Stuart c dub...I agree with the posts that conclude that most originals were mostly heavier in the barrel but nothing we build is original anyway. Inspired by ? Yes.
But by our own definition we are all fantasy builders living in the 21st century making 18th century items with modern machinery .There isn't a thing wrong with that .
Some are just more fanciful than others .
Yup. Dark Horse has a good point about injuries requiring lighter weight ( along with age)
The more I dig the more I find that rifles built today are way out in front of those in the 18th and 19th, however, that's part of the fun.
A guy walks into a gun shop and tells the maker, " I need a good gun. I'm gonna have to fight the Revolution in about ten years so please don't make me one of them old heavy guns. Oh, and, I want one of them guns like they're gonna have in makers contests at Faires in a couple of hundred years, so don't cut any corners and be Christian enough to cut your profit margin and spend a lot of time on this thing anyway. Oh, yeah...I'll need some scales, a sieve for my gunpowder, a caliper for the round ball and some even cloth with none of that sizing on it. You got any telescopes?"
You gotta love this community...Inspired is the right word, Stuart...
I hope somebody will eventually have the foresight to write a Shumway book about all the gunmakers out there today.