Wheellock 101: History and Shooting
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- čas přidán 22. 05. 2024
- The wheel lock was one of the first types of early gun or firearm, developed as an alternative to the simple but problematic matchlock musket. The wheellock uses an iron pyrite set against a spinning serrated wheel to produce sparks to fire a charge of black powder. The wheel lock was complex and expensive, but did not require the constant attention of a matchlock and its slow-burning fuse.
Today we will be discussing the history of the system, and then going through the process of loading and firing a wheel lock. Don't miss the fantastic slow motion footage!
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This video saved my skin today. I got an emergency drop in a museum - normally I post the Chinese and Far East art section (which I majored), ended up in the Armoury. Most of the guns are hunting rifles of various kinds and types, almost all wheel lock. I whipped out all that I've remembered from this video when visitors were asking questions, including explaining all the shapes and atypical elements.
Thanks a lot, Ian!
PS
I've also instantly realised we've got Girardoni Airgun, also thanks to Forgotten Weapons. And unfortunately we've got it in the middle of a section with hunting rifles from late 18th century, without even mentioning what it is, which is a god-damn shame, given how well described most of the guns are... but that will be fixed by Monday, when the curator of the Armoury will be at work.
thanks so much for making sure the descriptions are being taken care of, it always makes me a bit sad to see something interesting at a museum, just to find out all they have written about it is a name and maybe a date.
@@sliceofbread2611 The Horten 229 at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum is just tucked away in a corner with the wings folded and taken off of it, but at least it's on display.
Which museum was this!?
That's really cool
Myrth, I was expecting an history about how you had yo use a wheel lock yo stop stop some terrorists attacking the museum. :-(
"It goes *kaboom* and it blows you up. . . and that's a problem."
Truer words were never spoken.
Gen Z: "I don't see any problem with that."
@@T33K3SS3LCH3N "My main goal is to blow up."
One thing not covered in the video is that the pan covers on these guns were designed to automatically open when the trigger was pulled. That meant that you could carry the gun with the pan closed. When you are ready to fire you just lower the pyrites to rest on TOP of the pan cover--when you pull the trigger the wheel is released, an internal cam flicks the pan cover open, the pyrites hit the (already moving) wheel and the gun fires. It's pretty slick.
I was wondering about that, else youd be at greater risk for your powder flying away...
that makes me like this design waaay better now, it seemed kind of wonky before that since the loose powder on the pan could have easily slid off by tilting the gun slightly
Even some matchlocks had pan covers that were linked to the trigger. I don't think such a link was universal for wheel-locks, as this example doesn't include it.
@@johncoffin9354 I was thinking exactly the same.
Some did, on others you had to manually uncover the pan before firing.
Writing a fantasy book and realized that their technological stage wouldn't make sense without the invention of some sort of firearm despite there being magic. Found out about wheel locks and got a LOT of inspiration from this video for the way their guns work. Thanks!!
D&D has a lot of inspiration from these too
What is it called
That's interesting! I'm writing a fantasy book as well that has American Civil War-era black powder rifles(and other weaponry).
😂 I'm here from the OSE carcass crawler issue #1! Glad I'm not the only fantasy nerd doing my homework! 🙌🤣
Make a gay sex scene with thug shakers and BWC
Seeing this, I can now certainly appreciate the people that collect and still actively shoot muzzle-loading rifles. There's an odd satisfaction to the whole loading process and firing.
imagine hunting with one of those..
If you want to get into black powder easily but don’t want some giant rifle or ineffective single shot pistol with lots of supplies get into black powder revolvers, you still get magic of loading but you also get to use something that is still somewhat modern and effective.
@@someguy5444 Having started shooting cap and ball revolvers recently, I'll second this. There's something deeply meditative about it.
Absolutely!!!
Knight's in plate armor carrying wheel locks sounds like an awesome setting for a movie.
