented almost simultaneously in several countries. Proof of this is the existence of Dutch, Spanish, Russian, Karelian, Mediterranean, Baltic, Swedish and other varieties of it, differing in the arrangement of parts and components and the principles of their interaction.
M. le Bourget
At the beginning of the 17th century, a French gunsmithM. le Bourget combined the sliding cover of the shelf with a flint. This unit was called the battery, and the lock itself was called the battery lock (French). In addition, Le Bourget made the sear move not horizontally, as usual, but vertically, which made the descent noticeably easier. By the end of the century, such locks were produced in almost all European countries. This design lasted for about 200 years and was only superseded by pellet guns.Here we have posted a selection mainly of matchlock muskets from 1630-1700. since, most likely, mercenary troops in Eastern Europe could have been armed with such weapons.
LOCK
For muzzle-loading (i.e., loaded through the barrel) firearms, the LOCK is a device for igniting the powder charge located in the powder chamber. This device was in mechanical connection with the trigger mechanism. The following types of locks are distinguished: matchlock (XVI-XVII centuries), wheel lock (XVI-XVII bb.), flint lock (XVII-XIX bb.), capsule (XIX century) and striker lock (second half of the 19th century).
For a breech-loading weapon, the LOCK is a part that locks the barrel bore from behind and at the same time allows the trigger mechanism to fire a shot.
ENGLISH CASTLE
ENGLISH CASTLE is a flintlock developed in England in the first half of the 17th century. He retained all the main parts of the mechanism of the early hammer impact lock, primarily the trigger lever moving in a horizontal plane in the hole of the lock plate, but the cover of the powder shelf was already a single structural unit with the steel arm, thus playing a dual role. Steel armchair combined with a shelf lid (eng. hammer, battery- “trigger, battery” gave the lock its second name - “battery”), was suspended on a hinge, could move relative to the lock plate and was held in the required position by a weak V-shaped bending spring, which could be located both under the plate and on its outer side. The crosspiece rose above the shelf lid and was curved in such a way that the flint, clamped in the jaws of the trigger, could strike it to strike a sheaf of sparks. The bending spring kept the lid of the powder shelf closed until the moment of the shot, while at the same time creating sufficient resistance to the flint at the moment of impact on the gun. Then the movable cover of the shelf and the rod connecting it to the sear came out of the connection, since the trigger simultaneously opened the shelf when fired. In this regard, there was a need for a trigger safety to prevent an accidental unwanted discharge from a loaded and ready-to-fire weapon. This fuse was a recess (tooth) in the sear, which engaged with the trigger when it was necessary to set the hammer to the safety half-cock, i.e. pulled back halfway. In this position, the hammer was partially cocked, and the powder shelf remained closed. In addition to such a fuse, a certain part of the English lock had an additional one - in the form of a hook-shaped latch attached to the outer surface of the lock plate. This latch engaged a notch in the end of the hammer when it was fully cocked (thus, the shooter had to release the hammer with his thumb just before firing). Such a fuse is called a “dog-catch” in Polish, and the lock itself, which had it, is called a “dog-lock”. In later English locks, the trigger lever (still moving in a horizontal plane) did not pass through the lock plate, but could be engaged in two notches in the sear. Such a castle existed for a very short time and was supplanted by the flintlock of the French Tin.
ARAB CASTLE
ARAB CASTLE - see Flintlock.
BATTERY LOCK
BATTERY LOCK - see Flintlock and English Lock.
FORSYTH BOTTLE LOCK
FORSYTH'S BOTTLE LOCK - (from English. scent bottle lock) - a percussion type lock, invented by the English pastor A. Forsythe, who patented it in 1807. The action of the lock was based on the use of fulminate of mercury, i.e. a chemical compound capable of detonation upon impact. Forsyth's bottle lock was expensive and extremely difficult to manufacture, since perfectly equal amounts of detonating agent had to be measured from the container with each shot, which required extreme precision. A significant design flaw was that some detonating compounds severely destroyed the metal and required constant thorough cleaning of the dispenser. A rotating dispenser (called a bottle dispenser because of its shape) was mounted on a regular lock of this type. Instead of a powder shelf, there was a round plug screwed into the ignition hole of the barrel - a rounded depression in its upper part was connected to the breech. Around the plug there was a rotating magazine with a detonator, i.e. igniter, the supply of which was enough for 24 shots. Seed powder was poured inside the sliding lid; After installing the magazine in the required position, the gunpowder, under the influence of its own weight, filled the recess in the plug. After this, the magazine was rotated to its original position, and the firing pin needle was placed above the recess. After pressing the trigger, the blow of the hammer caused the primer to ignite. The entire sequence of operations had to be repeated before each shot. Some weapons of the Forsyth system were equipped with additional flint locks, which, if necessary, replaced striker locks. In such cases, the plug was not screwed into the seed hole, but was located on the locking plate. The transition from a striker lock to a flint lock was carried out simply: the fastening screws were unscrewed, one lock was removed and replaced with another. After some time, Forsythe improved the bottle lock by combining the magazine with the trigger: after cocking the latter, the magazine was located directly above the powder shelf, onto which seed powder was automatically poured.
Photo: http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/53718
DUTCH CASTLE
DUTCH CASTLE - see Dutch Castle.
SPONGE LOCK
SPONGE LOCK - see bearded hand grip.
LATCH LOCK
LATCH LOCK - an improved type of matchlock, installed on Japanese small arms from the 16th to the 19th centuries. Such a lock was made of brass, and the S-shaped trigger was cocked until it engaged with the trigger cutout. The trigger (usually in the form of a pressure plate or an elongated ball) was not in the usual place under the lock, but closer to the butt - after pressing it, the cutout released the serpentine trigger, which dropped onto the powder shelf and ignited the seed powder (for which a wick or smoldering gun was used piece of tinder).
NEEDLE LOCK
NEEDLE LOCK - a part of a breech-loading firearm that has existed since the mid-19th century. Before firing, it locks the barrel bore from behind, while at the same time allowing the firing pin needle and the trigger acting on it, i.e. parts of the weapon that are part of the firing mechanism, fire a shot.
