The pistols have already flashed
The hammer rattles on the ramrod.
Bullets go into the faceted barrel
And snapped the trigger for the first time.
(Eugene Onegin. A. S. Pushkin)
This is not the first time, thanks to the courtesy of my friend N, who collects firearms of the past (of course, rendered inoperative in accordance with the law of the Russian Federation), VO readers have the opportunity to get acquainted with those of its samples that I personally managed to hold in my hands. Today on the Internet there seem to be a lot of all kinds of articles about weapons, but … some are clearly written by people who have not even seen the subject of their description. True, not all materials can be made in chronological order. What you can get, you can write about it! Before that, there were mostly more or less modern samples, but the time has come for much more ancient, one might say, rare firearms.
Here it is - a Grinelle dueling pistol. View from the side of the castle.
And this, by the way, is a great occasion to refresh the memory of the history of firearms in general. So, first of all, what is it? In short, this is a weapon in which the energy of the powder gases generated when the powder charge is fired is used to accelerate the projectile in the bore. This is an individual weapon, with the exception of a number of machine guns, intended for collective use. Other distinguishing features of this type of weapon are the ability to hold it comfortably while firing, the presence of a trigger mechanism with which a shot is fired, the rapid reloading of the weapon after firing a shot, and the presence of sighting devices that allow accurate shooting. These signs are inherent in all models of small arms, however, their implementation differs in each sample, since when developing new weapons, gunsmith designers make improvements every time.
View from the opposite side. The heads of the two fastening screws of the lock inside the box are clearly visible.
The first explosive mixture that began to be used in firearms was gunpowder. Despite its military and historical significance, the origin of gunpowder still remains a mystery. It is known that the Chinese used gunpowder as early as 1000 AD. NS. The first mention of gunpowder in Western literature dates back to the middle of the 13th century. However, as for the firearms themselves, they appeared in Europe much later. In the east, the ancient Chinese and Arabs have long used "Roman candles" (possibly made from bamboo pipes) filled with gunpowder and other flammable substances for military purposes for shooting at a distance. However, their more accurate device is unknown, as are also unknown mentions of the first use of this weapon for firing projectiles. It is believed that the Moors used this weapon in 1247 in the defense of Seville. Or that in 1301 a primitive cannon was created in the German city of Amberg. However, all this information, especially about the Moors, is hardly one hundred percent reliable. However, quite reliable and, in fact, the first documentary mention of the use of gunpowder is in a drawing in an English manuscript dated 1326. On it we see a jug-shaped gun barrel mounted on a four-legged carriage, and a large feathered arrow is used as a projectile for it. There are other mentions that similar cannons were used in Ghent in 1313, and in Metz in 1324. Therefore, it can be assumed that in the first quarter of the XIV century, guns have already gained some distribution, and their supporters managed to overcome the technological problems that arose during the casting of barrels and the manufacture of gunpowder in the second half of the XIII century.
The so-called "Edward I cannon" is a miniature from a medieval manuscript.
What, however, cannot be denied, is that the use of firearms at that time was extremely limited. Then it was not of great interest due to the difficulties in the process of casting the barrels. The tools turned out to be heavy, then there were no scientific methods for calculating the strength of the material. To lighten the weight, they tried to make the barrels as thin as possible, but so that they could withstand a shot. It was possible to shoot only at short distances, since the caliber of the core, often made of stone, did not match the barrel. But in spite of everything, even such weapons were effective, however, mainly due to the psychological impact of the roar when fired and good results when firing at short distances. Gradually inspired by the success, the gunners began to work on increasing the reliability of the guns, increasing the firing range and the speed of the nucleus.
And this is how it was reconstructed at the Royal Arsenal in the city of Leeds.
Early muzzle-loading handguns used the so-called "cannon lock". A wick (ember or red-hot iron) was brought to the ignition hole. The fire ignited the powder seed, which in turn ignited the powder charge, which was poured into the breech of the barrel behind the projectile. Since the gunpowder was a very finely ground powder, that is, it was of low quality and, moreover, with a low content of nitrate, at least a small air space was required in order for it to ignite in the barrel. That is why, by the way, they set it on fire with a red-hot rod inserted into the barrel through the ignition hole. There is air there, no - from such a "fuse" it will surely catch fire. However, just imagine the shooters carrying a brazier with hot coals and charcoal itself, as well as furs for lighting it.
This is how stone cores were calibrated in the era of the Burgundian Wars and the first primitive cannons. Rice. Garry Embleton.
The barrel was cast in bronze or brass, although forged steel was occasionally used. The core or arrow was made somehow. Added to this was the poor wadding. And all this led to the fact that the gunpowder burned slowly and unevenly, the pressure was insufficient, so the muzzle velocity of the nucleus turned out to be low, the firing range was small, and the accuracy, as a rule, left much to be desired. But maybe it was all for the best. After all, if gunpowder with a higher combustion rate appeared and obturation was improved (sealing of the barrel bore when fired, preventing the breakthrough of powder gases), then all the technical research of the then gunners would lead to the explosion of the gun, their death and … discredit all these weapons.
