I want a hawken half stock flintlock. I want it to a reliable hunting and shooting gun. Thinking I am going to have to build a custom to get what I want.
I actually want it in both 54 and 50 and maybe a smooth bore. My thoughts are build a nice stock and get a good lock. Then have 3 barrels to fit. Am I crazy ?
I originally was looking for a .54 Hawkin style flintlock made by t/c, Lyman, or investarms. Main reason is I want a better lock on it 3/4 vs 5/8 on the traditions.
It seems like there is fewer and fewer flintlock options.
So maybe I should just buy a lock and go from there.
For a Midwestern/Western styled rifle like you're wanting, I've used L&R's "Late English" and "Manton" locks on a lot of guns. It wouldn't really look out of place on that style, a lot of locks were still being imported from Britain during that time, and quite a few Lock Makers in the US were copying their designs/ coming up with similar designs. The water resistant pan is a nice feature, and everything's on rollers and are ghosted (designed to have minimal friction between parts). I personally would opt for the Double-Throated **** on the "Late English", the single is durable enough, but the double just looks sturdy (and it is more durable, realistically).
If it were going to be a larger gun, however, I also like the older Germanic styled locks, like L&R's "classic" or "Queen Anne". If it's a small gun, I personally like to drop down to a pistol lock; something like The Rifle Shoppe's "small 3" flintlock (659)".
On the issue of weight, buy the barrel that is going to work lol; straight barrels are for the birds. My favorite profile for a .50 deer rifle is a tapered oct-hexadecagon barrel that runs from 1" at the breech down to .8" at the muzzle. For a light rifle (and loads), something like a .9" breech tapering down to .75" at the muzzle would be just fine (I would say that could hold 70gr of 3F powder and a 250gr bullet just fine, obviously, proof it first). For a 20 bore shot barrel (meant to shoot shotgun/Paradox gun equivalent loadings (7/8oz payload, 75gr charge of 2F or coarser), you should be able to get away with a 1" breech, tapering down to .8" if you want to install chokes, or .7" if you don't. For .54... well, I'd skip .54, can't do anything with bullets a .50 can't do, and doesn't do what a .58 can do with a ball as good, for almost the same cost. In a .58 rifle, I'd go with a 1-1/8" (1.125") to .9" barrel and a 1:70 twist (if it's going to be an express rifle), that should let you shoot a conventional ball or bullet like an Accurate Molds 58-330B at around 1600fps well, and a Pritchett or Burton style bullet well at 1300 (after all, the 1853 Enfield had a slower twist than that). A light rifle in .58 could get away with a 1" barrel, tapering down to .85", and you may want to speed the twist up a little to accommodate the lighter 70 grain or less loadings.
Build the gun around the lock and barrel you want, trying to force parts to fit is never going to go well in the long term. Modest wood and fittings are cheap, buy a good lock, buy your barrels, and make a stock for each barrel, fitting the same lock to work in each one, that's what I would do, if it were me. Like Rich said, trying to make all those barrels fit the same stock exactly the same is going to be a massive pain, and if your stock gets damaged, then you are out the 3 or however many guns you have barrels for. The lock is less likely to get damaged, and having interchangeable locks would be nice if you were able to buy another of the same lock down the road.
