Jezail: Difference between revisions

[[File:Mir Alam of Kohistan region in Afghanistan (full page in book) cropped.jpg|thumb|upright|Lithograph dated during the [[First Anglo-Afghan War]] of a Pashtun tribesmen (from the [[Kapisa Province|Ghizai tribe]]) and his jezail.<ref name="1966-08-26-12"/>]]

Jezails tended to have very long barrels. Such lengths were never common in European rifles (with the exception of the Spanish {{Interlanguage link multi|espingarda|es|espingarda}} circa 15th century), but were more common in American rifles, such as the [[Kentucky rifle]]. The American rifles were used for hunting, and tended to be of a smaller caliber (with {{convert|.35 |to |.45 or so|in|mm|abbr=out}} being typical). Jezails were usually designed for warfare, and therefore tended to be of larger calibers than the American rifles, with {{convert|.50 |to |.75|in|mm|abbr=out}} caliber and larger being common. Larger calibers were possible because the long length of the typical jezail meant that it was heavier than typical [[musket]]s of the time. Jezails typically weighed around {{convert|12|to|14|lb|kg|abbr=out}}, compared to {{convert|9|to|10|lb|kg|abbr=out}} for a typical musket. The heavy weight of the jezail allowed the rifle itself to absorb more energy from the round, imparting less recoil to the weapon's user.

Many jezails were smooth bore[[smoothbore]] weapons, but some had their barrels [[rifled]]. The rifling, combined with the barrel's long length, made these weapons very accurate for their time.

During this period, the jezail was the primary weapon used by the [[Pashtun tribes|Pashtuns]] and was used with great effect during the [[First Anglo-Afghan War]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Aga Jan, an officer of the Kohistan rangers; Meer Humzu, trooper of the first regiment, Janbaz cavalry; a serjeant of Affghan infantry; Ahmed Khan, private Kohistan rangers|url=http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47d9-6a3d-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99|access-date=2020-07-24|website=NYPL Digital Collections|language=en}}</ref> British [[Brown Bess]] smoothbore muskets were effective at no more than 150 yards, and unable to be consistently accurate beyond 50 yards{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}}. Because of their advantage in range, Pashtun marksmen typically used the jezail from the tops of cliffs along valleys and [[Defile (geography)|defiles]] during ambushes. This tactic repeatedly inflicted heavy casualties on the British during their [[1842 retreat from Kabul]] to [[Jalalabad]].