Would this be a safety?

[Old Painless]

Any thoughts on this

used for?

 

[64Springer]

Someone should sue Mossberg for patent infringement.

Looks like a 500 tang safety.

 

[Sam squanch]

Could be anything from a safety, a set trigger device, or a latch for a flip up rear sight.

 

[TobJohn]

What does the rest of the gun look like? Breechloading guns of this period have a latch there and it looks like there might be a hinge on the left side of the barrel.

 

[TobJohn]

I found a better picture on Facebook and found the page for the gun in the museum collection of the German national museum. It is a breechloader, so that would most likely be the latch.

(Not my photo)

Radschlossjagdgewehr (W1570) | Objektkatalog

 

[Secesh]

Breech loaders on a muzzleloading forum?

 

[russellshaffer]

Ah, but this particular forum is for pre flintlock. This very old wheel lock certainly qualifies. I like it and would appreciate some details.

 

[Sam squanch]

Details? Sure….. imagine a huge back blast toward you face upon firing…….then experience when that fancy wheel lock jams or breaks….. and the gunsmith sizing up how much coin of the realm to skin you for.. I think these were more for show and the gunmakers skill than for actual use. “ watch out peasants! Gunther can reload faster than you!”

 

[The Crisco Kid]

I've shot a reproduction wheel lock and it isn't anything like you describe. The lock was remarkably fast. True, they are a complicated lock and it's easy to see why they were superseded by the flintlock. You're right about the show off aspect of the OP gun and it was not made for the common man like many of the later flintlocks.

 

[TobJohn]

Details? Sure….. imagine a huge back blast toward you face upon firing…….then experience when that fancy wheel lock jams or breaks….. and the gunsmith sizing up how much coin of the realm to skin you for.. I think these were more for show and the gunmakers skill than for actual use. “ watch out peasants! Gunther can reload faster than you!”

There are a decent number of surviving examples and they all use similar systems, so there may have been some practicality to them. They use reloadable cartridges, which may help with having some sort of gas seal.

Breech loading 1450-1550 - Ethnographic Arms & Armour

 

[64Springer]

There are a decent number of surviving examples and they all use similar systems, so there may have been some practicality to them. They use reloadable cartridges, which may help with having some sort of gas seal.

View attachment 263154
Breech loading 1450-1550 - Ethnographic Arms & Armour

What you're showing makes me think it's a thumb lever to lock and unlock the trapdoor.

Pull reward and you can raise the door.

Release the lever and spring tension pushes something forward and locks the door in place.

 

[TobJohn]

What you're showing makes me think it's a thumb lever to lock and unlock the trapdoor.

Pull reward and you can raise the door.

Release the lever and spring tension pushes something forward and locks the door in place.

That is right on the money.

 

[64Springer]

Great video.

Thanks.

 

[Secesh]

Ahh… certainly

 

[Sam squanch]

Just think- if some gunsmith back then figured out a copper or brass breech seal, and mass produced it, the map of Europe might be different today!

 

[TobJohn]

Just think- if some gunsmith back then figured out a copper or brass breech seal, and mass produced it, the map of Europe might be different today!

During the time the wheellock was popular, im not sure if any nation would have had the ability to mass produce cartridges, except for maybe the Venetians, but they always preferred trading to make buckets of ducats, instead of fighting.