[Thom R.]

New WIP - a handgonne in .75 caliber from the Rifle Shoppe. Gonne on a stick! OK I guess I am going a little overboard on 15th c stuff lately but this is fun nevertheless.

The barrel accepts a round 1 1/8 dowel. I found a slightly warped piece of ash at Woodworkers Supply in the "please take this" bin, which as it turned out was rather perfect for the project. I reshaped the stock from a round to a tiller shape at the butt end. On the barrel end I chiseled and sanded it to fit into the socket and to fit flush with the stock. Decided to build a snapping serpentine matchlock on this. The match holder is also from TRS and is cut down and reshaped. I cut and rasped a central slot in the stock and pinned the match holder into place. I had a nice 1/4 inch brass rod laying about that I used as a sliding lever/trigger. I am using a coiled spring which is not period but a safety measure so the lock snaps back open and does not fall down towards the vent hole. It can be removed easily if I was to do a re-enactment where folks are fussy. I did not use any power tools on this project - did it all by hand because, I dunno just because.

The serpentine lock allows a firm two hand grip and gets one's face further away from the touch hole. It can be engaged either with the trigger finger of the backhand or by sliding the palm of the forehand. Either way it provides for a two hand grip with the stock either tucked under the armpit or butted to the shoulder.

I was going to shoot it today but the weather turned bad so will have to wait for a week or two to see how it fires. In the meantime I am going to finish the stock and blue the barrel. Although I know you guys are going to tell me to treat the stock with boiled linseed - but I am thinking of applying a darker stain to this one. The light ash for some reason does not seem right to me on this piece.

[Thom R.]

Getting closer to finishing my handgonne. Blued the barrel and finished the trigger and am almost done on the stock.

[Jean Thibodeau]

Correcting that unfortunate lack of responses you mention in another Topic thread.

Yes it does look very appealing and I might be tempted to make one except for gunlaws that would make the short barrel a restricted weapon in Canada and not worth the hassle of getting it registered, not to mention making a firing version only after checking into the legalities so as to not " unknowingly break " some obscure rule about manufacturing a firearm.

With a longer barrel it might not be a problem since matchlocks, flintlock and wheelock are not regulated in the same way and need not be registered.

I guess making an unfiring mock-up of one would be O.K.

What I find most interesting and practical is the sliding trigger as I was under the impression that most would use a lever not unlike one would see on a same period crossbow ? The sliding lever is much less obtrusive and less likely to be tripped by accident leading to an involuntary discharge.

Nice work, by the way, and I thought so when you first posted but then forgot to make a comment about it when it disappeared from the first page of posts.

[Joel Minturn]

That is one sweet looking Gonne. Its one of those things you don't see a lot of but yours is really nice.

I should add that everything that you have posted so far is great as well

[Chad Arnow]

[Eric Hejdström]

Finally someone who made a handgonne with trigger! They are represented in art and I think the oldest picture is from 1411. If you want some great info on handguns check out Ulrich Bretscher's hompage here:
http://www.musketeer.ch/blackpowder/history.html

I've been wanting to make a polemounted gonne with trigger but never got around to it. Made one for my wife that you use a linstock with though. Good to see other members projects!

/Eric

[Thom R.]

Chad I am happy with the trigger which is historically inspired - there are several surviving examples with levered matchholders through the centre of the stock - although the coil spring is probably not period. but since the pan has no cover i thought it would be good for safety to have the spring snapping the matchholder back to the resting position. what the trigger and pivoted holder do is allow you to get your face further from the pan flash. the butt can go on my shoulder as a result although firing it underarm is probably still the best way to go. i have not put any lead through the barrel yet - too busy doing things around here (including taxes and digging in a new water line ) to get out to the range but have shot some powder and patches to test it. and just as Gordon and some other guys predicted, the match is flying out of the holder upon ignition (despite making it a tight fit for my match). so i am thinking of how to fix the match in the holder because i am not sure a simple thumbscrew is period (15th c) either. i am confident regarding the quality of the barrel. i will probably start around 50 grains and work from there. its a large bore! the balls weigh 39 grams i'll post results of the first firing

i will say this..... there has been a lot of discussion about why gonnes like this became more common towards the end of the 15th c despite having a relatively slow rate of fire and limited range etc. well once one has worked out the technology of casting the barrel, making up the weapon (and fixing/maintaining it) is relatively easy whereas making a crossbow or longbow is a very skilled job, just about anyone can put a gonne on a stick, even me the real technological problem with gonnes in the 15th c seems to have been the powder.

[Patrik Eriksson]

That´s a very nice gun!

[Eric Hejdström]

Thom, if you check the link I posted above you'll find some really nice info on the making of the gunbarrels. With the right equipment it wouldn't take long at all to finish a handgonne. By the end of the 15th century it was fairly common until superseede by the more rifle like versions of matchlock guns. The hausbuch from Castle Wolfegg have a drawing of an army on march with loads of gonnes among the soldiers!

[Thom R.]

thanks for the kind words on the gonne. I am very happy with it as this point.

Cautionary tale number 4. Boiled linseed oil is highly flammable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was putting together the bec I got from Leo at Tod's stuff this weekend and was applying coats of boiled linseed oil to the haft. at some point I was wiping down with some paper towels and I stuffed them into an empty starbucks coffee cup on the bench. I must have been gone for about half an hour moving hoses around in the yard and getting a drink and keeping the laundry going and when I went back to do another coat on the haft the coffee cup was on fire!

no damage really but still impressive all the same given that its not really that hot here this weekend. I am thinking that it would not have lit up like that just laying on the bench but somehow stuffed loosely into the cup was enough to create a saturation of vapor inside the cup leading to spontaneous combustion..............
I dunno but will be more careful with linseed oil rags in the future thats for sure......

[GG Osborne]

Thom....very nice project. Just one word in favor of increased authenticity. I know of no references of brass woodscrews even up to the 18th C. Perhaps replace the brass with iron????