Arab? Musket

[colin henshaw]

Giving a bit more thought to the subject, a couple of further reasons for adding the wooden butt pad could be :-

1. From memory, the matchlock I owned had a very heavy long barrel. The butt
pad would be a counterweight to the barrel when holding and firing.

2. Indian people tended to have relatively small frames (ref. tulwar hilts); the
butt pad addition would suit an Arab man with a longer reach.

Here is a rather more "high status" gun, that was in auction in Britain earlier this year, for comparison.