A Squared Armory Blog

Flintlocks were an evolutionary step in the history of guns. The flintlock is the foundation for modern guns. It was a vast improvement over the matchlock guns, which were basically fired by lighting a fuse. Obviously, the matchlock wasn’t very reliable, especially in high wind or rain. You could also see the fuse burning at night, which gave away your position to your enemy.

So, the flintlock was invented to fix these problems. The way the flintlock works is by using a piece of flint to strike the steel frizzen, which creates a spark that lights the gunpowder in the pan. Pretty simple, right? The flintlock was innovation at its finest and was in use for nearly 300 years.

Check out our English Flintlock guns! Don’t forget to browse our huge selection of medieval weapons for the Rennaissance Faire too!

Filed under: Weapons History