Wheellock 101: History and Shooting

[CountryGent]

I watched this video this morning and found it interesting. It covers the history and mechanism of wheellocks. It also has slow motion footage of firing said. Anywho, I just thought I'd pass it along. Cheers.

Read More

 

[Rocklock]

Some day I'd like to get my hands on one of these, but they tend to be a bit scarce.

The guy doing the video must have been on some kind of production schedule, resorting to a bare ball in a rifle. Looks like he just forgot the patches and didn't want to admit it.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Sorry for the late reply...cool video and thanks for sharing CountryGent.
I need to get a video of my wheellock pistol up and on here...someday...

In regards to patching a ball...
Patching a ball is a very old method , old as in a 17th century method , of promoting accuracy and keeping fouling down in a muzzleloader...
But it wasn't commonly used in military firearms as it it slowed the rate of fire down...the military solution was to use a severely undersized round ball..which did indeed keep fouling down , ( somewhat ) and the rate of fire up...but also resulted in poor accuracy.

The Patch and ball combo really caught on , here in America with the American Longrifle and the American use of muskets and fusils during the French and Indian War , in addition to a much greater extant and usage during our Revolution and War of 1812....
Andy