spun in contact with a piece of sparking material to ignite the liquid or gaseous fuel.

A wheellock firearm had the advantage that it could be instantly readied and fired even with one hand, in contrast to the then-common matchlock firearms, which required an operator to prepare a burning cord of slow match and demanded the operator's full attention and two hands to operate. On the other hand, wheellock mechanisms were complex to make, making them relatively expensive.

Flintlocks

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