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Wheellock
The Wheellock was the second major type of mechanical firearm action, after the matchlock. Wheellock firearms solved many of the issues of the matchlock, particularly the need to keep the match from burning out and the safety risks associated with handling black powder in the immediate proximity of a lit match, but were always too expensive and complicated to see widespread use. They were also the first type of firearm that could reasonably be concealed or holstered.
The mechanism functions like a cross between a toy spark gun and a cigarette lighter. Unlike most other types of lockwork, the pivoting arm which holds the piece of iron pyrite (called a dog but often incorrectly referred to as a cock in flintlock-era examples) is not connected to the trigger. Instead, the trigger operates a spring-loaded steel wheel inside the lock, which moves against the pyrite piece held by the dog to create sparks: the spring in the dog mechanism is only to hold it against the wheel when it is in the operating position, and what appears to be the cocked position (dog forward) is actually just the safe position. Iron pyrite was used in these weapons because it is softer than flint: while flint is better at generating sparks, using flint in a wheellock would compromise the lifespan of the wheel. Wheellock mechanisms were manually tensioned prior to use, using a projecting shaft that could be wound using a wrench or key in a similar manner to a clockwork mechanism.
(As a note, the arm on a wheellock is called a "dog" because it is a part that impedes ("dogs") the motion of another part. "Doglock" firearms (an early type of flintlock) are so called because they have an external "dog" safety catch that impedes the motion of the cock rather than internals that allow the weapon to maintain a half-cock position)
Note that nearly all firing Wheellocks in film or television are modern firing replicas due to original Wheellocks being unsafe to shoot and much more expensive.
Wheellock Musket
Specifications
(15th Century - 17th Century)
Type: Musket
Caliber: Various
Capacity: Usually 1
Fire Modes: Single Shot
Please check the talk page for additional variants not shown on the main page.
The Wheellock Musket and variants can be seen in the following films, television series, video games, and anime used by the following actors:
Film
Television
| Title | Actor | Character | Note/Episode | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Adventures of Sir Michael (Przygody pana Michala) | Wojciech Zagórski | Brigand | "Brat Jerzy" (ep.01) | 1969 |
| Magdalena Zawadzka | Barbara Jeziorkowska | "Zrękowiny pana Michała" (ep.03) | ||
| Marek Perepeczko | Adam Nowowiejski | "Komendant stanicy" (ep. 06) | ||
| Polish soldiers | ||||
| The Christofel of Grimmelshausen Adventurous Simplizissimus (Des Christoffel von Grimmelshausen abenteuerlicher Simplizissimus) | Forest Guards | "Teil 4: Adieu Welt" | 1975 | |
| Mail Call | R. Lee Ermey | Gunny | 2002-2009 | |
| D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers | Heino Ferch | Athos | Ep. 01 | 2005 |
| Grégory Gadebois | Parthos | |||
| Antoine Chain | Guillaume | |||
| Richelieu's guards |
Video Games
| Title | Appears as | Note | Release Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uncharted 4: A Thief's End | 2016 |
Anime
| Title | Character | Note | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro | hanged on wall | 1979 |
Wheellock Pistol
Free of the matchlock's requirement of a lit flame to ignite the priming powder, wheellock pistols were the first practical handgun. This caused them to rapidly gain popularity for cavalry, personal defense, and assassination.
