have just discovered this forum and since i'am getting back into muzzleloading hunting i would like to re-create the pre 1800 era.
like i do not care for fancies or silver and brass, but like plain iron.
This is about the plainest of the plain for the 18th Century.
This is the Carolina Type G English Trade Gun circa 1700 maybe earlier, to about 1780. It was as close to being mass produced as any arm could be during that era.
It was so plain that sometimes they were simply painted to make them more attractive. The butt plate is simple sheet brass and It's nailed on. The trigger guard is also simple sheet brass. For the era it's about the plainest gun made.
Keep in mind it's plain to 18th Century standards where even the most mundane things showed artistry in their manufacture. A perfect example is this.
Note the curl on The Lancastershire saw, note how it's formed and sculpted. for no other purpose but looks. This most likely is not a 200 year old saw because that pattern was made into the 1930s, virtually unchanged from 18th Century.
The plain Indian Trade gun pictured, still has brass, still has engraving on the side plate, thumb piece, lock and butt plate. Also it's architecture is very artfully done. Compared to guns made a generation or so later and especially now. It's a work of art and not plain at all.
Of course there is always exceptions in history some New England fowling guns were pretty plain but again compared to standards of the day.
Some guns especially Continental guns and maybe very few Southern rifles and guns are found trimmed in iron.
The plain simple rifle or gun trimmed in iron, is really a post 1800 trait.
Link fusils
