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Snaphaunce—the precursor to the 18th-century flintlock, the snaphaunce is a
mechanism whereby a flint held in a cock was struck against a steel
battery that was separate from the pan cover. This example has the
typical S-shaped cock, which is still grasping a fragment of the
flint. The large ornamental "button" at the end of
the flashpan (center of the exterior view) appeared on most snaphaunce
locks. The battery would have been anchored toward the right end of
the plate (exterior view) but is missing here. This type of
gun-lock, in various sizes, is found on many Virginia 17th-century sites. This
snaphaunce was recovered from a mid-17th-century site, Causey's Care, in Charles
City County.
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