Miquelet Lock Pistol end 17th c

[Raf]

1 couldn't see from the photographs the mask on the front of the frizzen so if this is the case then the lock obviously belongs. I also take your point that individual furniture fittings were bought in from specialist outworkers therefore one might expect some stylistic inconsistencies. Still think the tang looks odd but these things do happen. Apologies if I have confused the post.

Here for general interest is the interior of the snaphaunce I posted.Notice that the maker, initials detailed , didnt entirely trust a single piece vertically operating sear and incorporated a secondary sear in order to lock it , rather like the sear arrangement in a wheelock but operating in a vertical plane

[Fernando K]

Hello
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Interesting. The second sear blocks the first, but can only move by turning. How is it handled by the shooter? The second guarantor seems continually bound by the small double spring at the end of the plate. Thanks

Affectionately

[Raf]

Originally Posted by Fernando K

Hello
}
Interesting. The second sear blocks the first, but can only move by turning. How is it handled by the shooter? The second guarantor seems continually bound by the small double spring at the end of the plate. Thanks

Affectionately

Hi I thought you might be interested .Maybe this image makes it clearer. This arrangement seems to be transitional between earlier snaphaunces with interlocked horizontally moving sears and flintlocks / snapaunces with vertically moving sears . I haven't seen it illustrated before and may be uniquely Italian. It seems surprising to find it on a late seventeenth century gun but this antiquated style of lock with its external buffer continued to be made in the early eighteenth century.

On full cock the secondary sear D slips under the tail of the primary sear C at E locking it into the tumbler notch B. On release the force of the mainspring drives the sear out of engagement. The V spring controls the movement of both the primary and secondary sears.

[Fernando K]

Hello

I still don't understand ... When the first sear enters the firing tooth or surface, the end of the first sear on which the trigger is acting moves down and then the second sear rotates clockwise and locks. to the first guarantor in that position, bound by the small double spring. I do not understand how the shooter moves the second guarantor in an anti-clockwise direction, canceling the insurance ...
}
Sorry for the translator.- Affectionately

[Raf]

Originally Posted by Fernando K

Hello

I still don't understand ... When the first sear enters the firing tooth or surface, the end of the first sear on which the trigger is acting moves down and then the second sear rotates clockwise and locks. to the first guarantor in that position, bound by the small double spring. I do not understand how the shooter moves the second guarantor in an anti-clockwise direction, canceling the insurance ...
}
Sorry for the translator.- Affectionately

The trigger bar is part of the secondary sear ( second guarantor ) as in a flintlock. The trigger acts on the trigger bar moving it right rotating the secondary sear anti - clockwise. Hope that does it .

[Fernando K]

Hello

With all due respect, I still do not understand ... the action of neutralizing the safety is different from squeezing the trigger .... it would be important to design the lock ready to fire, with the safety on, then with it removed and having fired

A HORSA would be convenient a photograph of the frizzen's face, to clarify all these questions

Affectionately

[Philip]

Originally Posted by Raf

Hi I thought you might be interested .Maybe this image makes it clearer. This arrangement seems to be transitional between earlier snaphaunces with interlocked horizontally moving sears and flintlocks / snapaunces with vertically moving sears . I haven't seen it illustrated before and may be uniquely Italian. It seems surprising to find it on a late seventeenth century gun but this antiquated style of lock with its external buffer continued to be made in the early eighteenth century.

On full cock the secondary sear D slips under the tail of the primary sear C at E locking it into the tumbler notch B. On release the force of the mainspring drives the sear out of engagement. The V spring controls the movement of both the primary and secondary sears.

This arrangement of primary and secondary sears controlled by a single V spring can be seen on many wheellocks as well, albeit working horizontally. Blackmore's Guns and Rifles of the World has a diagram of this system as found on Silesian wheellocks with external springs (so-called Tschinkes, pp 112-13. The same essential construction is also found on the central Italian or "Roman" version of the miquelet lock. However, it is not confined to Italy, as it was also used, likewise operating horizontally, in the so-called agujeta snap-locks of Castile and Cataluña, and achieving greater popularity later in North Africa (particularly Algeria) down to the 19th cent.

The longevity of the snaphaunce "alla fiorentina" in Italy is perhaps explained by the experiences of a friend who has shot these, he says the lock time is respectably fast despite the rather Rube-Goldbergish nature of the separate frizzen and sliding pancover. Apparently, elegant conservatism has its appeal, witness the reluctance of many in the German-speaking lands to give up wheellocks despite their expense, complexity, and demands for rigorous cleaning and maintenance.

[Philip]

Originally Posted by Raf

... snapaunces with vertically moving sears . I haven't seen it illustrated before and may be uniquely Italian.

Raf, have you seen this? Schematic diagrams of different sear systems used on Italian alla fiorentina snaphaunces. These compiled by the noted Italian arms researcher Nolfo di Carpegna in his surveys of central Italian firearms traditions. The variety is a testimonial to the marked regionality of Italian firearms design in the pre-industrial age, echoing the peninsula's history of political and cultural divides prior to the reunification of 1870.

Looking at these six variations, one can see that two of them (A and C) appear to be unitary, horizontally-acting sears, and two (D and F) unitary vertically-moving ones. F is essentially like that of the French flintlock or the Portuguese fecho de nó. E is a classic dual-sear vertical.

A mystery to me is B, the scatto a scatola or boxed sear. If you have a schematic of its innards, or an "exploded" view of one, please share because I have a pistol with such a sear that needs some work in getting it to hold on cock, but am hesitant to dismount it without understanding fully what's inside and how the parts relate to each other.