Editing Snaphance (section)

== Use ==
The snaphance was used from the mid-16th century, most commonly in pistol form as a weapon for officers and cavalry. It was used alongside the inferior wheellock in the 16th and 17th centuries, with different countries favoring different mechanisms. James Turners' [https://wiktenauer.com/wiki/Pallas_Armata,_the_Gentlemans_Armorie_(G.A.) ''Pallas Armata''], written in the 1630s, noted that the snaphance (and other flintlocks) reigned supreme among cavalry in France, Britain, and the Dutch Republic, while the wheellock was still more common in the German lands: "The French use locks with half bends (snaphaunces), and so do for the most part the English and Scots; the Germans rore or wheel-locks; the Hollanders make use of both."

Fragility, complexity, and cost kept it from replacing the matchlock in the hands of infantry, though the latter issue became less prominent as technology improved. By 1645 a matchlock musket cost 10 shillings in Britain compared to 15 shillings for a flintlock musket. However, flintlocks were still much cheaper than wheellocks; in 1631 the Royal Armoury's purchase records show the going rate as 3 pounds (60 shillings) for a pair of wheellock pistols versus 2 pounds (40 shillings) for a pair of flintlock pistols.<ref>Keith Dowen. "Arms and Armour of the English Civil Wars." Royal Armouries 2019. Pages 45 and 68 </ref>

The Dutch Snaphance originated in the Netherlands in 1650.  It exemplified early flintlock pistols in that it was clumsy and inelegant and also difficult to carry about the user's person.  These weapons were useful for cavalrymen, however, who might carry two, four or even more loaded pistols into action.
<ref>{{cite book|author=[[Martin J. Dougherty]]|title=Small Arms: Visual Encyclopedia|publisher=[[Amber Books Ltd.]]|year=2011|page=14|isbn=9781838864064}}</ref>

By about 1680, it was gradually superseded and was still occasionally issued to reinforcements for Portugal for the  British Army in the Wars of the Spanish  Succession of 1703 and in  Northern Italy where it was still in use until the 1750s. In Europe, and especially France, the snaphance was replaced by the [[flintlock]] with its combined steel/pan cover starting from about 1620. In England, a hybrid mechanism called the [[English Lock]] replaced the snaphance from the same date. Both the flintlock and the English lock were cheaper and less complex than the snaphance.


The snaphance dominated the New England gun market until it fell out of favor in the middle of the 17th century.  Virginia, Massachusetts, and Connecticut outlawed the outdated mechanism by the late 17th century.<ref>{{cite book|last=Russell|first=Carl P.|title=Guns on the early frontiers : from colonial times to the years of the Western fur trade|year=2005|publisher=Dover|location=New York|isbn=978-0486436814|pages=9|chapter=Arming the American Indian}}</ref>