Snaplock Operation

[PreserveFreedom]

I have seen some pictures and I think I know how they worked. It looks like the cock is mounted backward, like a traditional matchlock and the flint/pyrite is stationary above the pan. The cock has a striker that snaps into the flint, creating sparks, and boom! Am I right or am I way off on this?

 

[jsn]

I believe the part you think is stationary is acctually the part that moves the battery(strikers) moves like a snaphaunce

 

[wulf]

You got me. I have made every type of ignition
from hand cannon to precussion and can't think
of anything of your discription...only thing I
could guess would be a wheel lock...On that a
wheel turns making contact through the bottom
of the pan with the pyrate in the jaws of the
dog...They are interesting to make and many do
not have good luck with the pyrite....Snap locks
are a very simple solution to get the same
results....easier to make and cheaper...

 

[PreserveFreedom]

Well this is the one I have been looking at. It is an early 1600's Swedish Snaplock. How exactly does it work though?

 

[Tower75]

A Snaphaunce lock or snaplock is like the father to the flintlock. Where the flintlock has a cock and pan-cover (this is known my MANY names, and I'm always told-off by someone for using the wrong term. So I'll call it a pan cover)

In a flintlock the cock, holding the flint, strikes the face of the pan-cover and pushes it forward, opening the pan and exposing the priming powder. The sparks created by the flint striking the pan-cover fall into the pan and ignite the priming.

The SH lock is exactly the same, except the pan-cover and striking face are two separate parts. Some SH mechanisms opened the pan automatically, some didn't.

If you have a manual SH lock, assuming you're loading and primed, you would pull the striking-face* down onto the pan, so the face is vertical to the pan. You would cock your cock. You would then open your pan manually - aim and fire. The cock flies forward, the flint hits the striking face and knocks this forward out of the way. The sparks produced from this strike, fall into the pan and ignite the powder. As I say, some SHs locks open the pan-cover automatically. The flintlock just combined the pan-cover and striking face into one part.

The actual shape of the cock is varied too. I've seen some backwards ones, some forwards ones etc.

Regards
T

*frizzen, or steel, or hammer, whatever term is used

 

[jsn]

The tail on the cock that you see hanging out a bit and that button? The inside of the lock looks a bit like this

The tail of the cock catches on the button which is part of a 2 part sear and that holds the cock back.

Notice the upward curve on the mainspring, that is set up some what like a miqueilette(mis spelled) the upward cureve keeps pressure ont the cock and the other part of the spring is the equivalent of a frizzen spring. The battery(frizzen) is separate from the pan cover and does not have a system for opening and closing like this

The pan cover on the lock you have shown has to be moved by hand.

The reference Photos are of a Snaphaunce lock not a snap lock (Baltic Sledge)