Hand-held firearms of Russian warriors in Siberia at the end of the 16th - 17th centuries (according to Tobolsk archaeological materials)

Purpose. Scientific knowledge about the military arsenal of Russian pioneers in Siberia is not complete. The archaeo-logical materials of the town of Tobolsk allow us to enrich and specify available data on the armament of serving peo-ple. Results. The study of firearms at the end of the 16th - 17th centuries has been based on an integrated approach using both written sources and archaeological materials. When analyzing findings, we widely use statistical calculation, classification and a comparative historical method. Our analysis of the bullets found on the territory of the town of Tobolsk shows that at the end of the 16th - 17th centuries one of mold features is a spherical lead projectile cast. However, there are bullets that are not fully cast. The lead funnel after casting is not always cut off from the bullet or is not completely cut off at all. On several findings, incisions were made that allowed to seriously wound the ene-my, similar to the use of the lead funnel. Bullets were rarely made in a mechanical way, without casting. Among findings there are details of gun locks represented by screws from the percussion mechanism, flints and lead gasket. A separate category of findings are ramrod tips. Conclusion. In Tobolsk at the end of the 16th - 17th centuries, wick guns gradually went out of use and were replaced by weapons with shock-flint locks. At the same time, both light carbines and pistols, and large-caliber muskets and fortress rifles had a limited distribution, and the most significant was the pishchal' rifle. Tobolsk citizens tended to buy multipurpose weapons that could be used both for fighting and hunting, and those which were reasonably priced.