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Johan Gemvik




Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Joined: 10 Nov 2009

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Posts: 793

PostPosted: Wed 19 Jan, 2011 11:24 pm    Post subject: Hit me with your best shot!         Reply with quote

Allright, did I get your attention? Well, you know the theme music to this thread. Wink

Play the song off spotify to get in the mood and post a picture of your best, most fantastic and favorite historical weapon or weapon detail and a short description what it is and why it's the best in your book. It's not a contest, everyone has their own favorite that means something special to them, but share your treasures.

This is mine, the Henry VIIIIs breech loaded hunting rifle. Doesn't look like much, but it was hundreds of years ahead of it's time. It would have been real life super tech sci-fi to people back then, like somebody today having a portable plasma gun or laser.


I bet Henry dreamt of mass producing something like this for his troops, we know he spent a lot of resources to invent new weapons for his army and especially the navy, but a gun like this for every man just wasn't viable at the time. Note than most soldiers even during the american civil war and napoleoic wars some 300 years later still used front loaders less advanced than this rifle.
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Keith Burgess




Location: New England Australia
Joined: 20 Jan 2011

Posts: 26

PostPosted: Thu 20 Jan, 2011 5:33 pm    Post subject: My Choice of arm.         Reply with quote

I think I will have to choose my own fusil again. I have several 18th century items which I use and would not want to be without, but this time I choose my fusil.
This fusil has a 42 inch barrel and a flint lock. It is lighter than a musket and uses less powder & lead. This fusil is easy & fast to load, and the lock can be used to make fire (tinderbox). If the lock breaks it is easy to repair providing you have spare parts. I carry spare springs, a main spring vise, and a spare hammer.
If the lock cannot be repaired for lack of spare parts, it is an easy matter to convert it to a matchlock in a wilderness situation and continue using it. Saving gunpowder and lead for continued use is possible. You can vary your powder load, you can collect your spent lead from the game you shoot and mould new shot from it on site.
The smothbore fusil can shoot round ball, ball & goose/swan shot (buckshot) together, lighter bird shot, or any combination of these. This also enables the hunting of a variety of small and large game.




My videos on the fusil and making fire can be seen at my channel at:http://www.youtube.com/user/historicaltrekking?feature=mhum

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” Henry David Thoreau.
http://woodsrunnersdiary.blogspot.com/
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Elling Polden




Location: Bergen, Norway
Joined: 19 Feb 2004
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PostPosted: Fri 21 Jan, 2011 4:22 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Personally, I like this one; a self priming, eight shot snap-lock pistol/petronel, dated 1600.
What makes this piece a favorite, is that it very clearly demonstrates the technical insight and technical limitations of the age. Though the revolver principle was established as soon as the snaplock introduced a mechanism that could be cocked with a flick of the thumb, it would be over 200 years before manefacturing technology was able to produce them in a satisfactory manner.
The picture is from the danish army museum's online database, which kicks ass. Unfortunately only in dansih;
http://www.thm-online.dk/genstande/?textsearc...on%3Atime=


"this [fight] looks curious, almost like a game. See, they are looking around them before they fall, to find a dry spot to fall on, or they are falling on their shields. Can you see blood on their cloths and weapons? No. This must be trickery."
-Reidar Sendeman, from King Sverre's Saga, 1201
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Keith Burgess




Location: New England Australia
Joined: 20 Jan 2011

Posts: 26

PostPosted: Fri 21 Jan, 2011 1:31 pm    Post subject: Your favourite arm.         Reply with quote

[quote="Elling Polden"]Personally, I like this one; a self priming, eight shot snap-lock pistol/petronel, dated 1600.
What makes this piece a favorite, is that it very clearly demonstrates the technical insight and technical limitations of the age. Though the revolver principle was established as soon as the snaplock introduced a mechanism that could be cocked with a flick of the thumb, it would be over 200 years before manefacturing technology was able to produce them in a satisfactory manner.


A very interesting looking piece.

