Wheellock Pistol Design

[hakujin]

1. According to Ars Bella Gerendi (About the 30-Year war in XVII Century Europe - the book contains scans from an original XVII Century German "Manual") a puffer was used as a club after the shot has been fired - therefore the ball was useful

Absolutely! They make excellent parrying batons as well, in the exact manner you've described. It has more mass than a dagger which can be an unexpected hindrance to your opponent. All of my experience is in a "civilian" capacity, so I find the military use of wheellocks, especially with the Polish cavalry, since it was so well developed so early, fascinating. I wish there were more English language resources available.

 

[dave_person]

Bioprof,
The straight handled pistols were usually designed to be pulled from holsters attached to a saddle. The straight handles would make that easier. They were held out straight and I believe usually turned so the lock faced upward. No sighting down the barrel, just point and shoot. With respect to comments about Prince Rupert's famous shooting, he used a pair of rifled breechloading (screw barrel) flintlocks probably made by Harman Barnes to shoot the weather vane.

dave

 

[bioprof]

I decided to go with the design in the first picture of the pistol with the relatively straight octogonal grip. I've got the barrel and lock inletted, and the lock bolts installed so far. I had to do a small repair on the lock plate, and now that I have that done am ready to do the final polish on the lock plate and put the lock back together.

I have some pictures of my progress on another thread titled "Wheel-lock pistol build".