This was an early mistake...

...that I made. This piece is supposed to have been an Afghan jezail carbine, allegedly used to kick British butt at the Khyber Pass. Unfortunately, what I bought in my early arms collecting ignorance is a hacky, poorly executed tourist item of recent make.


I share it here not out of collector's pride, but as a lesson. I bought this sight unseen on an online auction - the seller really did not perptrate any wrong doing - the piece looks old, and parts of it may actually be (e.g. the lock), but it's not original, and it was probably never even functional.


If you are ever presented with the opportunity to buy such a piece, here's a few things to look out for:

When I got this in the mail, it was filthy - giveaway number one. Makers of these bogus tourist pieces deliberately dirty them up after they cobble them together to give the appearance of age.

Poorly fitted parts - the lock and mother of pearl inlays in the stock show poor workmanship and sloppy fit - only out of extreme neccessity would an armorour issue a weapon with such poorly fitting parts.

Incongruous parts - the brass barrel bands on this piece are crudely cut from sheet stock and appear out of place on a supposedly "old" piece. The lock and barrel both appear old, and were probably cannibalized from one or two older guns.

Mystery gunk - I don't know what the hell it is, but spurious antique weapons from Asia in general often come replete with this brownish reddish "gunk" in all the seams - like between the lockplate and the stock and even in places where there is a gap in the stock. It's probably some glue cooked up from plants or animal parts, and is applied to give the appearance of age.

Crude markings - the stampings on the metal furniture and the quality of the mother of pearl inlays scream "hack" rather than "craftsman". If the stampings on the metal look like they were made with a screwdriver or an old iron pipe, it's probably a tourist piece. If there is obvious pride in the craftsmanship, you may have a keeper (but not neccessarily - high quality forgeries do exist)

Now, there are examples of these jezail guns out there that are worth purchasing - real honest antiques that may have even seen action. However, I'd bet that most of them on the market are basically junk, although they may make good decorative accents. If you must have one, but from a reputable dealer that speciallizes in antique arms.

Here's another bet - I bet that more and more of these show up at gun shows and antique markets as U.S. and other soldiers buy them as "ethnographic antiques" while deployed in Afganistan and other such places.

With all of that said, this piece still looks really cool in the arsenal hanging - well above eye level...