Brescian pistol wheellock lock, Italy 1640s ...

[Lefty38-55]

Woo hoo! Won this on a recent auction! I think an Italian wheellock pistol will be my next build! Time to source a stock blank and start planning for making the parts.

The ad had stated: "An early Italian wheellock mechanism likely from Brescia, measuring approximately 6-3/4" x 3". The cock is quite ornate & delicate. The lock plate has an interior mark that appears to be a crowned "OB"."

Well this one is complete and 100% functional! Some items of interest:

• Maker's mark (see above) under a crown
• All parts and surfaces are exceptionally finished, given its age
• Large width main spring, for the size of this lock, measures almost 1/2" wide
• 1-1/8"" diameter wheel
• Only 6 individual 'cross-grooves' cut across the wheel, 60-degrees apart, where these grooves cut into the pyrite to create the spark
• Appears extremely well made and well stored, as not only does it function, but all parts move ... and it cycles as smooth as warm butter!
• Cannot detect any appreciable wear, possibly due to the exceptional craftsmanship
• Every bolt can be removed, where those I did remove still had great thread form and were hand cut by a die (I presume)

 

[Lefty38-55]

More eye candy ... and the bonus was that even after the auction commission and shipping, I only paid ~1/4qtr of the prevailing co$t if I were to procur a new wheellock lock assembly, like that from Bolek M. from Poland. Huzzah!

 

[4v50 Gary]

Thank you for sharing. quite a bit to inlet (but not impossible).

 

[hawg]

Do you have the key to wind it up with?

 

[44 Dave]

suggestion:

 

[Lefty38-55]

Do you have the key to wind it up with?

No spanner came with it, but I have a few others already on hand, as I shoot wheellocks and am beginning to build my own. I guess now I'm a collector too!

 

[Jim Watson]

Very fine. Videos of your present wheel locks in action would be good.

 

[Lefty38-55]

Very fine. Videos of your present wheel locks in action would be good.

Here is one when I used it at a MZL’ding primitive snowshoe biathalon one Winter season. I fired 28-shots that day and only had a flash in the pan on the 28th shot, lol!

Darn … it won’t let me upload a video …







The lock is an early Germanic wheellock kit ($200) from The Rifle Shoppe and the 58-cal carbine was built by Brian Anderson of VT, a noted early firearms builder, who just so happens to be a phenomenal blacksmith and gunsmith. He found ~1/2 the parts the TRS kit to be unusable and he made his own. The carbine was copied from the original that is in the possession of the NRA Museum, where allegedly it came over on the Mayflower and was found in the home of the Alden family, that eventually became a museum, in Duxbury, Mass. The Alden family saved everything their forebears brought over with them or then made once here ... so much so that they made a museum out of everything.

Allegedly the original wheellock was found behind a wall, hidden and covered in bear grease, only to be discovered when the museum was doing some remodeling. Later, Garry James put Phil Schrier, the Director of the NRA, in touch with me and he called me to let me know that Dr. Beretta, of the Beretta family clan/fame from Italy, looked at it and couldn't identify the maker's mark on the original, but believes it to be a later made piece than 1st thought. They also cannot prove any of the provenance of it coming over on the Mayflower (likely brought here later?) or how it came to be in the possession of the Alden family. The original was a well worn 50+ caliber rifled carbine with an extremely short 10-1/2" length of pull. Whereas the Germanic lockplate was larger, we up-sized everything to be in scale and it turned out to become a 58-cal, 28" barreled carbine on my shootable replica.

 

[Jim Watson]

Bored enough to have Pawn Stars on last night.
They turned up a ca 1600 wheellock carbine that their gun consultant traced to a group made for an Archbishop's guard. So what does PS do when they turn up an antique firearm? They shoot it. Lock time not as fast as the better flintlocks but as fast as an ordinary flintlock. I wish they had shown him loading and spanning it.

 

[4v50 Gary]

Make your own key then.

 

[Lefty38-55]

Lock time not as fast as the better flintlocks but as fast as an ordinary flintlock.

Very interesting, realities and my observations having now shot 5 of 6 wheellock locks, and keeping 4 of them.

SPARK Source - On a flintlock, it is the sharp/hard flint cutting off pieces of steel that glow red hot as the spark. Whereas on a wheellock, it is the spinning wheel (has radial grooves and a few 'teeth') scraping away bits of pyrite (aka Fool's Gold) which is what creates the spark.

IGNITION Speed - While it is faster to create a spark by scraping pyrite than by cutting steel, it's overall locktime is actually slower, as the wheel is released to spin prior to the full opening of the pan cover, which only then allows the dog (cock) holding the pyrite to slam down into the already spinning wheel, and with force. The dog spring is hung/designed so that the maximum tension is as the pyrite sits on the pan cover in its closed position. For those unaware, there is a cam on the wheellock tumbler that forces the pan cover to open once the trigger is pulled and the tumbler the wheel is hug on is allowed to freely rotate, via the huge 'V'-spring pressure.

The closing of the pan cover prior to firing does 2 things - 1st, where many wheellocks were long pistols used on horseback (usually 2 or 3 in their belt !!!!!!) the closed pan cover kept the priming charge in the pan while riding a bouncing/rambling horse. And 2nd, as started above, having to have the cover open before the pyrite can strike the wheel, allows it to come up to max RPM (but think 'torque') prior to being struck. Of note, keep in mind that a wheellock wheel only typically rotates ~3/4trs of a turn.