Such a cannon lock was used both in artillery pieces and in hand-held weapons. The latter, however, were, in fact, also small cannons. The barrel was attached to a pole, the back of which, when fired, was under the shooter's right hand, and the front part was held by the left hand. The right hand was free to bring the fuse to the fuse. The great similarity between artillery and hand-held weapons indicates that both types of weapons were created and used in parallel.
The cannon lock has been in use for 50 years or more. And although during this period both the quality of gunpowder and the technology of casting barrels were improved, so that the guns became of higher quality, hand firearms remained unchanged.
And then at the end of the 14th - beginning of the 15th centuries, the invention of the wick lock took place in Germany. Now the smoldering wick - well, say, a piece of hemp rope soaked in a mixture of saltpeter, so that it smolders, albeit slowly but constantly, was fixed in an S-shaped trigger, which was movably attached with its lower part near the trunk. The shooter, pressing his fingers on the lower part of this lever, forced it to lower, and the wick attached to its upper part touched the powder seed in the ignition hole. This meant that now the weapon could be held with both hands, accordingly, the accuracy of shooting increased from this, and people thought about equipping the weapon with a sight. Now the creation of weapons with a figured butt has begun, so that when firing, the weapon adheres more firmly to the shoulder and increases the accuracy of shooting. Over the next half century, the wick lock completely changed the nature of handguns, as the effective trigger was further refined (the curved wick clip was controlled by the trigger, and the cover for the powder shelf prevented it from being deflated), followed by the scope and a distinctively curved wooden stock.
Japanese small-sized wick pistol ("taju") of the Edo era.
Of course, the weapon remained quite heavy, very cumbersome and inconvenient to use, which limited its military use. However, it was thanks to the invention of the wick lock in the history of firearms that a completely new era in development began. So, in Japan, where the development of match guns continued until the middle of the 19th century, even match pistols were used, albeit limited, although one can imagine how many problems they caused to their owners!
It should be noted here that the invention of the wick lock weapon was the result of active research and experimentation in various fields. Since the end of the 15th century, rifled barrels have spread in Europe (spiral cuts on the inner surface of the barrel walls twisted the core, which increased its stabilization in flight and increased firing accuracy), good sights appeared, interchangeable barrels in order to install barrels of different calibers on the same carriage, a trigger was invented. There is also a breech loading to increase the rate of fire, for this they begin to produce ready-made powder charges. Multiple-charge guns were equipped with either cylindrical magazines, or they were made multi-barreled. Many developments have come across sound and technically sound solutions. Nevertheless, most of these guns were cast under conditions that did not allow for tightness between the barrel and the bolt when fired, which led to the leakage of powder gases and a decrease in pressure in the barrel. This, in turn, led to a decrease in the firing range and penetration power of the core, not to mention the threat to the shooter's life.
Turkish ornate flintlock. Walters Museum, USA.
The accumulation of experience, the development of design ideas and production skills have played a large role in the improvement of handguns in terms of reducing their size and weight. And as a consequence of this, the widespread use of pistols, the increased mobility of firearms, which nullified the advantages of equestrian knights dressed in armor, which consisted precisely in protection and mobility. It is no coincidence that soon infantrymen, armed with firearms, became one of the main types of troops on the battlefield, although the cavalry in lightweight armor (they could no longer protect against a bullet, and with a decrease in weight, increased mobility) and continued to play a major role.
A 1633 Swedish musket with a wheel lock from the Skokloster Castle Museum.
Despite this success, the wick lock was not devoid of a number of disadvantages. The wick could burn out to the end, fall out of the clamp, or be flooded with rain. As a result of a long search, a wheel lock appeared, which was probably invented in Germany or Austria in the first quarter of the 16th century. The design of this mechanism was also simple - instead of a wick and a clamp, there was a rotating steel wheel with transverse notches in the lock. When the trigger was pressed, the spring pre-wound with the key was released and the wheel quickly rotated and rubbed with notches on the flint. This gave a sheaf of sparks that fell on the powder seed. The wheel lock instantly spread throughout Europe, as it was clearly superior to the wick lock. True, it was used mainly in pistols and in the cavalry, that is, by the then elite, since for ordinary musketeers such a castle was too expensive a pleasure. Countless variations have been created. Well, an important consequence of the appearance of the wheel lock was the invention of such a mechanism as a fuse. Previously, when it was necessary to make a lot of effort to fire, such a mechanism was not required, but now a device has become necessary for a weapon to protect it from an accidental shot.
Snaphons castle and similar structures were often found on eastern arms. For example, on this Caucasian gun from the M. Yu. Lermontov in Pyatigorsk.