Specifications
(15th Century - 17th Century)
Type: Pistol
Caliber: Various
Capacity: 1
Fire Modes: Single Shot
The Wheellock Pistol and variants can be seen in the following films, television series, video games, and anime used by the following actors:
Film
| Title | Actor | Character | Note | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arsenal | An Ukrainian actor | 1929 | ||
| Minin and Pozharsky | Lev Fenin | Swedish mercenary Schmidt | 1939 | |
| The Bridge | 1959 | |||
| The Devil's Trap (Dáblova past) | Ladislav Kazda | Miller's grandfather | 1962 | |
| Jirí Vrstála | Reiter's commander | |||
| Vlastimil Hasek | Filip | |||
| The Snow Queen (Snezhnaya koroleva) | 1967 | |||
| Honor and Glory (Cest a sláva) | Rudolf Hrusínský | Václav Rynda | 1968 | |
| Karel Höger | Jindřich Donovalský | |||
| Blanka Bohdanová | Kateřina | |||
| Josef Kemr | Captain | |||
| Jan Pohan | Reiter | |||
| Iva Janzurová | Dorota | |||
| Adolf Minský | Maňas | |||
| Robbers | ||||
| Colonel Wolodyjowski | Polish soldiers | 1969 | ||
| The Last Valley | Michael Caine | The Captain | 1971 | |
| Nigel Davenport | Gruber | |||
| Ian Hogg | Graf | |||
| George Innes | Vornez | |||
| Michael Gothard | Hansen | |||
| Mercenaries | ||||
| The Lost Letter (Propala hramota) | Fyodor Strigun | Andriy | 1972 | |
| Vladimir Glukhoy | The Good Devil | |||
| The Three Musketeers | Spike Milligan | M. Bonacieux | 1973 | |
| The Four Musketeers | seen on a table | 1974 | ||
| The Deluge (Potop) | Daniel Olbrychski | Andrzej Kmicic | 1974 | |
| Ryszard Filipski | Soroka | |||
| Leszek Teleszynski | Boguslaw Radziwill | |||
| Swedish and Polish soldiers | ||||
| Mark Twain: Against (Mark Tven protiv...) | On the wall | 1976 | ||
| Armed and Dangerous (Vooruzhyon i ochen opasen) | On the wall | 1977 | ||
| d'Artagnan and Three Musketeers | On the wall | 1979 | ||
| The Last One Goes to Hell (Poslední propadne peklu) | Ivan Vyskocil | Matouš | 1982 | |
| Ludek Munzar | Captain Vaněk | |||
| Bruno O'Ya | Hoff | |||
| Boris Rösner | Sepp | |||
| Petr Hanicinec | Bartoš | |||
| Michaela Kudlácková | Magdalena | |||
| Soldiers | ||||
| The Dog's Skin (Psí kuze) | Karel Hermánek | Arnolf | 1984 | |
| Vítezslav Jandák | Eliáš | |||
| Lukás Vaculík | Vilkis | |||
| Pavel Trávnícek | Mamertus | |||
| Comedian (Komediant) | Uncredited | Musketeers's commander | 1984 | |
| Boris Godunov | Yuri Lazarev | Gavrila Pushkin | 1986 | |
| seen in the Pyotr Basmanov's camp | ||||
| Jorinde and Joringel | Uncredited | Landsknecht's commander | 1986 | |
| The Ashes and The Stars (Popel a hvezdy) | Jirí Adamíra | Albrecht Wenzel Eusebius von Waldstein | Brunswick | 1990 |
| various actors | Servants | |||
| hanged on the wall | ||||
| The Black Fortuna (Cerná fortuna) | Jan Grygar | Zbyněk Bořita | 1991 | |
| Rostislav Ctvrtlík | Swedish Captain | |||
| Karel Barton | Guardian commander | |||
| Frantisek Derfler | Oldřich Bořita | |||
| Ivo Kubecka | General Salvizon | |||
| Zdenek Dvorák | Comedian | |||
| Igor Bares | Swedish mercenary | |||
| Swedish mercenaries, fortress defenders, brigands | ||||
| Cossacks Go (Kozaky Ydut) | Mikhail Golubovich | Maksym Trytuz | 1991 | |
| The Secret of Queen Anne or Musketeers Thirty Years After | Mikhail Boyarskiy | d'Artagnan | 1993 | |
| The Three Musketeers | Oliver Platt | Porthos | 1993 | |
| Charlie Sheen | Aramis | |||
