My first jezail

[Philip]

Stu is right about springs. No danger of over compressing a mainspring with the vise however if you don't go any further than if the hammer were at full cock. Since your lock won't hold at cock, simply tighten only as far as you need to be completely clear of the tumbler.

Coca-Cola, in its original "classic" formulation, is a wonderful solvent. When I was in high school, a gearhead buddy told me about how it ate through rust and gunk, he used it to free the frozen cylinders in a FIAT engine. And I read a report about how a testing lab found that soaking a nail in the stuff caused all the galvanizing to dissolve, and it "melted" the letter off a typewriter key that was detached from the machine and stuck in Coke for about a week or two. Think of what it does to your teeth and the lining of your GI tract! I've used it to dissolve gunk from muzzle loading barrels -- just plug the touch hole and fill 'er up.

Thinking about shooting that old gun? In a word -- DON'T! Who knows if that barrel is so corroded that it's no longer safe and serviceable? I might try it if the specimen had a tube in really sound condition, but even then I wouldn't shoulder it with a live load inside until I had it proofed.

[RDGAC]

I too have heard of the near-legendary destructive power of Coke... makes one wonder why you folks didn't weaponise it, like some latter-day mustard gas However, one concern: wouldn't putting it down the barrel leave me with a layer of sticky, hard-to-remove residue?

Regarding shooting, this is very much a vague and long-term idea. Firstly, I don't own a firearms certificate or shotgun licence; obviously, I'd need an FAC to shoot this gun. Secondly, as noted, all firearms must, in order to be legally used for shooting, be proofed at the government Proof Houses in London or Birmingham, to the best of my knowledge, and the tests are stringent (as one would hope); I doubt many (if any) antique jezails would survive the process, though I'm curious as to anecdotal evidence on the matter. And third, as noted, these are often quite badly abused and generally dodgy pieces of work. So, as I say, in the long run it remains most probable that this - and future jezails - shall retire to a life of cosseted admiration in my hands

[Jim McDougall]

Thank you for noting my post RDG!!! and you're right, when it comes to markings, Im there.
I have continued researching of course, and while you guys get the restoring and gunsmithing dilemmas sorted out, Im still busy with this lock.

As might be expected, the deeper I study, the more I find out, and the history of these balemarks is of course a bit more complex than just a simple progression in form. I had thought, per various sources, that this quite different 'flaunched' heart with the initials was an older version of the EIC heart, and that does not seem to be the case. One of the best resources I have found has to do with the coins (Olikara would be proud!!

It is quite unclear exactly when these balemarks of either kind began appearing on arms, but it seems that about the turn of the century is a good guideline. I have seen coins with the quartered balemark, dating 1780s and 90s, but not on weapons. What is curious is that the flaunched balemark appears on a copper coin minted in Calcutta in 1786...before that they were using simply a quartered initials obverse...in 1787 they were back to the quartered heart.

The suggestion is that the flaunched balemark seems to have been concurrent with the quartered heart, and appeared on dated, marked EIC locks around 1806. It remains unclear what took place before that, and with the seemingly singular appearance of the flaunced design in Calcutta in 1786.

Therefore my idea of an earlier EIC gun or lock does not seem valid, and the appearance of prototypes that might have been copied by this artisan, probably Afridi from Darra or Adam Khel, were likely of the guns illustrated in attached here.

Interestingly, the makers names, in this case Barnett and Leigh, appear on the lock tail. For British government locks this practice ceased in 1764, with the word TOWER replacing the makers name.

The Afridi smith, of whom many who illiterate, likely used the stamps he had available in fashioning the marks on his lock.....the I letter placed faithfully in the same curve as the TOWER marking which he had probably seen on the British government locks, in the number of 5 marks. The design of the EIC heart he had likely seen on similarly marked guns he duplicated, again using the letter I and repeating the 4.

The suggestion here would now be that the lock was probably fashioned sometime in early to mid 19th century using an amalgam of British markings as models in this grouping.

Much as I once read someone said, the thing I love best about history is that its always changing

The two locks with makers names and the 'flaunched' (semicircular heraldic design) configuration; the more familiar EIC quartered heart; and the EIC rampant lion which began use c. 1808.

Just wanted to update from 'the markings department'........back to the shop.

All the best,
Jim