Purpose of frizzen bridle

[dlemaster]

As I understand it the bridled frizzen came into use around 1730, at least that was according to John Bivens when he visited with us in the shop. That was back around 1980 more or less. His feeling was that bridleless locks in the latter part of the 18th century show most commonly on cheap export or trade gun locks, as that simplified the forgings.

Regards, Dave

 

[Stophel]

Nah, you'll see them earlier than 1730. Not common, certainly, but there. I think someone came up with this "improvement" rather early on. It is technically a stronger system, but for the most part, I don't think that there is much practical difference.

The French 1728 musket has a bridle on the frizzen (some earlier models had an added bridle that was a simple flat piece of iron that ran from the frizzen screw to the frizzen spring screw).

On a hard-use musket, I think the bridle for the frizzen could well be a practical advantage...

 

[FearNot]

Thanks! Those are the ones I saw.

 

[dlemaster]

Chris
You very well maybe right. You have seen and know a lot more about German guns than I will ever know.
I found it intersting that last night I was looking at the August 1986 issue of Muzzle Blasts that has the artical that Bivens wrote on the Edward Marshall Rifle and saw he repeated the "around 1730" date for the appearence of the bridled pan. Goes to show no one knows it all and we are continuing to learn.

Regards, Dave

 

[WRussell]

Yup. "When did X come into general use" and "when did X first appear" are two different questions.

For an extreme example, there's a two-shot wheellock from the 1550s that has a rotating pan insert as used on double barrel boxlock pistols from the late 1700s.