The Snaphaunce

[Claude Mathis]

The Snaphaunce first appeared around 1570, and was really an early form of the Flintlock. This mechanism worked by attaching the flint to a spring-loaded arm. When the trigger is pressed, the cover slides off the flash pan, then the arm snaps forward striking the flint against a metal plate over the flash pan and hopefully produces enough sparks to ignite the powder. This mechanism was much simpler and less expensive than the Wheel Lock. The German gunsmiths, who tended to ignore the technical advances of other nationalities, continued to produce and improve upon the wheel lock up until the early 18th century.

 

Thanks Claude - I really like the animations.
: On the wheellock, the pan cover worked the same way as the automatic one on the matchlock and the snaphaunce. I didn't know the matchlock had one as well. Thanks.
Daryl

 

[Xtramad]

There was also another major snaphaunce design which has recieived little attention outside of scandinavia. It is the scandinavian or baltic snaphaunce. I have also seen these converted to flintlock and percussion. The perussion conversions were used by lapp sealhunters well into the 1900's.

 

[musketman]

Xtramad: Thanks for sharing this picture with everyone...

What a nice looking lock, complete with an external main spring...

I would never convert a firearm with this kind of lock, a lot of history was lost to conversions...

 

[Zonie]

Xtramad: Do you have any drawings or photos of the rifle/pistol that used a snaphaunce like that?
Very interesting design!

 

[Xtramad]

Here is a 1722 flintlock with the same form of cock but with an internal mainspring.

And here is a baltic snaphaunce with external mainspring made by Magnus Wiberg.

http://www.musketandrifle.nu/start.shtml

Another link on the subject.
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Vault/1945/Guns/LBS.htm

 

[gordy]

Great information!Proves a picture is worth a thousand words.Is that a sliding patch box lid? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif :applause:

 

Awe cheeesh! You guys are a terrible influence on me! :curse:
I was perfectly content with in-lines and pyro-pellets, 209 primers, scopes, slings, recoil pads and the like. Then along comes rollingb, birddog6, now Musketman and ALL YOU GUYS with smooth bores, snaphance, matchlocks, cannons, blunderbuss's, flintlocks and such, Now I suppose I'll just have to get one or more of these things just to stay in the neighborhood! :haha: :haha:

 

[musketman]

Awe cheeesh! Now I suppose I'll just have to get one or more of these things just to stay in the neighborhood! :haha: :haha:

Now all you need is a musket, or a friend that has one... :winking:

It funny how we muzzleloader shooters progress backwards, [oximoron alert] in a world that is regressing forwards...

 

"It funny how we muzzleloader shooters progress backwards, [oximoron alert] in a world that is regressing forwards..."

oximoron-Good one! ::
And your absolutely right. I now have 4 flinters, a Lyman GPR .54 and 3 period keerect rifles.
I suppose next has got to be a snaphance or matchlock! :haha:
Or...maybe we could sharpen sticks and throw rocks at critters.
I read about a doctor out west that took a deer with a spear and he got arrested for using an illegal weapon as there was no provision for "spear" season.
I thought the guy pulled off a good stunt myself.

 

[musketman]

I read about a doctor out west that took a deer with a spear and he got arrested for using an illegal weapon as there was no provision for "spear" season.
I thought the guy pulled off a good stunt myself.

Primitive weapons season:

Is the Middle-Ages concidered primitive enough? :winking:

Hunting deer with a catapult, it throws a 600 pound round ball... :winking: ::

"Later called a rockapult, a much more effective weapon..."

 

[Xtramad]

Is that a sliding patch box lid? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif :applause:

Yessir, on both of 'em. That's the way we always made them up here. We usually inletted the bullet mould into the patch box too, just so it wouldn't get lost.
For some reason they insisted on using extreemly large heads on their buttscrews (shyte, that sounds queer). :shocking:
The large screwheads must have been handy for smashing heads in combat but a pain in the b*tt to shoot.
We can talk about the strange shape of the cock in another discussion, this is getting embarassing.

 

[Xtramad]

How come we can discuss cocks and butts, when a simple word like sh :curse:t gets [censored]?

 

[musketman]

Xtramad: what is the average weight of a Snaphaunce musket?

They look heavy, lots of thick wood and about 20 pounds on inlays on top of that...

I just guessing around 20 pounds without the inlays... :winking: :haha:

 

[Thornezilla]

My light-weight matchlock comes in at 8-9 pounds, heavier ones in at 12-14, possibly extremely heavy ones up to 18 maybe? There were no weight or bore standards, but most folks can't shoot anything heavier than 12 lbs without using a musket rest.

So overall, including the inlay and all, I'd guess your average 17th C musket (no matter what lock type) to be in the 10-12 lb range.

 

[2172]

at a public hearing years ago, then-NJ Fish and Game director Cookingham answered a critic who'd complained that the muzzleloading season was longer than the shotgun season by saying, "it's a matter of the effectiveness...a dbl bbl 12 ga works better than a muzzleloader...and a muzzleloader better than a bow and arrow...if you want to have a spear season, I'll give you a whole month..." our kind of guy..Hank