SPANISH CASTLE
SPANISH CASTLE - see Dutch Castle, Castle among the Mediterranean.
SPANISH-MOORISH CASTLE
SPANISH-MOORIAN CASTLE - see Mediterranean Castle.
ITALIAN CASTLE, ALLA ROMANA
ITALIAN CASTLE, ALLA ROMANA - see flint castle.
CAPSULE LOCK, TRIGGER, PISTON, IMPACT
CAPSULE, TRIGGER, PISTON, IMPACT LOCK - a muzzle-loading small arms lock designed in 1820 by four inventors almost simultaneously: the Englishmen Joseph Manton and Joseph Egg, the American Joshua Shaw and the Frenchman Debuber. The invention of the cap lock was the turning point in the history of firearms, from which Western Europe and the United States began to produce modern weapons. The trigger of such a lock, mounted on the right side of the lock plate, had a massive head of a special shape with a recess (hammer), but the shape corresponded to the capsule. The capsule was placed on a nipple, which was screwed with a special key into a fire tube stand located on the right side of the barrel. Initially, this fire tube was a separate part screwed into the barrel, but in later samples it was welded to the breech of the barrel in the place of the ignition hole; the trigger hammer, striking the primer (at the bottom of which there was a thin layer of mercury fulminate), caused it to detonate, and the resulting fire penetrated through the hole in the tube to the powder charge in the chamber. After the charge was ignited, the powder gases generated by it pushed the bullet out of the barrel. The first cap locks were created on the basis of existing flintlocks, and therefore the locking plate and the mechanism mounted on it remained unchanged. Only the modified trigger, which had lost its jaws, was equipped with a hammer with a recess, the purpose of which was to prevent the uncontrolled release of fire, and therefore to protect the shooter’s eyes and hands when the primer was broken by the trigger. The advent of weapons with a capsule lock led to many changes: the possibility of the powder charge not igniting was almost completely eliminated (the proportion of such accidents dropped to 1%), the use of weapons ceased to depend on atmospheric conditions, the rate of fire and accuracy of combat increased significantly due to the rapid movement of the sheaf of fire from the capsule to the powder charge, the absence of an explosion and flame on the powder shelf (at flintlocks) made it possible to fire more calmly and carefully, the accuracy of the balls increased as a result of eliminating the need to add gunpowder to the shelf and the introduction of standardized ammunition. Finally, the cost of repairing locks has been greatly reduced.
The adoption of weapons with a cap lock initially encountered serious objections, but its advantages turned out to be undeniable, and already in the second quarter of the 19th century. this castle completely replaced its flint predecessor. The first army to be rearmed with new weapons was the Austrian, followed by the Prussian and Russian. Among the most prominent designers of capsule weapons (in addition to those mentioned earlier) were, among others: S. Krnka and A. V. Lebeda (Czech Republic), V. Augustin, J. Kontriner and Lorenz (Austria), C. Console and Bersaquiri (Italy) , Prelot, Boutet and Lepage (France), I.A.Kuchenreuther and Hahn (Germany), Marriette and P.J.Gallerbe (Belgium), D.Egg, W.Parker (Great Britain), G.Deringer and Maynard (USA ). The Polish name for the capsule lock is “kapiszonowy” from the French. capishop "cap".
BUTTON LOCK
BUTTON LOCK - (Old Polish sponge, trap, wick-button, German Luntenschnappschloss) - a late type of wick lock with a trigger driven by a separate spring, cocked into the firing position by retracting the trigger to the rear position and engaging its leg on a ledge on one from the ends of a flat spring, attached to the lock plate by means of a rounded button clamp. Pressing this button entailed the release of the stopper and, consequently, the trigger, which, under the influence of the mainspring, ignited the seed powder on the shelf. In a push-button lock, unlike classic wick locks, the trigger, instead of clamps for the wick, was equipped with a tube for a piece of smoldering tinder sponge (hence its name). A metal pin was attached under the shelf, hanging freely, for cleaning the pilot hole.
KOLESTSOVY LOCK
KOLESTSOVY LOCK (twisted, flint, German) - a lock, the invention and introduction into use of which at the beginning of the 16th century. was a serious step forward in improving the mechanism of charge ignition in small arms. For a long time it was believed that the wheel lock was the creation of the Nuremberg gunsmith Johain Kyfuss (around 1507 this hypothesis became widespread in German, and under its influence in other specialized literature), but later research revealed that Leonardo should be considered the original designer of the wheel lock da Vinci (who, among other things, worked on military machines). Evidence of this is provided by his drawings and descriptions of the wheel lock mechanism, driven by a flat U-shaped or spiral spring, found in the Codex Atlanticus, kept in the collection of the Ambrosian Library in Milan. The drawings date back to 1483 and 1499, i.e. Milanese period in the life of Leonardo da Vinci. His wheel lock design was an independent mechanism used to strike sparks. It found practical application, most likely, in 1524-1530, presumably among Italians or Germans (by the way, hence the definition of such a castle as “German”). The wheel lock was a huge achievement compared to the matchlock, but it never fully supplanted the latter. Both types of castles coexisted until the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th centuries. Due to the complexity of the design and maintenance, as well as the unreliability of the lock, in the first period of its use on weapons, wick locks were additionally mounted to it as backup (in case of failure of the mechanism due to chipping of pyrite, crumbs of which could get between the wheel and its case and cause abrasion of parts of the lock) . Often there were also examples with two wheel locks, and, as in the case of combining such a lock with a matchlock, they were mounted on both single-barreled and double-barreled weapons. Wheel locks were expensive to manufacture and difficult to maintain, which is why they were not widely used in the army. Most often they could be found in cavalry units and in guard detachments, but especially often on expensive hunting weapons. The popularity of weapons with wheel locks in the cavalry was a consequence of the ability to operate them with one hand, in contrast to the matchlock, which required both hands to use, and it was also more likely due to the ability to store a pistol ready to fire in a holster, which was excluded with a matchlock. The design of the wheel lock was based on the principle of clock winding. The main part was a washer 5-6 mm thick and approx. 