Albanian/Turkish inscription and proofs

[rickystl]

Originally Posted by Marcus

rickystl,
Have you seen my other recent post on the rat-tail pistols? There is discussion on whether they might have been contract pieces for the Ottoman military. There are a couple books that would support that but some members of this forum offer alternative suggestions and quite a lot of interesting information.
Marcus

Hi Marcus. Well, I'm finally back home. Thanks for the heads-up on your post re Rat Tail pistols. VERY interesting thread!! My first guess is that either case could be made. That these guns were made and used virtually unchanged for at least 200+ years is probably the reason so many specimens are still available today.
Here is one of mine. This is the other (besides rat tail) butt style often encountered on Albanian pistols. This one I use for shooting. It has a mechanically good re-worked lock and a modern steel barrel liner for safe shooting. It is .59 caliber. Fun shooting!!