Books on Snaplock-Doglock?

[TobJohn]

Are there any good books on any of the guns in the development line from snaplocks to doglocks? The information online is unfortunately pretty thin.

 

[rickystl]

Are there any good books on any of the guns in the development line from snaplocks to doglocks? The information online is unfortunately pretty thin.

Here is a good introduction to the Doglock. There is not much information on the so-called snaplocks - typically from the Scandanavian and low countries. But I'll post two or three on Flint's Thread in the General Muzzle Loading section.

Rick

http://www.therifleshoppe.com/catalog_pages/doglocks/doglocks.htm

 

[TobJohn]

Here is a good introduction to the Doglock. There is not much information on the so-called snaplocks - typically from the Scandanavian and low countries. But I'll post two or three on Flint's Thread in the General Muzzle Loading section.

Rick

http://www.therifleshoppe.com/catalog_pages/doglocks/doglocks.htm

Thank you!

I assume information on the European snaphance is similarly limited?

 

[Barud]

Thank you!

I assume information on the European snaphance is similarly limited?

The American Society of Arms Collectors have some articles related to this matter on their website, I believe. The one that comes to my mind was written by Arne Hoff. Separately, Brian Godwin has written on the matter, and an article of Rainer Daehnhardt also touches on the subject. I do not remember the exact titles but you will probably dig something up with the names given.

 

[rickystl]

Here is a brief intro. to the snaphaunce...

http://www.therifleshoppe.com/catalog_pages/snaphaunce_weapons/snaphaunce_weapons.htm
http://www.therifleshoppe.com/catalog_pages/snaplocks/snaplocks.htm

 

[rickystl]

The American Society of Arms Collectors have some articles related to this matter on their website, I believe. The one that comes to my mind was written by Arne Hoff. Separately, Brian Godwin has written on the matter, and an article of Rainer Daehnhardt also touches on the subject. I do not remember the exact titles but you will probably dig something up with the names given.

Brian Godwin is considered an expert on the snaphaunce. I've had correspondence with him.

Rick

 

[TobJohn]

Great, thanks guys! I will look into Brian Godwin. The snaphance always comes up as a quick reference in readings, so it will be great to learn more.

Found one: The Remarkable Early Snaphance Guns of the Roberts by Brian Godwin

 

[TobJohn]

Here is a brief intro. to the snaphaunce...

http://www.therifleshoppe.com/catalog_pages/snaphaunce_weapons/snaphaunce_weapons.htm
http://www.therifleshoppe.com/catalog_pages/snaplocks/snaplocks.htm

About a year ago, I was looking at their snaplock and snaphance muskets. I quickly changed my mind once I learned what was involved in building their kits. That’s how i ended up with their tube strapped to a stick as my first kit.

Probably for the best because I didn’t fully appreciate the mechanics of the guns at the time.

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

Great, thanks guys! I will look into Brian Godwin. The snaphance always comes up as a quick reference in readings, so it will be great to learn more.

Found one: The Remarkable Early Snaphance Guns of the Roberts by Brian Godwin

... for your reading pleasure ...

 

[Rudyard]

Are there any good books on any of the guns in the development line from snaplocks to doglocks? The information online is unfortunately pretty thin.

Snap locks usually mean Baltic locks ( Can refer to Snap Match locks ) 'Dog locks' . Well Ide say if it has a safety that was soley a dog catch or sprag like equivelent . But most any lock that had a Dog fitted often gets lumped into the' Dog bit . Try Thorsten Lenks' The Flintlock its origin & Developement' , Petersons picture books, are good as are Robert Helds . & there is a book about the English c 1640s
Civil War guns held at some Hall shows a lot of varient stuff . 'English Guns & Rifles' by J N George is useful reading many shew drawings . .Ide say if you use the Lateral Scear per Snaphance & have only the Dog or sprag like alternate for a saftey half cock your bang on the Money . They vary,Nothing like Colts or some machine made affair . You can do the same to an 'English lock' & have the Dog as extra. I;ve hunted weeks with the pure dog & Sprag options never felt I needed any other safety. ( Folks want to live forever these days !) . Peterson's ? 'Arms & Armour in Colonia America 'is a use full book I think its Peterson Ile have to look '. Regards Rudyard

