Afghan Jazail - Restored

estcrh · 6th April 2015, 03:39 AM

Great photographs, thanks! Did you do all of the restoration by yourself?

David R · 6th April 2015, 01:30 PM

Nice to see an old warrior returned to shooting condition.

Norman McCormick · 6th April 2015, 02:53 PM

Hi Rick,
Nice job, of course this will always bring up the difference of opinion within collector circles of how much restoration is too much and for that matter too little. For me your restoration has been sympathetic and very well done. Barrel lining is possibly a step too far for me with some of my pieces e.g. my Greek Kariofili rifle and my Caucasian miquelet rifle but for something that needs a ground up restoration and is a bit thicker on the ground I don't see a problem. Must be damn good fun to shoot

My Regards,
Norman.

rickystl · 6th April 2015, 02:59 PM

Hello all. Thanks for all the kind comments. As I write this, I'm about to leave home for the Airport. Will be out of town all week. So I won't really be able to reply till Saturday. There is more to the story on this gun. Especially the barrel. You won't believe it. Talk to you Saturday. Rick.

rickystl · 11th April 2015, 07:10 PM

Hello again. We just installed a new computer service company at work, but I can't get into Windows to access photos from home. This will get fixed Monday morning and I'll post photos of the barrel. This is a must see. Meantime, I'm confined to using text only on my I-Pad.

I did not perform the restoration myself. Restoration was done by my gunsmith Earl Kathan in New Hampshire. I can do minor repairs, but Earl is so good at this, I usually leave matters to him. The gun was completely disassembled down to the stock. A stock stain was mixed to match the original stain. The lock and barrel were cleaned using a glass bead blaster at very low speed. This works great for removing loose red rust while maintaining the original patina underneath. But here is the amazing part: When I removed the lock, there was a thin piece of wood and leather used to fill a gap between the lock plate and the barrel. And the reason for this is that the barrel started life kas a MATCHLOCK !! What a surprise. The original groove cut into the barrel for the matchlock pan/cover is still there. I didn't want to weld up this area and loose the evidence of the original matchlock configuration. So we added a thick piece of sheet brass to the back of the lock plate to fill the gap.
Another barrel problem: Someone had beaten the tar out of the breech plug tang trying to get it to line up. Breech plug could not be removed. So the breech plug tang was cut off, and the breech plug drilled out and a new plug was installed with the original tang welded back on the the new plug. At the same time, a new .54 caliber liner was installed. The V notch for the rear sight was welded up and re-cut to properly line up with the new front sight.
More about the stock: At some point, the stock had been dropped on it's heel causing a break at the wrist. This was properly repaired. The two nails holding the horn butt cap and bone inlay to the stock were bent. With half the white bone inlay missing. So two new, long nails were hand made, the horn butt cap polished out, and a new camel bone inlay was made from a knife slab handle and everything put back together. WHEW! This gun's had a lot of work done to it. More than I really expected. But once we got into it far enough, there was a point of no return. LOL

I'll post the barrel pics Monday. Thanks for your interest. Rick.

rickystl · 11th April 2015, 07:28 PM

To answer a question posted above about the two open holes in the barrel tang. This is another curious mystery. There are no threads in the two holes. And, there are no holes beneath the tang in the stock where wood screws or nails would have been. So the only thing holding the barrel to the stock are the multiple barrel bands, which do hold it firmly in place. My guess is that the were originally screws/nails used when the barrel was originally utilized as a matchlock. So the barrel was re-used while making the current stock and flintlock configuration.
I do have some original dome head wood screws that are over 125 years old that I thought about using.

Rick.

rickystl · 11th April 2015, 07:53 PM

Hi Norman. Well, you're right of course. I too believe in the general consensus: As little as possible, and as much as necessary. I have another Jazail that I will eventually post. It is more highly decorated and in very good condition as is. The only work I will do to it is clean the inside of the barrel. And have the lock cleaned and tuned. It will simply reside in my collection.
To make a safe shooting gun you have to search for just the right candidate. Better than a wall hanger, but not so good as to alter a nice collectors piece. This Jazail was just a couple of steps above a basket case. But it also had an original Barnett export lock versus a locally made copy. The mainspring was too strong and had to be reduced and re-hardened. Works fine now. Sparks very well. Yes!!! It's a blast to shoot. I do plan on a series of YouTube videos while shooting these guns. Hopefully this Summer, but next Summer for sure. There are plenty of videos of guys shooting original/replica European and U.S. Made arms. But I've never seen any footage actually shooting these Middle Eastern guns. So maybe I'll be the first.

Rick.

kahnjar1 · 18th April 2015, 10:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rickystl

To answer a question posted above about the two open holes in the barrel tang. This is another curious mystery. There are no threads in the two holes. And, there are no holes beneath the tang in the stock where wood screws or nails would have been. So the only thing holding the barrel to the stock are the multiple barrel bands, which do hold it firmly in place. My guess is that the were originally screws/nails used when the barrel was originally utilized as a matchlock. So the barrel was re-used while making the current stock and flintlock configuration.
I do have some original dome head wood screws that are over 125 years old that I thought about using.

Rick.

