A few days ago I saw an intriguing gun in the Clive Collection - the souvenirs brought home by Clive of India in the middle years of the 18C. I don't get many chances to see guns of this age in the flesh so I went over for a good look.
It was described as a sporting gun, made in Mysore if memory serves. It appeared to be in pristine condition apart from the cock, which was missing - unscrewed not broken off.
From a distance it appeared to be a conventional European style flintlock fowler, with a long octagon to round barrel. I was surprised to discover that it had a lug for a 5" socket bayonet, displayed nearby but normally stored in the butt. Now there's a use for a patch box...
Then I noticed that the trigger and guard were also missing. Where the guard might have been, a long strip of metal with finials and a bit of engraving had been let into the wood. There was a thumbpiece, and from the rear of it protruded a flat button on a stem about 3/16" long.I concluded that this must be how the gun was fired. The button would be one end of a lever pivoted so as to lift the sear of the lock, and probably mounted on something akin to a trigger plate, as there was no sign of a pin running through the wood.
I imagine that this must have been done to accommodate a very wealthy man with a damaged hand. I don't know whether to be more impressed by the fact that this customisation had been carried out in India or the fact that it had been done so long ago. I have always thought that adapting kit for disability was a recent idea.
Has anyone here seen anything similiar?
I am going to write to see if anything more is known, but I'm not holding my breath!