I doubt I can find it but I saw a video by a hema group who makes mostly historically accurate shorts about duels and one had a guy with a pistol. It was awesome to see. I totally agree though. Wish Hollywood would make an actually good medieval movie.
It’s a bit missleading, as „ritter” (medieval knight) and reiter german cavalry are totally different things. Whell-lock armed reiters were more akin to popular in popculture french musketeers, only mounted, armed with a rapier or longer blade and iconic pair of wheel-locks. Usefulness of those guns was so high they were often used by other cavalry formations like winged hussars or other medium „pancerni” (or even cossacs, if they had money for it - or got the weapon as a trophy) as backup weapon.
Winged Hussars come to mind.
Thirty Years War and English Civil Wars were pretty much that.
Italian wars, holy league war, 1500s in general the term cuirassieur is applied to “knights with guns” for 15-1600s cavalry the last of them in England fighting in the civil war but by then the armor was quite ugly and utilitarian compared to the full plate of the 1500s
Legitimate technical term: 'Pheh'.
And the way Ian said “pheh” made it sound like the weapon was just laughing at the operator
If it leaves gun jesus' lips it is GOSPEL so sayeth us all.
the beginning of german clockwerk magic
Wheel Locks were the first "Concealed Carry" handguns in that they could be loaded and made ready and then hidden under a cloak or inside something. Also as mentioned by Ian they could be used readily by a man on a horse. Supposedly there was some fear among European nobles that they represented an assassination weapon for which there was no counter. Remember prior to the 20th century untimely death was they many people got ahead in life.
BeoZard A similar concern has been had with the crossbow before, because you could carry it around loaded and didn't need to be as skilled as an archer.
I have not hear of wheel locks being carried under cloths (remember they are rather heavy and clothing at this time was rather tight) but I might be wrong. One fun fact about these guns is that some nobles really did not like the idea of these weapons used in war because they were too effective! They didn't like the idea that a commoner could kill a noble in full armor! Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on your point of view) this was a small minority.
While you didn't need as much practice (although you still needed a lot of that to be truly effective) the reason why crossbowmen were so expensive (and they were) was because they had to maintain their weapon on campaign. You needed good technical skill to do that. Plus most crossbowmen operated in teams, with not only the operator, but also a shield bearer who carried a large Pavis shield. The weapon themselves were also far more complex and difficult to make than a bow. You also have to remember that peasants were very fit from working in fields all day so the higher draw strength required for a bow wasn't really a issue. Finally, most archers fired in large volleys in the general direction of the enemy, they didn't have to be very accurate.
Just some fun facts!
Have a good day!
Plus the operating mechanisms on the high powered crossbows, like windlasses and crannequins, can kill you if they are attached wrong and fly off whilst holding a 1000Ib of draw weight. There was a lot of skill required to use crossbows well too.
This only really applies to pistol bows, which could be concealed like wheellock pistols. Standard crossbows were old hat by this point. They wer briefly banned by a papal bull quite early, but everyone ignored this and carried on using them anyway.
"It goes KABOOM,and it blows you up.....and that's a problem"-love it lol
Could without doubt be a statement from David Fletcher from the "Tank Chats"...
Was my first thought when he said that....
The stock seems to be directly carried over from the crossbows of the time
It was. Hence no shoulder stock as crossbows have practically no recoil.
@@ingridchristiansen4367 thats a lie a military style crossbow 700lbs+ has decent but of recoil watch some of tod's workshop videos(he's makes high quality repro cross bow
@@paullytle1904, "that's a lie"
How do you know it was a lie? A lie is an intentional untruth. Do you have evidence that they knew what they were saying was untrue, or are you just a dick?
@@paullytle1904 it's not rearward recoil that goes into your shoulder though, it's frontward recoil from the string releasing and whipping forward which still explains why crossbows had little to no shoulder stock, similar to an open bolt submachine guns' bolt chugging forward when you pull the trigger on an empty mag
@@paullytle1904 no recoil AT ALL
On many wheellocks the pan automatically opens, with the pyrite resting on top of the cover. When you fire, a cam inside the lock pushes the cover open and the pyrite drops onto the already spinning wheel. You need only prime, press the release to close the pan and rotate the pyrite to rest on top of the cover.
