For Sale or Trade! Can bring to the 2025 CLA Show!
A RARE 68 CALIBRE SPANISH HUNTING GUN WITH A ROMANA MIQUELET-LOCK AND BAYONET, CIRCA 1800:
Half-stock Madrid style stock hunting gun with bayonet which detaches and stores in the butt stock.
The Roman-style Miquelet lock is marked ZANICOT which is a shortened version of Zanicotti. To this day, Zanicotti Armory operates as a firearms dealer in Cremona Italy and has been in business since 1836. Several pistols made by this family in the 1830s have surfaced at auction. The maker of this lock is assumed to be a preceding generation.
The breech of the barrel is stamped with the stars and cross of Pedro Estava of Barcelona, although the punzón is not discernable. Based on the stock architecture, this gun was made in or around Madrid Spain about 1800.
The Spanish walnut stock is tastefully carved with foliage around the lock mortice, trigger guard, tang and comb where it meets the wrist. This gun sports a brass-tipped whale baleen ramrod, not uncommon on fine European arms.
The most interesting feature of this gun is the bayonet. Hunters of dangerous animals like wild boar could be vulnerable. The bayonet, designed to be attached to the muzzle provided a solution. Hunting arms were commonly equipped with bayonets beginning in the 17th century. This practice was particularly persistent in Spain.
When not in use, the bayonet is stored in a cavity within the butt stock, inside of a hinged spring-released butt plate, the release lever of which is on the toe of the butt.
Overall length: 52 1/2”; Barrel length: 36 13/16”; Lock: 5 1/8”; Bore: .68
See: Lavin 1965, A History of Spanish Arms; Brinckerhoff 1972, Spanish Military Weapons in Colonial America 1700-1821; Neal 1955, Spanish Guns and Pistols.
contact: vicbarkin@aol.com
