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The jezailFrom jazā'il or . The word is ultimately from the Arabic word جزائل jazā'il, a broken plural of جزيل jazīl, meaning "something big or thick". (or jezzail), (2016). 9789386834140, Vij Books India Pvt Ltd. ISBN 9789386834140 also spelled juzail (or juzzail), (1994). 9783447034913, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 9783447034913 is a long-barrelled weapon used in Central Asia, British India, and parts of Middle East.For use in Central Asia, refer to: (2021). 9789004491984, BRILL. ISBN 9789004491984 A person operating it is called jazailchi.Also spelled juzailchee, jezailchee. From جزائلچی jazā'ilchī, also jazaerchi ( jazā'erchī). (1994). 9783447034913, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 9783447034913
Jezails were used by the elite jazayerchi troops of Safavid Iran and Afsharid Iran, notably during the Naderian Wars. It was the main weapon used by the various ethnic tribesmen of Afghanistan in the 19th-century, who deposed Shah Shuja and fought in the First and Second Anglo-Afghan Wars.
Jezails have very long barrels, which is uncommon in European counterparts (aside from the Spanish of the 15th century), but were common in the American rifles, such as the Kentucky rifle.The jezail is sometimes called "Afghanistan's Kentucky rifle". (2014). 9780313398988, Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 9780313398988 These American rifles were of a smaller caliber (typically ) as their primary use was hunting, while jezails had a caliber of and larger, making them suitable for warfare. Having a long length, jezail was heavier (typically ) than typical of the time (typically ). This allowed the use of larger calibers. The heavy weight of the jezail also reduced recoil. Jezail has a relatively long range of , In comparison, a Brown Bess had an effective range of and accurate range of . According to some British soldiers, jezail fired a ball three times larger than that of a musket ball, with accurate range of .
The main weakness of jezail was low rate of fire: it fired one shot each two or three minutes, in comparison to two or three shot per minute by a musket. This made it unsuitable during offensive action, while a deadly weapon as a sniper weapon in the mountains, as well as against advancing forces in open battlefield. In an attack, a soldier carried two or three jezails on his horse and after shooting with them, would return to a safe distance to reload, or proceed with hand-to-hand combat.
Although jezails were mostly smoothbore weapons, some had their barrels rifled, which, combined with the barrel's long length, made it a very accurate weapon for its time.
The lock and trigger mechanism was either a matchlock or a flintlock. Due to the complexity of the latter and difficulty of manufacture, many jezails used the lock mechanism from captured or broken Brown Bess muskets.
A unique feature of the jezail was the handmade stock, which had a distinctive curve and was intricately decorated.A description from the British Library dating to the First Anglo-Afghan War: The role of the curve is debated. It may have made the stock lighter while still being able to be fired from the shoulder safely. It also allows firing by grasping the weapon near the trigger, like a pistol, while the curved portion is tucked under the forearm (as opposed to being held to the shoulder), allowing firing with one hand while mounted. In this case the flash pan is dangerously too close to the face and the aiming would also be more difficult, therefore this method was probably used only while mounted. The weapon could otherwise be fired from a forked A-shaped rest (which is common in Central Asia), a horn, or a metal bipod, which further improved accuracy.
The Safavid general Nader Shah, who later founded the Afsharid dynasty, also maintained and trained an elite jazayerchi troops, which he used in Naderian Wars with great effect. (2010). 9780857724168, Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9780857724168
In the First Anglo-Afghan War the British established a cantonment outside of Kabul with dirt walls approximately waist high. Surrounding the cantonment were several abandoned forts which, although out of range of British muskets, were close enough for jezail fire. When ghazi and other Pashtuns forces besieged Kabul and the cantonment, they occupied the forts and used them to snipe at British forces from a safe range. The Pashtun marksmen typically fired jezail while entrenched in a pushtah (individual rampart made of rocks).
A description from the British Library dating to the First Anglo-Afghan War:
At any rate, the British histories that focus on the claimed superiority of the jezail as weapon do not explain the failures of the jezailchis to halt British offensives in 1842.
Derivatives of the jezail, barely recognizable, and usually termed "country-made weapons", are in use in rural India—especially in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
The jezail is mentioned repeatedly in some of Wilbur Smith's books, notably Monsoon. It was also mentioned in the George MacDonald Fraser adventure Flashman, whose protagonist describes the slaughter by Afghan jezailchis during the 1842 retreat from Kabul.
The weapon appears in Rudyard Kipling's 1886 poem "Arithmetic on the Frontier", where the low cost of the weapon is contrasted with the relatively expensive training and education of British officers:
In Kipling's novel The Man Who Would Be King, the Kohat Jezail is mentioned along with the more advanced British rifles Snider-Enfield and Martini-Henry.
P. G. Wodehouse in Jill the Reckless (1920) describes how the character Uncle Chris, in India during his first hill-campaign, would "walk up and down in front of his men under a desultory shower of jezail-bullets".
The rifle is also mentioned by Brian Jacques in his adventure novel, Voyage of Slaves.
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