FLINTLOCK RIFLE, Swedish, m/1762.

Thumb plate with three crowns, piston marked N 14. The log dated 1762 and 1811. Length ca 148 cm, barrel length 110, caliber 20 mm

PROVENANCE: Christopher O'Regan Collection

Christopher tells us:
The model in question of the flintlock rifle, or musket, as the firearm was also called during the 18th century, was added in 1762, and together with the later model from 1775, became the standard weapon of the infantry regiments commanded in the field during Gustaf III's War of Independence in 1788. Sadly, the musket is in a somewhat dreary state, lacking, among other things, its charge stock — but what overrides all the dreary is the small brass plate, called thumb plate, attached to the top of the piston. There are rifles with identical plates with three wrapped crowns, but, as a rule, I am stuck on shorter carbines that were used in the Småland Light Dragoons, while this is an infantry rifle.