06-30-2015, 04:44 PM | #1 |
Join Date: Nov 2011
|
Wheellocks and Flintlocks
As it stands wheellocks and the different varieties of flintlocks work mostly the same. Wheellocks seem to cost more and require a spanner, Snaplocks don't operate as well in rain. There are also familiarity penalties between flintlock varieties.
Is there anything else that's significant enough to justify mechanical representation? I've heard that, for example, wheellocks are faster igniting. |
06-30-2015, 05:18 PM | #2 | ||
Join Date: Jun 2006
|
Re: Wheellocks and Flintlocks
Quote:
Quote:
__________________
-- MA Lloyd |
||
06-30-2015, 05:29 PM | #3 | |
Join Date: Nov 2011
|
Re: Wheellocks and Flintlocks
Yes? I was summarizing the differences found in Low-Tech. There is room for differentiation between weapons in how well they function in the rain.
Quote:
|
|
06-30-2015, 05:49 PM | #4 |
Join Date: Jun 2006
|
Re: Wheellocks and Flintlocks
Nah, the time between the trigger pull and either gun firing is likely to be shorter than the flight time of the bullet. It's not long enough to say convert a tie in the instant you pull the trigger into the guy with the faster lock hits soon enough to throw off your aim. A black powder ball probably doesn't cover 5 yards in time difference (one or two hundredths of a second), never mind any nerve impulses if you were hit.
__________________
-- MA Lloyd |
06-30-2015, 09:00 PM | #5 | |
Join Date: Aug 2007
|
Re: Wheellocks and Flintlocks
Quote:
About the only advantage I've ever heard of for wheellocks is that very finely made ones are a little more reliable in rain than flintlocks. You generally only see the two at the same time very early in flintlock's timeline and only as a temporary thing. You get more overlap between matchlocks (for muskets) and flintlocks.
__________________
Fred Brackin |
|
06-30-2015, 09:20 PM | #6 | ||
Join Date: Nov 2011
|
Re: Wheellocks and Flintlocks
Quote:
Quote:
On the other hand matchlocks look stupid and so are going to exist only as a historical footnote. |
||
07-01-2015, 12:37 AM | #7 | |
☣
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Southeast NC
|
Re: Wheellocks and Flintlocks
Quote:
Wheellocks competed well with matchlocks, because they didn't require a burning string (a plus when in rain, or hunting an animal with a good sense of smell, or surrounded by kegs of powder, or stuffing a pistol in your trousers). Once flintlocks truly became established enough to overcome cultural inertia, wheellocks were left as curiosities. Cultural inertia is stronger in the personal-sidearm market (i.e. the wealthy) than it is in the weapon-we-need-ten-thousand-of-by-next-month market (i.e. the military).
__________________
RyanW - Actually one normal sized guy in three tiny trenchcoats. |
|
07-01-2015, 12:55 AM | #8 | |
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Central Europe
|
Re: Wheellocks and Flintlocks
Quote:
__________________
"It is easier to banish a habit of thought than a piece of knowledge." H. Beam Piper This forum got less aggravating when I started using the ignore feature |
|
07-01-2015, 07:49 AM | #9 | |
Join Date: Aug 2007
|
Re: Wheellocks and Flintlocks
Quote:
Wheel-locks have lots of egregious disadvantages compared to flintlocks. Costing more, needing more maintenance and breaking easier are altogether egregious. That's why even very conservative gun-makers such as the Germans abandoned them over a very short period of time (c. 20 years). If the wealthy want more expensive guns they'll just get more decorations. In near-modern times this manifests in items such as Sadaam Hussein's gold-plated AK-47.
__________________
Fred Brackin |
|
07-01-2015, 09:23 AM | #10 | |
Join Date: Jun 2006
|
Re: Wheellocks and Flintlocks
Quote:
It's worth keeping in mind there's no particular reason for the order of invention of lock mechanisms - there isn't anything about most flint lock mechanisms (despite the single name, there are several kinds) that couldn't be built by anybody who could build a wheel lock if they'd thought of it - and a lot of the details are simply a consequence of the kind of springs that were available. If spiral ("watch") springs had existing, wheel lock mechanisms would be simpler and might well be as reliable as flintlocks. If coil springs had been a little easier to make, you'd might see locks where you generated friction by pulling pieces linearly past each other. If somebody discovers appropriate metals early, modern cigarette lighter "flint" mechanisms are essentially wheel locks but with something that strikes sparks so much easier you don't *need* a strong spring to get the required forces. There are several chemicals that will work in percussion caps, and nothing about the roll of paper tape mechanism in a modern cap pistol toy wouldn't have worked instead of individual percussion caps. A slightly earlier discovery of batteries, piezoelectric crystals, any number of hypergolic chemical mixtures, or compression heating fire pistons could've sent gunlock development off in entirely different directions. An alternate history doesn't particularly need to have the same kinds of gunlocks as European history.
__________________
-- MA Lloyd |
|
Tags |
low tech, low-tech |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|