Ethnographic Arms & Armour
 

Go Back   Ethnographic Arms & Armour > Discussion Forums > European Armoury
FAQ Calendar Today's Posts Search

 
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Prev Previous Post   Next Post Next
Old 14th October 2010, 06:03 PM   #1
Matchlock
(deceased)
 
Matchlock's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Bavaria, Germany - the center of 15th and 16th century gunmaking
Posts: 4,310
Default A Truly Sensational Seven Barrel Matchlock Arquebus, Brescia, ca. 1530, in Prague!

This unique specimen is preserved in the Prague Army Museum on the Hradschin.

Overall length only 64 cm (!), caliber of the three longer barrels ca. 10 mm, of the four short barrels in the rear buttstock ca. 8 mm.

This is a North Italian, almost certainly Brescian, short snap matchlock arquebus. The full stock is of walnut which is characteristic of Italy, the inlays are of lighter wood, not of staghorn as one might expect. The front barrels are round, three staged and profusely ornamentally chiseled whereas the rear barrels are of square outer shape.

The central barrel is sighted, the back sight was originally equipped with a tubular sight, now missing as well as the ramrod.

The seahorse zoomorphic serpentine of the spap matchlock only ignited the upper barrel while the two others and those in the buttstock had to be manually fired.

The holes in the bottom of the buttstock originally contained the ramrod (the larger drilling) for the rear barrels and secured by a swiveling lid cover hinged with a hook to the ring seen below; an oval impression of that lid can still be seen in the wood.

A similar three barrel arquebus for completely manual ignition is illustrated in the Maximilian Armory Inventory, ca. 1507 (cod.icon. 222), see attachments.

Author's photos, August 1995. The b/w scan is from American Rifleman, March 1953.

Best,
Michael
Attached Images
            

Last edited by Matchlock; 15th October 2010 at 01:56 PM.
Matchlock is offline   Reply With Quote
 


Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 01:56 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Posts are regarded as being copyrighted by their authors and the act of posting material is deemed to be a granting of an irrevocable nonexclusive license for display here.