wheel lock

an old type of gunlock in which sparks are produced by the friction of a small steel wheel against a piece of iron pyrites.

a gun having such a gunlock.

Origin of wheel lock

First recorded in 1660–70

The wheel-lock was rarely used for infantry arms, but was of necessity employed by cavalry, where the match was inconvenient.

Armour in England |J. Starkie Gardner
An instrument by which the wheel-lock guns and pistols were wound up; also used to screw up the nuts of the plummer boxes.

The Sailor's Word-Book |William Henry Smyth
To ignite the powder the "wheel-lock" and "snap-haunce" were invented by the Germans in the sixteenth century.

Inventions in the Century |William Henry Doolittle
The snap-haunce, a straight piece of furrowed steel, superseded the wheel-lock.

Inventions in the Century |William Henry Doolittle

The guns and the pistols were all flint-locks, for at this time matchlock and wheel-lock had about gone out of use.

The Real America in Romance, Volume 6; |John R. Musick

wheel lock

a gunlock formerly in use in which the firing mechanism was activated by sparks produced by friction between a small steel wheel and a flint

a gun having such a lock