Spanish Miquelet Lock

[Philip]

Originally Posted by Fernando K

Hello

Precisely, here I notice that the safety c a l z o (c a l z o) acts on the lower curve of the p a t i l l a

Affectionately

Yes, I did notice that. But I attach two images of this feature on separate locks, one Spanish, the other Portuguese. The Spanish gun is by Salvador Zenarro, 1790 (image from W K Neal, op cit plate 74. Note that the lockplate has a strong French influence on its shape, its tail is in line with the rest of the profile and does not point downward as on Rick's example.

The image with exterior and interior views is of a lock by a Portuguese gunsmith, dated 1780, from R Daehnhardt's translation and annotation of Espingarda Perfeyta , figs. 29, 30. Same arrangement the calzo de seguranza engaging the crook of the cock's foot, as above. But this lockplate has the downward angled tail as on Rick's lock.

The point I am trying to make is that the same mechanical setup can be accomplished using lockplates of quite different form. These examples should demonstrate that there is no functional connection between lockplate shape and the use of this sear particular arrangement.

Forum readers may be interested in an excerpt from Lavin's History of Spanish Firearms (1965) concerning this mechanical variation (p 164, fig. 17):

"An infrequent variation of this system was that in which the half-cock sear was mounted behind, rather than below, the full-cock. In this position, it encountered not the foot of the cock, but the curve of its arm... This construction seems to have been confined mainly to the eighteenth century."

As an additional note, I would like to point out that use of this sear arrangement persisted in Portugal until the ultimate demise of the flintlock patilla by the end of the first third of the 19th century, this late production exemplified by an exceptional signed and dated example sold at a major auction last year, which I may comment on in a separate post. As a NB, the Portuguese term for this lock is fecho de patilha de invenção.