F &I or Pre Revo. War recommendation?

[Darryl]

I'm looking for a flintlock that would fit in the pre-Revo war era. Considering the early Virginia type flintlocks. Any recommendations? What caliber, barrel length, double triggers, patch or no patch box?

 

[musketman]

You could always go this route...
German Yeager Rifle, circa 1740-50

Imported firearms were a necessity until colonial gunsmiths could get established.

http://www.ken-drake.com/german_jaeger_rifle.htm

 

[tg]

Chambers is hard to beat his guns are well researched and he has some early ones from other schools as well, I would suggest that if you are developing a specific persona/time period/area that some research on your part may be in order as these factors may sway the choice of a "correct" gun, do study the originals as much as possible some builders stretch history a bit to capture a wider customer base.I have Chambers Early Virginia smoothrifle which "could" date to 1750 and an Early Lancaster that "could" go back to 1760, barrel lengths for the early guns could be from 36" to 48" and bores would be mostly .50 and larger, barrels would likely be swamped, single triggers most common, wood patchboxes or wide brass type, less ornate than the later types, or no patchbox would also be proper, these are generalities of course but if you look at the ealy guns and compare with the later "Golden Age" and Federal period ones you will see some obvious patterns.

 

[2172]

I decided upon a Mark Silvers Virginia rifle from Jim Chambers for this. You can see his stuff on-line at Flintlocks.com...Hank

 

[Zonie]

Pecatonica Rivers "Transitional Rifle" fits this time frame. I think TOWs "Edward Marshall" also fits.
The Transitional Rifle has some features which are similar to the Jaeger but the butt is a little thinner and the barrel length is greater and its of smaller caliber.
I built Pecatonicas version with a 38 inch .54 cal swamped barrel. The gun carries the simplest plain brass patch box I could find. (This was the era of the brass patchbox replacing the sliding wood after all.) Jaeger lock, Ramrod Pipes are cast, Feather finial rear sight and Floral finial front sight (all in the spirit of the "old world".
I used the long base 2 trigger set trigger because I wanted to break away from the typical Jaeger lever style of set trigger. I protected the triggers with TOWs #TG-Early brass trigger guard. Also to Americanize it and break away from the "old world ideas" I built it in Curly Maple with a slightly redish brown stain.

 

[tg]

Those are some nice guns, one word of caution is to not get drawn into the idea that a "Transitional" gun must be of 37"-38" barrel and of smaller cal. than the earlier German guns. the term Transitional rifle and Early longrifle might well be taken as one and the same from the 1750-1770 era. Do you have any pics of your Peticonica gun 'Zonie

 

[Jack Walker]

The info you need relies heavilly on what type of persona you take. I portray alonghunter/scout of the 1745 to 1760ish. I have a Pa longrifle in .50 cal (.50 to .54 cal most common) and an indian trade musket in .62 cal. Hope this helps.

 

[Zonie]

TG: I lost all of my pictures when my computer got the flu a few months ago. (Yes it's safe now but I had to reboot from ground zero and added Norton and Zone Alarm)
I really need to rephoto all of my guns (I've build 9 Pennsylvania and one Schutzen) and save them to disk.
My real problem is when it comes to 'em new fangled thins like I'm ah typin on I'm pritty dumb so I don't know how to get a picture onto the forum.
Maybe one of these days.