Lock, Stock and Barrel

After the Matchlock - a complicated affair involving a Galiver, a Pan, a Serpentine, a Burning Match, a Priming Flask and an Apostle - the Wheellock - less complicated but still complex involving a Wheel Spring, a Spinning Wheel, a Spanning Lever and a Flash Pan - and the Snaplock, in 1630 we got the Flintlock. [Hoorah! ].



This revloutionised the act of projecting pieces of metal into those you didn't like, and for two hundred years the flintlock hurled steel and lead into people on land and on sea.

Until one autumn morning in 1807 that is, when the Rev.A.J.Forsyth was out on a misty Scottish heath, trying to shoot pigeons for the housekeeper to cook his favourite pie. He noticed, somewhat to his annoyance, that the pigeons invariably flew off before his shot arrived at their plump breasts. This, he determined, was due to the flash of the powder and puff of smoke that prempted the rapid forward movement of lead shot in his flintlock musket, startling said birds and enabling them to make hasty egress and escape the pastry and potatoes.

Luckily for the Rev. A.J.Forsyth, but unluckily for the pigeons it has to be said, in 1800 Edward Charles Howard had discovered fulminates [friction-sensitive pseudohalic anions, if you must know]. So, for many days, down the damp moss-creeping steps, in his back kitchen and much to the annoyance of his housekeeper who was fed up with clearing away the broken glass and tending to his wounds, The Good Reverend, in the great tradition of the church, developed a better way of killing people.

By combining fulminate of mercury with chlorate of potash, sulphur and charcoal, he invented a Percussive Cap which exploded when hit. Across the world, in arsenals and gunrooms everywhere, Flintlocks were converted to Caplocks.

Not that caplocks weren't complicated, they were. Here's a list of parts:

Mainspring retainer
Lockplate
Hammer Nose recess
Tumbler screw
Upper limb of mainspring
Lower limb of mainspring
Claw of mainspring
Lower pivot stud
Stirrup
Upper pivot stud
Tumbler axle pivot
Tumbler
Fly
Half-cock notch
Pawl of sear
Sear pivot screw
Body of the sear
Arm of the sear
Sear spring
Sear spring screw
Bridle
Bridle screws
Hammer
Bolster
Retainer stud
Hammer spur
Hammer head
Stirrup arm of tumbler
Bolster