This is a project I began way back in the 1960's I had bought a flintlock pistol and had a go at repairing it's broken sear spring. I then made a replica lock. I used to go to the Science and industry museum in Birmingham (UK) and they had a display of guns from the proof house collection, there were several wheellocks and I became fascinated by how they worked. I decided to have a go at making a wheellock and the first attempt was an Italian pistol copied from a book, I spent weeks making the lock and using a tiny Unimat lathe to mill flutes in the barrel and a raised section on the lock plate which I then chiseled as leaves. I then carved the walnut stock. Then I looked at the metal filigree inlay shown on the book photo and realised it was a step too far trying to cut intricate scrolls in the wild grain of Walnut and it was never completed and has no trigger, I have photo's which I'll add later.
However, around 1972 I was itching to make a working replica of a German Nuremberg holster pistol, again copied from a book, which I show here, The lock and barrel all completed but the bone inlay is still nowhere near completed as you will see on the photo's. The lock has 7 springs in total and I still have the box of failures from earlier attempts that broke on compression, I learned that springs need to temper beyond the blue to grey and then plunge in old engine oil, from then on I never lost a spring again. The barrel is made from a 1" bar with 1/2" bore that I found at a blacksmiths, as I had no lathe big enough between centres back then it took hours and hours of filing and grinding the taper right down to the muzzle, the bore is actually about right for this type of gun,
Being a holster pistol this type of weapon is almost straight and is 34" in total, the barrel with it's short tang is 25" .It's copied from a book which it listed as a holster pistol (Horse) from around 1580. On the lock you can see my initials VN carved in the protrusion from the internal bridle and also a "V" for Vic stamped in the lock.
It has not been worked on for decades, I got married, had kids etc, I still have the box of inlay materials, mostly bone handled cutlery, piano keys that were bone and not ivory and necklaces and bracelets with useable pieces of bone and staghorn. I have fired it using wadding rather than a ball, the mechanism works well, fires every time. Being mild steel it's now turned grey, the original would be made from pure iron which stays bright and does not rust so easily
Vic
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the reverse shows part of the inlay has been started, all the figures copied from the book but the space around the figures need lots of tiny round inserts
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The lock which has a spring powered pan cover and again my initials VN on the mainspring, the spindle and short chain are case hardened as is the wheel. The exterior photo shows the safety lever locked in place.
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Part of the inlay copied from a book, some of my engraving beginning to wear away just from occasionally handling the gun over the years, I'm not sure what they would have used to darken the engravings
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The barrel has the Nurenberg snake symbol, the wheel was case hardened but most of the lock is mild steel
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My initials VN and the stamp V are visible on the lock, the safety lever swivels to lock the sear from moving
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The graveyard of broken springs, hours of filing and polishing only for failure either instantly or after a few hours
