History of Half Cock

[Cory Joe Stewart]

Hello everyone,

I remember reading somewhere that many trade guns did not have a half cock feature.  I can't remember where I read that.  Where and when do we see the half cock feature emerge?

Cory Joe Stewart

[Pukka Bundook]

Half cock shows up from at least the mid 1600's Cory.
Some doglocks had no such provision, (dog catch instead), yet some later had the half bent  as well as dog.
They were used even on the earliest 'French" or true, flintlocks in the latter part of the 17th C.
No half bent was just a chap way of makong a trade lock.
Same as the no bridles;
It Can mean "early", But can also mean "budget"!

[smart dog]

Hi,
The half cock notch was a key feature of the original French "true" flintlock developed during the 1st quarter of the 17th century.  Some early type 1 English locks, which were basically reworked snaphaunces, had half cock notches.  However, recent scholarship indicates the early English locks were a response to the French flintlock not a predecessor.  The English carried on with later locks that had no half cock but did have the dog catch.  Those locks had lateral sears early on and then "French" vertical sears later with no half cock notch.  Some very inexpensive trade guns may have eliminated the dog catch to cut costs.  As Richard mentioned, there also were dog locks with half cock notches as well.

dave 

[rich pierce]

There are a lot of hardware store grade locks from the percussion period that had no half cock notch. These were usually paired with set triggers that would not fire unset. It’s weird but common on late percussion rifles that pop up in the Midwest.

[Cory Joe Stewart]

Interesting stuff.  Thanks for the information everyone. 

Cory

[Bob Roller]

There are a lot of hardware store grade locks from the percussion period that had no half cock notch. These were usually paired with set triggers that would not fire unset. It’s weird but common on late percussion rifles that pop up in the Midwest.

I had a NOS* Goulcher caplock that was a sorry example of the lock
makers art.No half cock but I am certan no set trigger ever made could
have fired that lock. I gave it to a friend who may still have it.

Bob Roller
*NOS--New Old Stock