Lehighs.

[northmn]

I am looking to get another 3/4 inch barrel and have a trigger guard for a Lehigh.  Would an English lock like the L&R small Manton be to improper (its about the only small left hand lock I can get)?  Also if proper for what time period?  Buttplates seem to come about 1 3/4" wide but I found one that is less than 5 inches tall so it would work.  Couple of piectures would be nice.

DP

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

DP - I too like Lehigh rifles.  With a 3/4" bbl. the best you can do is make a "Lehigh styled" rifle.  Of the few (perhaps 1 doz.) Lehigh rifles I've examined, I have yet to see a skinny barrel like that.  They are all, in spite of their delicate architecture, around 8 to 10 pounds, with heavy barrels and gentle swamps.  The butt plates are small, even tiny, compared to other County of PA guns.  Locks have flat faces, but a few are built with pans similar to the L & R Bailes.  If you are bound on making a really tiny rifle around that barrel, that would be a good choice.  You are looking at the first quarter of the 19th Century.
The two Erics and Allen Martin are your best bet for detailed information, m'thinks.

[smshea]

I'm with Taylor on this, most Original Lehighs are bulkyer than they look in print. Ive seen or handled most of the published guns and allot more that are not and you are hard pressed to find one that thin. There is one floating around with a very thin swamped barrel but that's about it that I know of and I have not measured that one. 
 The earlier buttplates are roughly 1-3/4 wide (reeves 13, 33- 33 has more curve) the thinner one is #14 and is shy of 1-1/2. None of the available buttplates have a sheath long enough for most of the later guns and should be added to or made from something else.  I have seen one left handed Lehigh and it was an import lock as I recall( did not always take notes) but don't quote me on that.
 Having said that, I like to make them with a 13/16- 50 or 3/4-45 (my first choice)  if I have to make one with a straight barrel ..... I try not to.
 The recent KRA display had most of the Great Lehighs under one roof and the display brought out some great lesser known guns to the room. One of the first things that jumps out at you is that while they share certain traits and in some cases furniture, they are all very different and change quite a bit from the earlier to the later guns. 

[northmn]

I really appreciate the responses.  As to the 3/4 inch barrel, I doubt that it is really appropriate in anything.  Some tell me even the Befords were made with 1" barrels and were fairly heavy.  When I made the little poor boy 25 I had some difficulty in getting proportions with that small of a barrel as in wrist height vs. width and little things like that.

DP

[smallpatch]

Scott and Taylor have given the straight dope so far.   Please take this the way it's intended.
 I just can't, for the life of me, figure out why some guys just gotta use a straight barrel.  I'm currently putting together two almost identical, generic Southern Mountain rifles.  One has a 15/16, .54 cal barrel, the other a "B wt .50.  Absolutely no comparison.  The one with the swamped barrel  is well balanced, weight back over the lock  area, and the other is like holding up a car axle mounted on a 2x4.  
That same Lehigh, with an "A" wt swamped barrel will hold and shoot like a dream.    The straight barrel, not so much.

I know that money is always an issue.  But in the total expense of parts, that extra $100 is well spent.
Along with that, the overall architecture , (lock panels, etc) will be better as well.

[northmn]

In this case the straight barrel is a special case.  I have a chance to get a 1-34 twist 32 cal rifle, something I have always wanted to try. Swamped were not an option.  The barrel maker was recommended to me by E-mail so I do not know if he wants web site fame.  I have a 40 in the works at A weight that will someday be a project.  My straight barreled 25 was a matter of speed of building not of preference as I wanted a squirrel rilfe PDQ and I build only from blanks.  Straight barrels do have their place but in longrifles I do agree it is better to graduate to a swamped or tapered barrel.  When I started shooting, the 13/16 45 was a pretty standard item in long rifles, and some of them were pretty well done.  The use of swamped barrels seems to go hand in hand with better technology where precarved stocks and kits are more available.  I used to be able to inlet a strainght barrel in my blanks in a couple of hours using my table saw and get a very tight fit.  I have a project for a smooth rifle using an Oct to Round 20 ga, but for some reason keep putting it on the back burners. The swamped barrel will be mostly hand inletted.

DP   

[jwh1947]

I would concur with Scott on his general analysis.  I would simply restate that any lock that is consistent with the correct time frame could be used.  More important would be basic architecture, lock placement, and an understanding of how the jobs were originally done to yield the results that we call "Lehigh" style.