Thanks everyone for looking and the supportive comments,
I had a lot of fun with this gun and I learned a lot. Mike, the buttplate return would look better if it bent over the heel full width and then had a longer return. I was inspired by photos of a colonially restocked blunderbuss shown in Neumann's "Battle Weapons of the American Revolution" and from the original Cookson fowler. The idea was a rural maker familiar with French guns but stingy on expensive materials, hence the pointed finial but short narrow return. The plate is held on by screws that were countersunk, peened, and filed flush to look like round nails. I felt the screws would hold better through the ages than nails. I took a lot of time fussing over the design because I was not familiar with making one of these guns, however, when actually working on the gun, I went very fast. Over 75% of the shaping was done with a #49 Nicholson pattern maker's rasp. The wood along the barrel channel is very thin and I should take a photo of the gun without the ramrod so you can see how slim it is. It weighs between 6.5-7 lbs. Schreck, the screws heads are case hardened and then heat blued. The color will wear and fade over time but when new, they look good against the brass. Again, thanks everyone for looking at my work and taking time to comment.
dave
