Afghan Jazail - Restored

[rickystl]

Hello everyone. It's been a long time since I have Posted. So I thought I would join the party by posting an Ethno firearm each week. I'll start with the ones that have been restored to safe firing condition. So here goes with the first one.
Afghan Jazail Rifle. This was near a basket case when I first purchased it.
It has now been fully restored and has a new life. Original Barnett trade lock and leather sling. Original rifled barrel was in too poor condition to refurbish. So it now has a new steel, rifled liner in .54 caliber and a new front sight. Lock has been tuned a the gun shoots perfect. Very accurate.
BEFORE PHOTOS:

[rickystl]

MORE BEFORE PHOTOS:

[rickystl]

AFTER PHOTOS:

[rickystl]

More AFTER PHOTOS:

[rickystl]

LAST PHOTOS:

[rickystl]

Opps: Couple more:

[Sajen]

Very well done! I am already curious to see coming week the next one.

Regards,
Detlef

[Berkley]

Very well done, and a complete set of accessories and blades also!
I am curious as to how you hold the jezail to fire it. Do you shoot from a rest, or prone, or how do you accommodate the shape of the buttstock?

[thinreadline]

Nice job , and superb accessories ! Maybe you could share with us some of your restoration techniques, I am especially interested in how you treated the stock and the lock.

[kahnjar1]

Nice job indeed! FYI the heart shaped stamp on the lock is that of the British East India Company.
Are you planning to replace the screws which would have held the barrel tang? The holes look a bit obvious........
Stu

[estcrh]

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

[David R]

Nice to see an old warrior returned to shooting condition.

[Norman McCormick]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

[Norman McCormick]

Originally Posted by rickystl

I do plan on a series of YouTube videos while shooting these guns. Hopefully this Summer, but next Summer for sure. Rick.

[rickystl]

hello again. Well, I am finally back home long enough to get my computer working correctly. So here are some additional pics of the barrel and lock.
BARREL: Note the barrel started life as a Matchlock. The original groove cut into the barrel is where the pan/cover resided. Imagine my surprise to see this when I first removed the lock. The pic shows where the new breech plug was installed with the original barrel tang welded back on. As well, the original sight groove welded closed and re-cut to match the new front sight.Still had to re-heat the tang and slightly bend it to fit the stock. Whew. And note the muzzle end of the barrel. You can hardly notice the new steel .54 caliber liner was installed.
LOCK: Note the thick sheet brass added to the back of the lock plate and pan area to fill the space between the lock and barrel. That way the evidence of the original matchlock is still intact.

This gun took far more work than I originally anticipated. But I'm happy with the end result. It shoots very accurate and is a lot of fun. Thanks for looking and all of your responses. Hope you found it interesting.
I'll post another gun this weekend. Rick.

[rickystl]

And pics of the Lock:

[kahnjar1]

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

[rickystl]

Hi Stu.
Yes, this gun is closer to a re-build than restoration. But the original goal of this Jazail was to have a shooter versus a collector piece. And since I was so intent on having a shooter, I thought this example was a good candidate for the project.
That said, I totally agree with you on over-restoration. And the Sharps rifle you mentioned is a textbook example of what NOT to do. I own an original Northwest Trade Fusil, converted to percussion, that is in attic condition. It was probably used all the way up till the tumbler broke. Of course, these guns are rare in any condition, and I would not dream of doing any restoration to it. Not even fixing the lock. I simply give it an occasional light soap cleaning and keep it for display in my collection. I'm simply the next caretaker for her.
As far as the holes in the barrel tang. You could be right about that. But we will never know for sure. The barrel was used in a matchlock, then re-used to build another gun back in the period. But all the Jazails I've seen have either a small trigger plate or no no trigger plate. Which leads me to believe wood screws or nails were more likely. I've seen both used. In fact, my other Jazail has two square headed nails.
Thanks for your interest. Rick. I'll post another gun sometime today.

[rickystl]

Just a couple of pics......