Taylor,
I had to look up the word diminutive in the dictionary, and found that it means small. I'll take that as a compliment, I worked very hard to keep my swivel rifles small and light ( 8 1/2 LBS.) You are correct, they are great hunting rifles but are not legal during muzzle loading season in many states including N.H. where I live. I use it during regular rifle season. Seems odd that a stainless steel, water proof, scoped sighted inline rifle is legal and my swivel rifle is not ! I did manage to shoot the N.H. State record Moose in 2010 , beating out the inlines which did make me smile a bit.
I have just designed and built a new model which I call the hunter which is a much plainer and even lighter rifle. I will try to get a picture of it and post it here soon. I will have it on display at Dixon's this coming year. I have a new computer which works different than my old one and it is giving me a hard time.
Seems this subject should be on gun building, not black powder shooting. I almost missed it.
David Price