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Old 19th June 2024, 01:14 PM   #4
Raf
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Its a fascinating thing Marcus but I wouldn’t personally relish the responsibility of deciding what to do with it. Although I sympathise with the desire to see it as a converted snap matchlock this needs thought . Although the stock looks convincingly early I would need to convince myself that this wasn’t a nineteenth century re use of an earlier venerable barrel in which case the percussion lock and stock might be contemporary. The worry is why would anybody go to the trouble of fitting a new percussion lock to a matchlock target gun? Hopefully their is some good evidence that this is not the case.

Since their is no indication of the flash pan being dovetailed into the barrel we have to accept that if it was a matchlock it would be the later style of lock with the flash pan as part of the lock plate following emerging dog lock / flintlock form . I also doubt whether there is sufficient space within the lock rebate to fit an earlier style of matchlock without a lot of new cutting and patching of the woodwork which I think would be unacceptable. A responsible compromise might be to remove the percussion bolster , plug touchhole and make up a new matchlock with a lock profile matching the existing rebate . Basically similar to the reference example you post. The percussion lock can be archived as part of its history and the restoration is potentially reversible. I am at a lost explain what appears to be a detachable extension to the but . The extension itself appears to have been cut down . The reference example you post has the same feature but the extension is much longer and appears to end in a spike. Further research might show the purpose of this.

On the subject of conservation in my experience this degree of woodworm is terminal. Only a paper thin layer of solid wood remains on the surface of the stock and given the weight of the barrel any rough handling could cause the stock to break. Soaking in cellulose wood hardener can help but it won’t add much to restoring the integrity of the wood. I think I would want to consult with a museum conservation specialist to see if their were any better modern solutions.
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