I'm currently building a 'bear pistol' with an 18" barrel 15/16" ATF .50 cal. because the gentleman I got it from here on the forum had cut down a TC barrel and set it up for a left handed flintlock. After much sweat and cursing and searching of soul, I re-breached it with a flint style plug and installed a drum and nipple set up, right handed. I inletted the barrel into a Pecatonica River precarved Kentucky pistol stock ( I ordered a plain stock and got about a 3+ curly rock maple, no extra charge!) which left a lot of barrel hanging out the front. I scavenged a somewhat aged rifle under rib and soldered a hunk of it onto the barrel, which already had sights, making a long half stock from hell. I modified the lock plate on a Siler large traditional percussion lock and inletted it, with a side plate of the southern mountain rifle style. I shaped the grip to a later more rounded butt, and installed a brass flash cup around the cone. I am about to order a trigger guard and thimbles from Stonewall Outfitters and I'm probably going to go with German silver, I don't care for brass too much, especially on a Southren gun. I can't wait to finish this thing and shoot it, it should handle a rifle load of powder and patched .490 RB. It will probably rattle the ears off a wooden *******, LOL! Of course I must make a leather flap style carrying case for it to keep it safe in the sticks, and am thinking about inletting some silver escutcheons for the wedge in the fore end and perhaps a silver thumb piece and maybe a shell carving around the tang. Don't want too much, just a touch of backwoods class, LOL! I'm learning to take pictures with my daughter's donated cellphone, so maybe, just maybe, you'll get to see it finished. Yep, old timers did build them. A friend of mine here in the Ozarks has one his daddy had in the family. It's percussion, .45 IIRC, and a remarkably 'Colt revolver' style grip on the walnut full stock, about a 16" 7/8ths ATF barrel. Very nice.
