File:Medieval to Post Medieval Matchlock Firearm (FindID 726501).jpg

English: A fragment of the copper alloy matchlock or, perhaps more likely, flintlock mechanism of a post-medieval musket, probably dating to AD c.1600-c.1750. Overall, the object measures 110.1mm long, 26.9mm wide and 21.4mm thick. It weighs 74.96g. The fragment consists of one of the lock plates from one side of the mechanism. This plate originally held both the priming pan and the cock or serpentine which were important parts of the firing mechanism. The plate is 4.8mm thick. It is an irregular shape. One end is missing, but the other has a rounded terminal. The priming pan projects out at right angles from near the top of the outer face. It is broadly rectangular with a triangular cross-section. The top of the pan has a hollowed-out channel which leads to the inner face of the plate. This would have contained a small trail of gunpowder to ignite the main charge. The plate has traces of twelve circular perforations. The largest, near the broken end, is filled with iron corrosion and it is likely that this originally held the cock or serpentine, which would have held the slow match for igniting the powder in the pan. The remaining perforations are of various sizes. Some of them are filled with iron corrosion. It is likely that the larger ones contained screws or bolts for attaching the plate to the rest of the firearm, but the smaller ones may have played a part in the internal mechanism. The inner face of the plate is has some iron corrosion from the mechanism or barrel on it.