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” Henry David Thoreau.
http://woodsrunnersdiary.blogspot.com/
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Jack W. Englund




Location: WA State
Joined: 17 Sep 2007
Reading list: 6 books

Posts: 186

PostPosted: Fri 21 Jan, 2011 5:41 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

My "Dream Gun"

An all steel Highland Scots pistol

Inaccurate, but PERTY



Of the guns I own -

The "Baker" Rifle ( own 2, 1 I made the other a custom. , Both accurate repos except th e "twist"
Not perty but FUN


A high end repo of a "Brit "Saw Handle" rifled target pistol. Extremely accurate


Jack
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Keith Burgess




Location: New England Australia
Joined: 20 Jan 2011

Posts: 26

PostPosted: Fri 21 Jan, 2011 7:58 pm    Post subject: Highland Pistols.         Reply with quote

I love the look of the Highland pistols. I had a close friend who lived in Stirlingshire who collected these, Dr R.A.F. Gilbert. Sadly Rob died last year, I have no idea what happened to his collection, but I do have photographs of some of his collection.
Keith.

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” Henry David Thoreau.
http://woodsrunnersdiary.blogspot.com/
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Johan Gemvik




Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Joined: 10 Nov 2009

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Posts: 793

PostPosted: Sat 22 Jan, 2011 4:10 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Sorry if I was unclear on this, please all feel free to also post weapons other than firearms. How about blades, bows, maces, multi purpose weapons that have all these features AND shoot bullets -anything that inspires you!

-And don't be shy posting artillery pieces either! Wink

"The Dwarf sees farther than the Giant when he has the giant's shoulder to mount on" -Coleridge
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Johan Gemvik




Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Joined: 10 Nov 2009

Spotlight topics: 1
Posts: 793

PostPosted: Sat 22 Jan, 2011 4:13 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Elling Polden wrote:
Personally, I like this one; a self priming, eight shot snap-lock pistol/petronel, dated 1600.
What makes this piece a favorite, is that it very clearly demonstrates the technical insight and technical limitations of the age. Though the revolver principle was established as soon as the snaplock introduced a mechanism that could be cocked with a flick of the thumb, it would be over 200 years before manefacturing technology was able to produce them in a satisfactory manner.
The picture is from the danish army museum's online database, which kicks ass. Unfortunately only in dansih;
http://www.thm-online.dk/genstande/?textsearc...on%3Atime=



WOW! This is the coolest gun I've seen from that era.

"The Dwarf sees farther than the Giant when he has the giant's shoulder to mount on" -Coleridge
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Eric S




Location: new orleans
Joined: 22 Nov 2009
Reading list: 8 books

Posts: 805

PostPosted: Sun 23 Jan, 2011 4:19 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Tanegashima, the weapon that changed Japan.







Last edited by Eric S on Sun 23 Jan, 2011 7:49 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Keith Burgess




Location: New England Australia
Joined: 20 Jan 2011

Posts: 26

PostPosted: Sun 23 Jan, 2011 5:44 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

[quote="Eric S"]Tanegashima, the weapon that changed Japan.

Oh, that is one smart looking gun, looks so simple.
Keith.

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” Henry David Thoreau.
http://woodsrunnersdiary.blogspot.com/
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Keith Burgess




Location: New England Australia
Joined: 20 Jan 2011

Posts: 26

PostPosted: Sun 23 Jan, 2011 6:46 pm    Post subject: Some Of What I Carry & Use.         Reply with quote

The equipment and tools I carry are a mixture of copies and originals. Not sure if you allow copies on here!

My legging knife. This handle is not pinned. I suspect the blade was much longer originally.

This is my hunting knife. This original blade was originally huge, far to large for me to use, but I could not resist getting it. After some though I decided to cut it down to a usable size. The handle I made from osage orange, and it is pinned.

My jack knife or clasp knife which I carry in my weskit pocket. This is a copy. This Barlow pattern goes back to at least the 17thc.

The wad punch I use for my .62 cal flintlock fusil. This was my Father's.

My belt axe (copy) or tomahawk.

This was my Fathers, which I coveted greatly when I was a kid. These have shown up in finds with other arms, and dispite being similar to a hammer poll tomahawk, it is in fact a lath hatchet. Note the hammer poll is much longer than later samples. Our family home was built in 1740, and it had lathing through all the walls. It was very noticable up in one of the lofts where the lathing was not rendered (covered).

I copied this shot pouch from an original. The strap I finger wove in two parts and stiched them together, as per some originals.

