Fabian23

I have not attempted to remove the breech screw. The end surface viewed with an endoscopic camera looks fine so I will not attempt to remove it. Another piece I need to remake is the little curved butt cap insert. The original was split at the bend. Lots of filing work ahead. Re-repatination: My question was what colour should the barrel be? Black, blue, brown?

Thank you very much for the information! The seventh on the list does indeed look like the likely candidate. I'll post pictures of the stock once I've finished with it. The barrel was this shiny grey when I got it. I used a marker pen to bring out the text for the photo. Should the barrel be blued or browned? For the bore size it is quite odd since it also appears to flare out internally towards the muzzle, with the main bore being just over 12mm and tapering out over the last 7cm to about 13mm at the muzzle. Depending on the windage a 2 monmé ball could be correct if it roughly equals 11mm. I'm using engine cylinder flex hones to clean it up btw. A long slow process but it seems to be working. I wouldn't expect muzzle wear from wooden ramrods so I was wondering if the bore taper was perhaps intentional to aid loading? More questions: Are there historical records of typical powder loads? I have not been able to determine whether balls were loaded tightly patched in the bore, sandwiched between wads like a shotgun or as loose rolling ball.

Hello all the way from snowy Switzerland! I joined this forum since most of my internet queries on Japanese muskets led me here almost to the antipode. Many firearms wash up here from all over the world and I came across this teppo for very very little a bit before christmas. I had one many moons ago which I was forced to sell so I was keen to get a replacement. I bought it with the intention of restoring it where necessary so be able to take at least a few shots with it so purists be warned To my inexpert eye it appears to be a plain military musket, possibly even a composite piece for display. The barrel is 101cm long with a gently flaring muzzle and from what I can gather from a first translation over on gunboards, the markings indicate a double wrap barrel made by Goshu Kunitomo Kyubei Yasumine. The bore size is approximately 12-13mm and internally lightly pitted but not irreparably so. As seems to be quite common, the pan cover is missing so that is on the to do list. I had to make one of my previous one too so it isn't my first rodeo. The top of the barrel has a five petaled flower kamon which I have not been able to identify although the closest I could find was "Oda" and the underside of the stock has what appears to be a lead or pewter "Ii" kamon. The lock is plain with no markings. When I received it the sear axis pin was missing and the sear had been punched, but not drilled for the pin, nor had the tail of the sear been adjusted correctly to allow sufficient retraction of the sear nose upon pulling the trigger. An axis pin has been made and the sear tail was been correctly bent to funtion properly with the trigger. The serpentine axis pin was also far too lose, causing the serpentine to slip the sear nose if the musket was knocked so I made a new one of those too. The serpentine no longer wobbles and the lockwork now operates smoothly and safely. Oddly the lockplate was also slightly too large, as in a fraction of a millimetre. This could be due to wood shrinkage or the lock is not original to the musket, either way, some careful light sanding was all that was necessary to make the lockplate fit snug in the stock. The stock has what lookes like a period repair on the left side of the barrel channel with a 20cm long insert of matching wood bonded in place. Aside from that it is in good condition. A small section just ahead of the pan had a few woodworm holes but these have been treated and filled and the odd non-structurally significant cracks stabilized and filled. The original ramrod is present but unfortunately it was snapped off flush with the end of the barrel channel. Luckily it came out easily pushing it out with a pin in the expansion slot. The discrepency between the crest on the barrel and the crest on the stock and the not-quite-fitting unfinished lock make me think that this is perhaps a composite display piece, which makes my restoration (perhaps) a little less blasphemous. Any observations as to its possible origins and approximate date would be appreciated. When I get around to firing it I'll have plenty more questions because I'd love to try out some "Hayago" quickloaders. p.s I am aware that it appears to be the convention for people to refer to the components of Japanese arms using strickly Japanese terminology, why is this? When I write in English about the lock counterplate on one of my french muskets I don't call it a contreplatine or nor do I refer to the Stecherabzug when writing about the set trigger on one of my German guns. I find it baffling, anyway apologies for not doing so, I have enough languages in my head already