Omani Matchlock Barrel - Abu Fathilah

[rickystl]

Originally Posted by Pukka Bundook

Richard G,

I too have seen these barrels obviously stocked up in Scinde fashion, and wondered about their originating there. Very interesting !
I do not recall seeing more than one stocked in toradar fashion, and came to the "conclusion" that likely these were indeed Persian barrels traded up into Scinde as well as Oman. This however may be all wrong, and maybe Scinde Did produce these barrels. There appears very few examples for us to work off.

Philip & Rick,

As these barrels appear to all have Persian (?) stampings at the breech, I think wherever they were made they are copies of European barrels made in a Very similar manner and are very old.. As they have usually un-drilled tangs, I see this as being copied from European tangs, but in this case mounted in a different manner and the tang not used as support or fastening.
Henry V111's barrels on his breech-loaders are Northern Italian products, and are Very similar in the fluting of the barrels to these mystery pieces.

All very interesting!
Richard.

Hi Richard.
Thanks for your response. I, personally, have not seen a Sindh or Torador gun with this fluted barrel. Doesn't mean they don't exist. Interesting that you've seen even a couple examples. At present, I too am in the school that these barrels, in this form, have a Persian origin. Problem is also that there are so few genuine all-Persian made specimens to examine. A while back there was an entire Thread delving into this. A real curiosity.
By the way, I took the breech tang screw out of this gun to examine. Sure enough, the hole in the tang was drilled later by the builder to accept a somple wood screw. Darn. But it confirms your analysis.

Rick