47 mm, along the rim of which there were 3-4 longitudinal grooves and acute-angled transverse notches. The circle was a kind of flint, and the whole wheel, a rigidly planted or axis, driven by a spring to which it was connected by a chain, could rotate. The spring was charged by rotating the axle together with the wheel using a special key (with a quadrangular hole placed on the tetrahedral end of the axle). In the required position, the lock was blocked by a corresponding protrusion, which, being connected to the trigger, engaged with a cutout in the wheel under the action of a special spring, which kept the wheel and its spring in the cocked state. After pressing the trigger, this protrusion came out of the cutout and the wheel began to rotate quickly under the action of a cocked spring. It was attached to the locking plate in such a way that the upper section of its rim was located in a cutout in the bottom of the powder shelf. The second main element of the wheel lock was a trigger mounted on another axis, which could be raised or lowered to that part of the wheel that was adjacent to the powder shelf. Due to the fact that a flat lever and not too strong spring acted on the heel of the trigger, it could be locked in both the upper and lower positions. After cocking the spring of the wheel by rotating it and after pouring the seed powder onto the shelf, the hammer was lowered to the lower position so that the flint, clamped in its jaws, came into contact with the wheel. Rotating rapidly, the wheel rubbed against the flint, striking sparks that ignited the gunpowder on the shelf in a direction tangential to the wheel. The wheel lock, which significantly increased the efficiency and rate of fire of firearms and aiming conditions, was not without its drawbacks: the cost of its manufacture was higher than the cost of weapons with a matchlock, the design was extremely complex, the lock quickly became contaminated with combustion products (after 15-20 shots the contamination became so strong that the reliability of the weapon could no longer be relied upon). To prevent an accidental shot, a wide variety of safeties were used, which were pegs and sliders placed near the trigger leg. In the middle of the 17th century. a safety system was invented, most often in the form of a decorated button and represented by a slider that blocks the trigger pull. Maintenance of a complex single-shot wheeled weapon was not easy, and loading it in combat conditions was generally a problem, since all operations associated with it had to be performed in a strictly prescribed sequence, which was specially trained.
A necessary tool for a shooter who used a wheeled weapon was a key for cocking the lock spring (sometimes it also served as a powder flask), and there were examples of wheeled weapons whose locks were cocked not with keys, but directly with triggers.
A special type of wheel lock is the KURLYANDSKY CASTLE (see).
BOX LOCK
BOX LOCK box lock) - a flintlock mounted on a pocket weapon, where it was located on the axis of the barrel above the handle. Very often, pistols with a box lock also had a folding trigger that retracted inside the body in the absence of a trigger guard. Such a trigger moved out only when the hammer was cocked. The ignition hole was located on the upper edge of the barrel. In the same place there was also a powder shelf, made as a single unit with the barrel and from the same material, i.e. made of steel, bronze or bronze-like alloy. A characteristic feature of pocket pistols with a box lock was the flint spring, placed flush with the upper edge of the barrel, as well as the absence of a front sight - the latter circumstance made aiming from such a weapon impossible (and it was not required, since fire from such a pistol was fired only at short distances) . In many weapons with a box lock, the barrels were unscrewed, which made it possible to add gunpowder when loading and insert a bullet directly into the barrel chamber; after this, the barrel was screwed into place again (however, loading could be done in the traditional way).
FLINT LOCK, BATTERY
FLINT LOCK, BATTERY (from English. flint lock) - small arms lock. Its first versions appeared around the middle of the 16th century, according to the oldest reports in written sources. The sparks that ignite the seed powder in locks of this design were produced by striking the flint against the metal; in the back of the lock plate behind the shelf there was a trigger, in the jaws of which a piece of flint was clamped. The trigger was driven by a flat spring. In the rear position, it was locked with a tooth that passed through the lock plate and was retracted when the trigger was pressed (just like in a matchlock-trap). At the same time, the released trigger rushed forward and down with force, and the flint hit the arm - the resulting sparks ignited the seed powder poured on the shelf. The fire penetrated through the ignition hole in the breech to the main charge and the bullet, where it ignited this charge, resulting in a shot. Opinions differ regarding the origin of the flintlock. It is assumed that it could have been invented in Spain (under whose influence such locks began to be made in the Netherlands), in Germany or in Italy. The oldest example of a weapon with a flintlock dates back to 1556 and is a hakovnitsa - a serf gun with a barrel made in Nuremberg (kept in the collection of the Stockholm Livrustkammaren). Early flintlocks are divided into two groups (both with several subvariants):
1) Dutch, where the flint is a separate part with a leg resting on a two-arm spring. Thanks to this design, the flint could be moved to a position on top of the powder flange or moved to the rearmost position. The shelf is equipped with a special lid, which is moved to the side before firing manually, but sometimes opens automatically. Castles of this type existed in the 16th century. mainly in Germany, in the Scandinavian countries” in Holland, England and Scotland, and a variety of them is also in Italy (Florentine castle). Most of these locks, mainly with arcuate triggers and an internal lock spring, survive in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Russia (mostly all dating from the 17th century).
2) battery locks, having batteries, or flint, combined in a single part with the cover of the powder shelf. Castles of this type were common in Southern Europe in the 16th-17th centuries.
The oldest surviving example dates back to approximately 1580 (a second, wheeled lock is also mounted on its locking plate) and belongs to the Stolico Nazionale d'Artillera Museum in Turin. This lock, also called the Hispano-Moorish castle, is characterized by the external location of the mainspring acting on the trigger leg with its curved end. This lock is also called Mediterranean, and there are two versions: Roman (alla Romana) and Spanish (alla catalana). In the Roman version of the lock, the trigger leg was blocked by the teeth of the trigger lever, located on both sides of the leg, which made it possible to set the trigger. both in the safety half-cocking position and in the firing position, and the spring acted on the front side of the leg. In the Spanish lock, the front arcuate part of the trigger leg rested on the half-cocked tooth (when setting the safety) or on the fully cocked tooth, and the spring acted on its rear part. The Roman type of castle is called a "miquelet", but the terminology in no way indicates the place where specific castles existed, since both were widely known in all countries of southern Europe.
