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Flintlock guns - how they worked
Listener's query
"Could a flintlock pistol backfiring cause serious injury to the man attempting to fire it?"
Brief summary
Bill Harriman, firearms specialist on BBC One's Antiques Roadshow, told Making History that a flintlock is a mechanism attached to a firearm which produces its own sparks, doing what the human hand does when it strikes flint across metal to create a spark.
The flintlock firing mechanism dates back to the 16th century, although it was another hundred years before it was generally used in infantry muskets, by which time it had been perfected. It survived well into the 19th century and was often known as the French lock because Marin le Bourgeoys, a French gunmaker working in Paris for Henry IV's Louvre, had invented it - in about 1610. He had modified a much more complicated mechanism into a simpler one-piece mechanism. It was also called a firelock.
The basic action is that the trigger is pulled and a spring causes the striker, the frizzen, to strike the flint which showers sparks on to the gunpowder in the priming pan.
The gunpowder would be carried in a cow horn which was spark-proof and waterproof and had a measuring device in the top allowing the firer to measure the correct charge, which was then poured down the barrel of the musket. On that would go a wad to carry the projectile, which would be a lead bullet. A ramrod was used to ram home the charge, with the muzzle of the gun pointed well away. The firer would then pull back the cock to half-cock. He would put the powder into the priming pan and flip down the frizzen. Having pulled back the cock to full cock, he would then pull the trigger. This would make a double sound - the flash from the pan and the charge going off with clouds of sulphurous smoke. On foggy days and with lots of soldiers firing this would create quite a smokescreen.
The loading process meant that the gun would be able to shoot about four or five times a minute.
John Harriman says that there is very little chance of harm arising from a backfiring. The flash from the pan goes sideways, and other than a slight powder burn there is very little chance of a flash and it would not be possible to overcharge the barrel.
The Brown Bess was one of the best-known flintlock guns in military use. Eventually the flintlock was replaced by the percussion cap.
Further reading
Richard Law, The Fighting Handgun (Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1997)
Frederick Wilkinson, Flintlock Pistols: 17th to the 19th Century (Arms & Armour Press, 1976)
Martin Kelvin, Collecting Antique Firearms (Hutchinson, 1987)
Dennis Lack, Antique Firearms (Shire, 1971)
Vanessa has presented science and current affairs programmes for BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Discovery and has presented for BBC Radio 4 & Five Live and a regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph and the Mail on Sunday, Scotsman and Sunday Herald.
Contact Making History
Send your comments and questions for future programmes to: Making History BBC Radio 4 PO Box 3096 Brighton BN1 1PL
Vanessa has presented science and current affairs programmes for BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Discovery and has presented for BBC Radio 4 & Five Live and a regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph and the Mail on Sunday, Scotsman and Sunday Herald. 