military matchlock/wheellock musket, Suhl, circa 1590

[raszpla]

Military matchlock/wheellock musket, Suhl, circa 1590 ( http://www.hermann-historica.de )
A military matchlock/wheellock musket, Suhl, circa 1590

Heavy octagonal barrel with smooth bore in 19 mm calibre. Dovetailed sights behind gunsmith´s mark "SK". Next to the breech Suhl hen mark as well as "SUL", the root of the barrel with two marks shaped like blossoms. The wheellock with semicircular wheel cover, the lockplate with repeated gunsmith´s mark. The pan with spring-loaded cover, additional system for matchlock ignition with external spring. The stock made from blackened beech wood with simple iron furniture. The butt with slight worm damage, slightly restored at the end of the butt. The wooden ramrod is a replacement. Length 152 cm.
Rare, early musket in good, almost untouched condition. Comparable weapons made in Nuremberg and Augsburg are part of the collection of the Syrian Armoury in Graz. http://www.hermann-historica.de/auktion/images65_max/27020.jpg http://www.hermann-historica.de/auktion/images65_max/27020_b.jpg http://www.hermann-historica.de/auktion/images65_max/27020_c.jpg
:hatsoff:

 

[Matt85]

interesting, forgive my lack of knowledge but why have both wheellock and matchlock ignition systems?

-matt

 

[Alden]

Matchlock firing is actually pretty reliable and wheelocks are finicky requiring decent pyrite and are fairly complicated/fragile mechanisms. So much of the progression of firearms technology is the advancement of the state of the art of ignition...