ALGERIAN KABYLE MUSKET for Comment

[Philip]

Originally Posted by rickystl

Hi Philip !!! How have you been?
. One thing you will notice about this Algerian style of miquelet lock as well as the Moroccan snaphaunce is that both were made very large. I believe this was because it is easier to forge/manufacture larger parts versus smaller parts. And would make it easier to maintenance/repair. But just my guess.

Rick

Hey Rick, you raise an interesting observation that's spot on. It's especially applicable to the comparison with the original Spanish version of the agujeta which tends to be on the diminutive side. Your explanation is as good as any as it makes perfect sense from an engineering standpoint.

You may have noticed the opposite tendency, however, with the Spanish "patilla" lock as copied in the Ottoman Empire and the Caucasus. Eastern versions of these locks tend to be noticeably smaller than their European prototypes. But the stiffness and hence power of the mainsprings on most of these imitations is something to behold. Many Ottoman, Balkan, and Caucasian locks are in fact more difficult to cock and their trigger letoff is coarse, with the cock jaws slamming into the frizzen with a very jarring impact. What do you think about the availability of gunflints as explanation for these monster springs, and also for the larger size of the North African locks that you pointed out? Flints of poorer quality, or those not as skilfully knapped as the best from Britain and France, would need all the help possible to generate a good shower of sparks, and a stiffer mainspring is one solution. Unfortunately, available documentation of gunflint manufacture outside of Western Europe is scant so this conclusion is tentative at best. I'm sure you have a copy of the article "The Manufacture of Gunflints" by Stephen W. White, published in the previously-cited ART, ARMS, AND ARMOUR and possibly elsewhere.

There is an interesting literary reference to the quality of Caucasian miquelets in the writings of M. Yu. Lermontov, in "A Hero of Our Time", written in the 19th cent. His protagonist expresses a low opinion of the mechanical performance of guns from the Caucasus, on account of their inferior locks -- not trusted to work efficiently at all unless kept well-greased.