fish-butted matchlocks

[raszpla]

it is an original from the period, these are the characteristics of American culture from that period, shortage of artisans-expert workshops-question of the price of weapons- destiny weapons-etc

:hatsoff:
but I'm curious how the original looked like a weapon of this mechanism

 

[bioprof]

Razpla,

I think this could be the subject of an article for publication.

 

[Jim Blair]

I seem to remember a discussion a couple of years ago about the Newtowne musket. The conclusion of the people discussing it was not that it was a forgery, but it was a gun that was restocked in the colonies from older parts. In other words, it was a cobbled-together gun.

The question then is this, is is an original? Are the people making reproductions of it without mentioning that it was a cobbled gun being completely honest?

Of course, I could be completely wrong (and frequently am), but I don't think the gun is representative of a typical matchlock. I don't think that the person who restocked it knew what a matchlock was supposed to look like.

What you say is probably why this firearm was chosen,it was cobbled together in this country and not in Europe,giving it an American flavour instead of European even if assembled from parts from a European firearm by someone who was guessing at what one should look like.

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

Leo Day also believes the barrel is French from a much later period, IIRC ...

 

[Jim Blair]

So there is some published information saying the whole thing was assembled from various parts at a much later date than that given by the Smithsonian for the firearm?

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

Published? Not that I know of. I only have the info I have in writing from Leonard, as he doesn't do computers.

But, I will write the Smithsonian and see what they have to say about it ...