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Feature & Exhibit Detail
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Snap Matchlock Target Rifle
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| Arms of Distinction, 1st Floor |
South German (Nuremberg?) or Netherlandish (Antwerp), 1580-1600. Photograph by John Fitzgerald. Courtesy of the Frazier International History Museum.
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This weapon is currently the oldest item in the Frazier collection, and is also part of a small group of high quality target weapons. Unlike most firearms made during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the barrels of these weapons were internally spirally grooved, or rifled, for accuracy. Rifling (from the German word riffeln –to make small curving grooves) caused the ball to rotate in flight, which reduced deviations and greatly increased accuracy. These rifles are true works of art, and are finely made and decorated. The stock is decorated overall with inlaid engraved plaques and curving strips of bone applied in the manner of late sixteenth century German and Low Countries’ furniture and cabinetry. In addition to that in the Frazier, known surviving rifles from the series include two in the Bavarian National Museum in Munich; one in the Wallace Collection, London; two in the Musée de l’Armée, Paris; another in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle; and one in the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds.
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