Caucasian Rifle - Restored

[Philip]

Originally Posted by rickystl

The sling ring assemblies are mostly something out of my imagination. LOL
however, I've seen a couple of Ottoman Tufuk Rifles with a similar attachment.

Brass barrel bands. Every rifle and pistol I've seen had either iron or silver barrel bands. Doesn't mean brass was not used. I've just never seen any. I'm still being surprised all the time. Thanks for your post and the sling information. Most helpful. Rick.

Hey Rick, the ring attachment is not so imaginary. I've seen these fairly frequently on some types of Balkan guns as well -- you have quite a few of those and have no doubt encountered them.

I agree with you on barrel bands, in regards to the Caucasus (and by the way, also Iran since there was quite a bit of overlap in firearms design). Quite a wide use of silver even on guns without a great deal of deco otherwise. The niello bands on the best pieces is a really nice touch.

For some reason brass was more freely used in the Ottoman area, especially the Balkans, on pieces of mid-range quality.