The snaphaunce gun from hell.

[Anders L]

I recently bought myself four new antique guns and one of those was a really large and nasty swedish snaphaunce gun. I thought that some of you liked my other pics of swedish snaphaunces so now more is coming.

These mean beasts were used to hunt seals on the ice on the east coast of Sweden. They were tied to a sled and they are often very heavy.

This particular gun weights about 7 kg (more than 15 pounds). It has a rather unusual design when it comes to the lock which is a remodelled early 18th C swedish military lock. The hammer is replaced by a typical snaphaunce hammer and the frizzen is modified to fit it. The lock is fitted poorly and there are traces of old repairs around the lock. The stock is a very funny, its very chunky but inspired by proffesionally gunsmith made guns by the mid 18th C. The ornaments are naive but its clear what this maker had in mind. The gun is typical for rural gunsmiths that combined gunsmithing and farming.

The barrel, I belive orignates from a older gun, made by a profesional barrel maker. The quality is really neat, still a later owner or the person that put this gun together have poorly inletted his intials JAS on the barrel. The grooves are perfect and the caliber is quite small for a seal gun, around 14 cm. The diameter of the barrel is 34 mm.

The inspiration.

 

[DOUBLEDEUCE 1]

Very interesting. That rifle is huge!

 

[Captjoel]

Very cool Anders! Your rifle has a very "early" look about it. Do you have any ideas as to when it may have been made? I once had an original seal hunters powder horn that came from Newfoundland. I always wondered what rifle or fowler may have accompanied that old horn.

 

[Wes/Tex]

Wow! That gun only lacks wheels to qualify as artillery! :wink: :haha: :thumbsup:

 

[Anders L]

I believe that it is late 18th C or early 19th C. Most seal guns does not have decorations such as this one.They are normally very simple in design but this one is more intresting.

Any suggestions on the barrels orginal use?

 

[Alden]

Nice set.

Flintlock though, not a snaphaunce per se, right?

 

[Anders L]

Of course it is flintlock, a snaphaunce flintlock. Perhaps you could call it a hybrid. :hmm:

Since it was modified and fitted with different hammer I would call it a snaphaunce, the only real difference from a common flintsnaphaunce is that the main spring is on the inside. It is the shape and the movement of the hammer that is in focus, at least for these kind of baltic snaphaunce. What does not make this gun a real snaphaunce is the release of the hammer, that part is conventional due to the use of original parts.


Outside spring:

But there are examples of snaphaunce with interior main spring like this swedish gun made in 1722 for the swedish king.

 

[Patocazador]

"The grooves are perfect and the caliber is quite small for a seal gun, around 14 cm."

I'm sure this is a typo. Most likely 14 mm?

 

[Alden]

What we call a Swedish or Baltic lock has that long throw cock. Similarly, a snaphaunce I believe would necessarily have a pan cover separate from the frizzen...

 

[Anders L]

O yes my bad, 14 mm. :haha:

Well yes some have pan covers but not all of them.

 

[Alden]

Anders;
I believe all your guns here have the pan-cover as an integral part of the frizzen -- it is one L-shaped piece and a later design. These are probably not what we would call snaphaunce which would have its separate pan cover open automatically (similar to on a wheelock).

All snap-somethings are flintlocks but not all flintlocks are snap-anythings. I do know in that region snaplock is a more generic term for a Baltic-type flintlock though...