A miquelet escopeta for comments

[machinist]

Cerjak, Nice looking piece there also, I have looked through that thread a bit and it is informative.

Fernando, A little expensive but I think it is worth it. Were you following that auction? One of the marks on the breach looks like a cross with a bifurcated, fishtail base, it seems common on such guns and I wonder what is it's meaning?

Yay, I am off newbie probation

[Fernando K]

Hello:

I agree with Fernando, I think it's a shotgun. The name on the key (lock) I think it is Italian, if a key (lock) produced in Spain have the punch Manufacturer gold.

It would be interesting a photograph of the punch in the barrel (barrel) to see who produced it.

In short: I think it is a weapon produced in Italy, perhaps in Naples (under Spanish rule) and used a gun / barrel) produced in Spain

Affectionately. Fernando K

[machinist]

Hello Fernando K, This is interesting information, I was wondering why some guns where stamped on the lock, trigger guard, barrel, and mine was not.
I was wondering about it being used as a shotgun, it seems like it would be useful against deer with a load of buckshot.

[fernando]

Originally Posted by machinist

... Were you following that auction?

Coincidence; i saw it while browsing the net for CASTAÑO.

Originally Posted by machinist

... One of the marks on the breach looks like a cross with a bifurcated, fishtail base, it seems common on such guns and I wonder what is it's meaning?...

Apparently they call them crosses ... Latin cross, Greek cross, depending on their style. They actually appear in the majority of barrel marks, i suppose for decoration purposes. I ignore the origin of this custom.

[aptheo]

I'm pretty sure this is a Spanish trabuco, a type of blunderbuss, which is a shotgun. I have a source that says the Spanish military did in fact use them, and they were also used by Spanish explorers of the Americas. Trabuco Canyon, an area in Southern California, is actually named after this type of gun.

[Fernando K]

Hello:

I differ with Aptheo. The blunderbuss has a bell mouth, usually, generally, is of greater caliber than a shotgun. The fact that it has the same system ignción (miquelet, pin, Catalan or Spanish) and that his head is "Catalan" as the copy attached to the post, not meant to be a blunderbuss.

Affectionately. Fernando K

[aptheo]

Hi Fernando K,

I know that most blunderbusses can be instantly recognized by their trademark flared muzzles, but from what I've read (and seen), the 18th century Spanish take on the weapon either did not have a belled muzzle at all, or it was tapered only very slightly. From the same source in my comment above:

"...whereas the ordinary blunderbuss had a definite flare toward the muzzle, resulting in a rather large mouth, the true trabuco had a more graceful tapering barrel ending in a much smaller-belled muzzle."

[fernando]

Originally Posted by aptheo

... "...whereas the ordinary blunderbuss had a definite flare toward the muzzle, resulting in a rather large mouth, the true trabuco had a more graceful tapering barrel ending in a much smaller-belled muzzle."

Not necessarily so, i am afraid
Look at these Catalunian trabuqueros ready for party
... They must have some knowledge of these things .

-

[CutlassCollector]

Hi Machinist, great piece, congratulations.
I was wondering about the belt hook and whether it was fitted later, or is it common with these firearms - presumably for a long gun a belt hook was for fitting to a saddle rather than the person? Does it indicate a cavalry carbine or just a convenient fitting for hunting or travelling?
Regards, CC.

[machinist]

Hello Aptheo, I am pretty sure it is just an escopeta but language is a fluid thing. It was interesting to hear about Trabuco canyon, there are a lot of these names that most folks just do not notice or know the origin of.

Hello CutlassCollector, The engraving seems to flow around the hook so I imagine it was original equipment. I have no real knowledge about how it was carried but it seems clumsy to have it on the belt on horse back so I imagine it would be hung from the saddle and perhaps hung from a belt or sash if you needed both hands for something but wanted the gun close by.

A few weeks after I got this I was setting a gopher trap in my vegetable garden and found a flint for it. Most European flints are uni-facially percussion flaked but this one is bi-facially pressure flaked much like an arrowhead so I believe that this is either a broken native American knife blade that just happens to match the size and shape of a flintlock flint or a native made flint for a Spanish weapon. I tried it and it sparks but not impressively.

[fernando]

Trabucos at the Madrid Navy Museum

.