Since ancient times, antique weapons have attracted lovers and connoisseurs of all kinds of rarities, and as early as the 17th century, there were known Russian noble families who possessed remarkable collections of domestic and foreign weapons.
In the 18th century, collecting became very popular, and in the following century, almost every wealthy noble family considered it obligatory to have a home exhibition of such items; it was then that "professional" collectors also appeared, studying the objects that interested them and publishing books and articles about them.
The history of creation and an example of a private collection intended not only for purely collecting purposes. The State Armory Chamber of the Moscow Kremlin houses 526 unique specimens of edged and firearms that belonged to Peter I. The reformer of the Russian state, with his characteristic businesslike approach to solving any problem, selected weapons not as a collector, but primarily as a military figure. He understood perfectly well that before undertaking the reorganization of the army, it was necessary to study all the best that had been accumulated abroad by that time. Weapons entered Peter's collection in various ways — either as gifts to the tsar, specially purchased specimens, or, finally, as trophies. Thus, gradually, an extensive collection of the most typical national weapons from 14 countries of the East and West emerged, used as a kind of visual aid in the development of domestic products. Of particular interest in this collection are experimental models manufactured at factories in Tula, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Olonets, Sestroretsk, and Tobolsk.
...At the turn of the 17th–18th centuries, new types of small arms were replacing the old ones. For example, infantry and dragoon regiments received fusils (from the French "fusil" — rifle) — smoothbore guns with flintlocks of the most advanced French type at the time, with French-style stocks as well. Previously, uniformity in mass production was achieved by craftsmen simply copying samples sent from the Armory Chamber.
By Peter I's decree of May 24, 1715, uniform characteristics were established for the first time — the general appearance of the weapon and other data were strictly regulated. Thus, for infantry and dragoon guns, a caliber of 0.78 inches (19.8 mm) was introduced, for pistols — 0.68 inches (17.27 mm), the barrel length of the infantry gun was to be 3 feet 4 inches (1016 mm), and the overall length — 4 feet 8 inches (1422 mm). The same decree established control and measuring instruments for the first time. These were templates, contour patterns for individual parts of weapons, and standard cylinders — by inserting them into the barrel, the compliance of the caliber with the standard was checked. For example, when an approved sample, sealed by the General Field Marshal, was sent to the Tula Arms Factory, it was disassembled, templates were made, and distributed to the craftsmen. Such a system perfectly met the requirement of interchangeability of small arms. It is said that once the Tula craftsmen took 30 guns from the factory arsenal, disassembled them into their component parts, mixed them up, and reassembled the same number of guns. All of them worked flawlessly.
...Among the exemplary weapons collected by Peter I, there are also officers' fusils, for which the requirements of the 1715 decree were considered optional. Made to individual orders, they cost 2–9 rubles, a considerable sum for those times, and varied in weight and quality of finish.
The standard weapon of infantry officers, dragoons, and some lower ranks (for example, trumpeters and furriers) was the soldier's model pistol, the characteristics of which were also specified by Peter's decree. According to the 1720 schedule, a dragoon regiment was issued 500 pairs of soldier's model pistols, and an infantry regiment, for non-commissioned officers and corporals, 72 pairs.
Officers' pistols were distinguished by better quality, decorations, and... non-compliance with the standard. In Peter's collection, one can see, for example, a pair of officers' pistols made by Tula craftsmen in the then-fashionable German style. Even on the lock, for greater persuasiveness, they made an inscription in Russian and Latin letters: "1720 Tula ADRESSE".
