Cominazzo Brescian Wheellock Pistol
Cominazzo Workshop (Brescia) · Pistol · Out Of Production · 1600
Also known as: Lazarino Cominazzo Wheellock Pistol, Brescian Wheel Lock Pistol, Radschloss (Brescian pattern)
Overview
The Cominazzo Brescian wheellock pistol is a 17th-century Italian self-igniting handgun built around a barrel from the celebrated Cominazzo workshop of Gardone Val Trompia, near Brescia. Its lock used a serrated steel wheel wound against a strong V-mainspring with a spanner key; pulling the trigger spun the wheel against a clamped piece of iron pyrite held in the doghead, showering sparks into the priming pan to fire the muzzle-loaded charge. Brescian gunmakers, and the Cominazzo family above all, were prized across Europe for the excellence of their slender octagonal-to-round barrels, marked 'LAZARINO COMINAZZO', and for the elegant chiseled-steel mounts that made these arms as much luxury objects as weapons. Lighter and more graceful than the heavy German cavalry puffer, it served the nobility and officers as a status sidearm and a practical one-handed pistol that could be carried loaded and ready.
Specifications
| Weight (empty) | 997 g (35.2 oz) |
| Overall Length | 577 mm (22.72") |
| Barrel Length | 385 mm (15.16") |
| Action Type | Muzzleloader |
| Firing Mechanism | Wheellock |
| Trigger Type | Single Stage |
| Muzzle Velocity | 250 m/s (820 fps) |
| Effective Range | 25 m (27 yd) |
| Maximum Range | 100 m (109 yd) |
| Rate of Fire | 1 rpm |
| Barrel Rifling | None |
| Frame Material | Steel |
| Barrel Material | Iron |
| Stock Material | Walnut |
| Finish | Chiseled Steel |
Calibers
- .50 Caliber Ball · primary — also known as 0.495 in, 12.6 mm, lead round ball
Features
- Firing modes: Manual
- Feed systems: Muzzle Loaded
- Features: Smoothbore Barrel, Muzzle Loaded, Wheellock Mechanism, Spring Wound Wheel, Pyrite Doghead, Spanner Wound, Priming Pan, Chiseled Steel Mounts, Octagonal To Round Barrel, Ramrod
Service history
Operators
- Italian and European nobility
- Cavalry officers and gentlemen
Conflicts
- Thirty Years' War (1618-1648)
Production
Production years: 1600-1700
Hand-built by skilled Brescian gunsmiths and the Cominazzo family at Gardone Val Trompia; never mass-produced. No reliable totals.
Origin
Country of origin: Italy
Designer: Lazarino Cominazzo (barrel maker)
Discontinued: 1700
Notes
Representative of surviving Met Museum examples: overall length about 57.7 cm, bore about .495 in (12.6 mm), weight about 997 g. Individual pistols vary in barrel length and decoration; period velocity figures are approximate. Cominazzo barrels were so esteemed that their mark was widely counterfeited across Europe and the Near East.
Background
So famous were the 'canne lazarine' of the Cominazzo that their trademark was forged onto inferior barrels made as far away as the Near East, and the workshop's name endures today as a byword for the finest Brescian barrelsmithing.