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JAPANESE MATCHLOCK: THE REAL THING

Created on 14th May 2009

JOHN EMMERSON is lucky enough to own a Japanese matchlock pistol - here he describes its history and restoration

THIS PARTICULAR passion was instigated by the MLAIC world championships held in Adelaide, Australia in 2000. I use that word quite deliberately, as it has turned into a bit of an obsession. Our own Tom Clark of the MLAGB, has taken on the mantle as an international scrutineer and has made quite a study of these pistols. He doesn't want to be described as an expert on this subject, but there aren't many in this country that know as much about it as Tom does.

Simply, these pistols are short versions of the matchlock muskets in use for many years at MLAIC competitions. They are smoothbore firearms, where dropping a lighted piece of match cord into the pan of priming powder facilitates the ignition of the main charge. This in turn ignites the main charge via the touchhole. The Portuguese introduced matchlocks to the Japanese in 1542. Until this time the sword had reigned supreme. Interestingly, the Japanese had a bit of a problem making screw threads! They had not even thought of the idea before the Portuguese came along. All the screw threads for the breech plugs had to be hand cut in those times. The screw breech plugs did not always match the threads of the barrel and this was true of my original. It turned out that only 1/8" of thread held it in place! Quite disturbing when you consider how long the breech plug was, and the fact that I had test fired it!

The subject of the match cord and its manufacture is another story in itself. The best match cord burns with a red-hot cone and very little or no spark, as that could ignite the charge prematurely. One thing I was not prepared for was the possibility of the red-hot cone burying itself into a full pan of priming powder without igniting it. Yes it does happen! I used to wonder why some of the matchlock musket shooters have a piece of wire with a loop attached to the rear of the serpentine (cock). It turns out that this is to allow the match to be drawn out of the pan while keeping on aim. Why? Because the darned thing goes off as soon as oxygen gets to the burning cone! Very annoying.

The pistols in evidence at the range at the World Championships 2000 at Monarto, Adelaide, Australia, mainly came with the Japanese competitors. They brought an interesting selection of them, and allowed us to photograph them. At that time originals were in the same class as reproductions. The rules had yet to be properly written and the event was simply for demonstration purposes. Since that time a few manufacturers in several countries have begun to make reproductions. I now own two reproductions, and of course the original pistol which is the subject of this article.

Enter the Royal Armouries

Prior to getting the original I called at the Royal Armouries, Leeds for a chat with Jack Truscott and Stephen Gledhill, who were the gunmakers in the trade court. I was describing my time in Australia and enthusing about the matchlocks. As this discussion broadened, the curator of Oriental Arms at the Royal Armouries, Ian Bottomly, walked past and was hauled into the workshop! Before I knew it, a pistol had been commissioned with Ian supervising the design. This entailed lots of studying available literature and visiting the pattern room to ensure a faithful design. This resulted in a unique pistol with a Royal Armouries stamp on the breech. I had the pistol made in 2mon calibre. The mon is the Japanese way of measuring calibre. Roughly (very roughly) 1mon is .32, 2mon is .36, 3mon is .40, and so on. I had decided that, as the rule of thumb for accuracy in a smoothbore pistol is to drive it hard and fast, I would have a smaller calibre and send it faster. I am not sure that was a wise decision, but that's how it ended up! It actually became a subject of much discussion, as apparently small calibre original pistols were not known at that time, and questions were raised about whether it was a faithful reproduction. Then my good friend Zoran at Henry Krank once again came up trumps with an original pistol he had found in South Africa.

Before I wax lyrical about this pistol, it is worth mentioning at this stage how the market in Japanese matchlock pistols has changed. Without question, they are all rather old. But before the 2000 World Championships, they were not sought after. There is an ongoing debate as to whether us vandals should be shooting these valuable artefacts. Certainly the Royal Armouries don't possess one, so they can't be common, can they? Well, as a result of all this, rusting lumps of metal are being returned to their former glory. To be frank, they would eventually have rusted into nothing! Many all over the world are being discovered and restored. Far from the value going down, it has gone to astronomical levels! If you fancy one of these pistols, be prepared to budget around several multiples of four figures. A nearly forgotten piece of history has been revived, studied and brought to life.

Back to Zoran's find, and my purchase. I snapped his hand off, not to put too fine a point on it. Would you believe it was the first small calibre Japanese matchlock I had seen? It was in fact .36 cal exactly. I cannot discover its age of manufacture, but my first opinion was that it must have been a child's gun or even just ornamental. However, very lightly embossed in the woodwork is the mark of the Kuchiki garrison. The garrison was apparently famous for its marshal arts training and a member of the Japanese International team discovered this. However, I never got the chance to expand upon that, and can find nothing on the internet to help me - ideas anyone?

Japanese delight

The pistol is a delight of the true Japanese art of pistol manufacture of its time. The dragons on the barrel are sculpted beautifully. The metal work is covered in fine rust, which I now keep well oiled. There was no pan cover, and the touchhole looked rather grim. The interior of the barrel was very lightly corroded, but not too bad. The original bamboo wedges holding the barrel in were still in place, but fell apart as soon as I tried to remove them. I didn't know that they were meant to be bamboo at the time, but now find that standard bamboo barbeque sticks are perfect replacements. I had tested the pistol with some light loads to see if the thing would function. It did, but I was grateful I didn't try any proper loads until it had been restored. It was placed into the hands of Jack Truscott at the Gunmakers at the Royal Armouries for that task. It was he who found the very short thread in the barrel for the breech plug. This has now been replaced prior to proofing.

I have to say that there was an initial reluctance to restore the pistol, as it is a unique artefact. The Royal Armouries still don't possess an example, and mine was subjected to scrutiny prior to any work being done. I have now seen some excellent examples turning up from many different sources. I now know that they are about and available, though somewhat rare.

It was fascinating to see how the barrel responded to being reamed out. Remember it started out as .36 cal. After reaming it was .39 cal, and absolutely mirror bright. If you push a cleaning rod down the barrel it squeaks: that's how bright it is! I can only imagine what the outer finish must have been when it was new. It must have been stunning! The metal is of superb quality. I had to send the proof house my own patch and ball to enable the proofing, but I should have asked for a certificate rather than having the barrel stamped. I forgot and so the barrel itself is stamped with the proofing mark. I consider that a big mistake, but things cannot be changed now.

Sights on Japanese pistols follow many different patterns. This had the familiar square block rearsight with a long groove. The foresight is a substantial inverted V design. It led to an almost impossible sight picture, but a little cleaning has made it bearable.

Next month I will be writing about how the pistol shoots. It has certainly been a rocky road of learning for all of us involved in shooting these pistols. The initial miserable scores being put up at International Competition are gradually rising as we relearn the lost art of matchlock pistol shooting. I have yet to stand in the International arena with my original with any degree of confidence. Let us see what 2009 may bring.

JAPANESE MATCHLOCK: THE REAL THING

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JAPANESE MATCHLOCK: THE REAL THING

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