A while back I acquired a Spanish percussion double shotgun with miquelet locks. Miquelet locks have the sears acting horizontally through the lock plate and the triggers are pivoted up high in the stock. Partially as a result of social distancing, I got around to cleaning it up and hopefully shooting it soon. The barrels turned out to be wrought iron which disappointed me a bit (would prefer damascus barrels). Very frustrating to try to bring out the pattern; the barrels rust easily enough but more or less the rust all cards off leaving a faint blotchy pattern. Part of the work involved cleaning up the locks and doing a bit of adjusting to get them working properly. In the context the gun appears to have been made in the 1850s or 60s, it baffles me why gun makers continued to make miquelet lock, in the sense that the French style locks which we shoot today, to me, seem to be easier to make and easier to repair. The sear arm is quite short which means you do not have the mechanical advantage of a longer distance from the pivot point to the back arm that the trigger pushes on. Also it forces the triggers to be pivoted up high in the wrist of the stock, so that they swing fore and aft rather than up and down like current triggers do.
the makers name appears to be Pedro Unceta of Eibar. Eibar was and I think still is a gun making area of Spain
cheers mooncoon
the makers name appears to be Pedro Unceta of Eibar. Eibar was and I think still is a gun making area of Spain
cheers mooncoon
