To locate gunbuilders in your area, attend area BP gun clubs, and renezvous. Join the NMLRA and you will receive a list of all the clubs and area rendezvous at least twice a year. Talk to other shooters, particularly those shooting custom guns you like about who built them. Gunmakers don't have to live next door to you to produce a great gun for you.
When I decided I wanted a Left Handed rifle( first percussion, but then converted it to flint) I spent about 3 years talking to flintlock shooters, and trying various guns belonging to other club members. I went to other clubs, to rendezvous, and to Friendship, Indiana, to see and meet gunmakers on Commercial Row, and up in the primitive area camps. The education I received was well worth the time and effort spent, and allowed me to pick a gun and builder to make me the right gun. When I converted it to LH Flint, a local gunbuilder, who was a member of my club did the work. I have since had a fowler made for me by a local gunbuilder, who is also a member of my club. He did a very nice job.
