Hi Kubur

Very observant of you. LOL I feel confident that the barrel started life mounted to an Omani matchlock. It's style and proportions are identical. I need to remove the lock and study the area around the vent hole. The Omani matchlock barrels had their priming pan mounted integral with the barrel. There should be evidence of the original priming pan having been cut off/removed for reuse with a flintlock.
Again, more evidence of reuse of a barrel from a different gun from a different location.

Meantime, here is one more from my collection. The lock on this one is another genuine EIC lock marked WRIGHT, and dated 1803. The barrel is somewhat of a mystery. It reminds me somewhat of the Torador style barrels from Northern India, but lacks the swollen breech area common with those barrels. At some point, the barrel looks like it was subjected to a harsh chemical cleaning. Which probably erased any evidence of damascus pattern. Too bad. I'll have to take the barrel off and study the breech plug area to confirm my initial guess. But I do have a latter period munitions grade Torador with a broken stock that has a very similar barrel. I need to study this gun further also. The trigger guard and front sling swivel (which would have been made from horn in this instance) are missing. As well, the wood ramrod is a modern replacement. Yet another project. LOL

Rick

Rick, you have a truly amazing collection, and your observations and insights are great as I try to learn more on these Afghan guns. As noted, with the EIC locks invariably used on these, it is important to understand as much as possible on the dynamics of EIC supply and how these components filtered into Afghan armorers hands.

It would seem that a primary source of many guns and components were probably attained during the First Anglo-Afghan war 1839-42 where forces of primarily EIC native troops and numbers of British units invaded Afghan regions. There were staggering numbers of the EIC guns about, particularly in the disastrous retreat from Kabul to Jallalabad, where over 4000 troops (and over 12,000 civilians) were killed or died in the trek through terrible winter conditions. Only one medical officer survived.
The weapons from these forces must have provided huge numbers of parts as well as others supplied in subsequent years.

While we assume that many of the locks on these jezails were often misjoined and duplicated by native tribal armourers, while it seems that in actuality there may have been certain curious alignments in the production of the India pattern guns before they even got to India.

Apparently the lock plates themselves were fashioned by makers in the Wolverhampton area of Birmingham, while hammers etc. were produced by other vendors. Then the entire guns were assembled by other producers and proved. With these dynamics it is easy to see where certain anomalies might occur, and trying to set exact dates for changes very difficult. One thing emphasized was that the EIC weapons seemed to have carried a higher quality standard, for example using the bun type hammer screw which strengthened the shaft of the tumbler.

Putting together these kinds of particulars I think will be important to better understanding the locks used in these jezails, and apparently reused over generations.

Hi Jim

Thanks for your kind comments. One thing I find amazing is the volume of original (non-tourist) specimens still available today. They show up at auctions and websites all over North America and Europe. This, along with other reference material leads me to believe these Afghan style Jezails must have experienced a sort of renaissance type period along the frontier. Maybe from about 1790 to say 1860 in both flintlock and eventual percussion variations. We then see the use of the 1853 British Enfield style rifled muskets and their later Snider conversions, and eventually the Martini-Henry (of which many local copies were made).
The locally made flintlock locks on most I've examined generally copy the Third Model British/EIC lock pattern. The percussion locks somewhat copy the British Enfield pattern percussion locks. The fact that locally made copies of these locks were made would appear to be evidence that the local demand for these Jazails exceeded the supply of readily available British/European made locks.

Rick

Some Frontier History
 

Hi Jim,
Though not entirely related to Jezails, but including some information about them, is this link placed on the current Martini Henry thread. I thought it of interest as it tells of arms smuggling to the Frontier during the 19th and 20th centuries. Interesting reading IMHO.
https://www.thefridaytimes.com/gunru...crash-of-1910/
Further, the map shows that Baluchistan and Afghanistan were originally next door to each other, which would also explain why the Jezail and "Sindi" guns were both described as Afghani.

I wonder if what we collectors have called "Sindi" guns should more correctly be called Baluch......food for thought.

Just as an observation....in the first pic both the long guns shown are matchlocks, while the guy on the right has what appears to be a percussion pistol tucked into his belt.

Stu

Ricky,
It truly is amazing how many non tourist items there really are, and it is hard to imagine the volume of these guns made through the years that ended up stashed away for countless years. I know that a arms collections themselves can end up stashed away for generations, and ultimately end up being revealed and of course sold off.

In my early fascination with "King of the Khyber Rifles" (uh, many many moons ago, the movie was 1953!!) and I got caught up in researching it all in the 80s. I was intrigued by the 'Khyber Rifles' unit, and pretty much wanted to have a progressive grouping of the guns they used. I got the Snider Enfield and Martini Henry OK, but it wasn't til earlier this month I finally got a jezail.

Stu,
Excellent article!! and great insight into the dynamics of the gun trade in these regions, which really explains a lot.
These 'borders' were exceptionally diaphanous in the 19th century, and even more so were tribal territories so it is quite understandable how the terms Sindhi, Baluch and Afghan became often interpolated or collectively used.
Thanks very much for the great input.
Interesting on the photo to see matchlocks in parallel to percussion !

Thanks guys,
Jim

Watch it again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM_jVv1RDk8

Cool, but too much khukuri throwing.