At the beginning of the 17th century. In France, a new type of flintlock was designed, it is sometimes called French. Probably the inventor here was the artist and gunsmith Martin le Bourgeois (d. 1634) from the town of Lisieux in Normandy. His castle was a successful combination of features characteristic of Mediterranean and Dutch castles. The trigger leg was equipped with a sear with cutouts (like a crossbow), which was influenced on one side by a mainspring, and on the other by a protrusion of the trigger lever, which had its own spring. The safety and combat hooks were cut into the sear, so that the hammer was cocked in two steps, and therefore the locking and release of the sear was carried out in a vertical plane. The entire structure was connected together by a bridge, i.e. a strip secured with screws in several places; the flint was combined with the lid of the powder shelf, just like on Mediterranean-type castles. The oldest examples of weapons with a French-style flintlock are kept in the collections of the St. Petersburg Hermitage and the Paris Army Museum. They date back to around 1610. The standardized French castle appeared around the middle of the 17th century, but it was initially met with skepticism in France, and so the French army was only rearmed with flintlock weapons in the 1660s. (the rest of the Western European armies adopted it for service at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries). The slow transition to flintlock weapons was the result of the fact that the flintlock had worse performance characteristics than its wheel and matchlock predecessors, since the trigger, which hit the flint with force when fired, caused the weapon to shake, which significantly worsened the accuracy of the battle. During the rain, the gunpowder on the shelf got wet, it could be blown away by the wind, the trigger was triggered by the lightest touch of the trigger, the igniting gunpowder on the shelf burned the shooter, the gases that appeared during the combustion of the gunpowder penetrated out through the ignition hole (which reduced the muzzle velocity of the bullet), and it exploded threads on the flint fastening screws, hammer necks cracked, etc. Too easy triggering of a weapon is not a disadvantage of an exclusively percussion flintlock, and it was in the flintlock that this problem was solved by introducing combat and safety cockings with corresponding grooves on the sear or trigger. The breakthrough of gases through the ignition hole was a disadvantage of all muzzle-loading systems. The indisputable advantage of flint weapons was their ease of maintenance. In addition, the flintlock rifle weighed much less than a musket (4.7-5.0 kg instead of 7.0-10.0 kg), did not require a fork support, the combat range increased from 200 to 250-350 m (but the probability of hitting the target at this distance was so small that in practice fire was opened only at a distance of 150 m from the enemy, and a single shooter could hit the target only from 100 m). The process of loading weapons was simplified - in a quarter of an hour it was possible to fire 12 shots from a flintlock rifle, and only 5 times from a musket. In the 18th century Powder shelves and ignition holes in especially carefully executed weapons were covered with gold or platinum due to the poor quality of gunpowder produced at that time, which, when burned, formed carbon deposits that clogged the fuse and caused corrosion of the shelf. It got to the point that instead of a ignition hole, a plug made of pure gold was inserted into the barrel, in which a hole was drilled. Coating with gold, platinum or other weakly oxidizing metal prevented corrosion of the pilot hole due to the release of high-temperature gases from the barrel when fired.
Twisted lock
LOCK TWISTED - an old Polish term meaning a wheel lock.
KURKOVY LOCK
TRIGGER LOCK - see Capsule lock.
KURLIANDSKY CASTLE
KURLYANDSKY LOCK is probably the oldest type of wheel lock, which had an elongated plate, a wheel located outside, a spring with a chain and an arched rib for the wheel axis. Inside the castle there were only the descent and its pull. Locks of this type were mounted on hunting rifles, commonly called chinks.
LOCK TRAP
TRAP LOCK - see Push Button Lock.
LORENZONI CASTLE, LORENZONI SYSTEM
LORENZONI CASTLE, LORENZONI SYSTEM - flintlock, developed at the beginning of the 18th century. Italian gunsmith Michele Lorenzoni (d. 1733). Weapons with the Lorenzoni lock were breech-loading and made it possible to fire up to 30 shots without the need for reloading. The name of both the lock and the entire mechanism was given by the designer himself. The Lorenzoni castle operated as follows: the supply of gunpowder and bullets was scattered in two tubular magazines that were located inside the butt - their holes were closed by the stem of the lock, which rotated relative to the axis of the barrel to the right. There were two chambers in the stem. To load the weapon, the lock stem had to be turned half a turn using the lever on its left side (the weapon should be held with the barrel down). Thus, both chambers became, as it were, extensions of the stores, and the bullet and gunpowder fell into them under the influence of their own weight. After this, the lock stem turned in the opposite direction, and the bullet hit the breech of the barrel at the moment when the chamber in the lock stem was coaxial with it. The chamber with the powder charge became, as it were, the gunpowder chamber of the barrel. At the same time, the powder shelf was filled with gunpowder from another magazine (the principle of operation of which was the same as that of the main one), when two protrusions on the rotating stem of the lock moved the trigger to the half-cocked position and closed the shelf cover.
CASTLE MOORISTAN
MOORish CASTLE - a type of flint Dutch or Spanish castle, which was ubiquitous in the 17th-18th centuries. Such locks were mounted on pistols used in the countries of the Ottoman Empire by Arabs, Turks, Tatars and the population of the Balkan Peninsula.
MIKELET CASTLE
MIKELET CASTLE - s.m. Mediterranean castle.
IMAGINARY LOCK
IMAGINARY LOCK - a lock mounted on pneumatic (air) weapons in the XVII-XVIII bb. Its trigger, being a copy of the trigger of a flintlock weapon, was not used to strike sparks; the shot was fired as a result of opening the valve of a compressed air tank. The reservoir was usually located inside the stock, and opening the valve required a simple pull of the trigger, making the trigger a redundant part.
GERMAN CASTLE
GERMAN LOCK - see Capsule lock.
