Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

Matchlock · 5th June 2012, 02:52 PM

Hi 'Nando,

It sure is a tricky thing to discern whether these short barrels are mortars or actual hand cannon that were stocked originally.

The shape and surface of these two specimen would allow both interpretations. If they were hand cannon I would say they are at least 500 years old. If they were mortars they mave have been made as late as the early 19th century. As such items were always kept in the open and hardly ever saw any care or oil they alyways look kind of rotten and 'extremely old'. The rough inner surfaces seem to suggest that they were not bored out but left the way they were when wrought around an iron core.

The feature of a touch hole spiked and relocated is a thing only found on actually very old barrels as it eemed to take a tremendous time span to wear out a touch hole to the extent that too much gas left. Apart from that, touch holes of ca. 1500 often were unusually large right from the start, as I have pointed out in former threads on my early barrels.

In any case I can add a few items from my collection to Rick's input on linstocks and especially igniting irons which were used to fire all kinds of firearms without mechanisms. I do not think though that the barrel with the smaller touch hole was meant for match ignition as match cord was at least 10 mm thick, and often even much thicker while the small pointed prick of an igniting iron could reach into a small touch hole. Unfortunately, this prick is now missing from the few suriving igniting irons.

Please see also

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...t=15th+barrels

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ight=linstocks

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ight=linstocks

Best,
Michl

5th June 2012, 02:52 PM	#3
Matchlock (deceased) Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bavaria, Germany - the center of 15th and 16th century gunmaking Posts: 4,310	Hi 'Nando, It sure is a tricky thing to discern whether these short barrels are mortars or actual hand cannon that were stocked originally. The shape and surface of these two specimen would allow both interpretations. If they were hand cannon I would say they are at least 500 years old. If they were mortars they mave have been made as late as the early 19th century. As such items were always kept in the open and hardly ever saw any care or oil they alyways look kind of rotten and 'extremely old'. The rough inner surfaces seem to suggest that they were not bored out but left the way they were when wrought around an iron core. The feature of a touch hole spiked and relocated is a thing only found on actually very old barrels as it eemed to take a tremendous time span to wear out a touch hole to the extent that too much gas left. Apart from that, touch holes of ca. 1500 often were unusually large right from the start, as I have pointed out in former threads on my early barrels. In any case I can add a few items from my collection to Rick's input on linstocks and especially igniting irons which were used to fire all kinds of firearms without mechanisms. I do not think though that the barrel with the smaller touch hole was meant for match ignition as match cord was at least 10 mm thick, and often even much thicker while the small pointed prick of an igniting iron could reach into a small touch hole. Unfortunately, this prick is now missing from the few suriving igniting irons. Please see also http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...t=15th+barrels http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ight=linstocks http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ight=linstocks Best, Michl Attached Images Last edited by Matchlock; 5th June 2012 at 03:32 PM.