Wheellock firearms were initially manufactured at the beginning of the 16th century and were the first firearms with self-igniting locks. Prior firearms literally required the use of fire and were either ignited by hand in the case of the earliest hand held firearms or using a matchlock which lowered a smoldering match into the flash pan. Within less than a half century the wheellock mechanism was replaced by the earlier predecessors of the flintlock mechanism collectively referred to as "snaplocks". The wheellock's main draw back was the intricate and complex lock mechanism that was difficult and expensive to manufacture and required more time to reload and prepare to fire. Despite new technologies, wheel-lock firearms remained in use throughout the 16th century but were owned primarily by the wealthy though a few military units were equipped with wheellocks due to their better tolerance for wet weather. Ordinary civilians were even outright banned from owning them by some of the world's first gun control laws. Wheellock pistols were even used in multiple high level political assassinations in Europe at the end of the century and were also used into the 17th and 18th centuries in limited numbers especially in Eastern Europe. This example has a large fishtail stock profile of the style often used on various early firearms and has a trigger guard with three finger grooves. The barrel has a notch rear sight similar to the style seen on Japanese tangeshima matchlock muskets and has bands at the end of the round section. There are no visible maker's marks or proofmarks, but the lock has some light engraving designs. The wooden ramrod has a horn tip. The musket is very similar in overall design to a wheellock dated to 1680-1700 formerly in the R. Sutton Collection.