Reproduction matchlocks?

[goo]

For those who enjoy shooting.  It would be preferable to take a historically accurate reproduction match lock to the gun range instead of the original?

Is anyone making accurate reproductions.    Is this something anyone would want?

[Peter Bleed]

The issue becomes your definition of "accurate reproductions." Dixie Gun Works offered matchlock that sure looked shootable. They looked rather nice and sure seemed shootable, but they  sold out and seem not to have been re-produced. What are you thinking, Gustavo?

Peter

[Bugyotsuji]

You’re based in the USA I see, where conditions are different to other countries.

When you say ‘preferable’, in what sense? Personally I would ‘prefer’ to have the real McCoy to a repro any day of the week, but maybe you are asking about reliability?

Tanegashima were built to last centuries but some have had a rough ride in the meantime. In general I would say they have a very good reputation for toughness, but each gun you find is an adventure and would definitely need to be checked out, especially for barrel pitting, and a worn vent may allow too much blowback for decent chamber pressure.

By the same token, I would imagine that reproductions are probably made to a certain consistent standard.

[goo]

  On 2/28/2025 at 8:55 PM, Peter Bleed said:

The issue becomes your definition of "accurate reproductions." Dixie Gun Works offered matchlock that sure looked shootable. They looked rather nice and sure seemed shootable, but they  sold out and seem not to have been re-produced. What are you thinking, Gustavo?

Peter

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Hello Peter,  I have been building 18th and 19th century American style flintlock fowlers and rifles for 10 years now.   I was taught by two of the Top 10 antique gunsmiths in the USA.  I wanted to see if there was any interest or desire for historically accurate shootable matchlocks in the Japanese arms community. If so I would offer my skills to build custom tanegashima to enjoy with out the worry of wear and tear on a priceless antique.

[goo]

  On 3/1/2025 at 1:16 AM, Bugyotsuji said:

You’re based in the USA I see, where conditions are different to other countries.

When you say ‘preferable’, in what sense? Personally I would ‘prefer’ to have the real McCoy to a repro any day of the week, but maybe you are asking about reliability?

 

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Hello, by preferable I meant perhaps someone may want to save the wear and tear on an antique by using a faithful copy for practice.   You go to the range sometimes the guns get dropped or knocked over.     Black powder is very corrosive you have to disassemble the gun clean everything with hot soapy water after shooting.  It's stressful on a valuable antique.   Original European and American barrels were forged welded flat skelp turned to from tubes.   The corrosive effects of the black powder works it's way into the iron that is what causes twist Damascus barrels to fail.  The tanegashima probably used a similar process to mfg gun barrels.