Browse · the ignition axis

By era

How an arm ignites places it in time more reliably than almost anything else about it — often before a single marking has been read. Start here when you know the lock but not the model. Every era below is pre-1899 design; nothing on this site fits a modern arm.

Eras

Model families

c. 1650

Earliest

c. 1900

Latest

Chronology · to scale

These are technologies rather than reigns, so the periods overlap: a system stayed in service while the next was being adopted, and arms were altered from one to the other for decades afterwards. Dates are approximate throughout, and an era still being researched carries no bar.

The eras in order

Read from the earliest

Each entry names the ignition system that defines it and the arms catalogued under it.

c. 1660–1840
flintlock
11 model families
Flintlock
Overview to come. Nothing is published here as fact before Butch Schoeller has confirmed it.
Arms and parts of this era →
c. 1820–1870
percussion
5 model families
Percussion
Overview to come. Nothing is published here as fact before Butch Schoeller has confirmed it.
Arms and parts of this era →
c. 1858–1889
cartridge
5 model families
Early Cartridge Conversion
Overview to come. Nothing is published here as fact before Butch Schoeller has confirmed it.
Arms and parts of this era →
c. 1866–1898
cartridge
5 model families
Early Repeater
Overview to come. Nothing is published here as fact before Butch Schoeller has confirmed it.
Arms and parts of this era →

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Flintlock

Percussion

Early Cartridge Conversion

Early Repeater