Wheel-lock pistol

The barrel of this pistol, signed by SOLER, is typical of the portable firearms made during the early modern era in Ripoll, Girona, a famous gunsmithing centre that used rifling or spiral grooves to manufacture highly resistant gun barrels. The spherical butt on the grip is also typical of weapons from Ripoll, as is the silver plating with openwork plant scrolls and chiselled designs on the wooden frame.
The wheel-lock was an expensive and delicate mechanism, but it allowed the pistol to be fired with one hand and had a very precise aim; for this reason, in the 16th and 17th centuries it was customarily fitted on firearms used by the elite or the cavalry.
This gun was made to form a pair with a similar pistol, whose wheel-lock is mounted on the opposite side. Both are fitted with hooks so that they could be hung from the saddlebow, where in other times riders kept their weapons handy in case they needed to defend themselves.