My powder horn which I copied from several originals. Powder horns were not attached to the shot pouch up to the mid 18th century. The change came sometime during the American revolution, and it was then attached to the shot pouch strap.

Flintlock fusil spare parts and tools I carry. Top to bottom L-R, hammer spring, main spring, main spring vise, wad punch, and spare hammer.

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” Henry David Thoreau.
http://woodsrunnersdiary.blogspot.com/
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Jo Carlay





Joined: 18 Jan 2011

Posts: 1

PostPosted: Mon 24 Jan, 2011 1:54 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I love this shot pouch. I've been starting to see pouches like this one more frequently. I think they're great. They can fit everything I need and I love the old vintage feel. It's authentic.

Last edited by Jo Carlay on Fri 28 Jan, 2011 9:00 am; edited 1 time in total
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Addison C. de Lisle




Location: South Carolina
Joined: 05 Nov 2005
Likes: 27 pages

Posts: 614

PostPosted: Mon 24 Jan, 2011 2:59 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Eric S wrote:
Tanegashima, the weapon that changed Japan.


I have to say, I'm not usually one for guns but this one is beautiful. Does anyone still make these?

www.addisondelisle.com
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Keith Burgess




Location: New England Australia
Joined: 20 Jan 2011

Posts: 26

PostPosted: Mon 24 Jan, 2011 3:53 pm    Post subject: Shot Pouches.         Reply with quote

Jo Carlay wrote:
I love this shot pouch. I've been starting to see pouches like this one more frequently. I think they're great. They can fit everything I need and I love the old vintage feel. It's authentic.


Thanks for the reply Jo, appreciated.
Keith.

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” Henry David Thoreau.
http://woodsrunnersdiary.blogspot.com/
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Ed Schelzel





Joined: 22 Jun 2008

Posts: 10

PostPosted: Mon 24 Jan, 2011 10:34 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Elling Polden wrote:

The picture is from the danish army museum's online database, which kicks ass. Unfortunately only in dansih;



This is a wonderful site. Google translates the page pretty well, but some things just aren't coming across.

Such as Hjullåsstudser Is that a 'toad' wheellock?

http://www.thm-online.dk/genstande/4-SB170/




This too - halvhage? Does that mean short stock or similar?

http://www.thm-online.dk/genstande/7-SB154/
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Eric S




Location: new orleans
Joined: 22 Nov 2009
Reading list: 8 books

Posts: 805

PostPosted: Tue 25 Jan, 2011 4:09 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Addison C. de Lisle wrote:
Eric S wrote:
Tanegashima, the weapon that changed Japan.


I have to say, I'm not usually one for guns but this one is beautiful. Does anyone still make these?
I do not know if anyone is making a working replica of these, there are groups in Japan that get together with as much authentic equipment as possible and recreate their use.

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Chris Gilman




Location: California
Joined: 07 Dec 2007

Posts: 82

PostPosted: Tue 25 Jan, 2011 5:09 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Not completed, but here is a handmade self spanning wheellock I was working on. These self spanning lock were invented in the mid 17th C. All the pieces were made using 17th C. type of tools tools.(Punches, drills, files, lathe.) I started it about 10 years ago, got this far over 3 weekends building 2 locks simultaneously and then lost interest. One lock was test fired, the other is about 20% behind in construction. At some point I would like to finish them. The plan was to make a pistol and a carbine.

Chris
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Elling Polden




Location: Bergen, Norway
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PostPosted: Tue 25 Jan, 2011 7:59 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Ed;
Studser appears to be a danish word for a firearm with a short barrel and shoulder stock.
I'm not sure about Halvhage, but the pictured firearm has a double function snaplock and matchlock. I'm not sure if the word refers to the double lock or something else.

"this [fight] looks curious, almost like a game. See, they are looking around them before they fall, to find a dry spot to fall on, or they are falling on their shields. Can you see blood on their cloths and weapons? No. This must be trickery."
-Reidar Sendeman, from King Sverre's Saga, 1201
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Timo Nieminen




Location: Brisbane, Australia
Joined: 08 May 2009
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PostPosted: Tue 25 Jan, 2011 1:25 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Addison C. de Lisle wrote:
Eric S wrote:
Tanegashima, the weapon that changed Japan.


