Miquelet Lock Pistol end 17th c

[Philip]

Originally Posted by Raf

... snapaunces with vertically moving sears . I haven't seen it illustrated before and may be uniquely Italian.

Raf, have you seen this? Schematic diagrams of different sear systems used on Italian alla fiorentina snaphaunces. These compiled by the noted Italian arms researcher Nolfo di Carpegna in his surveys of central Italian firearms traditions. The variety is a testimonial to the marked regionality of Italian firearms design in the pre-industrial age, echoing the peninsula's history of political and cultural divides prior to the reunification of 1870.

Looking at these six variations, one can see that two of them (A and C) appear to be unitary, horizontally-acting sears, and two (D and F) unitary vertically-moving ones. F is essentially like that of the French flintlock or the Portuguese fecho de nó. E is a classic dual-sear vertical.

A mystery to me is B, the scatto a scatola or boxed sear. If you have a schematic of its innards, or an "exploded" view of one, please share because I have a pistol with such a sear that needs some work in getting it to hold on cock, but am hesitant to dismount it without understanding fully what's inside and how the parts relate to each other.