Pre-flintlock heaven

[ChrisPer]

You know where I just went...

Pole arms

Gonnes

Matchlock muskets

Large job lots of wheellocks

Racked Puffers

No, SERIOUSLY racked Puffers

This was a lesson, folks. I took a couple hundred pictures, emphasising the depth views so that we have that thickness view that the coffee table books don't give us very often.

And I bought books there too. :grin:

 

[Canute Rex]

Holy guacamole. Where is this drool-bait paradise?

Surely they could part with just one or two items. They obviously have an excess. The look is much too cluttered.

 

[gunmaker43]

My names "Knight" I'll take one a those hats....

 

[matthew.heilgmail.com]

That looks a lot like the Zeughaus in Graz, Austria. I've never been, myself, but I've seen lots of pictures of it in books about the Thirty Years War!

You didn't happen to get any shots of the mortars or any other artillery there, did you? If so, would you mind posting them on the Cannon board? Pictures of 17th Century artillery are hard to find, and I'd be very grateful!

Thanks for sharing!

 

[ChrisPer]

More pics coming.

 

[Wes/Tex]

You know where I just went...

Well it was't anywhere near Texas! :wink:

 

[coloradoclyde]

Geee! I'm panting like a dog.
The breeches on those matchlocks look 2 inches wide.

 

[ChrisPer]

That looks a lot like the Zeughaus in Graz, Austria. I've never been, myself, but I've seen lots of pictures of it in books about the Thirty Years War!

You didn't happen to get any shots of the mortars or any other artillery there, did you? If so, would you mind posting them on the Cannon board? Pictures of 17th Century artillery are hard to find, and I'd be very grateful!

Thanks for sharing!

Yes, it is the Styrian Armory, the Landeszeughaus in Graz, Austria.

Yes, I did take pics of the artillery and mortars. I also had a torch to look down bores and got some pics. Unfortunately it was handheld in very low light, so a lot of photos are shaky.

Are you also interested in wall guns? They are a major part of this armory. The wall guns and hook guns were mostly matchlocks and wheellocks (often with a matchcock for backup).

Also have some cannon pics from Ceske Krumlov castle and maybe Nelahozeves castle of field artillery of that period, and I spent a day in the Istanbul Military Museum photographing a large collection of cannon as well as historic small arms. Didn't find decent artillery in Prague, the other major part of my trip. In fact, some I found there looked like movie props.

 

[ChrisPer]

Geee! I'm panting like a dog.
The breeches on those matchlocks look 2 inches wide.

That one was a mobile phone camera, so the perspective is close. They might have been 1 1/4".

 

[ChrisPer]

More:

 

[rickystl]

HOLY @#$%^&* !!!! Great photos!! What a treasure. :shocked2: Thanks for posting these photos. By all means, post anything you have. Great stuff!!
:bow: :thumbsup: :hatsoff: Rick.

 

[Alden]

Truly amazing.

For this vacation guess I'll have to brush up on my "Austrian" as this most-brilliant of all our brilliant Presidents that ever were said...

 

[ChrisPer]

I cant post all I have, not enough hours in the day and the moderators will not like it. Pick something and ask for it, and I will post what I have like I tried in the cannon forum :idunno: . In general I tried to get in-the-round pics of what I was interested in, the pre-flintlock stuff.

 

[Wes/Tex]

Nice to know there's somewhere to pick up stuff when the barbarians are at the gate! :wink:

 

[cynthialee]

Pardon my jaw sitting on the floor like that.
:shocked2:

WOW!!!

 

[Alden]

Some of my ancestors did just that -- drove back the Muslim hordes from the gates of Vienna and Eastern Europe. Ooops, are we allowed to cite history any more?

 

[wulf]

I am amazed at how many look alike based on all
of the pictures we see in books makes us think that they were all made as one item at a time and
for a specific person...Thanks so much for sharing
Wulf.........Love the wheel locks...

 

[Swamp Rat]

I must say that is IMPRESSIVE! What I see is Man Years of work. Just the Racks of puffers alone with the detailing. It's truly amazing just to try and think how long it took to build those....without assembly lines and hammering barrels by hand.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Incredible craftsmanship....blows my mind
I have a hard time trying to pound out a simple fishhook.

 

[dave_person]

Hi Wulf,
It is not so surprising that many look alike because they were often purchased in batches from individual makers in Augsburg, Suhl,and Nuremburg by the Styrian government. Graz is near the Austro-Hungarian border and as such was a central armory for wars with the Ottomans. We pride ourselves as "a nation of riflemen" but the Styrians predate us in that role by centuries. They used riflemen very effectively to man fortifications on the border, hence so many similar wheellock rifles in the arsenal. With respect to the long conflict between Europeans and Ottomans, I recommend a heroic story more than equal to any in our history such as the Alamo. Find a description of the battle of Guns in 1532 between the Ottomans and Austrians under the brilliant leadership of Croatian commander, Nikola Juresich.

dave