Matchlock Project

mooncoon

mooncoon

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I have been trying to clean up projects over the last while. This post is of a original matchlock that I picked up about 4 to 5 years ago. Just a barrel plus the serpent and trigger and a small portion of the stock.
It turned out to be a lot more work than I expected; I used the stock of another similar gun for a pattern but what was challenging was that the breach end of the barrel was not a uniform taper but rather the top of the barrel was more or less straight or level in the horizontal plane while the bottom of the barrel angled down quite sharply. The "trigger" was unusual as well in that it extended much farther behind the barrel and serpent than other similar and less ornate matchlocks that I have seen. The barrel was fairly deeply pitted and I drilled it out (gun is a smoothbore)l about .030" larger to about 53 caliber but unfortunately the last 10 or 12" of the breach is still deeply pitted. I have put the gun on the back burner for a few days and am now leaning towards sleeving the breach end of the barrel to eliminate the deep pitting. The breach end of the barrel was closed by forge welding and additionally is not very thick fore and aft. For that reason, I intend to drill it out and install a threaded breach plug that will butt up against the barrel liner
Below are some photos of the gun. In the past I have been calling it Indian, meaning the continent of India which includes Pakistan. After looking on the web at examples of Indian writing and comparing that of Turkish letters, I am coming to think the silver writing on the barrel is from a Muslim country although I am not sure how writing characters differ between say Turkey, Iraq, Afghanistan etc. Also keeping in mind that Pakistan is muslim, I don't know to what extent their writing characters differ from Indian writing

cheers mooncoon







 
Very neat! Interesting how far back that trigger extends. Seems you'd be shooting it with your hand in your armpit! Is the trigger sprung at all or does it just rely on the shooter to pull it back out?
 
I "pull" the trigger with my little finger. The spacing on the two pivot pins (one for the serpent and one for the trigger) and their relation to the breach appears to be about the same as in the original stock. It is actually not that difficult to aim with your finger on the trigger. The trigger is supposed to spring down but does not at the moment because of friction. Essentially there is a long bar from the external portion of the trigger and the base of the serpent. The top half of that bar has been cut apart but still joined at the front, so that you have a long strip of probably mild steel, angling up and functioning as a weak spring. I think I will bend the upper leaf open a bit more to bet the trigger to return back down. I also may have to make a new serpent that is a little longer and slightly different from the present one. The separate block of wood behind the breach was missing on the original stock and partially replaced by a ratty piece of dried goat skin. That block of wood on other similar stocks I think has to be there in order to cut the holes for the serpent and to feed it into place. What is puzzling is that it is not apparent how the breach end of the barrel was kept in place other than by the shape of the bottom of the breach end of the barrel. There were two bands around the barrel, forward of the breach and I may end up making a third one that wraps around closer to the breach. At least that would save killing a goat and using its hide like the original did

cheers mooncoon
 
I'm hardly an authority on this sort of thing but from my brief reading around I'd peg the barrel decoration as more Ottoman. If not originally then at least through inspiration.

I tend to think that the serpent being hinged behind might point the way to the source of the design as well. The Europeans tended to have the serpent hinged forward and fall back. The oriental method seen in Japanese matchlocks seems to favor a rear hinged and forward falling serpent in the same style as yours. So perhaps the source is more eastern? Like more "eastern" than even India?

You've likely done more homework on this than I have so I'd love to hear about how close my guessing is. Either way I love the detail on the barrel casting.
 
I am leaning towards Ottoman (turkish) because of the remains of the writing on the barrel. I suppose I have to do more google searches on the writing characters of various middle eastern countries. I have seen a photo taken in mainland China, of a farmer guarding his field against birds and armed with a simple round barreled version of the gun pictured. I think the rear pivoting serpent was probably used over a wide range of areas and while the stock may be of some help in the source, I think the writing may be a definitive key to the gun's origin. I have seen 3 or 4 other similar guns but with plain round barrels and additionally own 2 or 3 other similar but plain barreled guns. The gun in the photo is different from them in that it has a blade with a V in it for a rear sight while the others have a tiny hole in a raised portion of the breach which forms a peep sight
Also worth mentioning that I have a replica of an english style matchlock which I have fired a few shots out of. What was significant was that it was more effective to pull the trigger quickly to plunge the slow match quickly into the prime, in order to get a reliable igniition. Slowly and gently squeezing the trigger seemed to allow cool ash to form on the tip of the slow match and to push the priming powder aside

cheers mooncoon
 
New gun for Heffley??? I will have to look for it but I have an email for an university researcher on Ottoman weapons. He has written a couple of books but cannot. I will look for it for you..
 
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