 

[TobJohn]

Snap locks usually mean Baltic locks ( Can refer to Snap Match locks ) 'Dog locks' . Well Ide say if it has a safety that was soley a dog catch or sprag like equivelent . But most any lock that had a Dog fitted often gets lumped into the' Dog bit . Try Thorsten Lenks' The Flintlock its origin & Developement' , Petersons picture books, are good as are Robert Helds . & there is a book about the English c 1640s
Civil War guns held at some Hall shows a lot of varient stuff . 'English Guns & Rifles' by J N George is useful reading many shew drawings . .Ide say if you use the Lateral Scear per Snaphance & have only the Dog or sprag like alternate for a saftey half cock your bang on the Money . They vary,Nothing like Colts or some machine made affair . You can do the same to an 'English lock' & have the Dog as extra. I;ve hunted weeks with the pure dog & Sprag options never felt I needed any other safety. ( Folks want to live forever these days !) . Peterson's ? 'Arms & Armour in Colonia America 'is a use full book I think its Peterson Ile have to look '. Regards Rudyard

Thanks for the suggestions! The Thorsten Lenks' book is very reasonably priced.

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

… I might have a spare … gotta check the library …

 

[JBrandon]

Snap locks usually mean Baltic locks ( Can refer to Snap Match locks ) 'Dog locks' . Well Ide say if it has a safety that was soley a dog catch or sprag like equivelent . But most any lock that had a Dog fitted often gets lumped into the' Dog bit . Try Thorsten Lenks' The Flintlock its origin & Developement' , Petersons picture books, are good as are Robert Helds . & there is a book about the English c 1640s
Civil War guns held at some Hall shows a lot of varient stuff . 'English Guns & Rifles' by J N George is useful reading many shew drawings . .Ide say if you use the Lateral Scear per Snaphance & have only the Dog or sprag like alternate for a saftey half cock your bang on the Money . They vary,Nothing like Colts or some machine made affair . You can do the same to an 'English lock' & have the Dog as extra. I;ve hunted weeks with the pure dog & Sprag options never felt I needed any other safety. ( Folks want to live forever these days !) . Peterson's ? 'Arms & Armour in Colonia America 'is a use full book I think its Peterson Ile have to look '. Regards Rudyard

Lenk's book is astonishingly boring and hard to use.
But try this one: Early English Firearms: A Re-examination of the Evidence
Straube, Beverly Ann p

1990 Early English Firearms: A Re-examination of the Evidence. Masters Thesis, College of William and Mary. Early English Firearms: A Re-examination of the Evidence

Jamestown collections. P. v-vi: Reanalysis shows snaphaunce most common type of firearm, mostly rep’d by lock plates. Firearms in museums usually survive because atypical – elite guns, or abandoned and forgotten in storage. Archaeol specimens are less biased, better for basing history of firearms.

Abstract: Four major ignition systems are found on firearms in the beginning of the seventeenth century: the matchlock, the miquelet lock, the wheel-lock, and the snaphaunce. Focus on snaphaunce and the subsequent type of flint-and-steel gunlock believed to be inherently English and thereby known as the English-lock. Few extant snaphaunces in museum and private collections; so have not received the attention of the more common English-lock. Researchers acknowledge the constructional similarities

between these two types of gunlocks; so a clearer understanding of snaphaunce should provide insights regarding the flint-ignition firearms that supplanted it. So an intact unmodified snaphaunce with verifiable date and provenance is disassembled and analyzed. The findings are then the standard by which to observe similarities and differences in both archaeological gunlocks with historical contexts and some of the museum-owned firearms studied in the literature. Results suggest that many of the English-locks dated to the first quarter of the seventeenth century are actually converted snaphaunces. These unrecognized conversions have distorted the dating sequence of these early arms. None of the evidence examined, including seventeenth-century

English military manuals, provides a pre-1650 date for the first appearance of the English-lock. These findings mandate a re-evaluation of the current typologies of early English firearms and a reassessment of the chronological development of these types.