Despite its high efficiency, the problem with the wheel lock was its high cost. After all, it had to be made of high quality materials and with precision never seen before. This led to the invention of the snaphons (schnaphan) castle, which was more perfect than the wick one and cheaper than other designs. In this lock, the pyrite, installed in the clip on the trigger, at the moment the trigger was pressed, hit a steel flint located on the side of the powder seed, while a sufficient number of sparks were struck to ignite the seed and charge. The fire and gunpowder shelf cover in this lock were different parts. For the first time locks of this type appeared around 1525 (they were even called Dutch castles with a hint of their Dutch origin), but it took over 100 years for them to turn into a classic flintlock. Moreover, it is flint, not silicon, as for some reason some "experts in arms and its history" began to write. The fact is that silicon is an element of the periodic table. And flint is a stone, moreover, processed, wrapped in leather and clamped by the jaws of the hammer. It worked according to the same principle as the Snaphons, but operated in such a way that when the trigger was pulled down, the lid of the powder shelf, which was closed at the rest of the time, was also opened, thereby preventing the powder from blowing off or getting wet. In this case, the flint, on which the flint struck, was the continuation of the lid of the powder shelf, and he not only opened it, but also cut out a sheaf of sparks falling along its curved surface onto the powder seed. Such a flint-impact lock received universal recognition and soon became the main lock for all manual muzzle-loading firearms of the second half of the 17th century.
And this is a Tula-made flint officer's pistol from the same museum.
Weapon designers and manufacturers, after creating such a successful model as the flintlock, focused their main efforts on its modernization. Gunpowder became of better quality, production technology improved, and all this played a significant role in the fact that flintlock pistols and muskets quickly replaced the old arquebus. At the same time, the appearance of more advanced iron alloys made it possible to abandon bronze and brass in the manufacture of hand-held firearms. All these factors led to the fact that the weapon became much lighter, at the same time stronger and, when firing, ensured greater accuracy of hit. As in the case of the wick lock, the developers created many variants of the flintlock, with most of the new designs being designed to increase the rate of fire of the weapon. Similar experiments (although few active samples were released) or attempts to create a breech-loading weapon were based on improving the obturation when using an opening bolt to quickly load the weapon.
Grinel's dueling flintlock pistol. The powder rack lid is open.
The brand of the manufacturer is clearly visible. However, similar pistols produced in England at that time by other firms were very similar to each other and differed only in details.
More complex attempts were made to install a revolver-type magazine and a semi-automatic seeding system for multiply charged samples. For the implementation of such systems in life, a lot of effort and money was spent. However, at that time it was still impossible to achieve high accuracy in production, so most of these samples were never adopted and remained in the form of prototype, museum samples.
The pistol, of course, is old, but it is not surprising if it was released in 1780, and its safety is not 100%, however, and not so bad. This photo clearly shows how he is held in his right hand.
There were only two of all types of hand firearms at that time: long-barreled guns, both combat and hunting, and short-barreled pistols, both military and civilian. The latter differed from the combat ones, however, not in caliber or some peculiarities of the mechanism, but mainly … in the handle! The combat ones had a metal frame and, quite often, a massive metal pommel ("apple"). This was done so that such a pistol could be used in hand-to-hand combat without fear of damaging your weapon.
But civilian pistols were very often used by travelers who traveled around Europe in carriages to protect them from robbers. Fighting with such a weapon, in general, was not planned, more often than not, a shot from behind the carriage door was enough to scare them off, so their handles were solid wood and made one whole with the box.
In this photo, he is in his left hand and this was done on purpose to show his mechanism in position before the shot. There is only flint in the trigger lips, and all that remains is to pull the trigger and … bang - a shot will sound!
And there were also dueling pistols, made with great care. There were special firms that produced such pistols, in particular, the English company Grinelle made them. A feature of the 1780 pistol (and this is the pistol we are considering today) was a trigger with a trigger, which facilitated the pushing force and the trigger. Thanks to this device, the sight did not go astray at the time of the shot, or rather, it also went astray, but less than that of conventional pistols.
The barrel of this pistol is octahedral, 182 mm long and 17.5 mm caliber with a small front sight, since they were fired at relatively short distances. Dueling pistol grips were carefully crafted to fit as comfortably as possible in the hand.
The following accessories were relied on for pistols (usually they were released in pairs in the form of a headset), which were absent in this case: a brush for cleaning the powder shelf, a screwdriver to remove a flintlock from the box, an oil can, lubricate the mechanism, a powder flask, with a spout that served as a measure for gunpowder, a bullet for making bullets on your own and leather pads (usually suede was used) to secure the flint in the trigger lips.
The barrel is smooth inside, not rifled, and it looks like an awfully large caliber. The diameter is equal to the diameter of the index finger of an adult man's height 178 cm, not a bricklayer, of course, but nevertheless … So if a lead ball released from it fell into your stomach, then you did not have the slightest chance to digest it!
Personal impressions of the pistol: surprisingly, the grip seemed small, which is noticeable in the photographs and not very comfortable. That is, you can hold on to it, but there is no question of careful adjustment, as it is written in the books. Or the hands of men were smaller then! Schneller really makes the descent very easy, but the pistol still twitches from the blow of the trigger on the flint. And then a shot follows, so when reading about duels in 15 steps, you shouldn't be surprised, because at 25 you just won't get anywhere, you shouldn't even try!
This photo clearly shows the seed hole through which the fire from the powder shelf fell into the barrel.
P. S. The author expresses his gratitude to the Japanese Antiques Company for the provided photo of a Japanese pistol.
