Shooting a jezail rifle

[SchildaBrit]

OK, it took a long time, thanks to Covid range restrictions etc.

But I did it.

This is the first shot (after a century or so) with my Jezail rifle (not smoothbore!). Just a functional test, with which I am very satisfied-

[IMG]

A "chicken" load of 47 gn S3. It should have been S4, because of the long barrel, but I took the wrong canister.

Dead central horizontally. And hits the black at 50m.

[/IMG]

Poor group, hardly fit for publication. It needs a lot more powder, so I'll be working up to a "service" load in the next weeks.

Finally, I have searched the Internet back and forth, but can find not a single instance of someone shooting with an all-original jezail. The ONLY reference is to Ricky shooting with a jezail fitted with a liner - and that is no longer original.. And no photos either!

More to come!

Patrick

[Ian]

Patrick,

Congratulations on getting it to shoot.

All pics need to be added as attachments.

Ian

[SchildaBrit]

OK, got the photos attached, but I don't know how to get them in line, which would be better for understanding.

Anyway, please note that the rifle shoots dead centre horizontally. The poor group @ 50m should be improved by a serious powder charge. The POI being 9cm above POA at 25m and 15-16cm above POA at 50m shows that the drop is quite small, i.e. the long barrel is getting every Joule of energy out of the powder. However, the S3 is probably exhausted before the ball reaches the muzzle, so S4 should do better.

Watch this space!

Patrick

[Jim McDougall]

Beautifully done Patrick!!!!
What a perfect augmentation to my 'jezail' thread of 2019, "Frontier Arithmetic"! You have nicely illustrated how formidable these tribal guns really were! Thank you!!!

Best regards,
Jim

[SchildaBrit]

Jim, I must confess that this thread was the inspiration to get out and do it.

After weeks of Covid frustration, I had a great session at the range, shooting 3 extremes:

The oldest - Rouma bench-rest rifle from 1670.
The biggest bore - 2. IP Brown Bess.
The longest - the Jezail, which at 1 meter 60cm
makes the Bess look like a carbine.

[SchildaBrit]

The jezail weighs in at a touch under 6 kilograms! With the centre of gravity being about 76 cm out from your shoulder, quite impractical for unsupported shooting. This must be thought of as a kind of bench-rest rifle.

However, the Khyber Pass being somewhat bare of proper benches, consider it a "rock-rest rifle". Maybe I'll get around to making one of those spindly bipods that are sometimes shown in old prints and photos?

Btw, I am still cleaning it. I had expected to find rust in the barrel. Instead, the grooves seem to contain a residue of pitch-like gunge. So far it has resisted all reasonable solvents (Ballistol, Ed's Red, paint thinner, even acetone and oven cleaner) and so I am stuck with shoot...clean...shoot...clean.

It will thus be a while before it reaches its full accuracy potential.