First true flintlock mechanism

Marin le Bourgeoys, a gun maker at the court of Louis XIII of France, invented the first true flintlock in the early years of the seventeenth century. The flintlock is the firing mechanism used on muskets and rifles, which includes a striking device that operates a firing pin to hit and ingnite the primer in the gun cartridge. He combined and adapted earlier firing mechanisms so that the cock and trigger acted vertically instead of horizontally. It also incorporated a half-cocked position, which allowed a weapon to be loaded without firing – providing greater safety to the operator. Only minor improvements were made to the flintlock over the next 200 years until the arrival of the percussion lock.