Re: The oldest known handgun in existence, ca. 1400-10

[fernando]

Originally Posted by Matchlock

I first met Rainer Daehnhardt in 1990 and know quite a bit about him and his pieces. Enough said

I thaught so ... i had the feeling that you knew him, since the moment you posted that coment on the Malabar gun.
I also know him since about that long; i buy weapons at his shops and frequently listen to what he has to say about questions i ask him on pieces i take to him for apreciation. I have also read a couple of his books. Our relation is only a little more than that between customer and supplier. However i never had the chance to visit his private mannor house and apreciate his collection. But up to this moment i don't have an actual reason to dislike him; given the discount that everyone has virtues and defaults. Our talks are about weapons and their history; nothing else.

Originally Posted by Matchlock

As the text mentions, the hook is of iron and hammered through the stock as an addition in the gun's working time.

I knew it was of iron; as you know, i quoted this specimen just because the hook is in the stock and not in the barrel; i confess i ignored it was applied later in time.

Originally Posted by Matchlock

As this must have proofed less stable, hooks were fire welded to the barrels from ca. 1440-50

So.

Originally Posted by Matchlock

My library of more than 3,000 books and catalogs contains the complete original edition of the Zeitschrift fuer Historische Waffenkunde ...

Fascinating; so you are in a condition to tell if the 1900 catalogue contains the Pilsen gun with a hook in the stock, as Bernahrd Rietsche relates ?
I surely would like to hear your coments about this particular subject. Eventualy also Daehnhardt quotes that hooks were first made of wood; i still have to learn a huge lot about this fascinating area of early firearms.

Originally Posted by Matchlock

... give my greetings to Bernahrd Rietsche. He came to see my collection only a few weeks ago.

I don't have the honour to know the Gentleman; i incidently know his quoted article since a week ago. And i was far from realizing that such would be the origin of a misunderstanding.

My respects
Fernando