Got to say I really like the look of the gun. The wheel lock system may seem a bit complicated but it gives the gun a very cool design, especially together with the decorations on the stock. Got to love old and ornate rifles.
John O ́neil the spring was brittle and irreplaceable in field conditions so it was used only by cavalry.
I know this is not the stuff you normally do, but I really would like to see a video like that about history and development of the flintlock.
Specifically, I would love to see him get into the differences between stuff like snaplock, doglock, snaphaunce and miquelet locks.
That was the first thing I thought when I saw the title of this video.
That’s litterally the shit he normally does
A good explanation of the operation. Many museum display wheellocks have a piece of flint mounted on the "hammer"...
I imagine that would work fine for a while, but you'd quickly wear down the serrations on the wheel and have to replace it, which in those days would require custom fitting by a gunsmith.
@@brucetucker4847 wouldn't it just kind of chip off rather than create sparks, as the angle of the flint on the wheel is almost 90 degrees, compared to the much steeper angle at which the flint strikes the "thing" on a flintlock?
i have no idea here because i have little knowledge in this field.
If the wheel was smooth but hardened, that would give hotter sparks. That would make it as reliable as a snaphaunce. Probably is it's precursor. Would have to see the wheel to know if the museum screwed up.
@@sliceofbread2611 the flint doesn't make sparks, the iron or steel partially igniting or getting red-hot is what ignites the pan. Flint is harder than steel and thus shaves off a very tiny portion of it--the spark. The angles/setup would not allow the 'hammer' to cut the steel wheel, really.
@@cheyannei5983 thank you for educating me :)
where's the mud test??
@@TheRealColBosch considering wheellock is the most expensive and short lived mechanism out there, i'm pretty sure he will get beaten to death lol
@@muhamadsayyidabidin3906 well, it is a replica to be fair. Still not gonna be a cheap one though.
As I understand these were expensive and had high maintenance - it took skilled clock-worker to make or repair one. In addition they were quite finicky to use (if you lost wrench you were screwed).
But, in comparison with matchlock, wheellock can be carried without open fire, what made them popular among rich hunters, highwaymen and arsenal guards (especially by black powder stock).
What I find most amusing on wheellocks is that while they are more complicated than flintlock they are more than century older. Yeah, flintlocks look primitive but in fact are more advanced.
So much tech,
Is really simplifying a system.
A neat one to see that with,
Is brake systems on heavy trucks.....
They need to be cleaned after each tenth shot or so. Crumbs from the pyrite and slimy powder residues can block the wheel. The pancover will not slide anymore or at least slower than necessary. Otherwise: great fun
I was just thinking that, how strange it is that flintlock replaced matchlock when it seems so much simpler. Benefit of hindsight, I suppose.
@@ingridchristiansen4367 Whellocks were not really intended to be reloaded in the heat of battle, especially with cavalry: they often carried a bunch of pistols, and fired them individually at the enemy before charging in. Exception being if they just fired them at the enemy and then retreated to reload.
I always liked wheel locks for their aesthetic design but never knew much about how they functioned. This video answered a lot of questions I had about them over the years.
I was just at the Musee' d'Armee in Paris, and they had probably 300 amazing wheel lock muskets/rifles. Unbelievable selection. Some of them looked practically new. If any of you ever get the chance to go there, do it. You will not be disappointed.
The long delay in slomo after you pull the trigger reminds me of old time photography where the "flash" was igniting powder in a pan. We're so impatient these days. 😊
You can also close the lid and lower the pyrite on it's top. Originals were made to automatically open the lid when the wheels starts moving. By the way, most originals had quite short stocks that would not touch the shoulder ("Wangenschaft" or "cheek stock). Nice shooting!
i saw a really fine collection of wheellocks in the Danish war museum in Copenhagen. The craftmanship is amazing.
