Istinggar

[4][2]: 53 [5]: 64  The word has many variations in the archipelago, such as satinggar, satenggar, istenggara, astengger, altanggar, astinggal, ispinggar, and tinggar.

[16] This firearm has a very long barrel (up to 2.2 m (7 ft 3 in) in length), and during the Portuguese conquest of Malacca (1511), it is proven to be able to penetrate a ship's hull to the other side.

Indian craftsmen modified the design by introducing a very short, almost pistol-like buttstock held against the cheek, not the shoulder, when aiming.

[28]: 99  The Malays used bamboo covers in their matchlock arquebus barrel and bound them with rattan, to keep them dry in wet weather.

[11]: 209 [5]: 64 [32]: 277  The production was enough to fulfill local needs, the Minangkabau also exported their firearms to other areas, such as Aceh, Malacca, and Siak Sultanate.

[31]: 347 [33] The barrels are made by rolling a flatted bar of iron of proportionate dimensions spirally around a circular rod, and beating it till the parts of the former unite, and the art of boring is probably unknown to them.

[5]: 61  The Batak people used matchlock guns with locks made of copper and were regarded by Marsden as expert marksmen.

By the 18th century, European people praised the guns produced by their Bugis neighbor, which has a straight bore and fine inlay work.

[35]: 384  During years of warfare, Bugis and Makassarese soldiers, dressed in waju rante (chain mail) and muskets which they made themselves.

[36] Nicolas Gervaise notes that in Makassar "There are no people in East Indies more nimble in getting on horseback, to draw a bow, to discharge a fuzil (musket), or to point a cannon (than the Makassarese)".

The 1613 San Buenaventura Tagalog dictionary defines "astingal" as "arquebus, of the kind they used to use in olden times in their wars and which came from Borneo".

[41]: 170 For firearms using flintlock mechanism, the inhabitants of the Nusantara archipelago are reliant on Western powers, as no local smith could produce such complex components.

[15]: 22  The gun-making areas of Nusantara could make these senapan; the barrel and the wooden part is made locally, but the mechanism is imported from the European traders.

Close up of firing mechanism ( snap matchlock ) and detail of an istinggar. This specimen is likely manufactured in Padang , Indonesia, or by the Minangkabau people of West Sumatra, Indonesia.
A 151 cm long satinggar, likely from Central Sumatra.
A man with istinggar depicted in wayang beber , Yogyakarta , Indonesia.
A Japanese arquebus (135 cm (53 in) long) and a Balinese istinggar (190.5 cm (75.0 in) long).
Detail of matchlock mechanism from Indonesian gun, probably from Bali, engraved with Javanese inscriptions, of which the inlaid gold in the barrel has the Chinese key pattern, silver-gilt mounts of South Indian character. The lock is formed of grotesque monsters of Malay or Burmese tradition.