Hello everyone, I'm new here, I'd like to ask why there's no cleaning rod(ton-tiao) under modern musket's barrel , that is, how to load gunpowder and bullets into them without it?
thanks for replying....

Specific design. Worthy to be studied I heard that officers of foot gunmen used to have spare rods in a kind of a quiver on the belt. I assume soldiers could do the same.

Where are these guns from? I heard this type was widely spread in Amur region and a lot of such guns were captured in 1860-1900 by Russian troops (some of them are in Russian Museums now).

Best regards,

Alexey Pastukhov.

The former picture is modern muskets in China.
Hmmm....From the following picture(c 1880), these Taiwan aborigines carried muskets(Niao-Chon) without cleaning rods, and that's why I asked.... But I can hardly believe they put such long rods in their belts...

Very interesting. Let me look through some data about Altai muskets in XIX century. It seems to have no visible rods so I could assume similarity in usage of this device.

Do Chinese use matchlocks nowadays?

Best regards,

Alexey.

Do Chinese use matchlocks nowadays?

As far as I know, yes.(although I live in Taiwan )
In fact, modern Chinese still use the matchlocks, although keeping them in China is illigal, but people who live in country use them for hunting, self-protection, and even fighting

nice pic! even it looks diffrent, it reminds of the revolutionaries in the Philippines. except for the muskets.

the rods might serve as stands, or ramrods.

I have read that Altai tribes used the similar gun in XVIII century (the fought for Dzhungars against Qing). They did not use ramrods - they simply pour some measured powder into the barrell and then spite a bullet from mouth (they held bullets in mouth). Then they fired. Russian travellers said they could maintain very high temp of fire.

Best regards,

Alexey.