DUTCH CASTLE, SNAPHANS, DUTCH, NORTH
NETHERLANDS CASTLE, SNAPHANS, DUTCH, NORTH - a prototype of a flintlock that appeared in the middle of the 16th century. on the territory of Holland or Spain (which is why it is sometimes also called Spanish, since Holland at that moment was part of Spain) At the beginning of the 17th century. both types of such locks were widely used in the armies of the Scandinavian countries, England, Scotland and Russia. In the Dutch version of the lock, a trigger with a flint plate in the jaws struck a steel flint, resulting in sparks that ignited the seed gunpowder. To prepare the weapon for firing, gunpowder was poured onto the shelf, then it was closed with a lid, and the trigger was moved to the rear position (i.e., cocked). The trigger lever passed through the lock plate, acting directly on the trigger in the place where there was a cutout on its inner surface. In order to fire a weapon, all that was required was to lower the steel flint onto the lid of the powder shelf. After pressing the trigger lever, the trigger rod moved out of the hole in the lock plate, thus releasing the trigger leg, which, under the influence of the mainspring, struck the flint. The main (main) spring, located inside the lock, set the trigger in motion through a sear (a steel hook screwed onto the trigger axis inside the lock), connected to the shelf cover by an internal lever; when the sear was turned, the lever began to move, moving the shelf cover at the very moment when the flint struck sparks, striking the flint.
OGLIVNY LOCK
FLINT LOCK - see Fire handle.
PISTON LOCK
PISTON LOCK - see Capsule lock.
NORTH CASTLE
NORTH CASTLE - see Dutch Castle.
SCANDINAVIAN CASTLE
SCANDINAVIAN CASTLE is a type of Dutch flint castle that existed in the Scandinavian countries from the mid-16th to the mid-18th centuries. The triggers of these locks had a predominantly arched shape, the spring was mounted on the inside of the lock plate. Most surviving copies date back to the 17th century. and originate primarily from the territories of Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Russia. The Scandinavian lock's trigger rod passed horizontally through a hole in the lock plate and acted on the rear side of the trigger. On earlier examples, the mainspring is located outside the locking plate and supports the sear arm. In the second half of the 18th century. it was transferred to the inside of the plate. The powder shelf cover and the steel seat are two separate parts, and the shelf cover was opened manually before firing. The Scandinavian castle lacked both a safety cocking of the trigger (on the first tooth) and any safety devices in general, since locks of this type could be put on safety by moving the steel arm to the rear position. The crosspiece on specimens dating from the period after the first half of the 18th century was screwed to the lid of the shelf in such a way that it could be turned sideways to prevent an accidental shot. Later Scandinavian locks had cutouts in the sear (like English locks), into which the protrusion of the trigger entered when the hammer was cocked (instead of a cutout in the trigger leg).
CASTLE MEDITERRANEAN
MEDITERRANEAN CASTLE (Hispanic-Moorish, alla Romana, alla Catalana, Michelet) is one of the many types of flintlock, which in many variants appeared and spread in Southern Europe, i.e. the area surrounding the Mediterranean basin (hence its common name). Locks of this type belong to the second subgroup of the first group of flintlocks, the development of which began in the first half of the 17th century. The first group was generally characterized by a separate chair and appeared in Southern Europe in two versions. The first - Italian was called “alla Romana”, the second - Spanish - “alla Catalana”, it is also called “Miquelet” (after the self-name of the highlanders who inhabit the Pyrenees, Catalonia and part of the Pyrenees on the French side of the border in southern Spain). On Italian locks, double-arm rods were mounted: the front shoulder acted on the protrusions of the trigger leg in the “half-cocked” position, while the rear shoulder acted directly on the trigger leg in the full (combat) cocked position. When the trigger was pressed, both arms of the lever were pressed in a horizontal direction, which gave the trigger the opportunity to operate under the influence of the mainspring (mounted on the outside of the lock plate, it pressed the protrusions of the trigger leg in the direction from top to bottom). The Italian lock did not have a sear, and the cover of the powder shelf was integral with the steel arm, so setting the hammer to half-cock was absolutely necessary. The Spanish castle Michelet existed in several versions: Moroccan, Turkish, Kabyle, Arabic, Albanian, Bosnian, etc. Its difference from the Italian version was that the arms of its trigger rod together passed through the locking plate to the front side of the trigger, which had flat protrusions. The shoulder that ensured the trigger was half-cocked had a semicircular outline, and the one on which the trigger rested in the firing position had the shape of a flat point. At the moment of cocking the hammer, its protrusions first engaged with the semicircular head, and secondly with the tip. The mainspring acted on the trigger leg in the direction from bottom to top. The cover of the powder shelf and the steel seat were combined into a single whole, but the seat was made of soft, non-hardened steel. Only its plate with a fine notch was hardened (this plate was rigidly fixed to the chair). It was installed in a groove that had a dovetail cross-section and was additionally secured with a screw from the inside. The described design solution was a consequence of the fact that the Mediterranean castle (including most Spanish ones) was characterized by the presence of very strong mainsprings.
