My first jezail

[RDGAC]

Well, in no small part thanks to you load of loons, I've gone and bought myself a jezail of my very own. The dealer's information listed it as "circa 1870", though where he got that date I have no clue. No pictures as yet, so I'm afraid I'll have to give a rather verbose description.

She's 53 inches in length overall, with a 39-inch, round, smoothbore barrel of what appears to be ordinary steel; no pattern is visible on any part of the barrel, including that part covered by the forestock. Extensive but light rust and two engraved sets of parallel lines, one approx. 2in from the muzzle, the other approx. 4.5in from the breech plug, are the only things visible upon it. There are nine barrel bands, all of brass and with some crude, if not unattractive, engraving; geometric line patterns, flowers and so forth are present on all. Both sling swivels are still there, the fore one displaying a good, close fit to the stock. The barrel tang is odd; it seems to be attached by some unknown method, possibly as little as friction, is loose and can be moved in the vertical plane. The breech plug is present (huzzah), but currently the joint between plug and barrel, if visible at all, is buried beneath corrosion and general muck. No obvious weld, however, so I suspect it's been hammered in and shrunk-fitted.

The (flint) lock is pretty obviously native-made, and bears a copied British East India Company pre-1816 Heart emblem, surmounted by a large number 4. The same number is repeated in the centre third of the heart, with two capital I's to either side. Where one would normally find a maker's name, e.g. "Tower", there is what looks like five more capital I's, with the first somewhat smaller than the rest. The maker has, however, engraved a rather attractive border onto the lockplate. The lock is intact, but pretty badly frozen, and until I'm able to remove it for inspection I'm not going to attempt a dry-firing. Currently the foremost screw of the pair, which is very broad and has a very shallow slot, is refusing to turn. Application of WD40 to the threaded portion piercing the lockplate has failed to move it, and no screwdriver I have at home will bite; tomorrow I shall have a go with some of the works equipment. The frizzen and pan cover still pivot smoothly, and with the cock removed, they fit the top of the pan fairly snugly. The lock, too, is rusty, but some de-corroder and patient work should sort that out well.

The trigger and its guard are both of the crude-but-effective school; the former is very nearly straight, though with a pleasing curl-over at its end, and moves freely within the stock, the lock being in the "fired" position. The trigger guard is steel, somewhat rusty, and overall around 7-8in long; it has a screw forward, the remaining portion being nailed to the stock. The stock itself is of dark wood, possible stained, and the most damaged part of the weapon; two portions towards the muzzle are held in place only by the first pair of barrel bands, although since the "break" is parallel and unusually clean, I have my suspicions that these post-date the rest of the stock. There is a loose portion just forward of the lockplate, again held in place by the barrel bands, which falls off when they're moved but is secure with the bands in place. The stock is cracked on its lowest part in several places, probably weakened by the drilling/cutting of the ramrod channel. The butt has some carving, which looks rather like a wooden version of the brass piece found in this photograph, and some pieces of iron. Judging from the 3/4in slot that is mising from the butt near its termination, and the nail hole about an inch beneath, I surmise that this jezail once had a buttplate, and that the two iron plates present just before it are to hold the butt together after whatever damage gave it yet another long crack in this area.

Overall, a very workmanlike gun which needs some TLC - which is precisely why I bought her. I have no doubt that she's a pretty low-end, bog-standard jezail (and once pics are up, Ward and Philip will doubtless confirm that - or worse!), and that's exactly her appeal. This weapon is most definitely not a piece of art; it's a machine designed to kill and maim. To quote Ash from the immortal Alien: "I admire its purity."

Incidentally, the ramrod (which looks fairly aged too, but nothing like the large, decorated iron ones I've seen on other jezail photos) is present, and even has a handy little slot in its non-ramming end; any ideas as to what it's for? I've pushed the rod down the bore at found an obstruction, so I hypothesise that this weapon, like the Museum one, has a load still lurking within. First order of business tomorrow is to remove that load, ASAP, but what astonishes me is the sheer size of it: whatever the obstruction is, it's a column about 2in deep in the bore.

Edit: as a quick aside, I am assured by the dealer that this is a genuine antique weapon. Which is why I am keen to ensure that I get it unloaded as soon as I can; apart from anything else, in this state, I'm worried as to whether it becomes a "weapon" rather than an "ornament or curio" in the legal sense. I can do without being prosecuted for owning a gun I didn't intend to fire and bought purely to cherish and admire!

[Rick]

" Ten thousand pounds of education falls to a ten rupee Jezail ."

Congratulations on your purchase mate !

Pictures soon; eh ?

Rick

[RDGAC]

As requested, some pics of my new toy. While working on her today I have found a curious problem: this breech obstruction, which seems to defy explanation.

