Fire-lock

so called from their producing fire of themselves, by the action of the flint and steel; the arms carried by a foot-soldier: they were formerly 3 feet 8 inches in the barrel, and weighed 14lb.; at present the length of the barrel is from 3 feet 3 inches to 3 feet 6 inches and the weight of the piece from 9 to 12lb. British fire-locks carry a leaden bullet of which 29 make 2lb. Its diameter is .550 of an inch, and that of the barrel ¹⁄₅₀th part of the shot. Fire-locks were first made use of in 1690, when matchlocks were universally disused; but when invented we cannot ascertain. A fire-lock is called, by writers of about the middle of the last century, a snaphaan, which being a low Dutch word, seems to indicate its being a Dutch invention. Formerly, both in the manual and platoon exercises, the term fire-lock was always adopted—as shoulder your fire-lock, present your fire-lock—At present a more simple and brief mode of expre ion prevails as, shoulder arms, carry arms, .