ENGLISH TABLET LOCK
ENGLISH TABLET LOCK (from English. pill lock ) - a small arms lock, which was used for a short time in England, a transitional form from the Forsyth bottle lock to the capsule lock. Pressed mercury fulminate in the form of a tablet was placed in a steel cup placed in the place where the powder shelf had previously been located. The trigger hit this cup, and a sheaf of fire generated by the detonation penetrated through the channel into the barrel chamber and to the powder charge located in it, resulting in a shot. A castle of a similar design was used not only in England, but also, for example, in Prussia.S. A wick was inserted into the forked upper end of this rod. After pulling back the lower end of the wick, the fire approached the powder shelf. Matchlock from the end of the 16th century. remained in use during the Thirty Years' War of 1618-1648. This type of lock was mounted on a lock plate. Inside the plate there was a lever and springs, and outside there was a wick clamp, also known as the trigger, and a powder shelf. The trigger lever was located under the stock. Pressing it with four fingers (while simultaneously grasping the stock with the palm) entailed raising the rear arm of the lever, and therefore lowering its front arm. As a result, the locking tooth was released and the trigger with the smoldering wick was lowered onto the shelf. At the moment the pressure on the trigger lever ceased, appropriately installed springs pushed the lever to its original position and raised the trigger, consisting of two connected plates cut in the shape of an arc (the so-called swan neck) and ending with the head of a dragon. Such rigidly connected plates reliably held the wick placed between them. The powder shelf was located on the upper cut of the lock plate next to the ignition hole in the barrel. The shelf was closed with a horizontal lid, secured with a screw around which it could be rotated. The purpose of this cover was to protect the seed powder from precipitation, dust and dirt. At the turn of the XVI-XVII centuries. An additional vertical plate appeared on the rear edge of the shelf, protecting the shooter’s eyes from fire. When loading a matchlock weapon, you must first remove the matchlock from the trigger and hold it in your left hand at a safe distance from the gunpowder. After this, the shooter placed the weapon with the butt on the ground, holding the barrel with his left hand, with his right hand he took a powder flask with coarse-grained gunpowder and measured out a portion corresponding to the required charge (to do this, the powder flask was turned over, and the shooter pressed the internal latch of the dispenser with his thumb, allowing gunpowder access to the spout) . Then the inner latch closed and the outer one opened, as a result of which gunpowder poured out of the spout into the barrel. For gunpowder, a wad and a bullet were lowered into the barrel, and, finally, the charge was sent into the breech with a ramrod. Now it was necessary to prepare the weapon for firing, for which fine-grained gunpowder was poured onto the shelf (stored in a separate powder flask or in a special compartment in a large one), closing the shelf, blowing off the remaining gunpowder into its covers and holding the wick in the trigger, tightening the screw with your fingers. Having done all of the above, the shooter could consider his weapon ready to fire. If its immediate use was not required, the wick should be secured in the trigger so that its front end was of sufficient length so that, after pressing the trigger, the wick could touch the surface of the shelf for as long as possible or so that it could be re-lit (in the case of , when it managed to burn down to the very jaws of the trigger). It was lit from its second end, which smoldered continuously. The matchlock was simple and cheap, it did not deteriorate as quickly as the wheel lock, and this contributed to the fact that matchlock weapons remained in service with the army for a long time (primarily the infantry), and especially in mercenary units, whose soldiers purchased weapons for their own whose bills and fees largely depended on the quality of the weapons.
The fundamental innovation in it was the trigger lever, which moves in a vertical rather than a horizontal plane. The sear had two cutouts that fixed the trigger in the full and half (combat and safety) cocking positions. The trigger engaged with them, instead of being passed through the locking plate, and thus acted on the trigger.
The ignition part consists of a shelf with a recess for gunpowder. Here is the ignition hole leading into the barrel. The shelf is closed with a lid that protects the gunpowder from wind and rain and acts as a flint.
The French lock was successfully used on other types of firearms: pistols, hunting rifles and existed until the third quarter of the 18th century, when it was replaced by the statutory French lock mod. 1777.
CASTLE FRENCH MOD. 1777
CASTLE FRENCH MOD. 1777 - the castle of the first statutory models of French firearms, the introduction of which was decreed by the decision of the Military Council of France on January 25, 1717, but this castle acquired its final form only in 1777. The design of the castle used the experience accumulated with previous models in which the blow flint on the flint-battery generated sparks that ignited the powder charge in the barrel chamber. To make the locks, they used metal that was specially hardened so that parts made from it would guarantee the strength and reliability of the structure on the battlefield. The castle, with minor modifications, was subsequently adopted by almost all armies of European countries. Its main element was the trigger, reinforced with an additional lower lip bar (on earlier locks, especially English ones, this lower lip was decoratively shaped like a heart and often broke). Locks mod. 1777 were used until the second quarter of the 19th century, when they were replaced by a cap lock.
LOCK PLATE
LOCK PLATE - a metal plate used to secure all parts of a small arms lock.
"Full" and "incomplete" locks
Reputable manufacturers such as Hartmann and Weiss add the word “complete” to the name of the Purde system. Some Italian manufacturers call any locks on the side bases “full”. Attempts to find out why this is so give rise to various exotic versions. For example, about “merchants” from Russia and the desire of Western manufacturers to “do something nice” for such “merchants”. They say that in Russia the ultimate dream is a “full-lock” gun. In the USSR, the term “full lock” appeared after the war as slang among “specialists” in the “near-store” trade. It was “legalized” with the publication of the “Hunter-Sportsman’s Handbook” in 1955. Very quickly and firmly, the term “full lock” “entered the masses” not only of amateurs, but also of specialists, despite the absurdity of contrasting “full locks,” that is, locks on the side bases, with “incomplete” locks, that is, Anson-type locks. Dili. Can someone say why and in what ways they are “incomplete”? If we consider some locks to be “complete”, then these are locks of the Beasley-Purde type; in any case, this is at least somehow justified by the “completeness” of the mechanism’s operation, and is fully consistent with the principle of unambiguous definition and the “special status” of the locks themselves. It makes no sense to call all other locks on the side bases “full”, especially modern ones that came out of the machine. I don’t think that these angular, not always pretty, but quite functional mechanisms deserve any special definition.
Chain (aka swivel)
“Chain” or “swivel” is the translation from the English word “swivel”. The pressure developed by the spring depends on the degree of compression. If you engage the spring directly with the trigger, then the moment of force driving the trigger relative to its axis will fall as the lock operates and the spring unclamps, while the force arm will remain unchanged. If you include an intermediate element - a “chain” in the connection between the trigger and the spring, then the moment of force relative to the axis of the trigger will increase, since the leverage of the force will increase. This shoulder will be maximum at the moment the hammer hits the firing pin (capsule) and minimum (but larger if there were no chain) at the moment the hammer is fully cocked. In addition, the “chain” allows you to coordinate the trajectories of movement of the trigger and the spring feathers, which is especially important in “rebound” locks.
), responsible for igniting the charge.
Initially, the charge was ignited manually by a hot rod brought to the seed hole. This method had significant disadvantages: it was necessary to always keep fire at hand, to have a free hand for the wick or rod when shooting, and also the fact that the rod covered the sight.
Invention of the matchlock
The matchlock was invented around 1430, and its introduction made handling guns much easier. The main differences in the design of the new weapon were as follows: the predecessor of the modern trigger arose - a serpentine lever located on the stock of the gun, with the help of serpentine the wick was activated, which freed the shooter's hand. The seed hole was moved to the side so that the fuse no longer covered the target. On later models of matchlock guns, serpentine was equipped with a latch and a spring holding it, a powder shelf for priming appeared, which later became closed, there was also a version of matchlock guns, in the design of which the trigger was replaced by a trigger button. The main disadvantage of matchlock guns was their relatively low resistance to moisture and wind, a gust of which could blow away the seed; moreover, the shooter had to constantly have access to an open fire, and in addition, the smoldering carbon deposits left after the shot in the barrel bore threatened to instantly ignite the loaded gunpowder. Thus, loading a matchlock gun from a powder flask with a large amount of gunpowder became quite dangerous, and therefore, in order to protect shooters from serious burns, cartridge belts were introduced, equipped with containers containing a smaller amount of black powder than before - exactly as much as was necessary to fire a shot.