My first thought, as one would expect, was that I had found some powder and shot. This seemed to be confirmed when the first thing I fished out of the barrel with my rudimentary auger was a piece of canvas-like cloth which was, presumably, acting as wadding. I poured water down the barrel and, with some tapping, it disgorged a tide of black powder, rust and probably many years of fouling into the sink. So far, so good. However, at that point things became weirder. The ramrod simply will not go all the way down the barrel ramming end first; it sticks around an inch from where it should be. Likewise, my copper cleaning brush stubbornly refuses to hit the breech plug. However, the thin end of the ramrod will go all the way to the bottom of the barrel, making a satisfying clank as it does so. My first thought was a ring of fouling obstructing the passage of the much broader ramming end of the rod, so I set to work with the brush, rasping away in the hope of dislodging something, and poured boiling water into the barrel three times.

This, strangely, has merely deepened the mystery. There definitely is a constricted area; the brush was having the devil of a time passing it, though I think the combination of hot water and vigorous scrubbing has dislodged a great deal of whatever it is. The water emerging from the touchhole and muzzle was pretty damn mucky, brown with black flecks in it, throughout this process. But the brush, in turn, stops dead about half an inch short of the breech, as does the ramrod's ramming end; yet the narrow end of the ramrod will still pass the obstruction. Perhaps a corroded ball, I thought - but a ball so loose as to let water flow past it, out of the muzzle, would surely either roll out of the barrel or be dislodged by a few good knocks. Fouling? If so, why is there nothing impeding the thin end of the ramrod even when I press it against, and can hear it scraping, the barrel wall down to the bottom? Very odd. Any ideas, chaps?

Anyway, as promised, some piccies. I expect I've bought a complete dud, but I love her anyway; a real fixer-upper's opportunity, with character and a fighting pedigree.

Pictures are:

1) Barrel bands. 2) Interior of lock. 3) and 4) Interior of stock in lock and breech area. 5) Overall of stock showing carvings. 6) View of carving just behind barrel tang. 7) Exterior view of lock. 8) Trigger guard. 9) Overall, showing underside of stock. 10) Overall view, right-hand side. 11) Top view. 12), 13), 14) Barrel bands and fit to barrel, also pan, frizzen and tang. 15) Muzzle and ramrod. 16) Muzzle. 17) Left-hand side of stock, including the Immovable Screw of the Kandahar. Ramrod shots are self-explanatory.

[RDGAC]

And more pics, as per list above. Sort of. They've got muddled to hell, but I hope you can work them out until I get back from kendo.

[Battara]

Nice and difficult work so far. Not easy. I bow in your presence.

[Philip]

The slot in the small end of the ramrod was undoubtedly intended for twists of tow, or patches cut from rags, for wiping the bore and applying preservative oil.

Stuck screws are a bane of antique gun repair. Often the slots in the screw heads are so worn that it's hard for a screwdriver to get a good grip. In these cases it would be helpful to "refresh" the slot with a very thin file (gunsmiths and machinists have special screwhead files for this purpose which may be ordered from specialist catalogs). Good screwdrivers are a necessity, for gun work the blades need to be ground with parallel faces (not the usual taper). You can modify a screwdriver yourself with small knife sharpeners embedded with diamond dust (they're made for sportsmen to carry about easily in pocket or tackle-box) if you don't have a set of hollow-ground gunsmith's screwdrivers. Ideally you should have a screwdriver whose blade fits each screw precisely, and with old guns there is no real standardization so the more the merrier. The wonderful thing about the UK is that you can still find those old Victorian-era cabinetmakers drivers with the bulbous wood handles and flat shanks (ideal for putting a wrench to if you need more torque) -- you can get them in second-hand shops for next to nothing and for this purpose they work better than anything made today.

When a screw is stuck it could mean one of two things (1) the threads are rusted and/or (2) the shank is frozen in place by hardened grease. Applying penetrating oils and WD40 can work, although you shouldn't let too much of these soak into wood fibers. Judicious application of heat often does the trick. A propane torch with a tip which brings the flame to a micro tip is handy providing you don't singe any wood. An electric soldering gun often transfers enough heat to either expand the metal enough to "crack" the rust, and soften hardened gunk. Light taps with a brass hammer can also help dislodge rusted threads.

I'm at a loss to explain that odd obstruction at the bottom of your bore. If it were a ball, it should have come out after you pulled the wadding, and before you reached the powder. From your description I imagine a "donut" of some hard stuff that just admits the small end of your ramrod down its center. What is the caliber of the barrel? Do you have a "worm" attachment for your cleaning-rod -- the thing that looks like two heavy corkscrew points turning alongside each other? If you used a worm that's pretty close to your bore diameter, its points should be able to dig into the donut and if it's lead, some telltale shavings should fall out to confirm what the thing really is.

