Gun ID?

[Dakk]

Going back a few decades now, a friend of mine had a very old gun. I'd like to know what kind of gun it was, and I'm hoping someone might be able to fill in the blanks if I were to describe some things about it.

It was extremely old for a gun. I vaguely recall him saying 15th century, but I could be wrong. I believe it was prussian, had a hexagonal barrel, wasn't overly long, but it was very heavy. Apparantly there was a 'Y' shaped device used to hold the muzzle up when firing. You could see where it once had a hole in the barrel that was apparently for some sort of 'wick' (?), and then later on it had been modified to use a flint lock firing mechanism, and the hole was filled in.

Any idea what that might have been?

 

[apu]

a cannon??

Seriously, try and post some pictures as your description is woefully vague.

 

[H Wally]

I had a car, it had wheels, sometimes went forward, it was old, like, more than 16 years old. It was black.

I know I'm being sarcastic, but pretty much impossible going by your description, and this is the second or third post of this kind this week so far.

 

[Avalonthas]

I had a car, it had wheels, sometimes went forward, it was old, like, more than 16 years old. It was black.

I know I'm being sarcastic, but pretty much impossible going by your description, and this is the second or third post of this kind this week so far.

 

[rgbai]

It would of been a matchlock of some kind.try goggling matchlock gun using Google image search maybe you can find a picture of it or a similar gun.

 

[smellie]

The Y shaped device is a REST and that was precisely its job.

They were commonly fitted on Muskets and Calivers until the heavy old ones went out of style in the early 1700s, also on some Wall Guns and Swivel Guns up until the end of the percussion era. Unfortunately, this takes in a LOT of years. Athos, Porthos and Aramis likely would be familiar with it, but, chances are, not I!

Really help if there were photos.

Sounds like something utterly YUMMY!
.

 

[m-134]

is it under this website? theres a couple that sound sort of like what you described (near the bottom of the page)
http://www.themcs.org/weaponry/cannon/cannon.htm

 

[Dakk]

a cannon??

Seriously, try and post some pictures as your description is woefully vague.

I've already been through google images looking for a visual match. If I had a picture of it, or something even close, I would have posted it.

Maybe this will help:

It was a single man firearm, like a shotgun with a full metal hexagonal barrel. Shorter than the typical muzzleloaders, and much heavier. It was quite ornate, featuring several metals, such as brass trim.

If you put a full hexagonal barrel and shorter stock on the prussian needlegun featured in this auction, you would have the general visual of this weapon my friend had.

http://www.gunauction.com/buy/10354...1-rare-prussian-model-cartridge-61-cal-no-ffl

I found one sketch that roughly shows the type of stand that was needed to support the weapon. I'm pretty sure it was a matchlock that was later modified into a flintlock.

http://www.usgennet.org/usa/topic/preservation/science/inventions/images/pg213.jpg


I'm just looking for some suggestions that might help me identifiy it.

 

[Dakk]

I had a car, it had wheels, sometimes went forward, it was old, like, more than 16 years old. It was black.

I know I'm being sarcastic, but pretty much impossible going by your description, and this is the second or third post of this kind this week so far.

Except I also gave you the 'make', Prussian, and a fairly rare physical characteristic. Based on my previous searches through google images, full hexagonal barrels on firearms appear to be fairly rare.

If that doesn't give you enough to at least offer a helpful suggestion, then you're probably just not the guy to help me.

 

[Dakk]

is it under this website? theres a couple that sound sort of like what you described (near the bottom of the page)
http://www.themcs.org/weaponry/cannon/cannon.htm

Thanks for the link m-134. It had a full hexagonal barrel, similar to the hand cannons pictured on that site, but it was more like shotgun, with wooden stock that would butt up against the shoulder like a modern firearm. I appreciate the suggestion though.

 

[Dakk]

The Y shaped device is a REST and that was precisely its job.

They were commonly fitted on Muskets and Calivers until the heavy old ones went out of style in the early 1700s, also on some Wall Guns and Swivel Guns up until the end of the percussion era. Unfortunately, this takes in a LOT of years. Athos, Porthos and Aramis likely would be familiar with it, but, chances are, not I!

Really help if there were photos.

Sounds like something utterly YUMMY!
.

Thanks smellie. I did find a few images online this morning that showed musketeers using a similar rest. I just can't seem to find images of anything with a full hexagonal barrel and the rest. Visually, that prussian needlegun auction I linked to above seems to reflect the general styling of the weapon, minus the hexagonal barrel.

There was one other thing I know about it, but I don't think it will help ID the weapon. It was in beautiful condition, passed down through the one family, and a local collectibles dealer offered $600 for it back in the mid 1980's.

 

[Dakk]

I stumbled on something that gives me a clue as to why I'm running up against a dead end on the hexagonal barrel thing. It very easily could have been an octogonal barrel, which seems more likely considering the new search results I'm getting.

Size-wise it was similar to what's coming up for 'musketoons', 'cavalry carbines', or the 'Potsdam musktoon'. Just can't seem to find anything like that with non-round barrel. I did find some references to cavalry musketoons that were originally octogonal and later converted to round barrel. The prussian stylling that I'm seeing with the brass trim is very much like the gun in question. I just remember how damn heavy the thing was for a shorter gun. I was no weakling, but I had trouble lifting it to my shoulder.