Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

Philip · 4th March 2006, 05:15 PM

This is indeed a percussion-based firing mechanism. Clearly visible is a "nipple" which protrudes almost vertically from the breech end of the barrel. It is larger than the nipples found on Western percussion guns (which use a hat-shaped copper cap containing fulminate of mercury which fits over the nipple and is hit by the hammer when it is released by the trigger mechanism). This gun may have been designed to use "pills" of a fulminate compound (the substance used on the heads of "strike-anywhere" matches is adequate). The use of pills instead of caps was also used in Europe during the few short years prior to the development of machinery for mass-producing the little copper caps.

There are several characteristics of this gun which tie it in to neighboring cultures:
1. Pistol-shaped butt which is held against the cheek when the gun is aimed.
2. No ramrod fitted to the forestock, which is typically half-length
3. Tapering smoothbore barrel of small caliber
4. Mechanism utilizing an external leaf- or V shaped mainspring mounted directly to the wooden stock, and a side-mounted trigger

Guns with all these features are found in other tribal groups, including the Miao of Guizhou and Yunnan Provinces (China), the various "montagnard" hill tribes of Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and the Kachins of north Burma. Many examples of the Vietnam highland guns exist in the US, having been brought back by American soldiers as souvenirs.

The practice of holding the stock against the cheek was brought to east Asia by the Portuguese in the 16th cent. They were largely armed with a lighter version of the European musket, made at the Portuguese armory at Goa. These guns are considered to be an Indo-Portuguese design, using a snapping matchlock mechanism with an external spring similar to that on the gun under discussion). The short pistol butts became a characteristic of all parts of east Asia which the Portuguese had influence: Burma, Malaya/Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Japan. (see Rainer Daehnhardt, ESPINGARDA FEITICEIRA: A INTRODUCAO DA ARMA DE FOGO PELOS PORTUGUESES NO EXTREMO-ORIENTE (Lisboa, 1994) for more info.

The firearms of SE Asia (and Taiwan) were originally matchlocks, of course, as was the case in neighboring China and Japan. This particular gun is an ingenious adaption of the old matchlock mechanism to the more reliable percussion system. All it took was replacing the priming pan with a bolster and nipple on the side of the barrel, replacing the serpentine or match holder with a percussion hammer, and strengthening the mainspring.

As regards the parts of these guns, I believe that the stock and small metal parts were native-made. The barrels may have been made by Chinese artisans and traded to the natives by Chinese merchants doing business in the area. The native gun barrels are of much smaller bore than anything the Chinese typically used, and generally lack sights which most Chinese guns have. So these would have been manufactured for "export" trade only.

W. W. Greener, in his book THE GUN AND ITS DEVELOPMENT, describes the manufacture of barrels in south China. The gunsmiths were itinerant, carrying all their materials and tools in their carts, and setting up shop temporarily as they travelled. The barrel was forged from strips of iron wound spirally around a mandrel or rod, and forged into a solid tube when in red-hot state. During the hammering process, the breech end was made thicker-walled to withstand the pressures of the exploding powder. The bore was expanded to the desired diameter, and polished smooth, with a succession of hardened steel reamers, square like a chopstick but larger, which were inserted and rotated until the entire length of barrel was bored smooth. After straightening, the breech was plugged and the touch-hole drilled. Greener noted (his observations date to the mid 19th cent.) that the finished barrel was well-forged, of good quality. The manufacturing process is described almost identically in the 17th cent. Chinese treatise on industry and manufacturing, TIANGONG KAIWU.

One thing I have never figured out is why these native guns were not made with ramrods. A rod would have to be carried separately to push the bullet and wadding down to the breech, it would appear cumbersome not to store it under the barrel, in the stock, when not in use.

4th March 2006, 05:15 PM	#8
Philip Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: California Posts: 1,036	aboriginal gun This is indeed a percussion-based firing mechanism. Clearly visible is a "nipple" which protrudes almost vertically from the breech end of the barrel. It is larger than the nipples found on Western percussion guns (which use a hat-shaped copper cap containing fulminate of mercury which fits over the nipple and is hit by the hammer when it is released by the trigger mechanism). This gun may have been designed to use "pills" of a fulminate compound (the substance used on the heads of "strike-anywhere" matches is adequate). The use of pills instead of caps was also used in Europe during the few short years prior to the development of machinery for mass-producing the little copper caps. There are several characteristics of this gun which tie it in to neighboring cultures: 1. Pistol-shaped butt which is held against the cheek when the gun is aimed. 2. No ramrod fitted to the forestock, which is typically half-length 3. Tapering smoothbore barrel of small caliber 4. Mechanism utilizing an external leaf- or V shaped mainspring mounted directly to the wooden stock, and a side-mounted trigger Guns with all these features are found in other tribal groups, including the Miao of Guizhou and Yunnan Provinces (China), the various "montagnard" hill tribes of Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and the Kachins of north Burma. Many examples of the Vietnam highland guns exist in the US, having been brought back by American soldiers as souvenirs. The practice of holding the stock against the cheek was brought to east Asia by the Portuguese in the 16th cent. They were largely armed with a lighter version of the European musket, made at the Portuguese armory at Goa. These guns are considered to be an Indo-Portuguese design, using a snapping matchlock mechanism with an external spring similar to that on the gun under discussion). The short pistol butts became a characteristic of all parts of east Asia which the Portuguese had influence: Burma, Malaya/Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Japan. (see Rainer Daehnhardt, ESPINGARDA FEITICEIRA: A INTRODUCAO DA ARMA DE FOGO PELOS PORTUGUESES NO EXTREMO-ORIENTE (Lisboa, 1994) for more info. The firearms of SE Asia (and Taiwan) were originally matchlocks, of course, as was the case in neighboring China and Japan. This particular gun is an ingenious adaption of the old matchlock mechanism to the more reliable percussion system. All it took was replacing the priming pan with a bolster and nipple on the side of the barrel, replacing the serpentine or match holder with a percussion hammer, and strengthening the mainspring. As regards the parts of these guns, I believe that the stock and small metal parts were native-made. The barrels may have been made by Chinese artisans and traded to the natives by Chinese merchants doing business in the area. The native gun barrels are of much smaller bore than anything the Chinese typically used, and generally lack sights which most Chinese guns have. So these would have been manufactured for "export" trade only. W. W. Greener, in his book THE GUN AND ITS DEVELOPMENT, describes the manufacture of barrels in south China. The gunsmiths were itinerant, carrying all their materials and tools in their carts, and setting up shop temporarily as they travelled. The barrel was forged from strips of iron wound spirally around a mandrel or rod, and forged into a solid tube when in red-hot state. During the hammering process, the breech end was made thicker-walled to withstand the pressures of the exploding powder. The bore was expanded to the desired diameter, and polished smooth, with a succession of hardened steel reamers, square like a chopstick but larger, which were inserted and rotated until the entire length of barrel was bored smooth. After straightening, the breech was plugged and the touch-hole drilled. Greener noted (his observations date to the mid 19th cent.) that the finished barrel was well-forged, of good quality. The manufacturing process is described almost identically in the 17th cent. Chinese treatise on industry and manufacturing, TIANGONG KAIWU. One thing I have never figured out is why these native guns were not made with ramrods. A rod would have to be carried separately to push the bullet and wadding down to the breech, it would appear cumbersome not to store it under the barrel, in the stock, when not in use.