Period Correct or Personality Appealing?

I am just wrapping up my build of the worlds most expensive workbench/desk. For the inaugural project I am considering building a flintlock. This will most likely be my one and only rifle build. Although I’ll never say never. My question is, must I religiously follow the plans with a certain rifle in mind, like a ToW “kit” where you use the lock, stock, barrel and trigger combination for the gun of your choice. Or can I throw caution to the wind and pick the parts that appeal to me and put them together in a way I find satisfactory? Can I use a late English fowler lock with a Dutch trade musket stock and double set triggers, as an example?

I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention that I live in Bethlehem, Pa., on Main St., a block away from the Moravian Industrial Quarter was. On weekends you can go to the blacksmith shop and watch them forge tools while they explain things and answer questions. Located in the same building was the locksmith where the locks for so many of those old guns were made.

Well you are building the gun to suit yourself so you can do anything you want. However, if you start going to shoots and showing your homebuilt gun to people you don't want to keep explaining why it's a Frankenstein. Most original gun designs usually have pleasing lines and hardware that works with the design.

Hi,
Build whatever you want but just don't try and pass it off as anything other than what it is. If its a fantasy gun, great! If you want it to be more like historical examples, great! You live in a great area to visit museums and historical sites to see many original guns so there is no excuse for not knowing what they actually look like. Don't trust TOW plans for historical accuracy. Some are based on modern interpretations of original guns.

dave

As Mr. Person writes, build what you want. It's your rifle/gun and your money.
Just my opinion, but...,
The first requirement is that it goes bang in a timely manner, when you pull the trigger, just about every time.
The second requirement is that it hits what you point it at, as long as you don't make a mistake, every time.
The third requirement is that it pleases your eyes..., and even if you finish it and are not satisfied all that much with requirement three, if requirements one and two are met, you will find she is pretty enough.

I went to The Governor's Firelock Match at Fort Frederick State Park one year, and this fellow showed up with a home assembled rifle. Yes his rifle was pretty plain in .50 caliber, to say the least. So there were several solo matches that day, and when it came time for the pairs matches, nobody would pair-up with the guy. So he seemed like a pleasant fellow when I had a conversation with him, and I'd seen him shoot so I had seen he was safe on the line, thus I asked him if he'd partner with me. All I had was a Pedersoli Frontier flintlock in .50 at the time. I shot "OK", but he tore up the target in the pairs match. He gave me the prizes we won for the match..., you see he already had won a first place and placed in a couple more in the top three, in some of the solo matches, and he said didn't want to be "greedy". OH and he was happy he'd won a voucher for a ham, as he said his wife was getting tired of eating venison all the time...

That day is what pretty much what taught me about the "top three requirements".

LD

I echo Dave Person’s response. Do what you like but be open about what it is, and don’t use any vendors as primary sources for historical accuracy (in the sense of ending up with a gun you could take back in time and find people who wouldn’t think, “What’s that?” Now some outfits are better than others but anyone who is interested in history of the longrifle and does not study originals is really missing out.

Ditto wat Dave said.
Do yer own thang. But don't pretend your rifle is a copy of anything historical.
Prediction: Your next will be as close to an historical replica as you are capable of making.

It takes just as much time and effort to build either way. I much prefer a build to look like something historical; not a copy of anything existing, but something that "could have been".

I’ve been doing a lot of studying for my first “from scratch” build.
The big thing I learned ( well, one of many) was not all components will work together! You wouldn’t want a double set trigger and a trigger guard that won’t accommodate it.
Have fun

Im on my third Flintlock build. I too started with just the idea of building one. Building the first IMO always starts a trend. That said, I personally don't care that my guns may not make somebody's list of what is historical. I build to suit one person, me. And to me the history lies with the technology of the period, not copying exactly one school or another.

I still get the experience of shooting and hunting as our forefathers did, even though my gun may have a mish mash of various parts.

As was said, its your gun build it the way you like. And if anyone takes issue with the gun's not being period correct, maybe they can foot some of the bill next time. Not their gun, not their set of criteria.

I am of the opinion you would end up being happier with a hc gun then a Frankenstein. The wrong things will always mock you in the future, even if no one else notices.
But....
Frankenstein guns are not ‘unhistoric’. The ‘Civilized Tribes’ has some gunsmiths that were rebuilding guns from broken parts, and Appalachia would have backwoods gunsmiths assembling guns from old parts. You won’t see fine SMR that are ‘wrong’ but some surviving guns were pretty buggared up pieces
I would wager more then one barn gun or boys rifle was made of cast offs and didn’t match.
That said parts were assembled to go together and work as a set with the gun and stock style.
Howsomever no sooner then you start to sand your stock the sprit of your next build is starting to dance in your head.