Lovely to see things like this, thanks Ian. I've seen a reasonable bit about these over the years, but it' great to see it all explained and fired. The slo-mo footage is a gem too.
01:04 I was just about to type that it looks exactly like the Dresden and Leipzig style of wheellock hunting rifles from the mid 17th century. Some excellently crafted and very beautifully decorated originals are on display several historical museums in Saxony (eg. Hartenfels Castle in Torgau)
Excellent video, the slow motion shot @ the end shows the operation perfectly. TY again & keep up the great work
So- get the match all up in the powder horn, it blows you up. Good safety tip, thanks, Ian.
great overview
the action looks like a large lighter.
It basically is a lighter!
Black Roberts wheel locks, Flint locks and snauphaunces where all designed of a modification of Flint and steel, which where the lighters of the period!
It is one
Thanks for the reply, but I already know it. I just got so facsinated with it. Sorry for the misunderstanding :) .
Ye olde Bic.
I believe that until Caplock was invented, Wheellock was the most reliable mechanism that did not suffer from humidity, late ignition, and leaked gas chamber. Flintlock was very vulnerable to rain and if the air is humid enough, it will fail to generate any sparks. Matchlock is logistic intensive, you need to store excess slow burning match cords and majority of the mechanism is not geared toward quick snap shooting. And if it's raining, whole army can be forced to use melee weapons like one of famous battle in 17th century.
It's the best mechanism for Mariners like trooper. Or armed sailors. Or explorers/skirmisher who traversing damp woodland and swampland.
If I were to get into shooting as a hobby I think muzzle loaders would be the guns I would enjoy shooting the most. I love history and this ties right into my love of history.
Where I live guns are just normal part of life. Hunting for sustenance is widely available. We have the most BLM land(Bureau of Land Management/AKA: Public owned land) than any other lower 48 states as well as the largest continuous prehistoric wilderness in the U.S. excluding Alaska. If you add the one other connecting wilderness and seven National Forests that surround it, it's a contiguous 3.3million acres of roadless wilderness in the Rocky Mountains. Also, if the states mountains were laid flat the state would be bigger than Texas. Taking personal responsibility for safety as well as militia purposes is widely acceptable and encouraged. Naturally, hobby and sport shooting go hand in hand with those as well. So I've had a lifetime of experience with everything old and modern including military and defense, hunting and sport, rifles, shotguns, pistol. Even cannons, compressed air rifles and guns. Potato guns and cannons that use liquid fuel propellant and pumpkin cannons.... MY POINT: Muzzleloader rifles, shotguns, pistols and revolvers are probably my favorite to shoot! They are just so much fun for some reason. You owe it yourself, even if you gotta pay someone to take you out and make sure you're loading it right and being safe. Go out and shoot at some stuff. If they ever banned firearms or handguns I would do like Black Beard Pirate and walk around with 8 or 10 big bore black powder pistols strapped to the outside of chest! See if they like that better. That's not to say that I would actually give up my handguns.
The high speed video is really satisfying to watch, especially with something like a wheel lock. Good video.
Awesome video! I love the mixture of information with shooting the firearm. The slow motion was great too!
Not to mention the smoke from the relatively large priming charge completely obscures your target before the rifle goes off. That will fix a flinch.
This was an excellent overview of wheellocks, thanks Ian!
I grew up with my dad shooting a black powder. I enjoyed this. Ian, you have a great site.
If you ever happen to be in Austria you have to visit the Zeughaus in Graz and the Royal Armouries in Vienna.
The first is one of the last baroque arsenals kept in almost original kondition and has a great collection of early military firearms, atillery and armours. The latter hays a lot of very fancy and shiny high quality hunting and military weapons collected by the Habsburgs.
