In addition to the matchlock and flint arms in general use, there were undoubtedly a few wheel lock arms in Plymouth. The wheel lock was the second ignition system chronologically, having been developed shortly after 1500. It was an efficient system, operating much like a modern cigarette lighter with the spark produced by holding a piece of pyrites against a revolving rough-edged wheel. The wheel lock, however, was an expensive weapon, costing twice as much as a matchlock and half as much again as a flint arm. This did not necessarily preclude its purchase by the Pilgrims since those colonists were not so apt to economize on something which affected their life expectancy as closely as did their firearms. There are no records which state positively that there were wheel locks at Plymouth, and no authentic wheel lock used there has survived. The term “firelock” which is used occasionally in the documents very often was used to denote a wheel lock, and in the case of the 1646 order mentioned above, it almost certainly had that meaning. The Pilgrims also brought two other principal kinds of hand firearms with them, the fowling piece and the pistol. The fowling piece, or birding piece as it was often called, was usually a huge gun. In 1621 Edward Winslow wrote from Plymouth to prospective colonists in England and advised them concerning their needs. Regarding these fowlers, he counseled, “Let your piece be long in the barrel; and fear not the weight of it, for most of our shooting is from stands.” This was in keeping with the best contemporary sporting theory which contended that barrels five and a half or six feet long would increase the range of the gun and produce a flatter trajectory for the bullet. Such guns were almost always flint arms, although there may have been a few wheel locks. [Illustration:_A flint musket with the so-called dog lock, about 1637; a later flintlock musket, about 1690; a wheel lock musket, 1620-1650; the long fowler which belonged to John Thompson._] [Illustration: _John Thompson’s “dog lock” pistol._] Fortunately one such fowling piece which belonged to a Plymouth settler, John Thompson, has survived, and is preserved in the Old Colony Historical Society Museum at Taunton, Massachusetts. It is 88½ inches long with a 73½ inch barrel of .84 caliber. The lock is a primitive form of flintlock known to collectors today as an “English lock.” The stock is oak and was undoubtedly made in this country.