Rick,
The terms we use are at crossed purposes;
With a crossbow or a matchlock, the lever used to be called a scear. This may have been confusing, so I will use the term 'lever'.
The first guns with a lock of any description, was a match -holder attached to the side of the stock, and as you pulled the lower extension backwards, the match lowered forward into the priming.
After this, the Snapping matchlock came into fashion, and in this the serpentine, (match holder) also fell forward into the pan when the button, usually on the side of the stock, was pressed.
After this, the more usual matchlock with the 'lever' came into general use, and in these the serpentine is mounted the other way around, so it falls backwards to-wards the breech as the lever is pressed.
This last style was held in supply (military use) into the early 18th century, but for practical purposes was not used much by the last decade of the 17th C.
The One exception to this is that in Germany and related countries, the snapping matchlock or tinder-lock was retained for certain target matches well into the 18th C.
In the East, and Middle East, the matchlock that went along with the first explorers, appeared to be the earlier snap-lock, and this is what we often see copied by the Japanese & far East. The Indian and Persian locks appear an amalgamation, as the match falls forward as does the snap -lock, but has a trigger usually, rather than the scear bar/lever.
I am guilty in the above of generalizing for the sake of brevity.
All the best and a late happy Christmas!!
Richard.
PS,
I too really fancy making a snapping matchlock! I think one that fired and rebounded to the cocked or even a half -cock position would be interesting.
I did make a European /English one a long time ago, but it had the more usual -to-us trigger rather than the long scear bar.
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