Dan Mouer has conceded:
 
 I always assumed that a fixed
>gun was a mounted piece, while most of my colleagues here in Virginia
>have assumed it meant a functioning piece.... Too often in the
>early musters and inventories of Virginia, "fixed" appears opposed to
>some synonym of "broken." Of course, I'm willing to change my mind
>again anytime.
 
For what it's worth, I'd like to add that in the inventories of Muscovite
Russia in the late 17th century, weapons are classified as
working/non-working.  Much effort was expended during the Thirteen Years
War (1654-67) to inventory, collect, repair and redistribute disabled
weapons.
 
 
W. M. Reger IV     :     [log in to unmask]
 
In whatever country we seek original genius, we must go to Russia for a
talent of imitation. It is the acme of Russian intellect; the principle of
all their operations. They have nothing of their own; but it is not their
fault if they have not everything which others invent. Their surprising
powers of imitation exceed all that has been hitherto known. The meanest
Russian slave has been found adequate to the accomplishment of the most
intricate and most delicate works of mechanism; to copy, with his single
hand, what has demanded the joint labours of the best workmen in France and
England. Though untutored, they are the best actors in the world....If they
were instructed in the art of painting, they would become the finest
portrait painters in the world....
 
Edward Clarke, (1811) Travels in Various Countries of Europe, Asia and
Africa: Russia, Tartary, and Turkey, Vol I