While reorganizing the army, Peter considered it necessary to introduce a new, peculiar type of handheld firearm — the musketoon. This was a large-caliber, short, massive gun designed for firing buckshot, with a flared muzzle and a conical powder chamber in the breech, thanks to which the initial velocity of the combat charge was increased. By the way, half-pood howitzers adopted during Peter I's reign and the famous Shuvalov "unicorns" that appeared under Elizabeth Petrovna had a similarly designed chamber. As for musketoons, they were first mentioned in a document dated 1703, when Tambov craftsmen were ordered to make such guns according to a wooden model sent from the capital two years earlier. The Dutch ambassador to Moscow, Just Juel, reported that Peter I had been testing musketoons he had invented since 1710, which were loaded with 32 pellets. Each guard company had 8–10 musketoons; they also armed naval and some army units. Only in 1725, by decree of Catherine I, the production of this weapon was stopped, and the factory backlog was distributed to the regiments to replace expended ones. Eight such guns, made in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Olonets, remained in Peter's collection. Their caliber is 26.5–28 mm, barrel length is 830–840 mm, and weight is from 6 to 6.4 kg. Interestingly, the diameter of the muzzle flare of one of the musketoons is 71 mm!
At the beginning of the 18th century, a special type of small arms appeared in Russia — hand mortars, designed for firing 1–3-pound grenades. They were first mentioned in documents related to the siege of Narva in 1704: "...grenadiers from all infantry and dragoon regiments were taken and sent to the trenches, who were ordered to continually throw grenades at the bastions from hand mortars made in the new fashion." These mortars had a very unusual barrel, consisting of a chamber (cauldron) where the grenade was placed, and a narrow, cylindrical powder chamber. Such weapons (a kind of predecessor to modern grenade launchers) were issued to bombardiers, dragoons, and sailors, but neither group fired them from the shoulder due to very strong recoil. Before firing, the hand mortar was braced with its butt against the ground, the deck, or a special saddle, and aimed at the target by giving the barrel the desired angle of inclination. Hand mortars were considered non-standard weapons of infantry and cavalry; there were not many of them, and by the end of the 1730s, they were transferred to garrison troops.
Also kept here are two rifled guns, which differed from smoothbore guns in greater range and accuracy. Peter paid special attention to the production of such rifled guns, and in March 1720, he issued a decree according to which the Tula Factory was to produce no less than 10 rifled guns for infantry regiments annually. However, in 1725, their production was discontinued.
Rifled guns did not become mass-produced weapons for a number of reasons. First of all, because linear tactics prevailed in all armies at that time, and soldiers were required to be able to conduct volley fire, while loading a rifled gun took four to five times longer than an ordinary smoothbore gun.
However, for a single, well-trained marksman, the rifled gun was indispensable, and it is no coincidence that in the 1770s, they were used to arm new formations of the regular army — chasseurs (jaegers), who operated in skirmish order. One of the rifled guns in Peter's collection is extremely rare; it was made in 1708 by the Olonets master Ivan Ivanov.
It is easy to see that Peter I deliberately concentrated in the collection almost all types and models of small arms adopted for the army of the new order. Studying it, the modern researcher gets a unique opportunity to retrace the path taken by the great reformer in seeking optimal weapon options, to compare domestic guns and pistols with the best foreign ones, and to study the technical techniques used by our masters. It should not be overlooked that the new small arms developed and adopted during Peter I's reign helped Russia defeat the then-strongest army in the world — that of the Swedish king Charles XII.
It was precisely during the era of Peter I that the foundations were laid for the future victories of Russian weapons throughout the 18th century. And finally, the example of Peter the Great, who advocated for the preservation of scientific and technical specimens (and, as is known, not only military ones), is worthy of emulation...
44. Officers' pistols with flintlocks. Russia, Sestroretsk Factory, 1725. Overall length — 360 mm, barrel length — 211 mm, caliber — 16 mm.
45. Fragment of a pistol with a flintlock. Russia, Tula Factory, 1720. Overall length — 544 mm, barrel length — 344 mm, caliber — 16 mm.
46. Hand mortar with flintlock. Russia, early 18th century. Overall length — 1025 mm, barrel length — 250 mm, chamber caliber — 74 mm.
47. Musketoon with flintlock. Russia, St. Petersburg, 1712. Overall length — 1340 mm, barrel length — 840 mm, caliber — 28 mm.
48. Officers' fusil with flintlock. Russia, Olonets Factory, 1717. Overall length — 1380 mm, barrel length — 925 mm, caliber — 18 mm.