wdjensen123

28 caliber, 7/8ths mon seems like a very tiny ball. Could it just be for a farmer to scare off animals, or for target practice. It does not seem to be a military application with such a small caliber. Any ideas? Sincerely, Bill Jensen

I thought the iron ramrod was a replacement since it is not plum brown tarnish, I have heard of matlock pistols with iron ramrods. As for the primitive malformed triggerguard, I believe that the spacing Would allow room for a childs finger, which made me think the more its a childs matchlock. Any other opinions as to wheter its for a child or not? And also on the dating to 1800 AD. Most of the Matchlock pistols I have seen have an internal mainspring which make little sense here, could it be a fake matchlock? Or not all original? Sincerely, Bill Jensen

That hammer spring is iron or steel. The ramrod is iron or steel, and is vey likely a replacement. The seller says the pan is intact, and the powder will not fall out of it, even though it looks drilled out. Touch hole is not reamed out either. The bands would likely slip off easily to allow me to pull the barrel to see if the barrel has a signature. If a blacksmith made it, would there be any signature? It seens strange that the barrel is completely round? Sincerely, Bill Jensen

That Kamon looks like a match. Attached is a photo of the Maeda Kamon I was comparing it to, could it also be this one? How do you tell which one is correct? Sincerely, Bill Jensen

And some more pictures

Hello there, I just bought this matchlock. It appears to to be a rare childs matchlock pistol. The barrel is 28 caliber (is that 7/8 mon?) and 10 ". The overall gun length is 16". Any ideas about it? The power horn had an emblem on it, and the priming horn has the Maeda clan (I think that's it) emblem mon on it. They were all together from the seller, and belonged to it. When I get it, i'll remove the barrel to see if its marked. It was supposed to be from 1800, does that seem corret? Sincerely, Bill Jensen