This is the gun that was called the "Carolina Gun" in the 18th century. It was primarily intended for the Indian trade, but I suppose anyone with the cash could buy one. Archeological evidence of these are found all over the south west and south in general. they are very rare in the Great lakes region where the North West gun was king. The Carolina gun and the NW gun existed at the same time, but were traded from different areas and got their names from their points of origin. They are nearly identical guns with only minor differences in the furniture. Same barrels and locks. I believe the NW gun may have been a slightly less expensive gun to produce..
There are some slight variations of the carolina guns in their furniture, mostly in the details of their finials. Otherwise the existed from probably 1720 or so through probably the 1770's with very little change. Barrel lengths were probably the same as the NW guns varying between 36" to 48". The longer barreled guns were most common early on.
I built my first one of these clear back in 1988, it was my 18th gun. I never built another untill this one and it's numbered 262. The Carolina gun has always been fascinating to me, I can't believe it took me nearly 20 years to build another! :shake:
Any questions or comments, please feel free.
I might add, that both the Carolina Gun and the NW Gun were made in England and exported to the colonies.