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Roman Wheellocks

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jamie5070

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Hello everyone. This is my first post on this forum.I wanted to pass along some info on some wheellocks I recently saw.(Maybe they have been discussed before.) I just came back from a trip to rome. While we were there we were at the Castele San Angelo/Hadrians tome. There is a small military display that is in three very small rooms and there were a number of wheellocks on display. Sorry, they don't allow pictures and there are no real explanations on the displays. There was a musket that was about .50 cal that had a very very heavy octagon barrel. I remember the rear portion of the stock as being round and not designed to go to the shoulder.
The scond musket was highly engraived with a very short butt that I would describe as fish tailed in style. It was more elegant. It also had TWO cocks. One hinged forward on the lock and one hinged at the rear of the lock. Both were aligned for the single pan.
Both of the pistols were highly engraived and inlaid. The first I would say was of the standard form with the long stock with the ball on the end of the grip. The stock on the other was angular (90degrees)like a 19th century target pistol.
Does anyone have any more info on the weapons?
I only had about 10 minutes to look at the stuff there.
john
 
The best kept secret view of all Rome is right outside those rooms...

I'm sure I have (forbidden?) pictures and I'm also sure I won't find them, but I'll look. I do not recall such items offhand...
 
The only thing that I could infer from your description is that the second musket is a combination wheelock/matchlock. The front **** holds pyrite for normal operation and the rear is probably a serpentine for slow match.

Total guess, though.
 
Hi John,
Perhaps someone on this forum has knowledge about those specific guns. Nonetheless, there are some general attributes that I can probably address. First, shoulder stocks were not universal during the 15th-early 18th centuries. The round stocked gun you describe probably was meant to fit against the cheek without touching the shoulder at all. That was a common design for Germanic wheellocks, including heavy barreled ones used as wall guns. The double cocks could be two dogs for holding pyrites or a combination of a dog for pyrite and a serpentine for a match. The reason for the double design is that pyrites shatter easily and you have an instant back up with another pyrite or lit match. The secong pistol you describe sounds like a Germanic puffer. They were holster pistols and the big ball on the handle was meant to enble the owner to easily grab the pistol from his saddle holster.

dave
 
Thanks for the replies. I would add that the two cocks on the second musket looked to be identicle. So I would go with the backup pyrite theory. Both pistols had the large ball on the end of the stock. It was the tsrget type stock that I have never seen on period type pistols. I wish I had been able to ask someone about them. I only had about 10 min in that area as I was looking for my neice and nephew at the time.
john
 
Hi John. Here is an Italian double pawl wheellock made in Northern Italy. Did the lock on the one gun look similar to this?
Welcome to the Forum! Rick. :hatsoff:
 
I found a couple of websites yhat show two of the guns. The first is the official website for the Castel SanAngelo, castelsanangelo.beniculturali.it. If you go to the site they have a 2:48min vidio. About 1:40 into it they show some pics of one of the pistols.
The second site is www.castelsanangelo.com. If you work through the museums and collections to the armory you can see a small picture of the double pawl musket. I managed to go to the site through the google translater and got the site in english. :)
john
 
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Hmm.... all I get is site blocked.... security issues ...... be forewarned....
 
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