Saw a few jezhails too. I gather the cartridge grease religious thing was a lie - and they were actually greased with vegetable based grease.

"We have blades of steel"

Thanks Wayne!!! An absolutely great nostalgic movie, with the pageantry of those great films of yesteryear. Forget accuracy, in those days it was all just the magic of the big screen .

Not sure I recall kukri throwing.
I had not recalled the Indian Mutiny being in this either. Like much of the lore of India and the Raj, the 'greased cartridge' case was dramatically seized upon, though the circumstances causing the rebellion were far more complex.
The cartridges for the new rifled Enfields were indeed initially greased, through horrendous oversight by the British administration with pig tallow in those issued from England; the ones made at the Dum Dum arsenal with cow tallow....thereby totally alienating the Muslim as well as Hindu sepoys.

The huge faux pas was realized quickly and orders from Bengal directed all extant cartridges be issued only to European forces; the native troops to create their own tallow of choice; and the entire drill to have cartridges broken open by fingers rather than teeth.
It was too late, the battle cry issued, and the disinformative info claiming vegetable fat fell flat on its face.

In all, a bit of a 'sticky wicket' which exploded catastrophically.

My interest in this thread was recently revived by me actually getting one of these at last. On a previous thread there was a comment as to what 10 rupees was worth in real terms, and being the sort of person I am I found out. In 1898 it comes out as £157 in modern UK money, and about $200, working from the gold standard as it was on at the time. Now the pictures, my Jezail, and working out of the conversion.

Shooting a jezail
 

OK, don't all laugh, but I'm seriously considering acquiring a jezail, to see how it shoots.

Has anyone out there actually seriously fired one of these, as a target rifle?

Hoping to get some serious answers,
Patrick

Suggest you PM RICKYSTL. I know he has shot these (and is still with us!!.
:o )
Stu

Thanks Stu

Received a PM from Patrick.

Rick

Shooting an original Jezail rifle
 

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

But I did it.

See the new thread!

Hello everyone, I recently picked this one up, and out of curiosity after reading your messages, I decided to look at all the pieces one by one.
If anyone could tell me what they think, thank you.

Help me please
 

Hello, how do I upload photos, please?
Thank you.

Please see http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13631

Photo
 

I did what you told me to but I can't make it work, but it may be because I'm using a phone since I don't have a computer. Could someone contact me so I send them the pictures to let them post it for me, thanks.

This is a great example of an original British EIC lock on a very old jezail!
The lock by John Fox Twigg, an English maker who moved to Piccadilly in 1776, the year on this lock, seems original and in accord with other examples of his guns found. This would have been from the Windus pattern musket (of 1771) which were likely in India with the EIC during the Anglo-Maratha war 1775-1782.
from there the original gun may have traveled north to Sindh at some point, with the British finally taking these regions in 1843. If I recall, it seems that components such as barrels etc.used in Afghan regions for jezails came from Sindh among other sources.

John Twigg died in 1790. While the placement and character of the EIC quartered heart with VEIC (United East India Company) with talismanic '4' atop the bale mark; date; and TWIGG in the same bold letter styling and serifs seen on other examples............are correct, it does seem the hardware in the lock has of course been reworked.

This is a perfect example of the kinds of jezails used well into the 20th century in the Khyber Pass and environs, so thank you so much for sharing it here Napo7 !!!

Thanks you very much Jim i appreciated

:)
 

Thanks you very much Jim

Hi Jim

WOW!!! Can't believe six years has slipped by since your first Post on this Thread. Where has the time gone ??

I just re-read this entire Thread from the beginning. It reminded me what a great discussion came about. Thank you again for starting this Thread. Much was learned.

An interesting note with reference to the barrels on these Jazails. Of all I have personally seen and/or examined, about 70% were rifled with about 30% being smooth bore. Of course, the rifled barrel would be an advantage for longer ranges for accuracy. But the smooth bore also had the advantage of being able to fire a variety of shot, faster to reload, and easier to clean. The Afghan locals likely knew this the same as Europeans.
I've never seen or read any real evidence of local Afghan barrel making during this period. The barrels on these Jazails seem to have come from a variety of locations. Northern India, Persia, Sindh, Ottoman, ??? Not really sure. Sindh did produce some beautiful rifled barrels. Maybe the Afghan locals had enough sources from contingent countries to make their own barrel making unnecessary (?) One thing I have NOT seen on these Jazails is the reuse of British musket barrels. Which of course were all large caliber smooth bores not compatible for long range shooting.

Anyway. glad to see this old Thread pop up again. LOL

Rick

Thank you Rick! especially for the kind words!

As you note, there would not have been much attraction to British barrels except perhaps in some incidental cases where such were all that was available. I only have cursory reading and knowledge in firearms, so very much appreciate your insights as Im well aware of your expertise.

Well made points on the barrels used by Afghans, and the advantage of smooth bores with the wider scope of ammunition used, and that these types of guns were good for certain warfare situations.

What I have always noted about these Khyber tribesmen is as noted in Kipling, the incredible marksmanship of these snipers. In the defile of the Khyber this seemed to have been one of the key factors of control and manner of that.
It seems I read in some reference that although there were a few examples of barrels that MIGHT have had Afghan origin, but that seemed speculative, and with that would have likely been artisans from the regions most came from.
With the locks however, it seems these were the component consistently used, and later copied profusely.