Are there any good books that focus on matchlock firearms?

[Canute Rex]

Yes you should though your'e thinking 'common' locks. The' snap 'matchlocks these are much more instantainiousness . The' Mary Rose' type & others'at Ancrum moor saw these as military options .. All good stuff .Felt Wads pics Ive sent will show a Petronel part on its more complete now .
Regards Rudyard

Oh, I know about snapping matchlocks. It's just that 99% of what's out there is either tiller or trigger non-snapping locks. Brian Anderson has made some nice cheek stock snapping matchlock rifles. I had the pleasure of shooting one and it was a tack driver. A rarity among reproductions, though.

 

[Rudyard]

Dear Canute Rex Very heartening to know of other makers. I hadn't researched what proportion of common to snap M locks . I've made all sorts but the principal need was for snap M locks for target shooters of the MLAIC sorts , I hadn't heard of Brian Anderson, good on him.
Regards Rudyard

 

[Darto]

A snapping matchlock, so I'm told, can brush the powder out of the pan instead of firing the gun. Sparks from a flintlock do not do that. My one and only matchlock does not snap and so I can't sing along...

 

[Rudyard]

So can a common lock. Much depends on the match and the caprice of the shooter what a snap lock gives is the light trigger and less wobble to the shot. Some thing few common locks allow .Well enough in a military lock but the longer creepy draw is a oft a hairy procedure not conducive too target match needs ..
I shot a 12 bore common M lock at the short Siberia Range at the Bisley MLAGB Nationals once it stubbed into the pan I held on then on bringing it down it went blowing the gun level behind me . a by stander says" You shot a rabbit " meaning the ball hit the grass. I just picked it and proceed to reload since this isn't that novel with such guns . This same gun & some snap locks are on a post Felt Wad posted for me a M lock post . The common lock is the one we shot driven clays with at Game fairs . And at one Friendship ' Gunmakers match' one of the New Zealand International team en route home after the Phortziem matches . It being the only gun of my make so I used it. , For this not too serious match involving much friendly ' barracking ' ,had them all saying stuff like" Oh a matchlock ' Ile go get a coffee while its going off " .I shot & the instant ' bang' had them pause . A Silence then one says" S**t That was quick !".
Under that same barrel is the engraved " Build a better matchlock & the World will beat a path to your door !" It hasn't worked but . The Canadian, New Zealand & UK MLAIC shooters have shot with m' lock guns . I made. & one of the ex US team bought one & it appears on an Alberta video on match locks .
Regards Rudyard

 

[John May]

I have shot a Japanese style snapping matchlock pistol in MLAGB competitions and the only real problem, luckily not often, is from the match-cord 'sparkling', most likely from poor manufacture. Invariably the sparks drop in the pan with obvious results!
I do make my own cord but find it burns cleanly but really quickly? I use 100% cotton braided cord and saltpetre solution held between 2 bulldog clips to dry. I only make it in 1 metre lengths, usually 5 at a time.

 

[OldMaineWoodsman]

Dutch Firearms by Arne Hoff

Entire chapters devoted to Matchlock and Wheel-Lock firearms. Two others:

The New England Gun - The First Two Hundred Years by Merrill Lindsay

The Canadian Gunsmiths 1608 to 1900 by S. James Gooding

 

[cw1873]

This look like a snapper.

https://feuerwaffen.ch/index_htm_files/Draw_10_TargetTinder.pdf

 

[Canute Rex]

So can a common lock. Much depends on the match and the caprice of the shooter what a snap lock gives is the light trigger and less wobble to the shot. Some thing few common locks allow .Well enough in a military lock but the longer creepy draw is a oft a hairy procedure not conducive too target match needs ..

German target shooters held on to the matchlock into the early 18th century. A friend of mine made a copy of such a rifle and it is a performer. The instant lock time is a huge advantage. I have cut cards edge-on with my smoothbore.

Back to the book subject. I have a reprint of "The Renaissance Drill Book" by Jacob de Gheyn, edited by David J Blackmore. It's a set of illustrations with brief text, but it gives a good, basic account of how to load and fire a matchlock musket. Some good examples of accoutrements as a side benefit.

 

[Rudyard]

All good stuff ! The snap M'lock drawing is very like the circa 1510 'Behaim gun' in the Hermitage museum. I made one years ago only lt and mine have no lock' plate' as such and the stock its self serves as one . Its on some post about some one wanting a matchlock. ' Felt Wad' posted for me . showing both sides . Re match cord if made of hemp boiled in Lye ( the ashes of wood ) I've used platted Macrame twine with a 'size' of wall paper to keep it less fuzzy . It should burn slowly & hotter and not give the dreaded ' fizzes' . salt petre ones suffer . You shot for the' Courtney Cup ' same as me I placed & once managed a Gold with a Snap M Lock & promptly sold it to Dave Dorgan who bought several from me .Saved me carrying them home ! .
Regards Rudyard

 

[John May]

All good stuff ! The snap M'lock drawing is very like the circa 1510 'Behaim gun' in the Hermitage museum. I made one years ago only lt and mine have no lock' plate' as such and the stock its self serves as one . Its on some post about some one wanting a matchlock. ' Felt Wad' posted for me . showing both sides . Re match cord if made of hemp boiled in Lye ( the ashes of wood ) I've used platted Macrame twine with a 'size' of wall paper to keep it less fuzzy . It should burn slowly & hotter and not give the dreaded ' fizzes' . salt petre ones suffer . You shot for the' Courtney Cup ' same as me I placed & once managed a Gold with a Snap M Lock & promptly sold it to Dave Dorgan who bought several from me .Saved me carrying them home ! .
Regards Rudyard

I was shooting today with a good friend who wanted to be remembered to you, Roy Ricketts. He sends his regards and hopes you are well.

 

[Rudyard]

Dear John I PM ed you yesterday but it disappeared on me was only about me living once at Long Handborough & Witney, Cold winter of 1963 & 'Reading' at the Ashmolian library( it being too cold to work ) & '"passing through Oxford " ( Hitching to High Wycombe !) but engouraging your efforts with M locks .I joined MLAGB in 1961 four of us formed the Sheffield Branch only me surviveing . I had my own one man' Nelson Branch' . Roy yes brassy good humoured Give him My regards & trust he is well . I'me still churning out weird stuff and like the archaic hence the Petronel I'me working on. .Match lock of course! .
Regards Rudyard

 

[Darto]

Back to the book subject. I have a reprint of "The Renaissance Drill Book" by Jacob de Gheyn, edited by David J Blackmore. It's a set of illustrations with brief text, but it gives a good, basic account of how to load and fire a matchlock musket. Some good examples of accoutrements as a side benefit.

Yeah I have that little booklet too. The sargeant (or whatever he was called) had to call out a long list of steps for the recruits to load by the numbers. Lots more steps than with later military flintlocks or percussion because it was 100 times less safe (two burning match ends sticking out thru your fingers as you reloaded gunpowder down the barrel). You didn't move even one finger until the correct order was barked out to proceed.

 

[Darto]

I bought an 'apostle' harness on eBay. The seller was given permission to handle, measure, and photograph an apostle harness in the Tower of London from which he makes his copies.

What surprised me was how large each wooden apostle (wooden tube) was. I got to thinking it was because their powder was grains of 3 different substances charcoal, saltpeter, and sulfur. Therefore they had to shake each apostle from time to time to keep the three substances from separating each from the other two. So they probably were maybe only half filling each tube, or something like that.