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Originally Posted by Triarii
That's nice. Can I ask what the bore and barrel length is please? Very interested in the debates around the use of musket rests during the mid C17th and whether lighter muskets is what led to their demise, or where they just discard anyway.
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Hi . The barrel length is 43 inches and the bore about 3/4 inch. It isn't always appreciated that these fishtail muskets with high but combs cannot really be aimed braced against the shoulder. The gun is supported entirely by the arms so the weight is an issue hence the rest. De Gheyn differentiates between muskets , fired from a rest and callivers fired without a rest.In Britain the council of war 1630 defined a caliver barrel as 39 inches and a musket as 48 inches . They also recommended a musket barrel of 42 inches . Then ordered 5,000 muskets with 54 inch barrels and 10,000 with 42 inch barrels ! The attached image ; 1646 suggests at the start of the civil war rests were still being used. Military doctrine of the period emphasised firepower over accuracy. Furthermore the 'countermarch' Where front ranks gave fire and marched to the back to reload perhaps made the rest more an unnecessary encumbrance and may have been gradually abandoned. Certainly by the 1660s stock shapes changed to a more modern profile showing that the musket was now braced against the shoulder and perhaps at this point the rest was considered no longer necessary.