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Unfortunately, any Southern mountain rifle kit that comes with a .50 caliber barrel is going to come with a straight barrel... which is not going to have the balancing and handling characteristics that a gun with a swamped barrel will have.

Do Not take any more metal off the sear! With the hack job on that sear, I'd replace it before doing anything else. And if the trigger plate is inletted flush with the stock don't mess with that either. If the triggers aren't giving clearance to the sear, then the triggers are what will need...

grains in a .54 and a .62. 70 grains in a .45. Waay too much powder!

That's one of the prettiest guns I've ever seen! Beautiful lines and architecture!

I'd begin with coarse sand paper wrapped around a flat file, to get most of the crud off. Then I'd move to finer paper, or draw filing... depending on what it needs then.

None of the metal parts should have the wax cast surface still on them. It's kind of a let down when I see an otherwise nice gun, with casting surfaces, and seams, on metal parts. Each part of a gun should be finished. Take a little more time. Use your files and sandpaper. Don't settle for...

Yes. File the tang first. You should be able to get pretty darn close on width, height, and filing the downward slope on the top of the tang. You've got plenty of metal there. Do a good job filing, and there won't be much inletting at all. Maybe none.

Seasoning of rifle barrels is a myth. Shoot it. Clean it with warm water and tow. Oil it.

A Minute Man at Lexington or Concord? Does this mean you intend to get into reenacting, and this will be your persona? Or is that the story you have in your head that you want to go with your gun? Or do you have ancestors you wish to emulate? Is that your most important criteria? If not...

More opinions. I've owned flintlocks in .50, .54, and .58. I currently own a .50 and a .58. Many will disagree, but I find the .54 to be neither here nor there. The .50 is absolutely effective for deer. And for larger animals, the .58 is the better choice. There's no question that the .54...

Don't worry about keeping the metal like new. Let it age naturally.

First of all, I'm not the builder for you. I'm the type of builder you're talking about. I produce three to four guns per year, mostly iron mounted southern guns. I build from a blank, and make my own iron hardware and double set triggers. I don't have a waiting list; but for personal...

The urban legend about the touch hole needing to be in the sunset position was debunked years ago. Yours are fine. A $600 flintlock is probably going to have ignition and timing issues; but none will be due to the placement of the touch hole.

Use a hardwood dowel that is the size of the hole. Glue it with Tightbond III, then carefully file and sand flush. Mark the spot for your screw hole. Double check it. And drill carefully. Put beeswax or paraffin on the threads of your wood screws. They'll go in better. Seems like some...

Forty eight years ago I bought my first muzzleloader; a Thompson Center Hawken... cap gun. I was also getting more interested in western fur trade history; and it wasn't long before I knew that my rifle didn't really resemble anything historic. After a few years I sold the TC, and bought a...

Don't think I'll ever be in that much of a hurry.

I will hunt, and have hunted, in a light rain with my flintlocks. The guns have never failed to fire; and one one of those drizzly days I did take a deer. I use a greased lock cover, and carry the arm with the covered lock under my armpit, under my capot, with the barrel always sloping down...

For those who don't have the equipment, a straight grain hickory rod, used properly, will not break. When loading, never grab the rod more than eight inches above the muzzle. And don't use a load so tight that you have to bear down on the rod to put the ball down. Rods break because of grain...

The photo was taken after inletting the lock plate alone; none of the internals had been inlet. I take it that you mean, by a "ledge", that you mean the edge of the inlet that the lock plate rests on after all of the internal parts have been inlet. I took the photo a few rifles ago, as an...

It does look like you still have a gap between the side flat of your barrel and the lock bolster. They need to mate in order to keep fouling from going into the internals of your lock. This photo shows the fit you should have. The wood on this rifle is taken back to the breech like yours...