Dutch target arquebuse dated 1630

[Raf]

Here , out of interest is another conversion of a snap lock target gun to percussion

[Marcus den toom]

Thank you both for the contributions.
Thank you Cerjak for pointing out the rare wheellock gun as well!!
As to the dates, i am not sure why so many have been dated. Maybe the shooting guilds had an annual competition and these guns were the price (far fetched i am sure)?

The choice for a snap lock has, i think, also another reason. A conventional matchlock requires sufficient power to operate the mechanism. The target gun with hair trigger lacks that power, it is alot of energy put into speed rather than power. A snaplock serves best with it stored energy, ready to be released with a small squeeze of the trigger.

That lockplate you posted Raf seems to have been reused, but the internal workings have been (completly?) been remade. Is this yours?

[Raf]

Is this yours? [/QUOTE]

Nice if it was.Your point about the snaplock being less disturbing to aim is well made and presumably explains why it continued to be used on target guns. My point was that although the snapping matchlock develops quite early it was largely superseded by the more familiar lever action lock for the reasons I mentioned. Shooting competitions, arquebus or crossbow, seem to have been a feature of guilds which were effectively militia groups . One wonders if the dates had something to do with when an individual was admitted to a guild. By the way the Dutch name "zwamslot" freely translated means Mushroom/fungus Lock.One wonders whether the internals of the lock I posted were completely re made since all that was really required was to cut away the flashpan and fit a new serpentine.