1970s/1980s commercial smallbore flintlock rifles.....

[GANGGREEN]

I've done a fair amount of reading about the history of the muzzleloading sports in the US and it seems to me that there were some fairly well-made flintlock rifles manufactured and sold back in the 1970s and 1980s. While I wasn't really into flintlocks at the time (got my first one in the mid '80s and it was a TC), I'm very interested in some of them and wouldn't mind having one or more. I know that many of them were supposed to be Hawken knock-offs, like Navy Arms, Ozark Mountain Arms, etc. etc., but there were also companies building squirrel rifles, mostly in the vein of a southern mountain rifle. Off the top of my head, I know that Hatfield made a squirrel rifle and I think Ozark Mountain Arms did as well. Can anyone advise what other companies were making them and if the quality was much better than what we've gotten used to recently?

I recently purchased a Jonathan Browning .50 mountain rifle and I'm leaning towards offering it for sale or trade for a Hatfield squirrel rifle or something similar, if there are enough of them floating around out there to be a realistic thought. I also have a couple of other guns that I'd consider trading for one as well. I'm not prepared to place a "wanted" or "for sale or trade" post about it yet, but I'm curious if anyone can educate me as to my options for higher quality smallbore southern rifles that were made commercially with good components (decent locks, nicer grade of stock, etc.).

Thanks in advance for any and all comments or thoughts, I'm always impressed by the background and knowledge of many of the folks here.

 

[rich pierce]

A friend of mine had a caplock rifle of that genre, will ask him what make it was. He had ignition problems related to a patent breech. Turns out the chamber area was so small in diameter it could not be cleaned effectively and also had a ledge instead of a funnel at the juncture with the bore. He opened up the patent breech chamber to 5/16” and ignition problems were solved. I’d check to see if the gun you’re interested in has a patent breech. I avoid them in small calibers.

 

[GANGGREEN]

Yes, I'm not terribly interested in anything with a patent breach, nor am I interested in a percussion rifle probably. Thanks.

 

[bud in pa]

Could patent breech be bored out to bore diameter or slightly smaller, say .25 under bore diameter?

 

[dave951]

Could patent breech be bored out to bore diameter or slightly smaller, say .25 under bore diameter?

Yup. All you need to do the job properly is a lathe.

 

[Kansas Jake]

I’m not a machinist but it would seem you would need to know the size of the breech plug diameter relative to the bore. If the plug is only slightly larger than bore diameter you need to leave enough to not compromise safety.