This strange looking weapon is the grand-daddy to all modern firearms. We are going to date this one around 1450 A.D., or so. The stock is Ox horn and the remainder of the stock is Maple. The whole thing is held together with rawhide. This was the very begining of lockworks on firearms (triggering mechanism). It was loaded in the conventional way, first, powder was measured, by volume, and poured down the barrel, then a patched ball was pushed down after. The ignition source was a smoldering wick, soaked in saltpeter, which was clamped in the serpentine shaped holder. By pulling the trigger the serpintine shaped holder was released and dropped forward, pushing the wick into the touch hole and igniting the powder. This weapon could also be carried in the Martial Arms section as all weapons of this age were probably carried by someone's army or a noble, as a serf or commoner, usually wasn't allowed to have weapons. Hence pitchforks and hoes were the order of the day when they ran Count Whoever out of the villiage. Guns like this came over with the Pilgrims, HELL this one probably DID! Please, excuse my French.