This completely explained a system I've always been curious to understand, absolutely Perfectly. Thanks Ian
This is a great video and that is a really really nice recreation of a wheel lock you have there.
the maker of this Wheel lock is one of the most gifted gun-meister ( Master Gunsmith) and artisan I have ever had the opportunity to meet and observe. Such skills, absolute attention to detail and obsession with authenticity ....
Great video, I had never really heard of wheel locks before but now I feel like I have a good understanding of their operation. Thanks!
Ian this is a badass video! I bet it took a lot to prep for but it’s very well made and informative.
"It blows you up, and that's a problem"
I agree with your supposition.
Here's another fun fact for you all. The "spanner" used to tension the spring was a new invention at the time and the gun makers had to come up with a name for this component. Being German and very pragmatic they decided to call it simply the "tensioner". In German the word for tensioner is "Spanner" a name we retain in English for any tool that operates like this.
Great work old bean. I've always wondered how they really work in practice.
Wow it's so intriguing to watch that wheel spin in slow motion following those huge discharges
It’s cool to see the design tropes that stuck around through the ages. The full-stock with wood patchbox and brass fittings down to the muzzle is highly reminiscent of the later german Jäger rifles, which would then go on to birth the various kinds of American Longrifles.
Also, apparently there is a theory that the original wheellock concept was one of Leonardo Da Vinci’s own inventions
Very well done. Thoroughly enjoyed this video. Very informative
Thank you for the video. This could be an interesting series of videos , flintlock 101 , percussion 101, etc. Look forward to the next one.
Outstanding video, loved this look at gun history!
I know what a wheel lock is, but really have never heard them talked about in detail, so this is pretty interesting. That wheel lock you show looks like quite a piece of mechanical wizardry, as I understand manufacturing those long ago was quite a job. Also, I had no idea they used pyrite, so there is a use for that junk.
Great video Ian!
Awesame, best explanation of the wheellock I've ever seen! :)
Thanks for the great video. I often wondered about how that lock worked. It's a good day when I learn something new 🤠
Seeing this and then knowing that the flintlock came after, it's amazing seeing how more efficient the firing mechanisms became.
Waiting for my call of duty: renaissance edition.
with matchlocks and cavalry to replace the scorestreaks :D
I did enjoy it, never knew how they worked until now. Thanks!
Informative and interesting as always Ian.
Imagining a fully armored knight with one of these things is the sickest thing that ever existed
And them imagine them adding an axehead or warpick to the muzzle.
I think almost all wheellocks are cleverly build, so that you do not have to open the pan cover manually. An excenter on the wheel axle usually hits a lever connected to the cover and kicks it open. That's why the cover is so wedge shaped: The dog holding the pyrite is not dragging along the cover which is rapidly pulled from underneath it.
Good history lesson. Great photography .
You are so lucky to be able to shoot all these historical firearms. That is a gorgeous modern replica. I love all black powder guns.
You are right. You have to have very disciplined fundamentals to be accurate with those rifles.
Great Video. Thanks to my grandfather I happen to own a wheellock separate from a whole gun, but including a backup matchlock!. The idea being, apparently, if the matchlock fails, you can pull a separate trigger and use a bit of match cord to fire your gun instead. An interesting comment on the perceived reliability of wheel locks back in the day.
Would be awesome to see some matchlock arquebus or musket action on Forgotten Weapons!
I never even heard of the wheellocks before this video. And now I know exact sequence how they shoot and how to use them, ideal 101.
Thanks a lot, Ian! My misconception was always, that the hammerpart was springloaded and went back like it does with a flintlock! I'm almost 40 and finally I learned how it actually works!
I come back to this video from time to time. Wheellocks are so cool and interesting.
"And it blows you up, thats a problem." You are a true poet. If I need a good chuckle, I relly on your humor.
Great video. Very informative and well done. Thank you for sharing it.
Awesome video... excellent example of a wheel lock.
