Scottish Fusil

Here are a few pics of my new toy a 17th century
Scottish fusil

Pretty neat.

Details! We want details! :grin:

It s a Snaphaunce converted to flintlock, 50cal smoothbore with a 33 inch barrel.I have a longer barrel rifled version being built for me cme Janurary

Nice, who built it?

It looks a bit like one of Steve Krolick's guns.

Whoah!
At first guess I would say it's a North African musket because of the shape of the butt.

Not until recently was I aware of this Scottish style of musket. That style of buttstock is really different, is it designed to fit under your arm or something?

If I ever get a chance, I would certainly like to fire one off someday

thanks for posting that pic!

Iain

Chasseur: It's beautiful. How does it shoot?

This type of architecture was found on early Italian match and wheel locks traded to Scandanavia / Scotland/ England.

It was also used in early Norwegian guns, which are pretty similar to some of the Scottish ones (not surprising given the amount of trade and Royal marriages etc)

Lock architecture was influenced by early Dutch and English styles.

Would that more stuff like this was readily available!

Very nice, I really dig the somewhat oddball guns. Who built it? I really like the lock style.

chasseur said:

Click to expand...

Very attractive this Scottish fusil!!

Here are photos of two swedish snaphaunces from northern Sweden.



Some similarities in style?
Regards,
ARILAR :grin: :thumbsup:

Very interesting, Arilar - they both look to be early flintlocks. Very snaphaunce - ish cocks, but the frizzen is combined with the pan cover (on #7) and the pivot for the frizzen is close to the pan, making it not a snaphaunce (assuming we are agreed that the snaphaunce is defined by the separate pan cover, whose operating arm goes down through the area where the frizzen pivot screw sits on a flinter). There are examples of "snaphaunces" with the pancover attached to the steel like a flintlock, but the pivot is still set way ahead so there is a long arm on the steel typical of the snaphaunce.

I'm blathering again.

Interesting that such an early piece (number 28) survived long enough to get converted to percussion. Could this be the oldest perc conversion?

And what's up with the external mainsprings?? Are these very early miquelets?

Fascinating stuff.

Oops, just looked at the lockplate on #28 - very "modern". Not an very early piece after all. Just peculiar.

They are Scandinavian snap locks, not miquelets. Not all guns with external mainsprings are miquelets, nor do all miquelets have external mainsprings. The defining characteristic of a "true" or "french" flintlock is a vertically acting sear, while these have horizontally acting sears like a snaphaunce, miquelet, english lock, or german snaplock.
There is a two page entry and a lot of photos in Harold L Petersons "Encyclopedia of firearms" which I gather is a summary of an article by Torsten Lenk "Nordiska Snapplasvapen.En orientering" in Svenska Vapenhistoricka Sallskapets Skrifer, 1952

Wish Chasseur would come back and answer some questions. I would like to know what the stock wood is. Also would love to see the inside of that lock.

There is a great article about early English pistols in the Park Lane Arms Fair "catalog" (more like a big magazine) for Spring 2006. I've just been reading about these early snaphaunces and flintlocks - so much going on back then, and so little documentation. These Scandinavian snap locks with the external main springs may have preceded the Spanish Miquelet, which is what I was ruminating on out loud.

It was pretty early, 1550s I think is what I read, that the horizontally acting sear was made to operate on the tumbler, inside the lockplate, which is what the English lock went to later on.

Fun stuff.

horizontally acting sears like a snaphaunce, miquelet, english lock, or german snaplock.

Click to expand...

Or the Madrid lock I'm currently using for my avatar :winking:

You can see, even in that tiny image, the half-cock sear disappearing into the lock just before that pawl on the cock goes by.

Its funny, just after I wrote that I found another article that theorised that both the miquelet and scandanavian snaplocks originated in northern germany (the idea coming to Spain thanks to Emperor Carlos and his court).
There was another article in the "Art, Arms and Armour" book that had a very early italian miquelet and theorised they were invented near Brescia.

Just noticed that this fusil or a very similar one is for sale at Track. As usual, there are several great photos.