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Recent content by TobJohn

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  1. TobJohn

    Roanoke Colony Firearms

    only if it has a pistol grip and flash hider! I guess that could make petronels with cannon muzzles illegal in California! I actually grew up pretty close to where Sir Francis Drake landed (hence my profile pic)
  2. TobJohn

    Roanoke Colony Firearms

    The bottom gun is attempting to replicate an Italian arquebus petronel, but is substantially off. Here is what the gun of that type looked like: A painting from 1590 depicts drakes landing in California with some form of arquebus petronel: the vast majority of European art depicting events...
  3. TobJohn

    Getting ready to shoot a matchlock as a newbie

    Good luck finding one! If you are ever in Virginia, I’ll happily let you shoot mine.
  4. TobJohn

    Forgotten Weapons on Tanegashima

    Good video! Even though it’s not his area of expertise, I enjoy his muzzleloader videos. I think that’s also the first time I’ve actually heard someone say “petronel”.
  5. TobJohn

    Getting ready to shoot a matchlock as a newbie

    For matchlocks with a forward dropping serpentine, I assume the serpentine itself serves as a flash guard. That is at least how it (mostly) seemed to work with my lever arquebus.
  6. TobJohn

    Getting ready to shoot a matchlock as a newbie

    They are just one data point, and unfortunately sometimes the only one that survives…
  7. TobJohn

    Getting ready to shoot a matchlock as a newbie

    Weirdly, a lot of art shows the gunners basically holding the pan under the face. I assume its a case of the art being left up to the artists interpretation, but also a goofy detail. If the artists were trying to base the position on something, it could be them messing up the perspective while...
  8. TobJohn

    Getting ready to shoot a matchlock as a newbie

    I also have some match chord you sent me around a year ago I need to test out. That could be great for the petronel!
  9. TobJohn

    Getting ready to shoot a matchlock as a newbie

    I had that happen while first trying the snapping matchlock. It’s even more unnerving when you have to manually remove the match! I got a bunch of tinder fungus to try next time, though.
  10. TobJohn

    Getting ready to shoot a matchlock as a newbie

    Yes, the glasses and hat were a sufficient combo, when holding it in the way I settled on in the other thread. When trying to cheek stock it, my face was uncomfortably close to the pan and that caused a lot of spray in my face. The sparks had a habit of finding the space between my glasses and...
  11. TobJohn

    Getting ready to shoot a matchlock as a newbie

    Yes, I did test it with the pan cover closed. The length of match that was present in front of the jaws only took one or two tries to get figured out. Because I was trying to minimize the amount of sparks being blown back, I only used one or two dispenses of priming powder. When handling the gun...
  12. TobJohn

    Getting ready to shoot a matchlock as a newbie

    After a couple trips to the range with matchlocks, I was reflecting on my most recent trip. Its amusing how insensitive black powder can be when you want it to go off. My petronel doesn’t have a flash guard, so when it wouldn’t go off, I could look up and see the match head landed directly next...
  13. TobJohn

    Landsknecht Arquebus and Petronel

    Thanks for linking that. That seems exactly how the less aggressively curveds style of petronel should be shot:
  14. TobJohn

    Landsknecht Arquebus and Petronel

    I’ll ask this little guy if he has any insight
  15. TobJohn

    Landsknecht Arquebus and Petronel

    Art of arquebusiers before and musketeers after rarely depict them with helmets, so that could further reinforce why petronels were ubiquitous for 30 years and then completely disappeared.
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