Antiques
Beautiful 16th Century Saxon Wheellock Pistols
Lot 262 in the September 2020 RIA Premier auction. Today, for your consideration and appreciation, a pair of late 16th century Saxon wheel lock pistols…
Wheel lock
Antiques
Massive Wheellock Hand Mortars at James D Julia
These wheellock hand mortars, or katzenkopf, are an example of a weapon made and used for everything from front line military application to civilian parades to simple decoration. The pair we are looking at today […]
Antiques
Wheellock 101: History and Shooting (Video)
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 […]
Video
Beautiful Breechloading Wheellock (Video)
Most people think that breechloading arms began with the development of paper or brass cartridges, but this is not strictly true. While not common before that period, there were gunsmiths here and there experimenting with […]
Handgun
RIA: Real vs “Fake” Wheellocks – What is “Fake”, Anyway?
When someone makes a “fake” historical gun, they can do so with the intent to deceive or be up-front with the gun’s new manufacture. Those acknowledged reproductions are a great option to have – guns […]
Handgun
RIA: Saxon Double Barreled Wheel Lock
Wheel locks are one of the less common types of early firearm ignition systems, as the were much more expensive as the contemporary flintlocks. The wheel lock had a major advantage in reliability, though. Many […]
Wheel lock
Breechloading Wheel Lock
I have some photos of a pretty cool firearm today, although alas I have very little information about it. It looks like a more or less typical wheel lock, missing several parts… On closer inspection, […]