matchlocks for Samurai and Manchus

[Klickteryx]

OMG! Is the other old rifle (our PM red coats have been carrying) a matchlock?

No, that's a percussion cap weapon which appeared in the 19th century, playmobil has never had a matchlock weapon.

I'm not too clear on the position of the thread(flint) and will try to check online.

Your "matchlocks" have a bit sticking up. This is actually meant to be the flint holder and flint (the blob in the middle) of a flintlock. You could pretend this was the arm of your matchlock instead. The short end of the match would stick out from the arm pointing to the rear of the musket. The long end would point to the front of the musket and would normally be wrapped around the barrel to stop it dragging on the ground.

When fired the arm would drop down to the rear allowing the short end of the match (which was burning) to touch the gunpowder and the weapon would fire.

[Jimbo]

Hi all
I took a "shot" at making a European matchlock.  It is in this customs area.
The Oriental matchlocks differ a bit, but the ignition process is the same.
 
Best regards,
Jimbo
 .

[cheng]

thanks Klickteryx and Jimbo!!
I'm much clearer now;
PM has no matchlocks
mine was a PM flint-lock blunderbuss
PM civil war Red coats are using percussion rifles

I do want mine to be matchlock(arquebus?)
so playmoebius' and Jimbo's examples are PM-like to me, which are what I like to imagine mine as.
someday I might trim my flints smaller and let them pass as the match or the matchlocks 

as for the wide barrel ends...just think they are exaggerations like klicky heads and helmets until someday PM makes a matchlock

[Macruran]

Your base weapon is a flintlock which is missing the frizzen (also called a steel), as is the earlier pirate pistol which also flares though this may be a percussion cap pistol. The second generation pirate pistol has the frizzen, though the whole mechanism is on the wrong side. The latest pirate pistol seems to be flintlock that is missing the frizzen - it's the ugliest of the three as well.

If it's not too much trouble could you possibly illustrate the three generations - playmodb links perhaps? I don't know which are which.

[Klickteryx]

First:



Second and third:



The latest one is even uglier than I thought and it looks much bigger than the other two.

[playmofire]

Blunderbuss is like a shotgun. Instead of having a single ball, it was loaded with scrap metal, the flared end sending the metal in all directions. It was popular on ships as it could be used to stop enemy sailors and marines from boarding your ship. Canons were sometimes loaded with scrap metal too for the same effect but more violent obviously. It was called grapeshot. Napoleon famously used it against rioters in Paris.

http://www.playmoebius.com/weaponry/classic-weaponry/50-mosquet-s-xvi-brown.html

The story of blunderbusses and cannon (and the carronade, a short barreled cannon especially designed and built by the Carron company of Scotland for close use between ships) is really an urban myth. 

Scrap metal, nails etc may have been used in a dire emergency when no other ammunition was available but it would badly damage the barrel of the gun or cannon so as it to make it eventually unusable and, even after just one or a few uses, reliable and inaccurate.  Worse still, such a charge might jam in the barrel causing it to explode.

Grape shot, or cannister as it was also called, was made up of musket balls packed in a canvas bag which burst when shot from the gun, spraying the musket balls over the enemy.

[Macruran]

Thanks for the overview, Klickteryx. The second one is clearly the best.

[cheng]

thanks for the photos and detailed explanations Macruran and Gordon!