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Turkish miquelet flintlock

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New screw and frizzen face… I gently removed some of the silver inlays to put up until I can permanently fix them in their proper places. They were loose, and I didn’t want to lose them in the general clutter of the shop. Once again, thanks to Dave Person for his posts on frizzen hardening.
 

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WOW!!! Great fix Sam !!! Looks like she's a real sparker. LOL Again, super job. My hat's off to you.

Now, the lock seems to be talking back to you requesting a stock and barrel be added to her company. LOL An Ottoman shishana (rifle).

Rick
 
Sounds like a good idea. If it's a smooth bore, it's called a Tufuk. Maybe the stock done in walnut in the general shape of the Ottoman shoulder guns. Also easier from the standpoint there is no butt plate or trigger guard to inlet. Just a ball-type trigger and trigger plate, like the originals. Just an idea.

Rick
 
Here is a pistol in my collection. It's a real odd-ball that was likely assembled at some small shop in the Balkans using what ever parts were available at the moment. Amazingly, it still retains 99% of it's wire inlay. The Albanian attempt at a rat-tail style grip is so skinny that you need to wear one of those finger-less leather gloves to hold it steady when firing. So it is a bit of an odd, somewhat crude pistol - but with a high quality Ottoman/Turkish lock. And the lock sparked and functioned well the moment I received the pistol. It has a Hoyt liner in the barrel. So I've fired this pistol several times.

The reason I post this pistol here is to note the similarities of the lock to the OP's lock. Both locks also look similar to many other Ottoman/Turkish locks I've seen. And there's the narrow pan and frizzen face set screw again. It would seem, decoration aside, that at some point Ottoman/Turkish lock builders eventually had a general build pattern for their miquelet locks that was universally acceptable and preferred for reliable ignition. So, even though these locks were likely built in a multitude of small shops, a definite build pattern did emerge.

Rick
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Cyten: What looked like it might be two V V is actually just a decoration shaped like a three-leaf plant. The is some additional generic decoration surrounding the top jaw. But it's faint. I can tell under magnification it's not letters or numerals. But there is a makers mark on the usual place on the bridge of the lock. Also, three letters or numerals on the lock plate.

Rick
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Rick, that comes out to 1220 which in Gregorian calendar is 1805-1806
Wish I could read the maker mark
 
Rick, that comes out to 1220 which in Gregorian calendar is 1805-1806
Wish I could read the maker mark
Thanks Cyten. Much appreciate your I.D. of the year. Rather strange to see a nicer Turkish made lock mounted to a plain, somewhat crude stock. Maybe it was made with whatever parts were lying around at the moment. LOL

Even if we could read the maker's mark, it would be doubtful we could trace down the maker.

With many European guns we can often trace the maker's mark, the builder, what city/town they worked in, and even the years they worked. But that's only because they kept those records. Especially the larger arsenals.

But in the case of guns from much of the Ottoman Empire you can't get any additional information beyond the translation of a mark/name - in most cases. Since so many cities/towns made arms under contract to the Ottoman Empire, possibly the Empire did not have a reason to keep European type information to the same degree. On the other hand, as you've mentioned, there may well be more traceable information that has simply not been translated. Don't know. But I've always thought this curious. We do know there has been more traceable work done with the blades and armour than the guns.

Rick
 

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