OT Wheellock update

Bri in Chi

Bri in Chi

Joined
May 28, 2003
Messages
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Some months ago, I sent some pictures of the wheel lock I was building. Here's an update if any of you care to see it. The lock sparks like crazy - right in the middle of the priming pan- unlike flintlocks which spark over the pan. The 16" half-octagon barrel is fitted and today I got the lock almost mortised in. About 1/16" to go. I'm so happy, I had to tell someone.
Brian
 
Cool!!!!:cool: How does a wheel lock work and what makes it spark?
Where is the flash pan located and is it located differently than a flintlock?
 
Are you using pyrite's or flint. If you use flint,do not use one that is the typical chisel shape but one that is sharpened medialy like a knife blade. I fooled around with two kinds of wheel-locks(inside wheel and outside wheel) and that worked the best.
 
Looks like you've done very painstaking work on the inleting.
 
The wheel is serated and the cock holds a piece of iron pyrites. The wheel is wound about 3/4 turn and a short "bicycle" chain tensions it against a srong V spring. The sear catches into a hole in the back side of the wheel and keeps it tensioned, The pan sits astride the wheel and has a sliding cover to keep the priming powder dry. The cock, when in battery, presses the pyrites against it. At the moment of fire, the wheel starts to spin, the pan cover retracts and the spring-loaded cock presses the pyrites against the rotating wheel - causing sparks in the pan -- and you know the rest...
Hope this helps some.
I bought the parts for the gun from The Rifle Shoppe in Jones, OK.
http://www.therifleshoppe.com. They sell an amazing aray of old gun reproduction parts, and their catalogue is a treasure.

BTW It seems that the wheellock was invented by Leonardo DaVinci about 1500. There are drawings in Codex Atlantico from that time of simillar mechanisms, and according to Claude Blair, nothing documented earlier.
Brian[
 
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