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Flint-lock magazine gun
Cookson, John - Enlarge image
Flint-lock magazine gun
- Place of origin:
London, England (made)
- Date:
ca. 1690 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Cookson, John (maker)
- Materials and Techniques:
Burr walnut and steel, chiselled in relief and engraved; breech-loading magazine mechanism
- Museum number:
77-1893
- Gallery location:
British Galleries, room 56d, case 5
Object Type
About 1650 a type of repeating gun was invented in which the powder and ball were carried in two tubular magazines set into the butt. It also had a cylindrical breech-block that rotated on an axis set across the line of the barrel. The system is named after an Italian gunmaker, Michele Lorenzoni, who is recorded as working in Florence around 1685. He made several repeating guns of this type.
Method of Operation
Two tubular cavities are fitted into the butt, forming magazines for powder and ball. In front of this is a revolving breech-block with a lever on the left side, turning at right angles to the axis of the barrel. This breech-block has two hollow tubes corresponding to the openings of the two tubular magazines.
To load the gun, the muzzle is pointed downwards and the breech-block is revolved half a turn, using the lever. This aligns the two magazines and chambers in the breech-block. By the force of gravity, a ball and charge of powder fall into the breech-block. This is then turned in the reverse direction using the lever. The ball drops into the breech of the barrel and aligns the powder chamber with the barrel. At the same time the flash-pan is primed with fine powder from a separate magazine. Two projections on the breech-block push back the lock into the 'half-cock' position and close the pan-cover. The cock is pulled back to full-cock and when the trigger is pulled the gun fires. This process is repeated each time another shot is required.
Maker
John Cookson made several repeating guns based on this system. He signed one 'Fecit Londini', which suggests he was a London maker though no trace of him has ever been found in any of the London gunmakers' records.
Another John Cookson, who was also a gunmaker, is known to have worked in America. He is recorded in Boston, Mass. between 1701 and 1762. In 1756 he advertised repeating firearms firing nine shots in the local paper, the Boston Gazette. It is probable that he was related to the John Cookson who worked in London.