No offense, Ian, But if you were shooting my Wheelock rifle, You would be loading a loose, unpatched ball and a ramrod with a guide also. The lock alone on one of those can be several thousand dollars! That weapon there is probably 10,000 to 20,000 dollars and that may be low even. That said, it is a beautiful gun and I appreciate you sharing it! Thank you and thank you to Mike Carrick for showing this to the internet. As for the lock time, it seemed to me from this video that it has a rather quick lock-time as far as these go. A beautiful and exceptional weapon of great beauty and great precision. Thank you for sharing this!
I'd love to see you use wheel locks at a 2gun match :-) Spin that spinner!
Will there be a nice series with the development of different locks?
I was recently watching the 1993 version of The Three Musketeers and got to thinking how does the Wheellock guns work. Thanks to your video now I know.
Very nice and informative video!
While I certainly know more than when I FIRST clicked on the video, I'm not sure I know much more on this watching than I did the first or second time. Watching Ian handle, shoot and describe firearms of all types is somehow soothing and invigorating all at the same time, even if its a video I've already seen. Anyways, off to watch the G11 video for a third time.
Thanks Ian. I have looked to find a video about this along time and really couldn't find one. I'd love a wheellock for my own collection one day
Interesting piece of history 👍
As interesting and educational as always, but that slow motion footage was fantastic!
Very informative, Ian, thank you.
This is SO FANCY, you push a button to close the powder pan xD
When i was a teenager i was a member of the ECW reenactment group the Sealed knot and i was able to fire a reproduction wheel lock pistol that was used by the Cuirassiers , it was really interesting and quite exciting for a 17 year old to be able to fire a pistol like that .
Thanks again for the class professor Ian.
I've fired two in my life. both were made by the same craftsman that built my flintlock. The ignition is pretty quick when all is tuned correctly and the mouth is held just right. They are finicky as hell though. One of the hardest problems to solve for him was the direction, angle and sharpness of the serrations on the wheel. The leaf spring has to be just right as well. It took a lot of tuning to get it all working perfectly. Pyrite is also hard to source. He ended up using the flints out welding strikers most of the time. With those, his rifle was actually very reliable.
Glorious slowmo sequences.
Also, it's terrible that the first thing I thought when you were talking about lock time was "lag compensation" >.>
Really cool Ian. Thank you.
I would consider updating the description/maybe leaving a comment on your older video "Ornate Saxon Double Barrel Wheel Lock", since it has information on this subject that seems to be outdated; in that one you mentioned that Wheellocks were more reliable then flintlocks and that they would fire pretty much every time like using a bic lighter, as opposed to here where you note that they were less reliable, that it's not uncommon for nothing to happen. Regardless, this is a great and really informative video, I hope you continue to cover more weaponry like this in the future.
"It blows you up, and that's a problem." lol I love it!
A little propane container properly placed and adjusted. Would make a great cigar lighter! Lovely piece, great demo!
Always use a patch with a rifled barrel, it prevents gas cutting.
I watched that video the other night I'm glad I saw this one I was wonder how it worked the explanation you gave was a little vague but seeing it make a lot more sense
Thank you , Ian .
Damn man, the loading to shooting process is like setting up the mouse trap board game... You'd almost expect a bird to come out of that gun, like from cuckoo clock at some point. Makes you appreciate modern firearms.
Fascinating! 3/4 of a turn!?! I pictured at least 5 turns of the wheel.
thank you very informative I just added another item to my bucket list shooting one of those
It's funny that Ian says you couldn't carry around a pack of "Bic" lighters, when the mechanism of the lighter is a direct descendant of this mechanism. That need for fire when you want it without having to shepherd it around all the time is an old one, of course, and one thing I find quite interesting is that the lighter is actually older than the match (as in fire-starting matches, not slow match).
Lovely video.
Awesome video! I love wheellock firearms
Thanks Ian, I've learned something today
Pretty awesome video! Thank you!
It's not surprising that pictures from the time show guys using a stand with a cleft at the top to position and hold the gun during the firing sequence.
I absolutely enjoyed watching