specific question about vincent stock architecture

[ronward]

 getting ready to lay out my wood for my vincent. my question concerns the way the bottom of the stock under the lock panel areas is shaped.
     i have seen stocks that are pretty much dead flat across the width and stocks that have a bit of belly in them across the width of this area, where the trigger guard and plate is morticed. i realize that the amount of material you have to work withthere is dependant on several conditions ranging from hardware to size of barrel, web,ramrod diameter and how big you make the margines on the lock panels.......or, almost all of the parts!
    non of the pics of vincents i have seen are clear enough  or of the right anglesto show me what i need to know.
     i am wondering if someone has an original or knows vincents well enough to tell me....did he prefer to shape this area with some belly in it, or did he run the lock panel margines big enough to finish this area flat across?.
    i would appreciate answers to be specific to vincents, not generic to plains rifles or the like. i want to build this rifle as honest as i possibly can given the available parts and information.
    thank-you for your time. i am new to muzzleloaders, this will be my first ML build, but not my first rifle build  as i have built several center fire guns based on mausers and i have a well equipped shop to do just about anything except the critical barrel work.
   i have learned more on this sight about longguns in the short few weeks i have been visiting here than i could in my lifetime of reading about guns in general!

[coutios]

Are you anywhere near the Log Cabin Shop in Lodi,Ohio???  They have examples of both John's and Caleb's work.  My favorite is a little rifle made by Caleb. The bottom of the forearm does extend ever so gently down to the trigger guard. Gives a shallow flutted effect running alongside of the side panels. Notice I said shallow... Volume 5 of Ohio Gunsmiths & Allied Tradesman by Hutslar has some good info on Both John and Caleb...

How this gets you started...

Regards
Dave

[ronward]

coutios   
      that's exactly what i want to know!... thanks.  i'm up in north central wisconsin... not close to anything. relatively tight margines around the lock and a fairly large barrel will bring the center of the stock down, i just wanted to make sure.
       i have to get that book, i have read that it has a good vincent section. information on their work is sort of scarce arount the net. there's allot examples to look at, but allot of them are short on small details such as this. it's the small stuff like this that make an honest representation of thier style. i knoe exactly what you mean by "shallow",  it is that feature exactly, that generated my question;).
                     again, thanks....... i want this rifle to BE a vincent.

[Joe Stein]

If you haven't been to the Association of Ohio Longrifle Collectors' website, you might give it a try.  They have some really good articles in their online archives, not just about the Vincents, although they are there, but about many of the Ohio gunsmiths, and other matters of Ohio life in the 18th & 19th centuries.

http://www.aolrc.org/home/

http://www.aolrc.org/publications

-Joe

[ronward]

hi joe,
    yup, i've been there. enjoyed it, read all there was to read about vincents and will go there and read some more.  my computer is slow loading some of that stuff, so after a while i get tired of waiting for it to load. pics aren't too clear though,so they leave allot of questions. that's ok though, every little bit helps!