Nowadays, it is difficult to find good illustrations of short-barreled match weapons, and if you can find photos of combined match weapons, then this is generally a great success. At one of the weapons auctions, an Indian battle ax - a stiletto - a match pistol from the mid-18th century is presented. The owner of the collection, who exhibited this lot, even indicated the exact year of manufacture of the weapon - 1750.
The weapon consists of a battle ax, a stiletto and a single-shot pistol with a match lock. A battle ax for striking blows, in addition to the blade, is equipped with two battle spikes on the butt and in the upper part of the handle. The battle spikes are in the form of tetrahedral pyramids.
A firing device with a wick lock is built into the ax handle. The curved serpentine of the wick lock passes through the through hole of the handle and is fixed in it on the axis. From the bottom, the serpentine lever is pressed by a flat spring. When the lower serpentine lever is pressed, the spring is compressed and the upper part of the serpentine with a clamped wick is pressed against the powder shelf.
The powder shelf of the wick lock is located on the left side, relative to the chopping part of the ax. The shelf has a hemispherical recess for seed powder. The powder shelf is covered by a cover fixed on the axle. The cover of the powder shelf is equipped with a handle in the form of a protruding shaped rod.
A ramrod is attached to the handle of the battle ax with the help of two ramrod tubes, which is a metal rod with an expanding head. The ramrod is designed for equipping and cleaning the barrel of a wick pistol.
Indian battle ax - dagger - wick pistol has a "L" -shaped handle tip.
The eyes, ears, curved trunk and tusks unmistakably indicate that the master stylized the tip of the handle in the form of an elephant's head.
The stylet is removed from the cavity of the ax handle. The handle is covered with an etched relief pattern in the form of a floral ornament. The stylet handle is unscrewed, after which the ax handle tube, which acts as the barrel of a match pistol, becomes available for equipping with gunpowder and a bullet. The barrel length of the wick pistol is 228 mm, the bore caliber is 0.54.
The surface of the ax blade is decorated with an etched pattern in the form of a floral ornament along the entire surface and a twisted ribbon along the contour of the neck. The elements of the picture are covered with gilding. There is no relief pattern on the surface of the stylet blade, although it may simply not have survived.
Indian battle ax - stylet - wick pistol has a total length of 546 mm. The weapon is quite rare and probably made either in a single copy or in a very small edition. This combined pistol-ax-stiletto is estimated by experts of weapon antiques at about 3000 - 4000 dollars.
