Curious Balkan Gun
Hello all.
Here is a new addition to my collection. I only bought this gun, as my curiosity got the best of me. The seller said he believed this gun started life as an Italian fowling piece. The raised carvings on the stock and the line flutes on the barrel do in fact look Italian. He says at some point it ended up somewhere in the Balkans where there was added decoration to suit local tastes. And, overall, that's what it looks like to me. LOL.
So here is what I've been able to determine. The overall length is 35". And it looks like the butt stock was about 1" longer originally, with a different butt plate. Which also makes sense since the LOP is only 12". You can see where the barrel was shortened to it's current 21.5". So it was cut back probably for use on horseback. The lock is really curious. While the lockplate and hammer look European, the frizzen looks like a too large, later European replacement. But it would still work. There is a gouge in the brass pan so that it would line up with the vent hole of the barrel. The lockplate is marked "AHINILLI". Which doesn't mean anything to me, and in any case might be spurious since the lettering does not equal European quality. While the mainspring and sear spring look to be near European, the tumbler is definately not. It's similar to many you see on lower grade balkan pistols. It even has a piece of old leather between the tumbler and lock plate. LOL.And the lock does not reside in the mortise unless it's in half-cock position. And the hammer screw is a new replacement. So I think this was an old original tumbler that was more recently added - or, the lock came from a different gun (?). Not sure yet. But I'll eventually figure it out. LOL.
One thing is for sure. The gun has seen a lot of action. The bore is pretty corroded. But I'll get the lock fixed and clean the bore. Should make a decent display piece. Here are a bunch of pics. Any comments most welcome, and thanks for looking.
Rick
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