My first jezail

[Rick]

" Ten thousand pounds of education falls to a ten rupee Jezail ."

Congratulations on your purchase mate !

Pictures soon; eh ?

Rick

[RDGAC]

As requested, some pics of my new toy. While working on her today I have found a curious problem: this breech obstruction, which seems to defy explanation.

My first thought, as one would expect, was that I had found some powder and shot. This seemed to be confirmed when the first thing I fished out of the barrel with my rudimentary auger was a piece of canvas-like cloth which was, presumably, acting as wadding. I poured water down the barrel and, with some tapping, it disgorged a tide of black powder, rust and probably many years of fouling into the sink. So far, so good. However, at that point things became weirder. The ramrod simply will not go all the way down the barrel ramming end first; it sticks around an inch from where it should be. Likewise, my copper cleaning brush stubbornly refuses to hit the breech plug. However, the thin end of the ramrod will go all the way to the bottom of the barrel, making a satisfying clank as it does so. My first thought was a ring of fouling obstructing the passage of the much broader ramming end of the rod, so I set to work with the brush, rasping away in the hope of dislodging something, and poured boiling water into the barrel three times.

This, strangely, has merely deepened the mystery. There definitely is a constricted area; the brush was having the devil of a time passing it, though I think the combination of hot water and vigorous scrubbing has dislodged a great deal of whatever it is. The water emerging from the touchhole and muzzle was pretty damn mucky, brown with black flecks in it, throughout this process. But the brush, in turn, stops dead about half an inch short of the breech, as does the ramrod's ramming end; yet the narrow end of the ramrod will still pass the obstruction. Perhaps a corroded ball, I thought - but a ball so loose as to let water flow past it, out of the muzzle, would surely either roll out of the barrel or be dislodged by a few good knocks. Fouling? If so, why is there nothing impeding the thin end of the ramrod even when I press it against, and can hear it scraping, the barrel wall down to the bottom? Very odd. Any ideas, chaps?

Anyway, as promised, some piccies. I expect I've bought a complete dud, but I love her anyway; a real fixer-upper's opportunity, with character and a fighting pedigree.

Pictures are:

1) Barrel bands. 2) Interior of lock. 3) and 4) Interior of stock in lock and breech area. 5) Overall of stock showing carvings. 6) View of carving just behind barrel tang. 7) Exterior view of lock. 8) Trigger guard. 9) Overall, showing underside of stock. 10) Overall view, right-hand side. 11) Top view. 12), 13), 14) Barrel bands and fit to barrel, also pan, frizzen and tang. 15) Muzzle and ramrod. 16) Muzzle. 17) Left-hand side of stock, including the Immovable Screw of the Kandahar. Ramrod shots are self-explanatory.