Jezail barrel origin question

[AHite]

I recently acquired another jezail for my collection. It is a bit worn and beat up, but like all of these guns has a lot of history behind it. It is a simple and unadorned gun, with the East India Company-marked flintlock mechanism made by Hirst and dated 1781. It still goes to half and full cock, but the frizzen hinge area is very worn. No trigger guard, nor any indication of one ever being installed.

I would like to know the origin of the barrel. On the top of the barrel there is an "Arabesque" design, and there appears to be a maker's mark on the left side of the barrel near the breach. The barrel is made of twisted steel, with a slight flare at the end. It appears to be smoothbore. I believe the barrel bands were originally steel, like one of the remaining ones. The others are brass, with one being a simple band that was probably an easy field fix. I have another jezail with a similar "fix".

The front of the stock is damaged, and missing half of it's length. It's interesting to note that the stock has what I believe is a "duffel cut". A duffel cut was something US soldiers did during WW2 when they were bringing back a souvenir long rifle, like a Japanese Arisaka. The soldier would disassemble the rifle, and cut the stock roughly in half (where a barrel band would cover the cut) in order to put it and the other parts into their duffel bag to take home. I believe this happened to this jezail, and somewhere down the way the front part of the stock got damaged and the cleaning rod was lost. Just speculation. If I can source a proper piece of wood (aged walnut from an old gunstock) I would like to recreate the missing section. I have several other jezails that have cleaning rods to use as models.

Thanks for looking, any comments or info are appreciated!

[DaleH]

From my experience, many of these and Toradars were made using 2-piece stocks on the upper forend, glued with animal glue and covered by a barrel band. Usually the splice was on an angle.

[David R]

Originally Posted by DaleH

From my experience, many of these and Toradars were made using 2-piece stocks on the upper forend, glued with animal glue and covered by a barrel band. Usually the splice was on an angle.

My experience as well, and not just the local product, Gov't issue did this as well.

[kahnjar1]

Back to the original question....barrels on these came from all sorts of places. The "gunsmith" used what ever was available. Perhaps if you could post clearer photos of the barrel marks someone may be able to narrow the origin down.
With regard to the lack of a trigger guard..... I once owned a very similar Jezail without a guard. Not unusual at all.
Stu

[AHite]

Originally Posted by DaleH

From my experience, many of these and Toradars were made using 2-piece stocks on the upper forend, glued with animal glue and covered by a barrel band. Usually the splice was on an angle.

I just acquired a very fine, very long Indian Toradar (53" barrel!) that has two dovetail joints in the stock. In the case of my jezail, you can see where the saw blade cut into the barrel. Not really a big deal as the barrel band covers it.