Wheellock Pistol

The wheellock is a firearm ignition mechanism developed in Europe around 1500, with its true inventor debated between Leonardo da Vinci and an unknown German mechanic, possibly Martin Loffelholz; it followed the matchlock as the next major advance in firearms technology and remained in use until the flintlock replaced it in the late 17th century. The mechanism spins a spring-loaded steel wheel against a piece of pyrite to throw sparks into a priming pan, making it the first self-igniting firearm and eliminating the burning match a soldier had previously needed to keep lit. Its mechanical complexity and cost concentrated its use in pistols and, less often, muskets carried by cavalry and officers, and it saw significant service through the Thirty Years War from 1618 to 1648 before falling obsolete. The weapon's concealability and readiness to fire without warning also gave it a reputation as a tool of political assassination, prompting Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I to ban wheellocks across the empire in 1517 and 1518 in one of history's earliest gun-control measures.