Norwegian military small-arms & blades

M1746 Smooth bored infantry musket
Hammermøllen (The Hammer Mill) in Hellebæk, later to be known as the Kronborg geværfabrik, had traditions right back to the very beginning of the 1600’s at production of fire-arms. The M1746 was produced at Hammermøllen and is rather “old-fashioned” (but much nicer) compared to the infantry muskets that were produced only a few years later.

The craftsmanship is impressive. Here is a musket that was to be produced in fairly significant numbers and still the stock has a lot of carving only for decoration purposes and according to the fashion.

I wrote that the M1774 is the biggest, blackest etc., well that is only a half-truth. The M1774 might be the biggest of the black ones, but the M1746 is huge! The length is about the same – 143 cm, but the bore is larger – 14 lødig. The socket bayonet is a full 61 cm long! This is a musket for real men, even though they at the time only were 160 cm tall.

This particular musket has 1.R:V:11 engraved on the rear of the trigger guard. This shows that the musket at one time was used at the 1. Råbygdelagske Kompani, Vesterlenske regiment by soldier number 11. The Råbygdelagske Kompani was established in Setesdalen in Southern Norway already in 1718 and was in operation for 71 years.

This musket possibly saw some action in Denmark before it was sent to Norway and this might be part of the reason for it not being converted to percussion. The bore was too large and the musket too worn. Anyhow, as a collectors item in the 21 century, it is a gem and the general condition a lot much better than most military long-arms of the period. There is a little crack in the wood by the lock and the nose-band is not the original, except for that it is a lovely piece – probably with a load of history behind it.