Tim Willocks’ “Twelve Children of Paris” is out. Mattias Tannhauser, the dark hero of “The Religion” rides again — this time into the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in the summer of 1572.
Tannhauser carries a wheellock rifle, an appropriate long arm for a man I regard as a proto-frontiersman of sorts. It may seem a stretch to put a rifle in the hands of a 16th Century warrior, but it’s not. It wouldn’t have been common armament, but such critters definitely existed.
Rifling dates back to the 15th Century, and the wheellock was invented around 1500, probably in Germany. The lock was complicated and expensive to produce, and it was hardly soldier-proof, requiring diligent cleaning and maintenance to function reliably. While wheellock cavalry pistols caught on, long arms were mostly for hunting — though obviously a hunting rifle could serve in combat.
There is a wonderful example of a wheellock rifle attached to one of the earliest settlements in America. It is a rifled carbine believed to have been owned by John Alden of the Plymouth Colony. Known as The Mayflower Gun, it is in the NRA’s National Firearms Museum.
It started life as a .50 caliber rifle. The rifling was worn almost completely away and the bore has hollowed out to .66 caliber, but apparently the carbine-length rifle is still functional. It’s club-butted, a style that would remain popular, particularly in fowling pieces, through the 18th Century in New England.
The NRA blog notes:
“According to markings on the barrel and lockplate, the gun was made or repaired by the Beretta family of armorers.”
How cool is that?
A more extensive article can be found here.
JimC says
Some blackpowder aficionados consider the wheellock superior to the flintlock, since there is no shock of the kind generated by the cock (hammer) falling on what we now call the frizzen. Wheellocks remained popular on high-end German hunting rifles well into the 18th century, presumably for this reason. They were just too damned complex and expensive to gain wide use or military acceptance.
Gernot Beaumont says
I got a (replica) rifled carbine.When I fired it, there was hardly a jerk and the shot rang out immeadiatly. Unlike a flintlock, with a dropping hammer. A wheellock rifle is a fast as percussion rifle.That was the reason why alpine hunters until the 19. century carried rifled wheellocks. There is no “crack” that could alert moutain deer.
JimC says
Welcome to the campfire Gernot. You’re one hundred percent correct. A superior mechanism; just not cost-effective and soldier-proof enough for widespread use.
Gernot Beaumont says
Dear Sir,
I could not afford a original wheellock rifle. Wheellock rifles were – because of their preciseness on the hunt for mountain deer made in Germany until the 19. century. The mechanism is however tricky. One day by chance some gunsmith sold his rifle, it had a German wood stock. It had an original action, it is fired with a pyrite(not a flint) Closed the lock is water tight, a mountain hunter could aproach deer and then fire. Unfortunately the rifle replica was not finished I had to hire a gunssmith.
JimC says
This is great. Thanks for coming to the campfire.
Gernot Beaumont says
Light cavalry during the the Schmalkaldic wars and the French Civil war and in the Great Turkish war got wheellock carbines. They were made NOT for target shooting. Neither did the rider get much ammunition allocated for target practice. Carbines were carried on a sling. Cavalry officers all over Europe realized that some long distance weapon had to be provided. So in European cavalry some carbines for gifted shooters were converted. The sling was usually abolished, rear and and front sights were mounted and the barrel rifled. The rider got an ammo pouch, patches and special bullets. The weapon could of course no longer be carried in sling but had to be stored in a scabbard. Is was usually used dismounted for low class sniping or simply shooting game for the pot. A rifled carbine was an improvisation – und it was definetly not a game keepers weapon.