Musketoon, Model 1709

A musketoon is a shortened muzzle-loading gun designed primarily to fire case shot and buckshot. At first such guns were used mainly in the navy, and in naval combat they served in boarding actions. This flintlock musketoon of the 1709 model belongs to the age of Peter the Great.

In the first decade of the 18th century a musketoon was developed that became the standard pattern for both the army and the navy. They were made mainly at the Olonets and Lipetsk works, which specialised in naval weapons: in 1709 alone the Olonets works produced 1050 musketoons. The catalogue record names Olonets as the place where this example was made.

The iron barrel, 738 mm long with a calibre of 29 mm, is divided by bands into three sections and has a conical chamber inside. The battery flintlock is fitted with a safety catch for the cock, a hook known as the "dog", and a front sight sits at the muzzle. The barrel is fixed to the stock with two pins, a bolt and a tang screw; the ramrod is metal. The stock itself was made later, at the end of the 19th century.