I have to say, I'm not usually one for guns but this one is beautiful. Does anyone still make these?


Apart from custom, I only know of non-firing replicas. Pedersoli used to make one, their "Tomonobu Teppo", but not any more. Since there are people who shoot these things, they are available. You could always ask groups like the Muzzle Loaders Shooting Association of Japan.

If you're looking for one, know that "teppo" = "iron gun" (cf Chinese "pao" = "gun") is the broad term, while "Tanegashima" is from "Tanegashima teppo", specifically the style originally copied from Portuguese guns on Tanegashima (the island where the Portuguese introduced their musket to the Japanese).

Antique ones have sold for under $2000 in the last half-decade. Don't know whether they were in any condition to be fired.

"In addition to being efficient, all pole arms were quite nice to look at." - Cherney Berg, A hideous history of weapons, Collier 1963.
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Eric S




Location: new orleans
Joined: 22 Nov 2009
Reading list: 8 books

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PostPosted: Tue 25 Jan, 2011 4:50 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Timo Nieminen wrote:


If you're looking for one, know that "teppo" = "iron gun" (cf Chinese "pao" = "gun") is the broad term, while "Tanegashima" is from "Tanegashima teppo", specifically the style originally copied from Portuguese guns on Tanegashima (the island where the Portuguese introduced their musket to the Japanese).

The firearms that the Portuguese brought to Japan were not actually Portuguese at all from what I have read. While the Portuguese are credited with bringing the firearms to Japan in the 1500s that were reproduced by the Japanese and became what is called Tanegashima, it was not actually a Portuguese gun. A quote from Ian Bottomley on the subject.

Quote:
By a strange coincidence I have spent the day with a Prof of Chinese history discussing guns and other items. What you must realise is that although the gun was brought to Japan by the Portuguese, it wasn't a European gun they were carrying. In 1510 the Portuguese captured Goa and the arsenal there. After rounding up the workers, they set them to work making guns under German supervisors.Although it was a gun-making establishment, I suspect almost all of their production prior to the take-over was cannon. It was the Germans who introduce the notion of the snapping matchlock and I suspect the basic stock shape. If you examine guns from the Carnatic region, in particular from Kurg, the stock shape is weird, but can be visualised as being derived from the European petronel. These and the snapping mechanism being popular in Germany at this period. This basic gun moved eastwards with the Portuguese reaching Burma, China and ultimately Japan. Leaving aside local differences in ornamentation, they are the same guns. Chinese texts illustrate exactly this gun, complete with ornamental finial to the end of the lockplate, as do the Burmese guns and as do the two guns in Nagoya (which can be identified as Portuguese imports by the Indian style decoration and the Catholic ornament on the barrels). By this time, some 40 odd years, the butt shape had evolved into the familiar pistol-grip style we associate with Japanese guns (the same shape occurring on the guns illustrated by the Chinese - known by them as 'bird-beaked guns'). These snapping matchlocks did not take off in most of India - their guns being based on those carried by the Turks and Mamaluks who sent a force to India to help the Muslim maharajahs chuck the Portuguese out.

The two guns in Nagoya illustrate the two basic lock mechanisms adopted by the Japanese - that with an external spring and a pivoted sear poking through the lockplate, and those with a spiral spring and a sliding sear acting on a tumbler. The only contribution the Japanese seem to have made to these models was the simplification of the lockplate shape and the elimination of the screws - using tapered pins and mortices and tenons instead. The Nagoya gun with external spring is an early model with the mainspring being straight and attached to a secondary plate in front of the lock. The Chinese illustration shows this as a U shape and attached to the main plate like later Japanese guns so I don't think the Japanese actually came up with this idea.

It is a complicated story in which there are gaps. For example, a gun was brought to Osaka in 1510 from China and a few were made but it failed to catch on. Why? I don't know because there appears to be no illustration or description of it in either China or Japan. The Goan guns however spread like wildfire in Japan. Why was it so superior? again I don't really know but is suspect it was the fact that it had a decent barrel and could be sighted. Until more information comes to light it must reamin a bit of a mystery.
Ian Bottomley


"
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