| Kiefer Sutherland | Athos | |||
| The Hound of London | Seen on the theatre scene | 1993 | ||
| Revenge of the Musketeers | The Duke of Crassac's guard | 1994 | ||
| The Man in the Iron Mask | Gérard Depardieu | Porthos | 1998 | |
| Jeremy Irons | Aramis | |||
| John Malkovich | Athos | |||
| Gabriel Byrne | D'Artagnan | |||
| Leonardo DiCaprio | King Louis XIV | |||
| With Fire and Sword (Ogniem i mieczem) | Michal Zebrowski | Jan Skrzetuski | 1999 | |
| Zbigniew Zamachowski | Jerzy Michał Wołodyjowski | |||
| Wiktor Zborowski | Longinus Podbipięta | |||
| Krzysztof Kowalewski | Jan Onufry Zagłoba | |||
| Wojciech Malajkat | Rzędzian | |||
| Izabella Scorupco | Helena Kurcewiczówna | |||
| Aleksandr Domogarov | Bohun | |||
| Dariusz Gnatowski | Barabasz | |||
| The Musketeer | Steve Spiers | Porthos | 2001 | |
| The Lady Musketeer | John Rhys-Davies | Porthos | 2004 | |
| Christopher Cazenove | Athos | |||
| Allan Corduner | Aramis | |||
| Constantine Gregory | Planchet | |||
| Nastassja Kinski | Lady Bolton | |||
| Uncredited | Henri | |||
| Snapphanar | Malin Morgan | Svart-Stina | 2006 | |
| André Sjöberg | Nils Geting | |||
| Anders Ekborg | Gabriel Lejonhufvud | |||
| Kim Bodnia | Mogens Laumann | |||
| Harald Leander | Olof Geting | |||
| Peter Andersson | Överste Dahlbergh | |||
| Niklas Engdahl | Mannen med ärret | |||
| Soldiers, seen on the table | ||||
| Alatriste | Viggo Mortensen | Diego Alatriste | 2006 | |
| Eduard Fernández | Sebastián Copons | |||
| French soldiers | ||||
| Kingdom of War | Soldiers | 2007 | ||
| Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End | Pirat | 2007 | ||
| 1612 | Swedish Mercenaries | 2007 | ||
| Polish Mercenaries | ||||
| Wanted | Thomas Kretschmann | Cross | mock-up | 2008 |
| James McAvoy | Wesley Gibson | |||
| Bathory: Countess of Blood | Anna Friel | Erzsébet Báthory | 2008 | |
| Karel Roden | Juraj Thurzo | |||
| Soldiers | ||||
| Iron & Blood: The Legend of Taras Bulba | Bogdan Stupka | Taras Bulba | 2009 | |
| Vladimir Vdovichenkov | Ostap Bulba | |||
| Igor Petrenko | Andriy Bulba | |||
| Yury Belyayev | Kirdaga | |||
| Mikhail Boyarskiy | Moisei Shilo | |||
| Les Serdyuk | Dmytro Tovkach | |||
| Polish soldiers | ||||
| Cossacks | ||||
| Solomon Kane | James Purefoy | Solomon Kane | 2009 | |
| Max von Sydow | Josiah Kane | |||
| Raiders | ||||
| The Three Musketeers | Matthew MacFayden | Athos | 2011 | |
| Ray Stevenson | Porthos | |||
| Luke Evans | Aramis | |||
| Milla Jovovich | Milady de Winter | |||
| Mads Mikkelsen | Captain Rochefort | |||
| Orlando Bloom | Duke of Buckingham | |||
| John Carter | James Purefoy | Kantos Kan | 2012 | |
| Ciarán Hinds | Tardos Mors | |||
| Angélique | Tomer Sisley | Philippe de Plessis-Bellière | 2013 | |
| Miguel Herz-Kestranek | Plessis-Bellière | |||
| Forbidden Empire | Hanged on the wall | 2014 | ||
| Journey to China: The Mystery of Iron Mask | Sailor | 2014 | ||
| Infernal Guidon, or Cossack Christmas (Pekelna khoruhva, abo Rizdvo Kozatske) | Cossacks | 2019 | ||
| John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum | Seen in armory | 2019 |
Television
| Title | Actor | Character | Note/Episode | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Adventures of Sir Michael (Przygody pana Michala) | Andrzej Lapicki | Hassling-Ketling of Elgin | "Cztery serca" (ep. 04) | 1969 |
