New Tanchika for comment
 

Not often found for sale in this part of the world, but this one, a "sleeper" I believe, appeared in a local auction recently, and now has joined my collection.
Overall 59" (1.5m) with approx. .50 smoothbore barrel of 47" (1.2m).
The great thing about this one is that apart from some of the Mother of Pearl inlays missing (now replaced), nothing else is missing.

While we are on this subject, I note that in Elgood's book Arms of Greece, he refers to this style as ARNAUTKA rather than Tanchika. Can someone please clarify.

Stu

Hi Stu.

Congratulations!! Nice find. Especially for your neck of the woods. LOL :)
And, nice job replacing the missing pearl inlays. (I have one I need to replace a couple of the same). Looks to be all complete now. Looks to have some nice relief work on the top of the breech. Maybe you could take a closer pic of that area. Nice addition.

Rick

:( Missed adding these 3 pics. Now done and showing relief work on breech and also view of underside decoration.
Stu

Hi Stu.

Did you forget to post the pics ?

Rick

Woops.......sorry Stu. Now I see them. Very neat. Sort of unique on this barrel. The rest of the gun looks typical for a Tanchika. Amazing how similar they all are. Thanks for posting. A very nice specimen.

Rick

Nice gun, congratulations. Arnautka simply means Albanian in pretty much all the Slavic Balkan languages.

Teodor

Hi Teodor,
Thank you for that. I must admit I was a bit confused regarding the term, as I had always known this style of gun as Tanchika.
Hope all is well with you.
Stu

Hi Stuart,
Don't know much about these muskets, but a quick search shows that these names may be interchangeable. Both are used for long muskets from Ottoman Balkans, mainly from Albania, but also from Romania, Kosovo etc. and have this specific shape of the stock, though some are mildly bent and others, like yours have an extreme bend and angle. They have been discussed previously on this forum (for example http://vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=20426). What intregues me is if you can still see through the sights when you put it to your shoulder and if not, how are you supposed to shoot with it.
Anyway, it looks like rather old example (around 1800?).

Very nice catch, congratulations!

Yes, thanks Teodor for the explanation.

Rick

Hi Motan.
Thanks for the additional description. I remember your gun posted in the Link. A long range variation of this gun I've never seen before. Most interesting.
For comparison, I attach a pic of one in my collection which shows the butt stock with less bent variation. Don't seem to see this variation as often.
By coincidence, I have a Tanchika barrel at the barrel smith's, and should receive it back in another 3-4 months. It will interesting to see how these hold and shoot. This one has the more extreme bend like Stuart's. I've never really understood the reasoning for the butt design. Maybe I'll figure it out while shooting. LOL
Stuart's does seem like an early example with that breech decoration. Very neat.

Rick

Quite a different bend in the stock you show. Nothing like as much as my one.
Those "slots" by the barrel band.....are they where you need the pearl shell for?
Stu

Hi Stu.

No, this gun is all complete and in attic style condition. I've never cleand it. Notice this style with the shorter bend also has a wider wrist area. I've only held one other like this, and the wrist was the same.

Here is my other Tanchika I will make a shooter from. I's missing one pearl inlay on each side of the butt stock. The stock style is similar to yours.

Rick