Snaphance Help

[Light Dragoon]

Boyd;

Wow, wooden, and that thin? It's amazing that it survived unbroken. Do the pipes look as though they were originally made for such a thin rammer though? Or does it look like there is a lot of play in it? I'm really curious now.

Gordon

 

[WRussell]

I seem to remember that Spain occupied Northern Italy for a time. So it's Spanish/Italian??? Made in Occupied Italy???

 

[Light Dragoon]

WRussell, you're right, Spain actually occupied a whole lot of Italy from the mid-16th through the late-17th Centuries. Good call.

I have to amend some of my opinions expressed above, too. I finally decided to look some stuff up rather than just relying on a faulty memory. On pg. 321 of "Art, Arms and Armour" (Robert Held, Ed., 1980) it shows a snaphaunce fowler very much like the one in question. Half stock and everything, brass mountings and barrel band, with a very thin rammer, too. So my mea culpa's on that one! The author of the article states that this particular fowling piece resembling Boyd's is Florentine, and the maker of it was admitted to the Armourer's Guild in Rome in 1695. So hopefully that gives you somewhere to start!

Cheers!

Gordon

 

[Boyd]

Boyd;

Wow, wooden, and that thin? It's amazing that it survived unbroken. Do the pipes look as though they were originally made for such a thin rammer though? Or does it look like there is a lot of play in it? I'm really curious now.

Gordon

Hi Gordon,
Yes it is wooden and fairly thin. It seems hand made. If you run your fingers down it, it is very wavy. Is it original??? I don't know. It is old, but how old???? Could be the 5th or 6th ramrod on that gun....who knows. I will say this the stain is a little lighter than on the stock, but then again it is a different wood type also. It seems more "flexable" than most wooden rammers to me, but..........

The "pipes" (ram rod holder)seems original also. Well at least very old and well worn if not original.

Rod is loose in the holders and not tight like my Kentuckys. My Kentucky's are larger and tighter in the thimbles as they usually are. This rod is thinner. I'll try to get a photo up for you this evening.

Darryl

 

[robinghewitt]

The rammer should be ash, aka "lance wood". I have a 6 foot rammer on my goose gun, it tapers from .47" to .30", a big incentive not to break it :shocking:

Have you got 40+ annular rings under the butt plate? If you can find a dendro match you'd have the date and the country it grew in.

 

[Boyd]

Robin,
That is interesting.

I'll look when I get home. How or where would you match them up?

Darryl

 

[arilar]

Darryl,
Why not a spanish older barrel used in a slightly younger produced Italian gun? It has been done in that way in Sweden. For instance a Turkish barrel in a Swedish gun from the beginning of the 18th century can be found.
ARILAR :: :thumbsup:

 

[robinghewitt]

I'll look when I get home. How or where would you match them up?

You do a google for dendrochronology, some can work from a picture.

 

[Boyd]

took a look under butt plate. It is so heavly stained and finished it would be impossible to read rings. Intresting idea though.

Not sure what the rammer is made of. It is very "springy" or flexable. Will measure later, but is about 1/4" to 5/16 all the way dowm.

Darryl

 

[benvenuto]

Spain occupied Naples, Sicily and Sardinia until 1707.
http://www.zum.de/whkmla/region/italy/nap16481707.html
Thats an interesting suggestion - that would explain the spanish look the gun has (but alas, not the lock)

 

[benvenuto]

I agree...
as prolific as the Ripoll gun making workshops were, they still found time to export gun barrels on their own...
That triggerguard still has a spanish look about it though

And Robin, you beat me to the punch with the wood analysis