The wheel lock, invented at the beginning of the 16th century, however, did not supplant the matchlock due to its complexity and high cost; and only the subsequent invention of the impact lock, by the end of the 17th century, basically replaced the matchlock. However, in some regions, such as Central Asia, matchlocks were used until at least the end of the 19th century.
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Excerpt characterizing the Matchlock
- Is it true that you will never leave again now, grandfather? Is it true that you will stay with me and teach me? Aunt Marcilla says that from now on you will always live only with us. Is this true, grandpa?The baby's eyes shone like bright stars. Apparently the appearance of such a young and strong grandfather from somewhere delighted the baby! Well, the “grandfather,” sadly hugging him, thought at that time about those whom he would never see again, even if he lived on Earth for a hundred lonely years...
- I’m not going anywhere, Beloyarushka. Where should I go if you are here?.. Now you and I will always be together, right? You and I are such a great force!.. Right?
The baby squealed with pleasure and kept huddling closer to his new grandfather, as if he could suddenly disappear, just as suddenly as he had appeared.
– Are you really not going anywhere, Svetodar? – Marcilla asked quietly.
Svetodar just shook his head sadly. And where should he go, where should he go?.. This was his land, his roots. Everyone he loved and who was dear to him lived and died here. And this is where he went HOME. In Montsegur they were incredibly happy to see him. True, there is not a single one left there who would remember him. But there were their children and grandchildren. There were his CATHARS, whom he loved with all his heart and respected with all his soul.
Magdalene's faith blossomed in Occitania as never before, long ago surpassing its borders! This was the Golden Age of the Cathars. When their teachings swept across the countries in a powerful, invincible wave, sweeping away any obstacles on their pure and right path. More and more new people joined them. And despite all the “black” attempts of the “holy” Catholic Church to destroy them, the teachings of Magdalene and Radomir captured all the truly bright and courageous hearts, and all the sharp minds open to new things. In the farthest corners of the earth, minstrels sang the wondrous songs of the Occitan troubadours, opening the eyes and minds of the enlightened, and amusing “ordinary” people with their romantic skill.
Occitania bloomed like a beautiful bright flower, absorbing the vital power of bright Mary. It seemed that no force could resist this powerful flow of Knowledge and bright, universal Love. People still worshiped their Magdalene here, adoring her. It was as if she still lived in each of them... She lived in every pebble, in every flower, in every grain of this amazing, pure land...
One day, while walking through familiar caves, Svetodar came across a new one that shocked him to the very depths of his soul... There, in a calm, quiet corner, stood his wonderful mother - his beloved Mary Magdalene!.. It seemed that nature could not forget this marvelous, strong woman and in spite of everything, she created her image with her almighty, generous hand.
Cave of Mary. In the very corner of the cave stands, created by nature, a tall statue of a beautiful woman,
covered with very long hair. Local Cathars said that the statue appeared there immediately after
The need to free the shooter's hands from the wick to make aiming easier led to the creation of the matchlock. Probably one of the first mentions of a matchlock is an illustration in an old manuscript dated 1411. The figure shows a mechanical device in the form of a curved lever, which is attached approximately in the middle to an axis to the stock on the side of the barrel. The upper end of the lever clamps the smoldering wick, and if you press the lower end of the lever, the wick will touch the gunpowder located on the shelf near the priming hole, which will initiate a shot.
First wick lock had an S-shaped lever. The upper heads of the levers were often made in the shape of a snake or dragon's head, probably because of this, and perhaps because of the S-shaped shape of the lever, resembling a serpent, the ignition device was called in Europe serpentine.
In Rus', the first matchlocks appeared at the turn of the 15th-16th centuries. and they were called zhagra(probably a variation of the word burn, set fire).
Despite the apparent primitiveness, wick lock device constantly improved:
- to protect the gunpowder located on the priming shelf from moisture, a lid was installed on a hinge, which the shooter folded to the side before aiming;
- all the parts were assembled into a single mechanism, placed on the key board;
- the shooter's eyes were protected from a flash of gunpowder on the shelf using a special shield;
- the lock parts were equipped with a spring to return the lever to its initial position, or for the convenience of releasing the trigger;
- To make it easier to fasten the wick, the upper head of the lever was made in the form of two plates (jaws), between which the smoldering end of the wick was clamped with a screw.
There were several main types of matchlocks.
The very first ones include locks in which there was no key plate, and the lever was attached either to the side of the stock, or in a special slot for the lever inside the stock.
FItalic lock with trigger lever appeared after they began to use key boards. On the inside of the locking board there was a spring-loaded lever, which at one end received pressure from the trigger or trigger lever, and at the other end, using an earring, acted on the trigger with the clamped wick. Gradually, the seed shelf moved and began to be attached not to the trunk, but also to the key board.
Also widely used side release wick lock. It consisted of a locking board, an S-shaped lever on an axis, a combat leaf spring and a trigger mechanism, which consisted of a leaf spring with a sear protrusion and a trigger button. To fire, the shooter pressed a button located on the side of the stock near the lock; the button was recessed, releasing the trigger from being fixed by the sear; under the action of the mainspring, the trigger was lowered onto the priming shelf and ignited the gunpowder.
The world's weapons have been significantly enriched - previously unseen firearms appeared in the arsenals of European armies. True, gunpowder, which was their basis, had already been invented long before in China, but its use there was limited only to festive fireworks. The Europeans showed themselves to be more practical people, and soon their battlefields began to be echoed by artillery cannonade.
