Their cost and delicacy limited their use for example around 1662, only 1 in 6 firearms used by the British royal army was a snaphaunce, the rest being matchlocks. The first proto-flintlock was the snaplock, which was probably invented shortly before 1517 and was inarguably in use by 1547.
However, firearms using some form of flint ignition mechanism had already been in use for over half a century. An English gentleman circa 1750 with his flintlock muzzle-loading sporting rifle, in a painting by Thomas Gainsborough.įrench court gunsmith Marin le Bourgeoys made a firearm incorporating a flintlock mechanism for King Louis XIII shortly after his accession to the throne in 1610.
