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We talked a couple of years ago through, I thought, this forum but it could have been elsewhere.

I know you. Just dawned on me who you are !

Well to my eye, and I have looked at quite a few antique dirks, it is a perfectly normal size and proportion.

In a word, nope. Brass plates were frequently installed on targes and may have deflected balls fired at long range but, in spite of a description of one made to be bullet proof, none have been found that truly were.

Vince seems to stick to the dimensions of the originals. He has been to Scotland where he was allowed to examine and measure a number of originals. The dirk he made for me does have the historically correctly-sized grip and, while it feels somewhat small in my hand, it is not difficult to grasp...

The grips on antique dirks were pretty small compared to modern day knives, for reasons I do not know.

You can always buy a well-made and correctly shaped dirk from Vince Evans (I have one of his), Glenn McClain or Mike McRae. The blades from TOW do appear to be forged but they were not always and, in fact, at one time they offered a rough cast version. So I cannot say that for certain. The...

Because it is easy and since I am old guy I appreciate doing stuff that is not a lot of trouble. My point was that the treatment, and again I have used it for almost thirty years, has not damaged the rifles I use it in...or did I not make that clear? Drug store peroxide is diluted and the other...

Re: rusting in a barrel treated with any kind of peroxide mix. I have been using it for nearly 30 years with zero rusting problems. But, to back up what I just said, I pulled two rifles out this past weekend which have not been fired in years and which were treated with a peroxide, alcohol and...

I use FFFG in .50 and .54 caliber as well as .45. As long as your charges are reasonable you won't run into trouble. Fouling with FFFG, at least for me, has been less. I have also used FFG in those calibers but FFFG just seems to give me better accuracy. I do NOT use Pyrodex for anything and...

Pretty sure it is Indian. The rear of the stock, where the butt joins, looks very much like those found on Indian and Persian matchlocks, with the pronounced step down to the stock. The miguelet lock is a little puzzling for an Indian piece but, if it was made in the area around Goa then there...

Ditto...a friend of mine from Bristol England, who does F&I War reenacting as a Shawnee over there, corresponded with me about all that he went through to buy one smoothbore fowler to use in his hobby. He had to buy a tamper proof (if there is such a thing) safe and get it inspected by the local...

You did not get hurt at all on this deal. If you have to do any work on it you will still come out ahead. Nice looking gun. Never saw one in the flesh.

From early times, at least as far back as anything has been found that was actually written down concerning charges, they were calculated by volume and not weight. At some point someone undoubtedly weighed them out of curiosity or for some other reason, hence some of the comments quoted above...

I have always, when using a patch, used the tightest fitting patch I could get down the bore and still pump the solution in and out effciently with the cleaning rod. For quite some time I have been using a cleaning solution containing peroxide. Since I started using the peroxide solution I have...

Not sure why that would be the case since using the proper patch and cleaning solvent would certainly get to the bottom of the grooves and get out the fouling. I have one, un-fired Colerain barrel on a rifle and will have to check to see if I have that problem as well.

You probably know this but it case you do not, the Bell Witch movie was based on an incident in Tennessee not long after the War of 1812. It is now believed to have been a hoax but a small cave near the scene of the action has been closed off for years and treated as the home of the witch. I...

I would be concerned if priming is going down the gap and building up but you will get some fouling from the priming in that area regardless of how tight the pan is. You can determine if priming powder is getting inside the lock mortice by simply removing the lock after a couple of shots. It...

Been there and done that. It was a lot of fun but I was killed at the Battle of Ramsour's Mill in 2005 and that ended my reenacting career. My business career was too demanding any way and when I ditched that I was too old to do all that other stuff. Still have my gear and who knows - one day we...

Why not?