Dr. John Watson and his jezail bullet wound

[Bill in Oregon]

For Holmes fans, it remains something of a tantalizing enigma.

https://simanaitissays.com/2017/01/24/watsons-war-wound/

And as to the Battle of Maiwand, 50 miles northwest of north of Kandahar, it was a British defeat despite the superiority of their Martini and Snider breechloaders.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Maiwand

[gamekeeper]

Exciting history Bill, I have handled dozens of those Jezails plus a lot of the Martini rifles but not many Sniders, it's interesting reading about how and where they were used.

[Bill in Oregon]

John, just the opposite for me: I have owned and handloaded for several Snider and Martinis, but never handled a jezail, which I would love to!
And here is a side note:
I only recently learned that the Strand magazine editors thought they were commissioning well-known illustrator Walter Paget to illustrate the Sherlock Holmes stories then being written by Conan Doyle, when in fact they were communicating with Walter's older brother, Sidney, a painter. Sidney is said to have used Walter as his model for Holmes. I think fans of the Holmes stories came out the winner, but Walter was still a marvelous artist who brought to life so many great characters from 19th-century literature. Any lad who did not thrill to "Robinson Crusoe" or "King Solomon's Mines" suffered a neglected childhood!

https://www.meisterdrucke.us/artist/Walter-Paget.html

[Ray]

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author ... =downloads

https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLo ... nafOUDgy9B

And sir s.w. baker on the moorman and his musket.....

"How these common guns stand the heavy charges of powder is a puzzle. A native thinks nothing of putting four drachms down a gun that I should be sorry to fire off at any rate. It is this heavy charge which enables such tools to kill elephants which would otherwise be impossible."

[Bill in Oregon]

Ray, thanks for that link. I absolutely was on the edge of my seat waiting for the next Jeremy Brett Holmes adventure when first broadcast. He was the best Holmes ever!
I keep a volume containing all the short stories plus "The Hound of the Baskervilles" near at hand.

And by the way, Jeremy Brett had a very fine voice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M1L-aclB1U

[Ray]

The casting for those bbc/granada/itn television series was excellent. As good as brett's holmes, porter's moriarty is/was the evil professor come alive from doyale's pages.....

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JsiE8ABiz ... aWFydHk%3D

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DoNwlBEXg5s


"He is extremely tall and thin, his forehead domes out in a white curve, and his two eyes are deeply sunken in his head. He is clean-shaven, pale, and ascetic-looking, retaining something of the professor in his features. His shoulders are rounded from much study, and his face protrudes forward, and is forever slowly oscillating from side to side in a curiously reptilian fashion. He peered at me with great curiosity in his puckered eyes."

[Grizz]

Ray, thanks for that link. I absolutely was on the edge of my seat waiting for the next Jeremy Brett Holmes adventure when first broadcast. He was the best Holmes ever!
I keep a volume containing all the short stories plus "The Hound of the Baskervilles" near at hand.

And by the way, Jeremy Brett had a very fine voice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M1L-aclB1U

this is almost cruel and unusual distraction -> https://simanaitissays.com/about/ which leads me to think I could become the proverbial cob-web covered cadaver if I can't regulate my curiosity . . . . THANKS for the link

[Walt]

I have been rereading H. G. Wells' trilogy recently; The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man and The Time Machine were all written in the late 1800s and give what I imagine is a very accurate, certainly intriguing picture of England at the time.

[Bill in Oregon]

Walt, the late Victorian era produced some wonderful fiction in addition to the Holmes adventures that has fascinated me all my life, from Haggard's "King Solomon's Mines" to Bram Stoker's "Dracula."
One of my favorite movies is "The First Men in the Moon," based on the novel by Wells. I think I watched that one and "Jason and the Argonauts" about a zillion times when a lad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHnSbi9roB8

[gamekeeper]

Bill, I once owned a Snider converted to 12 gauge, the Jazails I handled were pretty crude and quite a few were still loaded Westley Richards had a big antique department with most of the stock coming from India, it was a magical place to work when I was a young man.

[Bill in Oregon]

John, I had the opportunity to guest curate the firearms collection held by the Southern Oregon Historical Society, and several of the percussion long guns proved to be loaded as well!
I cannot imagine getting to handle the guns you did at Westley Richards!

[Old No7]

...the Jazails I handled were pretty crude and quite a few were still loaded...

John/Bill:

My twin brother walked out of the "Ancient Ones of Maine Blackpowder Gun Show" with a Jazail/Jezail in hand once. Man, the ribbing he took from the folks walking in was a hoot! "Hey, did'ja get the camel too!" or "Does that take one hump of powder or two?" or "How much did they pay you to take it?" Hee hee...

His was lavishly decorated with inlaid pieces of shells -- all over -- and the craftsman ship was remarkably very good; I just couldn't get past the looks...

Old No7

[Bill in Oregon]

Darryl, it is probably one Dale has posted on over in the Pre-flintlock section of the Muzzleloadingforum.com. I confess I rarely gave these arms a second thought when I used to see them as they seemed weird, fragile and probably unsafe. It appears I have been wrong --again!

[gamekeeper]

It looks like this guy is still knocking them out, I think the trigger needs a bit of work, some of the antique Jazails I saw had old brown Bess locks sometimes secured to stock with nails but they were pretty beat up when they arrived at Westley Richards, Darryl I hope your brother checked the bore, some I checked were loaded with pebbles wrapped in cotton cloth.

Sher Mohammed holds a replica jezail musket in his.jpeg

[Old No7]

I confess I rarely give these arms a second thought when I used to see them as they seemed weird, fragile and probably unsafe. It appears I have been wrong --

NOPE! -- You're not wrong Bill!!!

Old No7

[Bill in Oregon]

I watched this one last night because I had such good memories of the episode -- and of course the original story. It did not disappoint! Brett and Hardwicke were at the top of their game as Holmes and Watson. If you are of -- ahem! -- a "mature vintage" and your only exposure to Holmes on the screen was the old black and white films with Basil Rathbone and the cartoonish buffoon Nigel Bruce, you will be quite impressed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNfpel0 ... B&index=23