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One should not forget that the Janissaries of that era could hardly be called "military" in the modern sense of the word, or even the contemporary European sense of the word. They had nothing akin to drill, uniform, or standard armament (most of their arms being privately owned). It was more of...

Robert Elgood has a good explanation for this. The first part is obvious; martial figures such as soldiers or bandits need to be on the move, and thus cannot have fixed symbols of wealth like houses or plantations. Therefore, for such people, the only way to show off your wealth is to carry it...

Hello, I've seen other similar tip-up chamber designs from earlier. Would they not qualify as well?

Oh my. That North Italian one is especially interesting since muzzle is almost identical in form with the Ottoman matchlocks that I mentioned. I wonder if the gunmakers were directly inspired by such an example?

The earliest dragon's head muzzles that I know of are of Ottoman make (there are pictures of them in the vikingsword Ottoman matchlock examples thread). Would be happy to see European examples.

If I recall correctly, it was the Mughals (Babur specifically) that led to the proliferation of firearms in India, having brought along Ottoman and Persian gunsmiths with him (he speaks of an Ustad Ali-Quli as his master cannonmaker in the Baburnama, and Quli is a Persian Turcoman surname/title...

Bit of a digression from the thread topic, but to my understanding, even back then the matter was a point of contention. More pious movements were against essentially all drawing in general, but those seem to have been seen as outliers and not very well regarded in classical Ottoman society...

This one dropped by my antiques man yesterday and was quickly sold. A beautiful Circassian (I think) musket, somewhat crudely converted to fit a percussion lock of what seems to be German make (going off the nipple safety). Unfortunately it seems like its last owner didn't take good care of it...

Hello folks. I know it's somewhat of a necro-quote, but I figured you all would like to see this and couldn't think of any other thread to post it in. These are from the shipwreck of the Batavia. The museum claims that they're examples of a "spring shot" or "wired ball", lead musket balls tied...

I know that bullet weights were measured using dirhams (a dram equivalent), but I don't recall any measures regarding small amounts of gunpowder. I would assume that they used dirhams for that as well, or just eyeballed it.

That might just work. Or buying some replicas without touchholes and saying they're for decoration. It's less about the laws and more about the attitude of the customs officers, honestly. The laws are designed to be as vague as possible, which just means that they're going to work against you if...

It's quite easy, actually. Going through customs with antique firearms, on the other hand...

Hello, pleased to make your acquaintance. I must say that your work is wonderful and I hope to see more of it in the future (perhaps even own a few, God willing). It's always a joy to see pieces from your collection, Rick. I hope you keep blessing us with such discoveries. Good god, that stuff...

Glad to see this thread going strong, as well as the topic itself in various other threads in the forum. Hope you all are having good days. Şeşhaneli could alternatively mean "six portioned/chambered/housed". What şeşhane means is still a point of contention in Turkish military historiography...

Hello Rick, It's less the international shipping part that worries me, but more the ineptitude of our mailmen. I have lost so much to domestic cargo that it would require effort of me to list it all. In other news, today I noticed that there may be a slight bend to the barrel. It might need a...

If I recall correctly (I heard this on a history show, mind you), Mahmud II bought flintlock muskets en masse from Liege, Belgium as preparation for his extermination of the Janissary Corps. I don't know what happened to them, but in the Military Museum in Istanbul there's an European style...

This sort of long arm stock is called a Cibuklija (meaning pipelike, after tobacco pipes), to my knowledge; a type of stock from the Ottoman Balkans, which likely originated in Italy before crossing the Adriatic. The style can be seen in 17th and 18th century Ottoman Balkan firearms (almost all...

Hello Ricky, You are correct about your assessments concerning the barrel and the lock - I was worried that the lock not being flush might be an issue, but now that I have your input I'm less concerned now. Nonetheless, on closer inspection I found another crack on the stock, starting from the...

Honestly, the lawmakers don't seem to have considered the idea. The law seems to contradict itself in various points regarding antique firearms and there's no concept of proofing to be found.

After long years on the prowl for an authentic, functional and affordable eastern flintlock, I have finally found one worthy of my collection. My go-to guy said it was a steal and by Turkish standards I couldn't help but agree. To my understanding, it's a tall Kabyle musket (nearly six feet)...