Going Seriously Old School

by
posted on November 20, 2012
** When you buy products through the links on our site, we may earn a commission that supports NRA's mission to protect, preserve and defend the Second Amendment. **
20121120103614-keefematchlock_m.jpg

Ever fired a matchlock? While I have handled them, no one has ever let me shoot one of these 16th century guns. For the next season of “American Rifleman Television” we are doing a four-part feature series on the development of firearms from the discovery of gunpowder to today. For that series, we borrowed a matchlock musket from Dale Shinn in California. A replica, it is an authentic copy of the kind of matchlocks used during the founding of the American colonies in Jamestown and Plymouth.

The simple cock or serpentine holds a piece of smoldering slow match in front of your face—thus the “match” part of matchlock. Know the punts you use on Halloween? Think of that held in the jaw of in front of your face. There is open pan of gunpowder right in front of your nose (later ones had a cover so your powder would not fall or blow out). There is no sear, when you pull the trigger, it simply draws the serpentine with the slow match back to the open pan of powder and, if all goes well, you can hold the match there long enough to ignite the priming charge of powder in the pan. If you let go of the trigger, the match goes forward out of contact with the pan. I must say drawing a burning piece of rope closer to your face with an open pan of powder in front of your nose takes a little getting used to.

We shot high speed footage for the show, and seeing as we had to clean it anyway, many of the staff shot it, including Assistant Editor Joe Kurtenbach. Look for it on the Outdoor Channel.

Latest

French Charleville Ihtog 1
French Charleville Ihtog 1

I Have This Old Gun: The French Charleville Musket

One of the most important military arms ever made, the French Charleville musket saw use in the American Revolution and armed French troops throughout the Napoleonic Wars.

CVA Endura Series: The Modernized Muzzleloader Of 2025

CVA built on the success of its Paramount muzzleloader to create the Endura, a design that the company calls "the most advanced muzzleloader series CVA has ever built."

Review: FN 15 Guardian

FN America has sought to bring its legendary quality and reliability to an AR-15 that lists for just $999, and we believe that it has done this well with its 15 Guardian carbine.

Springfield Armory Hellcat Now Available In .380 ACP

Despite the extensive number of Hellcat models in its lineup, Springfield Armory has only offered the pistol in one chambering, 9 mm Luger, until now. The .380 ACP model offers similar capabilities with softer recoil.

Arms Of The Mail Guard Marines

While difficult to imagine today, brazen armed thefts of the U.S. Mail in the 1920s became all too common and beyond the abilities of mail personnel to handle. Enter the U.S. Marines—armed to the teeth.

The Armed Citizen® Oct. 13, 2025

Read today's "The Armed Citizen" entry for real stories of law-abiding citizens, past and present, who used their firearms to save lives.

Interests



Get the best of American Rifleman delivered to your inbox.