A Wheellock for me- resources please

[DuncNZ]

… they say it is best - more uniform & consistent - to lay it flat to dry, otherwise it ‘run down’ and turn into a fuse.

You are quite right , I have only ever made one batch of match and I did lay it flat , I put too much Potassium nitrate not chloride ( brain Fuzz) . The cord turned out all fuzzy with crystals , so I washed it and dried it twice more until the crystals disappeared and the match burnt nice and slowly . I still have about 9 feet of it , so I won't be making any more for a while . I know one guy who just soaks hemp rope in a water /black powder solution , Not for me .
I have used a Rudyard made snapping match lock with a .40 cannon-end barrel , it was a great gun to use and very accurate , the local Boy Scout troop all learnt to shoot with it before they learnt to use a .22rf .

 

[cornstalk]

The wheellock was just dropped off. I'm in heaven! The swamped barrel looks remarkably good with no significant pitting, just lots of surface rust so definitely shootable. The lock mechanism winds up and catches, the triggers attempt to release the wheellock but don't, hopefully a good cleaning will fix that. A plate which acts as the front wall of the pan has a retaining screw but the hole seems to be stripped, should be a relatively easy fix. The ramrod looks to be original as it has the same bone/ebony tip that the front of the stock has, but it's been shortened a couple of inches so not useable as is. She weighs in at 10.2 pounds. Excited to get this in shootable condition, and honored to be its current caretaker.

 

[lexington1]

Very nice! Like you I decided I had to have a wheelock and bought this one. I had no plans on shooting it, so a couple years later I picked up the contemporary one on the bottom. It is well made, but was built using a pos Indian made lock. I spanned it about a dozen times and the chain broke, so I sent it off to Bolek Maciaszczyk for a complete rebuild. He finished it, but it has not arrived yet. So I am anxiously waiting!

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

… but was built using a pos Indian made lock.

Leonard Day was doing that … making wheellocks out of actions from India, but even Brian Anderson told me - that when those 2 got together & talked - that Leo could never get them to work reliably.

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

VERY nice wheellock there Cornstalk! Definitely NOT too shootable for me as a lefty, LOL!

 

[lexington1]

Leonard Day was doing that … making wheellocks out of actions from India, but even Brian Anderson told me - that when those 2 got together & talked - that Leo could never get them to work reliably.

I wonder if this might be one of Days wheellocks? There are no makers marks on it.

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

I wonder if this might be one of Days wheellocks? There are no makers marks on it.

Interesting, Mr. Day always marked his work. Still, AWESOME stock work there!

 

[DuncNZ]

Very nice Cornstalk , You are going to have fun with that rifle . I notice that both the antique wheel locks pictured have a side plate on the Dog , presumably to guide sparks to the pan and act as a flash guard . Is that a thumb rest sticking out on the stock ? I also notice there are only grooves on the wheel , no cross cuts .

 

[hawkeye2]

I believe all of Day's guns were marked, at least all that I've seen were.

Possibly one of John Buck's (Callands, VA) guns? I haven't heard of him building anything for 15 or so years and don't know if he's still active.

 

[cornstalk]

Very nice Cornstalk , You are going to have fun with that rifle . I notice that both the antique wheel locks pictured have a side plate on the Dog , presumably to guide sparks to the pan and act as a flash guard . Is that a thumb rest sticking out on the stock ? I also notice there are only grooves on the wheel , no cross cuts .

@Cutfinger, thanks. That's a thumb trigger. Now that i have the gun I talked with a guy today who collects wheellocks and he helped me understand this gun. It has deep cut rifling, and that it means it was probably either a hunting rifle or a target rifle. He told me that if I opened the patch box and found lead recessed into the wood that means it was a target rifle. No lead. He explained that the purpose of the thumb trigger was to make a steadier shot. Speaking of triggers, the front "hair" trigger is broken off. A very, very small diameter trigger, which he said is where the phrase "hair trigger" comes from. All the micro leaf springs in the trigger assembly look fine but with the complexity I have yet to figure out exactly how it works. Obviously I'll need to get it repaired.

