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A flintlock pistol made by Ketland Sparks generated by a flintlock mechanism. The flintlock mechanism is a type of lock used on muskets, rifles, and pistols from the early 17th to the mid-19th century. It is commonly referred to as a "flintlock" (without the word mechanism). The term is also used for the weapons themselves as a whole, and not ...
A Flintlock mechanism, National Army Museum, New Zealand, 2008. Flintlock muskets were the mainstay of European armies 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 for hunting.
This flintlock mechanism is distinct from the metal barrel extending to the right, and the surrounding wooden stock encloses and obscures the trigger mechanism connection to the actuation spring. The lock of a firearm is the mechanism used to initiate firing.
By the late 1830s and into the early 1840s the weapon was becoming obsolete and its flintlock mechanism was being replaced by the more efficient and reliable percussion cap ignition. The flintlock mechanism was prone to misfiring, especially in wet weather. The last flintlock pattern manufactured was selected for conversion to the new system as ...
The mechanism had to be assembled with skill and care, and took far more time to assemble than an ordinary muzzle-loader. [2] Also, all the parts were interdependent; if a gear broke or jammed, the whole gun was unusable and only a specialist gunsmith could repair it. [2]
Earlier firearms used flintlock mechanisms causing a piece of flint to strike a steel frizzen producing sparks to ignite a pan of priming powder and thereby fire the gun's main powder charge. The flintlock mechanism replaced older ignition systems such as the matchlock and wheellock, but all were prone to misfire in wet weather. [citation needed]
The M1803 rifle used a flintlock firing mechanism. Some were later converted to percussion cap in the mid-19th century. The barrel of the M1803 rifle was intentionally short.
The Cookson flintlock rifle, a lever-action breech-loading repeater, also known as the Cookson gun, is one of many similar designs to appear beginning in the 17th century. The Victoria & Albert Museum in London has a Cookson Gun, dating to 1690. [1] According to the museum, John Cookson made several repeating guns based on this system.