Construction and Operation
A typical flintlock mechanism has a piece of flint which is held in place in between a set of jaws on the end of a short hammer. This hammer (sometimes called the cock) is pulled back into the "cocked" position. When released by the trigger, the spring-loaded hammer moves forward, causing the flint to strike a piece of steel called the "frizzen". At the same time, the motion of the flint and hammer pushes the frizzen back, which opens the cover to the pan, which contains the gunpowder. As the flint strikes the frizzen it creates a spark of hot metal, which falls into the pan and ignites the powder. Flame burns through a small hole into the barrel of the gun and ignites the main powder charge in the barrel, causing the weapon to fire.
Most hammers follow Marin le Bourgeoys's design, and have a "half cocked" position, which is the "safe" position since pulling the trigger from this position does not cause the gun to fire. From this position, the frizzen can be opened, and powder can be placed in the pan. Then the frizzen is closed, and the hammer is pulled back into the "full cocked" position, from which it is fired.
The phrase "don't go off half cocked" originated with these types of weapons, which were not supposed to fire from the half cocked position of the hammer.
Read more about this topic: Flintlock Mechanism
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