Thank you all so much for your kind replies. It has given me a lot to think about and I will do my due diligence. I’m in an odd position that I don’t get out very much. I might never even make it to the range, let alone get the chance to come to a shoot or rendezvous. I just enjoy building things. In the early nineties I put together a cap and ball Colt Navy kit and it was a lot of fun. A thousand dollar flintlock build will probably be a once in a lifetime experience. I would say all those dumb little excuses are why I’m debating building the gun in my head rather than try to strive for correctness. But I will keep researching, reading, studying, and visiting these forums learning all I can before I start ordering parts.

Shane

If and when I get my "roundtoit" I'd like to build a flinter. As far as style, well, if you're not reenacting and need a specific type or style, just build what you like. As stated earlier, backwoods gunsmiths repaired and modified guns all the time. It's even historic to convert a flint to percussion if that tickles yer innards. Only thing that is mandatory is you post pix of the build

Do your thing. That thing is for you.
I see museum pieces that have been built, rebuilt, repaired with newer parts, parts replaced with what was available at the time, and sometimes that "time" was a hundred or more years later. But that piece is still in a prominent place in a recognized museum as representing a period of time in our history.
I learned many years ago to ignore the always negative, always nose to the sky snobs and do what makes me happy.
That happy very rarely meets the approval of the self proclaimed elitist.
I have NO issue with those who want to be HC-PC correct. I don't deride or belittle them for their choices, I rejoice in their happiness with their choices for themselves. I do have issues with that crowd when they attempt to chastise or look down upon others whom have decided to go a different path.

What the Griz said.

BigShow, you mention you don't get to the range much and might rarely shoot the rifle, I'll make a suggestion. When you do the build you may find it to be what you really enjoy doing. With that in mind, I would build something that I wanted, but also keep in mind that I might want to sell it to fund another build. That may narrow what you choose to build. In other words, look at the classifieds here and see what sells and how quickly it sells. Of course quality of the build is also a big factor. I don't have the skill at this point to build something that would readily sell and probably am not able to develop it at this point in life.

There are a lot of guns built in New England that have a mix of parts. A French barrel, British lock, trigger guard, trigger and butt plate with a club butt stock or other New England style architecture made from a local wood. All the parts while quite mixed are all from the same or earlier period. All of the pieces except for the the stock would come from guns available in that area.

I had a Fowler built in such a Frankenstein configuration. While it shot fine it just looked wrong. I had to change the trigger guard, remove a lot of wood and refinish it to just get it to look better. You may build a fine shooting gun, but at some point you won't be satisfied.

Take your time build a workable weapon if you are not a perfectionist. Every firestick I own could be called a Frankenstein, but I am not afraid to scratch them in the bush, and the proof of the pudding is I am not bothered to make field corrections. Sure my concoctions have been pointed out and sneered at as to style, but just like a bunch of the old residenters on this site I have got crocodile skin. Several years ago I saw a rifle a man put on a 2x4 and painted pink. It was dead accurate and funny to watch it shoot.

If you are building from a kit, let's say a TOW Isacc Haines, I would try and stay as close to the original intent as possible. I just think the outcome would be a better rifle.
That said there are some changes I would consider such as a different lock. Seeing as I am Lefthanded I am limited in my choices but..... L&R makes the American Early Classic Flintlock w/a roller frizzen, and it fits the large siler footprint so it shouldn't be too difficult to fit. Also there are now (for right handers only) several new CNC made locks coming onto the market which bear consideration.
Consider the fittings, your kit may come with those brass/bronze like fittings. You might want to buy your fittings made of good , soft yellow brass instead as long as you can find some that fit your rifle and mortices. But here you must think ahead. You might want a trigger guard a little longer for set triggers.
I built a TOW Haines kit and wanted set triggers. TOW said due to several factors set triggers would not fit this kit. I bought a set anyways and fit them to the rifle. It took some modifications and fore thought but today you can't tell "They wouldn't fit the rifle".
I fit the stock to fit me. But all that's really changed is I modified the wrist a bit for my comfort.
Some of these changes I have made. Most are what I would probably do if I built another one. The stock shape is basically the same but most of the other changes I would do because I think it improves the function of the rifle.
If you stray to far from the lines of the kit you run the risk of ruining some expensive parts and ending up with a rifle that looks and fits worse than a frankenstein rifle.

Yep, both deer I've killed with my Lancaster styled Flintlock knew it wasn't HC/PC, that's why I had to shoot them.