 

[Rudyard]

Agree Lenks book is dry reading , I am open to any theory re' English' locks & the relationship to Snaphance generally . I know I've made & used enough to have some better understanding of these sorts in practice .Richard Colten certainly made & studied both I knew him when he worked at U Mass & he wrote for 'Man at Arms 'or some similar worthy Journal .See below *
In Georges book' .English guns & rifles ' he quoted some Civil war writer who affirmed "Most of our pieces Goe with English locks ' . The common practice of calling all sort s of flint useing locks as' Snaphance's' . clouds' our studies as does the unspecific 'Firelocks '. But you get such wonderfull phrases Like "Witch is the Hight of the bore & not the Pece" along with The musket doth murther more be it far or nere & better cheap" And "of indifferent bore under Arquebuss' Smaller shoots ' meaning Calivers . All good stuff as I view it .
* Yes was ' Man At arms '
Rudyard

 

[TobJohn]

Lenk's book is astonishingly boring and hard to use.
But try this one: Early English Firearms: A Re-examination of the Evidence
Straube, Beverly Ann p

1990 Early English Firearms: A Re-examination of the Evidence. Masters Thesis, College of William and Mary. Early English Firearms: A Re-examination of the Evidence

Jamestown collections. P. v-vi: Reanalysis shows snaphaunce most common type of firearm, mostly rep’d by lock plates. Firearms in museums usually survive because atypical – elite guns, or abandoned and forgotten in storage. Archaeol specimens are less biased, better for basing history of firearms.

Abstract: Four major ignition systems are found on firearms in the beginning of the seventeenth century: the matchlock, the miquelet lock, the wheel-lock, and the snaphaunce. Focus on snaphaunce and the subsequent type of flint-and-steel gunlock believed to be inherently English and thereby known as the English-lock. Few extant snaphaunces in museum and private collections; so have not received the attention of the more common English-lock. Researchers acknowledge the constructional similarities

between these two types of gunlocks; so a clearer understanding of snaphaunce should provide insights regarding the flint-ignition firearms that supplanted it. So an intact unmodified snaphaunce with verifiable date and provenance is disassembled and analyzed. The findings are then the standard by which to observe similarities and differences in both archaeological gunlocks with historical contexts and some of the museum-owned firearms studied in the literature. Results suggest that many of the English-locks dated to the first quarter of the seventeenth century are actually converted snaphaunces. These unrecognized conversions have distorted the dating sequence of these early arms. None of the evidence examined, including seventeenth-century

English military manuals, provides a pre-1650 date for the first appearance of the English-lock. These findings mandate a re-evaluation of the current typologies of early English firearms and a reassessment of the chronological development of these types.

I have read enough German authored books on tanks that are just pages of production and organizational figures that dry does not scare me, but thank you for the heads up. I will check out that article.

 

[rickystl]

Notice the brief mention of the miquelet lock. In more recent years we find evidence that the miquelet lock was in development earlier than commonly assumed (including myself).

Rick

 

[TobJohn]

Notice the brief mention of the miquelet lock. In more recent years we find evidence that the miquelet lock was in development earlier than commonly assumed (including myself).

Rick

I saw that in one of these thread. Very intriguing development. Makes its staying power all the more fascinating.

 

[TobJohn]

Does anyone know how the frizzen part of a Snaphance is made? I am trying to get a better understanding of how forging can form lock parts.

Is the face forge welded to the arm? Is it filed down from one big forged piece?

 

[Rudyard]

What they originally did I can t but guess I suspect they smithed the battery face much as I now do by forming a mortise & tennon join which makes the Snaphance battery the simplest lock part to make . works for me & I've made enough that way . Trust that helps ,
Rudyard

 

[TobJohn]

What they originally did I can t but guess I suspect they smithed the battery face much as I now do by forming a mortise & tennon join which makes the Snaphance battery the simplest lock part to make . works for me & I've made enough that way . Trust that helps ,
Rudyard

Do you then have to weld that together or does it already stay in place? Or, does the joint go all the way through the battery face and is hammered and filed flush? I’m knew to joinery concepts too.