What's this?

[Norinco]

Hey, I don't know very much about preflintlocks. Is this a miquelet? Is the stock shaped that way because it's meant to be fired off the chest and not the shoulder? It looks North African to me. This is a local Craigslist ad.
http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/clt/1618770623.html

 

[RangerThacher]

The lock looks like a snaphaunce.

 

[wulf]

Agree....could be fired from the shoulder, chest

or hooked under the arm when riding a camel..The

last one was just a guess...

 

[miqueleter]

Not a miquelet. Moroccan snaphaunce circa 1800 + -50 years. Can't tell from the pictures if the lock is local made. Thousands of locks were made in northern Europe (read Holland and England)and shipped to North Africa, often as ransom payment for captured seamen.

 

[dave_person]

It certainly looks north African. The lock is a snaphaunce and the fan-tailed or fish-tailed stock probably was meant to be held against the shoulder. That stock shape originated with the Spanish and Portuguese during the 16th century and was exported all over the world. Photo below shows a 17th century English lock fowler that I built using a similar stock pattern.

dave

 

[Tourblanche]

Exact !

This gun is typical of Maroc , the name is " moukala ".

The guns from other arab countries traditionnally have
miquelet ( mediterranean ) or morlaque ( balkan ) locks ,
only the marocan guns have this anglo-neederlander snaphaunce.
These locks were part of the ransom paid by England for
some boats and sailors captured by the Marocains , long time ago. The locks have been copied ever since .

The gun stock is typical of the Riff ( north ) area

 

[Tourblanche]

This one is from the marocan Souss ( central ) area
http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=120&u=11123323

Same lock , different stock