Rolfkt, Taylor, Ezra, and Lynn,
Thank you for the compliments. The pistol is one of a pair that are close to completion. The other is almost identical except the engraving on the trigger guard and butt cap is slightly different. I am still engraving it. The lock is from Blackley's and is a copy of a Wogdon lock. I modeled the guns after Wogdon as well as I could having never actually handled a Wogdon and knowing them only from pictures. Ezra and Rolfkt, the barrel dimensions are 1" (25mm) at the breech, 0.75" (19mm) at the waist, and 0.8" (20.5mm) at the muzzle, and weigh about 1lb. They are 50 cal and rifled. The hook breech is just one of the flint hook breech castings offered from TOW that I modified heavily. The finish on Rayl's barrels was very good inside and out when I received them. Based on my research into English dueling pistols, I would say the barrels are appropriate for pistols made between 1770 and 1800. Someone really anal for historical accuracy might want to reduce the swamp a tiny bit and of course remove the rifling (although some duelers were rifled, even secretly) but I am only partly anal so I didn't change anything. Most later duelers seem to have had heavier barrels with less swamp and often they were simply tapered. All of the original pistols that I have handled were made that way. I didn't like the feel of any of them. The Rayl swamped barrels make well balanced pistols when combined with a good stock shape such as Wogdon's. They lock into place. I could really shoot somebody with those pistols, but rest assured, I may be anal but I am not postal.
Take care and thanks,
dave
