Hi, new guy here. I recently acquired this big guy, who weighs in at 9" long, about 2.75" wide, 31mm bore, and weighs 12 lb or so. I'm not sure of origins, but I think maybe Chinese as it came with a bunch of Chinese pole cannons.
Wherever it comes from, it looks close enough to a European handcannon that I'm considering furnishing it to suit. My problem is, I don't care for the tiller variety of furnishings that most of these early guns were originally equiped with, nor does my fireplace mantel (where this will reside) have the space for one. It probably sounds ridiculous when talking about historic weapons, but my aesthetics run more toward the appearances of the later rifle-style buttstocks. I'd ideally like something stout and short, with a blunderbuss-like aspect. So what I'm looking for (and hoping folks here have other examples of) are handcannons of the period that have shorter and more musket-like wood.
Here are a couple I've dug up:
This one may be Chinese, and is probably much smaller (modern handgun size), but I like the appearance:
The stock on this wheellock grenade launcher is ideal, but obviously too modern - though I'm looking hard for a similar period example:
Some sketches of some possible directions I'd like to take the stock:
So...does anyone have any advice or opinions about what I should or should not do, or anything to add about the cannon itself? I want this to look good, but don't want to be so farby that my medieval weapon aficionado friends turn their faces away from me in shame.
