In my research to be able to make an educated guess re: the kinds of weapons my Ulster Scots/Overmountain Men ancestors carried before and during the Revolution, I noticed a definite dichotomy...With a few exceptions in newly-settled frontier areas like northern Vermont, what few privately-owned firearms there were in the more Northern colonies were mostly old smoothbores and the militia inventory records suggest these were in pitiful condition. As the colonies of that region had been established over a century earlier, a settled English farmer lifestyle and culture was prevalent... Little hunting was done, as meat was grown on the farm, and the great majority of the region was no longer "frontier." What hunting was done likely was mostly small game.
South of Pennsylvania, west of the coastal settlements, and evidently EVERYWHERE in Georgia, things were different. The Piedmont settlements were still fairly new; relations with local Native populations could still be a bit touchy, and the French had outposts
close enough to present a threat. People crossed the mountains to settle (illegally, it seems) in Native territories. The longhunters carried rifles for both hunting and defense; the first wave of pioneers led west by those longhunters armed themselves similarly. The early rifle units, most notably Morgan's Rifles, were recruited from these Southern colonies, where men (and often women) were not only familiar and proficient with rifle guns, they had expertise that comes from years of both "work and play" with them. (The accounts of the impression they made on the townspeople up North on their way to Boston and then Saratoga are quite amusing...)
Of course, this
"Northern smoothbore/Southern rifle" pattern applies primarily to militia and other units carrying their own personal weapons; it also meant, however, that there was a population of marksmen from whom units of regulars to be armed with government-issued rifles could be recruited...
My ancestors turned out to be riflemen at Kings Mountain, Cowpens, Guilford Courthouse, and eventually Yorktown and the Chickamauga Cherokee campaign, so a plain, cherry-stocked Kibler Colonial in .54 cal. seemed to fit the bill. (My first true "build," I think, will likely be a Chambers Virginia Colonial, for the same historical reasons..)
To the OP Mr. Thompson I say, "Have fun with your research and shooting, whatever choices you make!"
Uh huh. And what was the time line for those first longhunters to cross the southern mountains? I believe it was about the late 1750's - 1760's. Ten - fifteen years later the "over mountain men" who fought at King's Mountain during the Revolution were, indeed, mainly armed with rifles. Nevertheless, them, and units such as Daniel Morgan's riflemen were the exception.
At the beginning of the F&I War, because of the French threat west of the Southern Appalachians, that you mention, British troops together with a civilian core of workmen, and some wives and children, did march up country from Charlestown, South Carolina about 1756. It took them nearly three months to make it over the mountains to the Little Tennessee River where they built Fort Loudoun as a deterrent to French influence filtering in from the Mississippi River areas. Those British troops were armed with the "Brown Bess". For the most part, the civilian workmen were unarmed.
Relations with the Indians deteriorated, and in 1760 the Cherokee laid seize to Ft. Loudoun, starving out the British garrison and eventually killing most of them. But that is another story. (Yes, there is also a Ft. Loudon in Pennsylvania)
Roger's Rangers, during the F&I War, were known to be armed with the "Brown Bess". A very few might have had their own rifle. The famous "Battle on Snowshoes" was fought with smoothbore muskets.
During our American War for Independence, the vast majority of Continental Army troops, the British and Hessian troops, the French troops, Continental Navy sailors and marines were all mainly armed with either the British "Brown Bess", or the French "Charleville" muskets, with some Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, and other smoothbores - whatever they could get their hands on. The marines in the "fighting tops", up on the masts of the ships had the job of picking off the officers, helmsmen, and gunners of enemy ships. Our first marines with the Continental Navy were at first armed with whatever weapons they could find for themselves, but they were issued French Charleville muskets as soon as they became available.
However, my reading leads me to believe that even in the south
prior to the 1760's smoothbores were the most common firearm.
Smoothbores, whether they be military muskets, or civilian fowlers, were cheaper to produce and therefore cheaper to buy, plus they were easier and quicker to reload. Because of being able to load with either round ball or shot they were, and still are, a more versatile arm than any rifle.
Furthermore, I would bet, although I know of no way to prove it, that many of those first longhunters crossing the mountains in the 1750 - 1760 period were actually armed with smoothbores. It would be interesting to know what gun Boone was carrying the first time he passed through the Cumberland Gap.
guns should do that. When you hold it to your shoulder, how do the sights line up. 
