Asnaplock is a type oflock for firing agun or is a gun fired by such a lock.
A snaplock ignites the (usuallymuzzle-loading) weapon's propellant by means of sparks produced when a spring-powered cock strikes a flint down on to a piece of hardened steel. The snaplock is therefore similar to thesnaphance (sometimes classed as an advanced type of snaplock) and the laterflintlock (see below).
In all snaplocks, theflint is held in a clamp at the end of a bent lever called the cock. When the gun is "cocked", the cock is held back, against the pressure of a spring, by a catch which is part of the trigger mechanism. When thetrigger is pulled, the catch is released and the spring moves the cock rapidly forwards. The flint strikes a curved plate of hardened steel,eponymously called the "steel". The flint strikes from the steel a shower of white hot steel shavings (sparks) which fall towards the priming powder held in theflash pan. The flash from the pan's ignited primer travels (unless there is only a "flash in the pan") through thetouch hole into the firing chamber at the rear of the barrel, and ignites the main charge ofgunpowder.[1]
Before the weapon is fired, the pan has a closed cover: the mechanism for opening this cover (i.e. manual or automatic) can affect whether the weapon is classed as a snaplock. In fact, the termsnaplock may be used in three ways, as follows:
The origin of this proto-flintlock is unclear. The earliest source which could be speaking of a snaplock is an account from 1515 where a young man in Konstanz, Germany accidentally shot a girl with a pistol, thinking it could not go off due to the lack of a lit match. The pistol in question could be a snaplock but probably was a wheellock. Two years later is the letter-patent of theEmperor Maximilian I, banning the use of self-striking guns which ignite themselves. Dr. Arne Hoff argues that because "striking" is a very inaccurate description of what happens with a wheellock, it is probable that he was referring to a snaplock, thus making 1517 the likely first appearance of the weapon. City regulations from Italian town Ferrara from 1522 and 1634 forbid the carrying of certain firearms which probably are snaplocks and in 1547 a corresponding law in Florence in describing the different locks speak of matchlock, wheellock and a lock with stone and steel. In these cases it is more or less inarguable that the weapons in question are snaplocks. Arsenal accounts from 1547 in Sweden also explicitly mention snaplocks, and continued to do so in 1548 and beyond. The earliest surviving example of a Swedish snaplock is currently held in the Royal Armoury of Stockholm, probably one of a series of snaplock guns made in 1556 from German barrels and Swedish locks.[2]
Compared to a matchlock, the snaplock could fire twice as many shots per minute due to requiring fewer steps to reload. Not requiring a match to be lit also made it easier to handle and more usable in a wider set of environments, such as in damp places.[3]
It was cheap and easy to produce, and like all post-matchlock weapons, could be primed and loaded in advance and be fired at a moment's notice. It fell out of favor by about 1640, except in Sweden and Russia, where it lasted far longer.[4]
Snaplocks as a class did not have safety devices, but individual models could be prevented from inadvertent firing by different mechanisms:
Regional varieties include the Baltic Lock, the Russian Snaplock, and theMiquelet lock.
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