thanks for the input. took 200 "views" to get one.
WP, I have to admit that when I first clicked on your question, it was just to see what sort of clever thing you were going to say next!
Seriously, though. I’m curious about this:
I would think that the maker would swamp it to the finished length. So that's why I'm kicking the length out there. but of course lopping those production 44's to 43 is a move someone on here says he likes to do, but heck yea lopping a bunch off would funkify the lines of a nicely contoured bbl.
Did the guy you are referencing explain why? Could he have been unknowingly mimicking the trimmed barrels, without understanding that the old southern smiths were just trimming them as a way of re-crowning to restore accuracy? (Kind of like the woman who always cut off the end of the roast just because her mama did, only to find that the reason her mama did it was because a long roast wouldn’t fit in her short pan?)
Personally, I love the old southern mountain guns with the longer than 42" barrels. If I was going to build another gun to keep, that would definitely be my preference. The longer ones have an eye-catching elegance (I think) that sets them apart. So whether or not the extra length was the norm, I’d still go with it. I like to keep one hanging on the wall, so the “elegance factor” is a part of the design that always weighs in heavily for me. I think that’s true for most of us. That’s why we “oooh and ahhh” over some antique guns, and all but ignore others. I’d venture it’s not because we are comparing mechanical functionality. It’s elegance. So how it looks on the wall is no minor factor.
As for chin height or eye height, I don’t care. I always find myself tipping it at an angle anyway, and most of the time I load while I’m sitting. It just makes it all a lot easier to manage. I’m not doing a F&I “scout” or anything like that, trying to load while I’m hiding from an Indian behind a tree. Far from it. I’m a hillbilly (no act. I’m the real deal) just hunting for a little meat, just using a gun like my grandfather grew up using.
I suspect that one (if not the major) reason most of us don’t build longer guns when building mountain rifles is that cost is an issue. The longer barrel generally costs more. And it can be difficult to get stock wood long enough unless you special order it and pay more. And those factors become important when you are trying to keep your margin of profit as high as possible. It can cost a builder a few hundred bucks more to get that extra 2 inches in there, but a speculation builder (as opposed to custom order builder) may have trouble getting reimbursed for those 2 inches when it comes time to sell. The average buyer won’t understand why a gun that’s 2 inches longer costs so much more money. So, as unfortunate as it is, the cost factor drives designs. But I wouldn’t let it drive the decisions for a gun I meant to build for myself to keep. I’d just save up for a few more months.
On the .30 cal option you are proposing, maybe you have experience with it already and know what you want… But I’ll mention that for me, I find myself regretting previously idealistic decisions when I’m out in the woods trying to push that little pea down the tube. My current squirrel gun is a .32 cal half-stock mountain rifle. But just between you and me (cover your ears, kids), when I just want a couple of bushy tails to sweeten the pot, I generally find myself reaching for the .22 rimfire instead. (Okay, guys, settle down out there. I warned you ahead of time to cover your ears.) I find that I just don’t like fooling with those tiny little pea sized balls out there in the woods. I never seem to drop a .45, but I’ve dropped a dozen .32s. If I were to build another squirrel rifle for myself, I would go with .40. As I’m sure you know already, with many of the old mountain rifles, the size of the bore didn’t really make that much difference in the barrel profile anyway. Even the small bore guns had comparatively heavy barrels. (That’s just to say that you aren’t going to have to increase your barrel profile just to accommodate the difference between .30 and .40. You are probably looking at the same barrel profile either way. And in the modern era, you probably aren’t as concerned about saving lead as much as your granddaddy was, either. )
Anyway, all that is to offer a little comfort and “input”. I wouldn’t want my middle TN cousin to feel neglected over there on the plateau.
Merry Christmas to you all,
Whetrock