| Tadeusz Lomnicki | Colonel Michał Wołodyjowski | "Dymy nad twierdzą" (ep. 12) | ||
| Magdalena Zawadzka | Barbara Jeziorkowska | |||
| Mieczyslaw Pawlikowski | Jan Onufry Zagłoba | |||
| Polish officers | ||||
| The Christofel of Grimmelshausen Adventurous Simplizissimus (Des Christoffel von Grimmelshausen abenteuerlicher Simplizissimus) | Matthias Habich | Simplex Simplizissimus | 1975 | |
| Günter Strack | Springinsfeld | "Teil 2: Der Jäger von Soest" | ||
| Herbert Fux | Leupold | |||
| Christian Quadflieg | Herzbruder Ulrich | |||
| Alexander Golling | Colonel Zwirnbeiss | |||
| Uncredited | Commandant | "Teil 3: Der Schatz" | ||
| Uncredited | Governor | |||
| Reiters, soldiers | ||||
| The Legend of Till Ullenspiegel | Geuzen | "Long Live the Beggars. Part 2" (S1E4) | 1976 | |
| 30 Cases of Major Zeman | On the wall | 1976-1980 | ||
| Wallenstein | Wolfgang Preiss | Thurn | "Teil 1: Ein Kaisertreuer" | 1978 |
| Rolf Boysen | Albrecht Wenzel Eusebius von Waldstein | "Teil 3: Im Labyrinth" | ||
| Ernst Fritz Fürbringer | Tilly | |||
| Czech soldiers, reiters | ||||
| Famous Brigands Stories: Jan Jirí Grasel | Jan Preucil | Brigand | (S1E3) | 1986 |
| Antonín Molcík | Kašpar Bek | |||
| Famous Brigands Stories: Schinderhannes | brigand | (S1E4) | 1986 | |
| Famous Brigands Stories: Convict Salvador | Ladislav Krivácek | Pepe | (S1E6) | 1986 |
| Lock 'n Load With R. Lee Ermey | R. Lee Ermey | Gunny | 1989 | |
| Midsomer Murders | Seen in the showcase of the antiques shop | "The Sword of Guillaume" (S13E1) | 1989 | |
| D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers | Vincent Elbaz | D'Artagnan | Ep. 01 | 2005 |
| Grégori Derangère | Aramis | |||
| Richelieu's guards | ||||
| Madame Nobel | Perica Antov | The Princess' servant | Wheellock riding pistol | 2014 |
| The Wall (Stena) | Nikolay Auzin | Andrey Dedyushin | (ep. 4) | 2016 |
| Anatoliy Belyy | King Sigismund III Vasa | |||
| Maksim Belborodov | Friedrich 'Fritz' Mayer | |||
| Aleksey Krasnotsvetov | Adjutant | |||
| Russian soldier | ||||
| Polish mercenary | (ep. 1) |
Video Game
| Game Title | Appears as | Note | Release Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yakuza Kenzan | 2008 | ||
| Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag | 2013 | ||
| Assassin's Creed Rogue | "Standard wheellock pistols", "German wheellock pistols" | 2014 |
Wheellock Pocket Pistol
Specifications
(16th Century - 17th Century)
Type: Pistol
Caliber: Various
Capacity: 1
Fire Modes: Single Shot
The Wheellock Pocket Pistol and variants can be seen in the following films, television series, video games, and anime used by the following actors:
Film
| Title | Actor | Character | Note | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Black Fortuna (Cerná fortuna) | Jan Grygar | Zbyněk Bořita | 1991 | |
| Ladislav Marecek | Armourer | |||
| Fortress defenders | ||||
| The Three Musketeers | Tim Curry | Cardinal Richelieu | 1993 | |
| The Three Musketeers | Orlando Bloom | Duke of Buckingham | 2011 |
Television
| Title | Actor | Character | Note/Episode | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Christofel of Grimmelshausen Adventurous Simplizissimus (Des Christoffel von Grimmelshausen abenteuerlicher Simplizissimus) | Matthias Habich | Simplex Simplizissimus | "Teil 3: Der Schatz" | 1975 |
| Uncredited | French Colonel | |||
| Ambusher |