Interesting Balkan Long Gun

BANDOOK · 26th August 2018, 11:30 AM

Hi Rick
This is a interesting gun and I love the work on the butt,Great find and the first of this type I have seen
very unusual
BRAVO
cheers Rajesh

rickystl · 26th August 2018, 03:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BANDOOK

Hi Rick
This is a interesting gun and I love the work on the butt,Great find and the first of this type I have seen
very unusual
BRAVO
cheers Rajesh

Hi Rajesh
Thanks for your comments. As mentioned above, Kubur says he has seen a couple. But this is the first one I've seen outside of Tirri's book. Even though the barrel has a heavier breech area, the gun is very light. Only about 6-lbs.
And it's very comfortable on the shoulder, even with the narrow butt end.
It's an interesting gun with a mix of different Balkan styles. Glad I was able to obtain it.

Rick

rickystl · 26th August 2018, 03:47 PM

I took the lock off the gun to study further. I'm convinced that this gun was originally built as percussion and later converted to flintlock back in the period.
Notice there is a plug in the barrel where the vent hole now resides. This is where a percussion drum or bolster originally resided. Also, the lock mortice shows a period alteration to accomodate the change to a different lock (flintlock). It's also why the vent hole in the barrel does not line up exactly in the center of the priming pan. But would still work OK.
Of course we often see this change from the latter percussion system back to the earlier flintlock on many Eastern type guns. Percussion caps being difficult to locate and expensive in these Eastern regions.
Surprisingly, the lock is in good working order as-is. I got lucky with this one LOL. It appears to be locally made. While not quite up to European snuff, it is made much better than the typical Balkan flintlock. The main and sear springs are strong, but not overly so.
So the gun just needs a bit of minor clean-up and displayed with the others in the collection. Nice for a change to get something that doesn't require restoration or other fixes. LOL

Rick

eftihis · 26th August 2018, 08:15 PM

Well, i was discussing about this type of gun with a turkish collector, and he said that these are known in Turkey as Armenian guns. This provemamce correxponds well with the "like caucasus niello" decoration.

kahnjar1 · 26th August 2018, 10:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eftihis

Well, i was discussing about this type of gun with a turkish collector, and he said that these are known in Turkey as Armenian guns. This provemamce correxponds well with the "like caucasus niello" decoration.

.........which would suggest that Tirri's placing as Rumelian COULD be wrong. The region known as Rumelia is west of Turkey (in Europe), whereas Armenia is to the east (in Asia).....

Battara · 27th August 2018, 12:20 AM

A note about Tirri - his book has a lot of things wrong and mislabeled.

Martin Lubojacky · 27th August 2018, 06:53 AM

I saw exactly this gun (shape of stock, stock, engarvings) cca four times in Turkey (markets in Ankara). Based on this I would say it is of Anatolian origin. Usually they were in worse condition than yours.

26th August 2018, 03:47 PM	#3
rickystl Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: St. Louis, MO area. Posts: 1,629	I took the lock off the gun to study further. I'm convinced that this gun was originally built as percussion and later converted to flintlock back in the period. Notice there is a plug in the barrel where the vent hole now resides. This is where a percussion drum or bolster originally resided. Also, the lock mortice shows a period alteration to accomodate the change to a different lock (flintlock). It's also why the vent hole in the barrel does not line up exactly in the center of the priming pan. But would still work OK. Of course we often see this change from the latter percussion system back to the earlier flintlock on many Eastern type guns. Percussion caps being difficult to locate and expensive in these Eastern regions. Surprisingly, the lock is in good working order as-is. I got lucky with this one LOL. It appears to be locally made. While not quite up to European snuff, it is made much better than the typical Balkan flintlock. The main and sear springs are strong, but not overly so. So the gun just needs a bit of minor clean-up and displayed with the others in the collection. Nice for a change to get something that doesn't require restoration or other fixes. LOL Rick Attached Images

26th August 2018, 11:30 AM	#1
BANDOOK Member Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: AUCKLAND,NEW ZEALAND Posts: 624	Hi Rick This is a interesting gun and I love the work on the butt,Great find and the first of this type I have seen very unusual BRAVO cheers Rajesh

26th August 2018, 08:15 PM	#4
eftihis Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Chania Crete Greece Posts: 511	Well, i was discussing about this type of gun with a turkish collector, and he said that these are known in Turkey as Armenian guns. This provemamce correxponds well with the "like caucasus niello" decoration.

27th August 2018, 12:20 AM	#6
Battara EAAF Staff Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Louisville, KY Posts: 7,270	A note about Tirri - his book has a lot of things wrong and mislabeled.

27th August 2018, 06:53 AM	#7
Martin Lubojacky Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Czech Republic Posts: 843	I saw exactly this gun (shape of stock, stock, engarvings) cca four times in Turkey (markets in Ankara). Based on this I would say it is of Anatolian origin. Usually they were in worse condition than yours.