Blunderbuss

[Atlantia]

Hi all!
Back again :-)
Could it be an east India Co piece?
Its a nice 'stubby' little beast!

Have you taken it to bits to search for hidden markings?

Regards
Gene

[kahnjar1]

Originally Posted by Atlantia

Hi all!
Back again :-)
Could it be an east India Co piece?
Its a nice 'stubby' little beast!

Have you taken it to bits to search for hidden markings?

Regards
Gene

Unlikely to be East India Co unless stamped with their mark. To me the stock LOOKS British, but the barrel looks more Turkish???? There is a thing called a KNEE PISTOL used from horseback, and resembling a short Blunderbus which was a Turkish weapon. Maybe this is one?? OR..............
Is the stock British, and had an eastern barrel added at some later stage?
The plot thickens!
Regards Stuart

[celtan]

Not Turkish, the stock is all wrong for them. And they are characteristically more decorated. Of course, that applies to the ones I have seen so far.

Perhaps there were exceptions, but this one doesn't feel Turkish at all...

I read somewhere that europeans used brass blunderbusses, often at sea. They could only load lead shot, since anything else (as the stories went about stones, bolts, etc...) would destroy the softer barrel. Another advantage the significantly costlier barrels had was is that they didn't rust, and when they exploded from overuse or overload, they usually only deformed or split.

OTOH, overstressed iron barrels would explode like a grenade

And no, I haven't yet dismounted the lock. Will soon do.

Toots

: )

M

[kahnjar1]

I agree that this is not Turkish, but my suggestion was that POSSIBLY a British stock had been (re)mated with an eastern barrel, thereby creating a "kneepistol"
Regards S