A Portuguese blunderbuss

[fernando]

Originally Posted by Fernando K

... Lo que no me queda claro es el gancho de seguridad: si era movido manualmente, cuando el pié de gato esta en posición de armado (full-cock) el gancho podía moverse e interferir en su caída.

What is not clear to me is the safety hook (pawl): if it was moved manually, when the cat's foot is in full cocked position, the pawl could move in and interfere in its fall. ...

The pawl (gancho) is not dinamic (has no spring=muele); it stays where you leave it.
There is a small protuberance (saliencia) in the hammer (pie de gato) round foot . When you pull it up to full cock, this will push back the pawl (gancho), so that it won't be on the way when the hammer comes down.

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