New and unprecedented weapons
The era of firearms began with the production of the first guns. For all their primitiveness and imperfection, they immediately created a significant military advantage. If the destructive power of the weapons was insignificant, then the psychological effect of their use was achieved enormously. It is enough to imagine how the opponents must have felt at the sight of a bright flash, accompanied by a terrible roar and clouds of smoke. And the cannonball that whistled through the air and smashed the wall of the fortress to smithereens did not increase optimism.
A lot of time passed before the design ideas of the ancient gunsmiths prompted them to create a smaller version of them on the basis of bulky and clumsy artillery pieces. This design allowed soldiers to hold weapons in their hands and, while maintaining sufficient mobility, hit the enemy at a considerable distance. This is how the first matchlock gun appeared.
The design of early small arms
In terms of its technical structure, it was in many ways reminiscent of its ancestor - the cannon. By the way, even their names were similar. For example, Western European gunsmiths produced so-called bombardellas - a smaller version of the bombard, and in Rus' hand-held guns were widespread, used for hand-held shooting. The first examples of such weapons were a metal pipe about a meter long and up to forty centimeters thick. One end of it was made blind, with a pilot hole drilled on top.
This pipe was laid on a wooden bed and attached to it with metal rings. Such a gun was loaded from the muzzle. Crushed gunpowder was poured into it and compacted using a wad. Then a bullet was pushed into the barrel. In early samples, its role was played by small stones of the appropriate diameter. After this, the gun was ready for battle. All that remained was to point it at the target and bring a metal rod heated on a brazier to the ignition hole.
Technical discoveries of gunsmiths
Since small arms came into use, they have been constantly improved. For example, a matchlock gun of the 15th century had a ignition hole on the right side, and a special shelf was built next to it, where the seed gunpowder was poured. This design had an advantage: by bringing the wick (in this case, a hot rod) to the shelf, the shooter did not obscure his target, as was the case before. Due to such a simple improvement, it was possible to significantly increase shooting accuracy.
The next change that the matchlock gun underwent was the appearance of a hinged lid, which protected the shelf with seed gunpowder from moisture and exposure to wind. And the invention of the flax wick, which replaced the red-hot steel rod, can be called a real technical breakthrough. Treated with saltpeter or wine alcohol, it smoldered for a long time and perfectly performed its function, igniting the fuse.
Invention of the trigger
But the old matchlock gun was still inconvenient. The problem was that when firing a shot, it was necessary to bring your hand to the shelf with the seed powder, which is why there were often misses when shooting. However, gunsmiths solved this problem too. They drilled a hole in the wooden stock and passed through it a metal strip in the shape of the letter S, movably fixed in the middle.
A smoldering wick was attached to its upper end, directed towards the seed shelf, and the lower part performed the same function as a modern trigger on small arms. They pressed it with a finger, the upper part fell, the fuse ignited the gunpowder, and a shot followed. This design eliminated the need for shooters to constantly stay close to the field brazier.
At the end of the 15th century, a matchlock muzzle-loading gun was equipped with a special device that further increased shooting efficiency. This was the first matchlock, the prototype of future rifle breech blocks. Somewhat later, it was equipped with a protective shield that protected the shooter’s eyes during a flash of ignition powder. This design was typical for the products of English craftsmen.
Cutting barrels and improving stocks
In the seventies of the 16th century, the most important stage in the improvement of small arms was the appearance of the first rifled barrels. They were invented by gunsmiths from Nuremberg, and the effectiveness of such an innovation immediately became obvious, since a rifled matchlock gun made it possible to hit targets with higher accuracy.
The butt had also undergone significant changes by this time. Previously, it was straight, and when shooting it had to be rested against the chest, which caused extreme inconvenience. The French craftsmen gave it a curved shape, which ensured that the recoil energy was directed not only backward, as before, but also upward. In addition, such a butt could be rested on the shoulder. It was this design that became classic and has been preserved in general terms to this day.
The emergence of matchlock muskets
By the end of the 16th century, hand-held small arms finally took shape as an independent type, forever departing in design from those that gave birth to them. During this period, names such as matchlock and so on were widely included in the military lexicon. The design ideas of gunsmiths of those years gave rise to more and more improvements.
For example, the well-known musket appeared after the idea was born of placing a heavy matchlock gun on a support called a chock. It would seem like a simple invention, but it immediately made it possible to increase the accuracy and range of fire, increase the caliber of the barrel and create additional convenience for the soldier. The Weapons Museum, located in the Hermitage exhibitions, has a rich collection of small arms of that era.
Disadvantages of matchlock weapons
But despite all the attempts at improvement, the musket was not much ahead of the matchlock gun of the 15th century. In both cases, before firing a shot, it was necessary to rest the butt on the ground and pour a sufficient amount of gunpowder into it. After this, using a wad and a ramrod, thoroughly compact it and lower the bullet inside. Then pour seed powder onto the shelf, close the lid and insert the smoldering wick. Then the lid was opened again and only after that they took aim. The experiment showed that this entire process takes at least two minutes, which is extremely long in a combat situation. But even with such imperfection, the weapons of the world, having become firearms, radically changed the order of warfare.
Successes of Russian gunsmiths
It should be noted that the muskets produced in Russia in the 17th century and used in the army along with the Dutch ones were in no way inferior to the latter in their combat qualities, and some samples were significantly superior to them. During this period, the Russian army changed in many ways as a result of the reforms carried out in it, determined by historical requirements and the political situation of those years. To protect the state from continuous attempts at aggression from its western neighbors, it was necessary to modernize the army, and one of its components was the improvement of weapons, including small arms.
German manual for musket shooters
The technique of using muskets of that time is well demonstrated in a special publication published in Germany in 1608, which was a training manual for infantrymen. It is richly illustrated with engravings by the artist Jacob van Geyn, depicting methods of loading guns and drill techniques for handling them. In addition, the drawings allow the modern reader to understand what the shooter looked like in full combat gear.
The engravings clearly show the so-called bandeliers - belts worn over the left shoulder, to which ten to fifteen leather containers were attached, each containing a single charge of gunpowder. In addition, the fighter had a flask with dry crushed seed gunpowder on his belt. The equipment was complemented by a pouch with wads and bullets. It must be said that such a publication is of great value these days, and a rare weapons museum has it in its exhibitions.