Thread: thoughts
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Old 03-19-2008, 07:44 AM
charles starks charles starks is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: idaho
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Default Re: thoughts

T.G

i think you bring a very interesting point conserning works on guns and the guns themselves .
See I think we commonly assume that during this time frame most all folks would have had some type of firearm . But this really doesn’t hold true especially in Europe. Where many of the different crown laws really made owning and carrying such a weapon , a privilege.

We also assume that here in the US having a firearm was very common with every home and just about every male from a young age have one .
However what is interesting if we look at the writings even as late as the Alamo , we find that descriptions of men showing up to fight with nothing more the pitch forks and axes , fairly common .
We also find that many times those that did show up with firearms often had old out dated weapons , used to the point that reliability was questionable .
Another interesting note about the Alamo itself . While it happened during what is considered the percussion lock era , not one of these weapons is listed to have been at that battle or in inventory

Those who have read about Sgt York during WW1 for instance . Those that have not read of this medial of honor recipient may be fascinated to learn that upon enlisting , he showed up with a flintlock and had no experience with the cartridge weapons that had been in use for a very long time .
While he was an expert marksman , he had to be trained in the use of the, new to him ,weapon system .

I think however this comes back to the issue that in this country at least function was the rule of the day . Thus desired items had to be practical first and foremost, art being well down the list .

Seems to me though , early in Europe the principle seems to have been different , IE .
While the goods most certainly needed to be functional, they also had to be artistic in how the item presented itself , which also depicted status .
Later as this became less of an issue and concerning firearms , they became more readily available , this heavy type of engraving became less . However most all still carried engravings of some sorts where the weapons produced for the colonial trade often had little to no engraving on them .
those that did were not destined or produce with the common person in mind

Very interesting point . Thank you for the post

Puffer. here are a couple more of their works



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