Jia Ba Chong (夾把銃)

MINOR UPDATE MARCH 06, 2025

The Jia Ba Chong (variously written as 夾把銃, 夾靶銃, 夾欛銃, and 夾耙銃, lit. 'Fastened handle gun'), also known as Jia Ba Qiang (夾把鎗, lit. 'Fastened handle spear'), was a single-barrel handgonne that can be considered a sub-type of the Kuai Qiang (快鎗). 

Although the weapon had been in widespread use during the mid-Ming period, it was only first described by the renowned Ming commander Qi Ji Guang (戚繼光) in his 1571 military treatise Lian Bing Shi Ji (《練兵實紀》), in which the weapon is described as a Kuai Qiang with an iron shaft, so that it could be used as a iron quarterstaff in close combat.

Drawing of a Kuai Qiang with a prominent spear point, from 'Lian Bing Shi Ji (《練兵實紀》)'.

However, a slightly later military treatise, Chou Bian Zuan Yi (《籌邊纂議》), written in 1590, simply treats the iron-shafted Jia Ba Chong interchangeably with a normal Kuai Qiang, and describes an improved, lighter variant of  Jia Ba Chong featuring a gun barrel with a tang instead of a socket, fastened between two pieces of wooden handle (thus forming a pole-like grip), with a fixed spear point positioned at the side of the muzzle for combined firearm and melee capability. 

The Jia Ba Chong as described in Chou Bian Zuan Yi appears to represent the archetypal form of the weapon, more variants continued to be created throughout the late Ming period. Two notable variants are detailed below.

Bing Lu (《兵錄》) variant (ca. 1606)

Drawing of a Jia Ba Chong with superposed load (highlighted), from 'Bing Lu (《兵錄》)'.

The Jia Ba Chong variant described in Bing Lu (《兵錄》) appears to be an experimental modification of the archetypal form: it retained the same basic design but introduced a multi-shot superimposed load system featuring five separate touch holes along the barrel. This allowed the weapon to discharge up to five shots in rapid succession from stacked charges before it needed a full reload.

Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》) variant (ca. 1621)

Drawing of a double-barreled Jia Ba Chong, from 'Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》)'.

In contrast, the Jia Ba Chong described in Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》) represents a radical departure from the archetypal form. Rather than a single-barrel handgonne with a tang fastened between wooden handles (or the iron-shaft adaptation seen in earlier treatises), this variant features two separate handgonne barrels mounted alongside the pole of a three-pronged fork.