The wheel does have cross cuts. In that picture you can barely make them out right before the wheel disappears front and back. The lock assembly itself is in excellent condition and works perfectly, so as soon as I get the trigger figured out and repaired I'll have a shooter.

Oh, I was guessing the moveable flash guard was to make cleaning the pan easier. Just a guess of course.

Here are a couple more pics.

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

I wonder if this might be one of Days wheellocks? There are no makers marks on it.

As a rule, Leonard marked the guns he made. One exception is a fowler that he made for me. All it needed was the stock finish applied. Traded a swivel breech rifle for it. I miss my conversations with him. His knowledge was vast.

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

If it were mine - an old original - and I were to shoot it, I'd disassemble everything and would coat all the wood 'only where it wouldn't show' with a thin, penetrating epoxy; using a product like Gluvit.

Old dry wood doesn't like recoil ...

 

[cornstalk]

@Flint62Smoothie interesting you'd say that cause in talking to my friend as to whether the ramrod was likely to be original or not, he said feel its weight. If it feels feather light its probably the original (based also on that the tip of the ramrod has the same ebony/bone end like the stock) because all the moisture and oils are gone from the wood. Thought that was very interesting. And it does feel feather light. Good reason for me to get a replacement for actual use.

 

[PathfinderNC]

Are the screws in the thumb trigger plate modern replacements?

 

[cornstalk]

Are the screws in the thumb trigger plate modern replacements?

Hard to tell. With this gun being around 350 years old it has screws that are obvious replacements (2), screws that are obvious originals because the threads are almost completely eroded away, and then screws that might be replacements but if they are they were either duplicated and aged well, or were replaced hundreds of years ago so hard to know for sure. I'd put the screws you are referring to in that category.

 

[PathfinderNC]

Hard to tell. With this gun being around 350 years old it has screws that are obvious replacements (2), screws that are obvious originals because the threads are almost completely eroded away, and then screws that might be replacements but if they are they were either duplicated and aged well, or were replaced hundreds of years ago so hard to know for sure. I'd put the screws you are referring to in that category.

They just appeared in very good condition compared to the others, and looked like they might be oval head screws.
It is a wonderful gun.

 

[cornstalk]

So....as you can see I've got the lock assy and trigger assy out of the gun. A number of worn out screws that I'll have to address but everything works. Took me a hour to figure out how the triggers work because it sure is different than modern guns like flintlocks work. ;-)

After seeing the pictures my friend says this is a germanic wheellock, not french. The auction house stated french based on the mark on the barrel. And it is from somewhere in the 1680-1720 era.

I just need to make up a few replacement screws and she'll be ready to shoot.

 

[DuncNZ]

Great lock pics Cornstalk , So It has a thumb trigger and a double set trigger , I would guess the thumb trigger would be useful when wearing thick leather gloves needed for horse riding , sword fighting and cold weather .
It looks like those jaws were made for a big lump of Pyrites .
I have always believed a hair trigger got its name from being , supposedly, able to be fired with the weight of a hair on it .
In those days there was no Germany , just a lot of small Kingdoms ,Principalities , Dukedoms etc . France was a different size and shape then as well .

 

[DuncNZ]

Late addition , this is a drawing of a wheel lock double set trigger from a book I have , You may find it helpful and if not helpful interesting . I suspect the release trigger was made so slender because it is vulnerable to being set off accidently and the slender trigger reduces the chance of it being touched as the trigger finger is inserted into the trigger guard . It can only be touched by a very small area of the finger

 

[Rudyard]

I don't know why I did it but I bought a French Wheellock. Should have it in my hands in the next two weeks. Not like I need to go down an entirely different rabbit hole but....

So I know absolutely nothing about wheellocks other than a YouTube video I watched explaining how they work. So folks I need your help regarding sources for what I'll need. To start I'll need a spanner.

Here is one of the pictures from the auction website. Once it's in my hands I'll post more. Thanks in advance for your assistance. I'm excited.

View attachment 128326

It looks more Austrian C 1720s to me . Nice piece but better to make a new one it deserves a rest .
Regards Rudyard