Morocco Part Two

More from Sir Terence Clark: this time, muzzleloaders, used in a horse "Fantasia" show. He writes: "For lovers of antique guns, Morocco has some amazing weapons still in common use. These muzzle-loading rifles with their silver chased barrels are used in the Fantasia, when a group of horsemen charge full tilt at the audience and at the last minute stand up in their stirrups, drop the reins, swing their rifles around in a circle and fire blanks into the ground with a deafening crash before pulling up short in a cloud of dust. "

 I am betting they are just shooting wadded black powder sans shot, but that muzzle flash in the dark is still impressive. To paraphrase a friend who wanted to know just one thing about how Kazakh eaglers man their birds ("How do they train them not to eat their kids?"): how do they train the horses not to bolt when they fire off those rifles?* Double or right click for big.

This kind of decoration on rifles, from muzzleloaders to semi- modern (I have not yet seen an AK done up this way, but expect to), is common from North Africa to at least Central Asia. Here is an unusual one owned by a friend -- if he OK's or wants his name,  I'll post it later.

 

The muzzleloader Kent Madin is firing below in western Mongolia sports a more Buddhist (!) kind of decoration. (And there is a whole lot more to say later about Asia's "Horned Rifles" , which range from snaphaunces to Mosin Nagants and SKS's).

 * On well- trained horses: John Davila to a bunch of Germans in a Berlin pub who doubted he was an actual cowboy, first because he said he preferred Glocks to Colt single action Armys, and second because he didn't like mustangs unless they were... unusually trainable. "I told 'em I'd dogmeat any son of a bitch that wouldn't load good in the back of my truck"

Using "dogmeat" as a verb is as far as I know an original John Davila- ism.