Congo rifle

Freddy · 10th April 2007, 07:47 PM

Yesterday, I was looking for some info in Christopher Spring's book : African Arms and Armour. And look what I found :

This first image shows an array of weapons used in Ethiopia during the 19th century. Both guns look very similar to the one I obtained some time ago.

The second picture shows some Ethiopian warriors from that same period. The one on the right carries a similar gun.
In his book Spring relates that the Ethiopian musketmen relied for their effectiveness as much upon the noise their weapons made as upon the casualties they inflicted.
It seems that loading such a gun took several minutes.

Tim Simmons · 10th April 2007, 07:55 PM

Freddy as we know the Arabs had an outpost by the lakes more or less on the edge of the Congo so the trade of guns was widespread.

ward · 13th April 2007, 06:11 PM

look at the stock totally different form. yes they are all matchlocks pick up a stone's glossary it has pics of various forms of stocks. Not the end all but gives a good starting point

10th April 2007, 07:47 PM	#1
Freddy Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Sint-Amandsberg (near Ghent, Belgium) Posts: 830	Yesterday, I was looking for some info in Christopher Spring's book : African Arms and Armour. And look what I found : This first image shows an array of weapons used in Ethiopia during the 19th century. Both guns look very similar to the one I obtained some time ago. The second picture shows some Ethiopian warriors from that same period. The one on the right carries a similar gun. In his book Spring relates that the Ethiopian musketmen relied for their effectiveness as much upon the noise their weapons made as upon the casualties they inflicted. It seems that loading such a gun took several minutes.

10th April 2007, 07:55 PM	#2
Tim Simmons Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: What is still UK Posts: 5,843	Freddy as we know the Arabs had an outpost by the lakes more or less on the edge of the Congo so the trade of guns was widespread.

13th April 2007, 06:11 PM	#3
ward Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 637	look at the stock totally different form. yes they are all matchlocks pick up a stone's glossary it has pics of various forms of stocks. Not the end all but gives a good starting point