Hi Rick,
Nice job of restoration but like others above, I believe that there is a limit IMHO as to how far one should go. There is a fine line between restoration and rebuild. As an example I once saw what had been a nice original Sharps rifle totally ruined by "restoration". The owner had gone so far, that all marks etc had been removed, and he had ended up with nothing more than a shiny replica.
Anyway....back to those holes....I would not expect that they were threaded, but what I think is that there would at some stage have been screws which threaded into the trigger plate.....ie they would have gone right thru the original stock, which may not have been the one which is there now.
Stu

6th April 2015, 03:39 AM	#1
estcrh Member Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: USA Posts: 1,497	Great photographs, thanks! Did you do all of the restoration by yourself? Attached Images

6th April 2015, 01:30 PM	#2
David R Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 1,079	Nice to see an old warrior returned to shooting condition.

6th April 2015, 02:53 PM	#3
Norman McCormick Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 1,597	Hi Rick, Nice job, of course this will always bring up the difference of opinion within collector circles of how much restoration is too much and for that matter too little. For me your restoration has been sympathetic and very well done. Barrel lining is possibly a step too far for me with some of my pieces e.g. my Greek Kariofili rifle and my Caucasian miquelet rifle but for something that needs a ground up restoration and is a bit thicker on the ground I don't see a problem. Must be damn good fun to shoot My Regards, Norman.

6th April 2015, 02:59 PM	#4
rickystl Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: St. Louis, MO area. Posts: 1,623	Hello all. Thanks for all the kind comments. As I write this, I'm about to leave home for the Airport. Will be out of town all week. So I won't really be able to reply till Saturday. There is more to the story on this gun. Especially the barrel. You won't believe it. Talk to you Saturday. Rick.

11th April 2015, 07:10 PM	#5
rickystl Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: St. Louis, MO area. Posts: 1,623	Hello again. We just installed a new computer service company at work, but I can't get into Windows to access photos from home. This will get fixed Monday morning and I'll post photos of the barrel. This is a must see. Meantime, I'm confined to using text only on my I-Pad. I did not perform the restoration myself. Restoration was done by my gunsmith Earl Kathan in New Hampshire. I can do minor repairs, but Earl is so good at this, I usually leave matters to him. The gun was completely disassembled down to the stock. A stock stain was mixed to match the original stain. The lock and barrel were cleaned using a glass bead blaster at very low speed. This works great for removing loose red rust while maintaining the original patina underneath. But here is the amazing part: When I removed the lock, there was a thin piece of wood and leather used to fill a gap between the lock plate and the barrel. And the reason for this is that the barrel started life kas a MATCHLOCK !! What a surprise. The original groove cut into the barrel for the matchlock pan/cover is still there. I didn't want to weld up this area and loose the evidence of the original matchlock configuration. So we added a thick piece of sheet brass to the back of the lock plate to fill the gap. Another barrel problem: Someone had beaten the tar out of the breech plug tang trying to get it to line up. Breech plug could not be removed. So the breech plug tang was cut off, and the breech plug drilled out and a new plug was installed with the original tang welded back on the the new plug. At the same time, a new .54 caliber liner was installed. The V notch for the rear sight was welded up and re-cut to properly line up with the new front sight. More about the stock: At some point, the stock had been dropped on it's heel causing a break at the wrist. This was properly repaired. The two nails holding the horn butt cap and bone inlay to the stock were bent. With half the white bone inlay missing. So two new, long nails were hand made, the horn butt cap polished out, and a new camel bone inlay was made from a knife slab handle and everything put back together. WHEW! This gun's had a lot of work done to it. More than I really expected. But once we got into it far enough, there was a point of no return. LOL I'll post the barrel pics Monday. Thanks for your interest. Rick.

11th April 2015, 07:28 PM	#6
rickystl Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: St. Louis, MO area. Posts: 1,623	To answer a question posted above about the two open holes in the barrel tang. This is another curious mystery. There are no threads in the two holes. And, there are no holes beneath the tang in the stock where wood screws or nails would have been. So the only thing holding the barrel to the stock are the multiple barrel bands, which do hold it firmly in place. My guess is that the were originally screws/nails used when the barrel was originally utilized as a matchlock. So the barrel was re-used while making the current stock and flintlock configuration. I do have some original dome head wood screws that are over 125 years old that I thought about using. Rick.

11th April 2015, 07:53 PM	#7
rickystl Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: St. Louis, MO area. Posts: 1,623	Hi Norman. Well, you're right of course. I too believe in the general consensus: As little as possible, and as much as necessary. I have another Jazail that I will eventually post. It is more highly decorated and in very good condition as is. The only work I will do to it is clean the inside of the barrel. And have the lock cleaned and tuned. It will simply reside in my collection. To make a safe shooting gun you have to search for just the right candidate. Better than a wall hanger, but not so good as to alter a nice collectors piece. This Jazail was just a couple of steps above a basket case. But it also had an original Barnett export lock versus a locally made copy. The mainspring was too strong and had to be reduced and re-hardened. Works fine now. Sparks very well. Yes!!! It's a blast to shoot. I do plan on a series of YouTube videos while shooting these guns. Hopefully this Summer, but next Summer for sure. There are plenty of videos of guys shooting original/replica European and U.S. Made arms. But I've never seen any footage actually shooting these Middle Eastern guns. So maybe I'll be the first. Rick.