Afghan bazzare musket

[ArmorerRoy]

I wanted to share this. I purchased this in Afghanistan five years ago. I had it shipped home and it currently resides on my office wall. I'm sure it's a Kyber Pass gun but I'm OK with that because I didn't pay that much and it's value is more sentimental. I will probably shoot it one of these days when I have time.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

That is a Nepalese 3rd Model Bess musket. I can just barely see the remnant of the crest where the British Crown would be on a British musket, or the lock maker name on a [British] East India Tea Company musket. The Nepalese engraving would vary from a temple, a crest, or in some cases an elephant is found but there is a debate about the elephant possibly being a more recent thing for tourist sales.... who knows....

. IMA sold hundreds of them over the past decade or so, and still offers some for sale, bought from Nepal. After the British went to caplocks, a lot of BEITC muskets and Crown muskets were sold off. Could that have been sold by Nepal to somebody in Afghanistan in this century? Sure. Could that have been in Afghanistan when the British were mucking about? Sure. (In fact it might have been used by British Army or Indian provincials). Last time I checked there was no way to tell when the Nepalese got each musket and put it into storage.

LD

 

[ArmorerRoy]

I purchased it for 350 with the bayonet. I'm glad to hear you think it's Nepalese and not just a copy. It's definitely my best souvenir.

 

[Stantheman86]

That is a Nepalese 3rd Model Bess musket. I can just barely see the remnant of the crest where the British Crown would be on a British musket, or the lock maker name on a [British] East India Tea Company musket. The Nepalese engraving would vary from a temple, a crest, or in some cases an elephant is found but there is a debate about the elephant possibly being a more recent thing for tourist sales.... who knows....

. IMA sold hundreds of them over the past decade or so, and still offers some for sale, bought from Nepal. After the British went to caplocks, a lot of BEITC muskets and Crown muskets were sold off. Could that have been sold by Nepal to somebody in Afghanistan in this century? Sure. Could that have been in Afghanistan when the British were mucking about? Sure. (In fact it might have been used by British Army or Indian provincials). Last time I checked there was no way to tell when the Nepalese got each musket and put it into storage.

LD

This is really neat, we will never know how a Nepalese musket wound up at an Afghan Bazaar.


I saw a recent picture of an older Afghan man with a P53 Enfield rifle-musket, I mean, like 2000's recent so we will never know how late "obsolete" weapons were used and by who.

These flinters might have been used by Colonial troops up through the late 1800's for all we know

If I were to fire that I'd do the first few shots by "Redneck Remote" just to make sure it holds together

 

[deermanok]

Cool looking old rifle.

 

[Rudyard]

Other than the cock ' the lock if genuine is a Bakers series of 1818 East Indian Company service (Never Ordnance pat). But out there no saying what's orig or copied . Looks decent enough but the spoon shape of the pan isn't correct so its been' got at' ..Re E I Coy I don't think we where ' Mucking about' We where' Trimming a prickly hedge ' And the Company didn't just trade for tea . I say' We 'I wasn.t there then , Just later before the Russians had their go at it . Regards Rudyard

 

[sheriff john]

Thanks for posting the gun and story. Asking out of total ignorance - What was the most outlandish thing you saw for sale at that Bazarre?" My only frame of reference is the scene from "Indiana Jones". Thanks.

 

[Rudyard]

Thanks for posting the gun and story. Asking out of total ignorance - What was the most outlandish thing you saw for sale at that Bazarre?" My only frame of reference is the scene from "Indiana Jones". Thanks.

All I looked at was gun locks since I only had my rucksack but I did see some Scinde Irregullar Horse pistols looked right and my eye caught a ballance scale affair for weighing out powder charges I expect . Nothing else could I carry, I was getting over two months in Kathmandu with blackwater fever , I added it to my Malairia from West Africa . Got to have some souveneers eh .
Regards Rudyard

 

[Treestalker]

Other than the cock ' the lock if genuine is a Bakers series of 1818 East Indian Company service (Never Ordnance pat). But out there no saying what's orig or copied . Looks decent enough but the spoon shape of the pan isn't correct so its been' got at' ..Re E I Coy I don't think we where ' Mucking about' We where' Trimming a prickly hedge ' And the Company didn't just trade for tea . I say' We 'I wasn.t there then , Just later before the Russians had their go at it . Regards Rudyard

Hell, that thing might have effected the 'room temperature' of a few Russians, and cooked supper that evening on the bayonet over a campfire, cool doin's... George.

 

[toot]

WHAT EVER, it seems to be a very well made gun! I like it!

 

[earlwb]

That was a really nice find. There is some history with it too. Too bad it can’t talk to tell us it’s stories. Thanks for sharing.

 

[ArmorerRoy]

I spent 2.5 years in Afghanistan leaving for the last time in 2014. I saw so many different weapons there. Our combat outpost had a connex box full of Enfields, AKs from every country that made them, and a whole bunch of weird single shot rifles that I couldn't identify. Many of them had been seized from farmers and Taliban suspects way before I got there. Most had bullet holes and dried blood on them. The easiest gun for us to send home was pre 1900 non cartridge type so that is what I chose to do.

As to the bazaar, we had a bunch of Afghan shops at the main bases like Bagram, kabul, Shank, etc that were staffed by cleared Afghans. They sold cell phones, pirated dvds, clothes, and military souvenirs. One of the shops usually specialized in guns. They knew what we could send home so everything was old or at least made to look old. I think the newest thing I saw for sale was a Martini Henry. Also lots of swords and camel guns.

The post office had a list of things we could not send so the Afghans never bothered with those things.