[kahnjar1]

That "obstruction" at the breech end of the barrel..................could it possibly be similar to what one finds in screwoff barrel pistols, designed to be filled with powder to the BOTTOM of the concave piece, on which the ball is placed and the barrel screwed back on? Just a thought...............
If the breech plug is the type which can be unscrewed then all should be revealed!
Regards Stuart
.

[RDGAC]

If I may, fellas, I'll go in reverse order with the replies since my memory is dire.

Stuart: Unfortunately, this particular barrel's plug is resolutely committed to staying precisely where it is; having got some rust and dirt off it, I'd surmise it's been hammered in while both it and the barrel were hot, the whole then being left to shrink-fit together. This is a right royal pain in the backside, quite honestly, since with a threaded plug I could simply remove it, get a torch and have a good nosey around within. Why these Indo-Persian gunsmiths were so keen on sealing their breeches this permanently I'm honestly not sure; it makes cleaning them out an utter bind and makes very problematic an obstruction which, in a threaded-ended barrel, would be a minor annoyance.

Curiously, as an aside, this barrel looks to have seen some use, yet the touch-hole is positioned what seems very far back along the barrel; so much so, in fact, that I think I can see the breech plug through it, forming a wall that covers the rear third of the hole and forces the gas jet from the priming pan through a turn of about 60 degrees. It's almost as if the barrel was made without too much reference to where the lock would be in relation to it, and the hole drilled there out of necessity.

Anyway, Philip. Amazingly, you haven't yet screamed in horror at the awful clunker I've acquired, which is nice! Regarding the Immovable Screw of the Kandahar, it turned out to be less immovable than I thought; leaving WD40 to soak into the threads for a bit, followed by a larger pair of pliers than I had at home, did the trick nicely, and revealed that the thread on its tip is barely cut at all; it seems that what's been holding it in place for so long is rust. Since the gun isn't going to shoot any time soon I've left the screw reasonably slack, seeing little need for absolute firmness in the lock. It's in place, but not particularly tight. All this at the cost of a few small gouges and scratches in the wood, so I'm quite pleased really; a small price to pay for making the Immovable Screw of the Kandahar become the Not-Quite-Immovable Screw of York

Regarding the questions you asked: the bore is, roughly,. .615in, or a 20-bore, give or take, or so the dealer averred. Measuring at the muzzle with a ruler - I have no means of measuring down the barrel - I get 5/16 of an inch, which about matches up. I have here a pair of cleaning brushes, both of which seem to be rather oversized, but one of which has been down the works jezail and thus become quite well shaped to that barrel which, although rifled, is happily of almost the same bore. I do indeed have a worm, but it's attached to a piece of wood and really only good for breaking up compacted powder etc; I'd have to nip to York Guns, probably, to get a worm/auger attachment, and getting it in 20-bore might not be too easy, but I shall have a go.

And Battara, thanks! I shall greatly enjoy working on my first antique gun!

[RDGAC]

Interesting development. Whilst prepping for a try at the Coca-Cola method, I put the barrel muzzle-downwards so as to unscrew the tang. In doing so, I inadvertently deposited a small heap of dirt on the floor. Realising that this looked surprisingly like the stuff that keeps coming out on the end of my tools, I hastened to pour some more onto a handy sheet of card.

Thus, for the first time, I can see exactly what it is I'm fighting - what's causing this jam in the barrel. A predominantly greyish-white, fairly coarse powder, with many varied grains of all shapes, sizes and colours, this stuff appears to be responsive more to percussive action than any attempt at cutting. My hope is that, if this stuff is just highly compacted powder, it might be possible simply to break it up and then pour the whole shebang out.

However, my key question is this: what is it? Powder fouling? The remains of a lead ball? Some odd sort of corrosion? Any and all answers will be considered. Unless they suggest it's a mango.

Thanks lads!

Meredydd

[Rick]

From the pictures it looks like sand; I figure you've ruled that out though .

What happens when you wet the stuff ?

[RDGAC]

I don't think it's sand; if it is, it's both extraordinarily fine and extremely compacted where it's in the barrel. On the other hand, when moistened, it seems to coagulate very rapidly - just like sand, but also like most other powders I've come across. Doesn't appear especially hydrophobic, in other words, but I can't tell if it's any more hygroscopic than sand. See attached picture, taken fresh in the cardboard packaging roll-cum-petri dish

[ward]

The gun with bone inlay is modern work from Morocco, seen them a lot.

[RDGAC]

Finally tried the Coke trick, and it didn't make much impression. It sat down the barrel for seventeen hours (!) and in the end, the obstruction remains as hard as ever. I'm starting to wonder if it's time to admit defeat and get the thing to a gunsmith, though that would feel like a defeat.

OTOH, I could simply dry the barrel out as far as possible and then go back to trying to break it up. I think exposure to any sort of moisture is encouraging that powdery stuff to congeal into a hard-to-break mass; perhaps removing as much moisture as I can would help reduce it to its more powdery form.

Meredydd