Flint lock advice needed

[Walks with fire]

I am no expert but I believe the rifles of the west were Hawken style rifles with straight or tapered octagon barrels of around 30" length and 50-54 caliber. My understanding is that they were better for the larger game that was found in the west.

My personal feeling is that if I were to build or buy a long rifle I would want something with a 38" swamped barrel of .54 caliber, 1/66 twist with .008/.010 grooves, a good Chambers assembled Siler lock and a well tuned single hunters trigger. Although I like the looks of the engraved and carved rifles I wouldn't want to own one. Plain simple lines for me.

I like loads of 80-100 grains max. so a real slow twist would probably be more rifle than I would want.

Take your time and handle as many rifles as you can before you buy. A thousand dollars for a rifle your not absolutley happy with is not a good investment.

 

[hawkeye2]

Tip Curtis also goes to Ft. Frederick, MD in the spring and Dixon's Gunmakers Fair in mid summer. He may also travel to other events (Friendship) but I'm not aware of them. You have the advantage of being able to see, hold and buy different styles to see what suits you and you can order one and get delivery in a very reasonable time. An in the white gun is ready to shoot as is and you only have to stain the wood to finish it as guns were often left with the metal unfinished to brown naturally. I don't know what his current prices are but I'm sure they are a little over your $1000 budget and worth every penny.

I haven't seen one of Mike Lange's guns but they look good in the photos and I like his philosophy of providing a solid functional gun at a price just a little above something made in India.

 

[Rifleman1776]

I am no expert but I believe the rifles of the west were Hawken style rifles with straight or tapered octagon barrels of around 30" length and 50-54 caliber

This is one of those never ending arguments. You will find with some searching that very few Hawken rifles went west before 1830 and the greater numbers did not appear in the mountains until about 1840. Rifles and smoothies of all kinds were used prior to 1830.

 

[54ball]

This blows away the $1000 cap but a Carolina Type G from Clay Smith or Mike Brooks is an excellent candidate for what you want. My experience with a lower priced builder, $700 at the time; was a lot less than fantastic, more like craptastic. In the end I was just happy to get something that would shoot.

I know Brooks can build you one in left hand maybe Smith too.
Smith offers his type Gs with a rifled barrel in either 54 or 58, Brooks may can do this also, as always it's best to check with the builder.

I know you specifically asked for a rifle but the type G Indian Trade gun with it's rear sight would shoot like a rifle to 60yards plus with it's smooth barrel and you could also hunt small game with shot if you got the smoothbore version. That gun in the rifled version would shoot as good or better than any rifle.

The Smith gun is priced at $1950 on his site. $ 1750 for in the white and he offers it in kit form for less than $900. He is very flexible and can do extra stuff to the kit for you for small additional cost.

The Brooks gun is $1800 finished and $1500 in the white. He does not offer it in kit form.

These guns are not semi custom but a full custom historically accurate fire arm IMHO it's the best price you'll find for a authentic 18th Century firearm.

I have a Clay Smith gun on order for my son that should be here shortly, so that's how much I think about them.

Lastly you do not have to pay all at once. Put some down about 1/3 and pay the balance when gun is complete.

Good luck in whatever you choose.

 

[galamb]

How you plan to use your rifle should have some bearing on what style you decide upon.

I have a very close approximation of Kit Carson's Hawken, but even with a 31" tapered barrel it weighs in at 10 1/2 pounds - no fun humping that through dense woods.

Likewise, my Maryland style rifle is 61" long (42" barrel). Even though it's relatively light, just on 7 lbs, not something that is easy to handle from a tree stand.

If you only plan on using it for target shooting/plinking you can pick what most appeals to you, but if you plan on hunting with it, perhaps a half-stock, with a barrel no longer than 36" might better suit your needs AND meet your desire for a rifle that went west.

If you like the full stock look, there were probably hundreds if not thousands of "trade guns" used in the west.

They are a simple design, inexpensive to build (even with quality components), but definitely not fancy (see Track of the Wolf's "trade gun" patterned after an original Barnett trade gun)..