17th Century Repeating Pistol The development of the wheellock ignition system in the first decade of the 1500s put handguns on the map. By the 1600s, the flintlock ignition system continued to progress the popularity of pistols. These pistols weren’t always single shot; many were repeating firearms, including ones that were magazine-fed. By the 1640s, a Dutch gunmaking family, Kalthoff,… more