Jezail 3: Return of the Not-Quite-So-Killer Jezail

[Raf]

I think your being a bit hard on it . Cant immediately see why the lock isnt a bog standard EIC lock ; Windus patern which formed the model for the India pattern Bess. Whats wrong with lock is the native made replacement cast spring which probably never worked properly in the first place. A modern cast steel spring for a India pattern lock will probably fit with a bit of work. Their not expensive compared to making one and are fairly easy to temper. The lock obviously belongs to most of the stock .The barrel as you point out probably doesnt belong to this gun and almost certainly started life as a matchlock .Looks Persian to me. The charm , if thats the right word , of these things is that they have a long and colourfull history and the fact they are invariable marriages of parts of different dates from different cultures is just part of real history.

[Jens Nordlunde]

Hello Fern,
Maybe you should explain something about 'drying' whe wood, as I remember that someone long time ago, told me that wood for wood cutting should be at least seventy years old. Wood for this weapon will no doubt not have to as old as that, but it will still have to be dry.
Jens

[RDGAC]

Hi all; Jim, glad to be mooching about again after spending so long in a lather of uncertainty. Figure it's time to give this old girl some TLC. And I still have to think before remembering which is quartered and which is flaunched!

Fearn: Not really very practical for me to go to Iran, to be honest. More's the pity (I'd not mind looking at Ctesiphon) but there it is. I did consider trying to find some cornus sanguinea around here; it certainly seems an option worth considering. I don't know where it grows wild in the UK, but presumably it must do so somewhere. However, I know about as much about working wood as a horse knows about industrial chemistry, so doubtless lots of silly questions to come yet. At least I'd already thought of seasoning (drying) as a problem; at a guess, the best I could do would be to get a reasonable-sized big of dogwood, stick it in a corner somewhere, and leave it to dry for 6 months (or however long is necessary for dogwood).

Amazingly, although the tree itself is apparently relatively common, nobody seems to sell dogwood timber. I can only presume there's no market for the stuff.

Raf: Looking at it since (with the aid of some of the very knowledgeable people at the Brit Mil Forum) has suggested that, yes, it is in fact an EIC lock, albeit with new (and not too good) mainspring. As to replacing that, I'm not sure. Since the odds of this beast ever firing again are slender at best, it seems best to leave it alone, apart from removing corrosion. Had they not made such drastic alterations to the barrel... but ah well. One can't really fault the locals for making a living.

Cheers all,

Meredydd