Pistol vs rifle stocking

[bob in the woods]

I'm building a late 18th C pistol [swamped oct barrel] and so far I've been back to it  3 times to take off more wood. Basically, the more I look at it, the more I see places to shave off wood. It is pretty slender now, and feels great in the hand, but I'm wondering if there are any references available that include measurements?
RCA 1 and 2 were a real eye opener , as well as seeing some actual originals as far as rifles go; but the only ML pistols I've seen here are larger English mid 1700's or later 19th C  percussion style.

[Mark Elliott]

That is a great question.  I am not aware of any pistols documented like the rifles in RCA.   I would be interested if their were.   I have had a bunch of southern "Kentucky" type pistols in my hands to photograph.   They tended to be long, thin, and light, but they had enough heft to them to fit well in your hand.   A lot of them have a very rounded, cane type,  grip.   I know the client often filled out data sheets on them and they may be published in the future.   However  pistols are much rarer than rifles and they are always going to be a small percentage of any book.   

I have a couple of southern type pistols in the works and I intend to make them like scaled down rifles from the lock forward.     

[Chowmi]

I have been wondering the same exact thing.  I will soon start on a TOTW Kentucky pistol, and the pre carve stock seems unbelievably fat and chunky to me.  My only reference is the slimness of rifles from RCA and I somewhat thought that I would just have to assume that pistols were made slim like the rifles of the time. 
I would dearly like to see some documentation of dimensions as well. 
Thanks for asking the question. 
Cheers,
Chowmi

[RWood]

   In " Thoughts On The American Flintlock Pistol " by S.E Dyke he give you the barrel length. With a pair of divider you can figure out the rest of the dimensions. He also give some information on over all length plus what the furniture is made of.  The best I've found on American pistols.
    My experience with pre carved stocks is they just leave to much wood in the web between barrel and RR channel to be able to make a nice thin profile.

Ron

[RAT]

As I recall the book Recreating the American Longrifle has plans included for both a rifle and a pistol. I think my copy did.

[Mark Elliott]

I just looked.  You are right.  There are full size plans for a pistol and one whole page of notes on building one. 

[bob in the woods]

   I'll have to dig my copy out.

[bob in the woods]

This project has been both challenging and frustrating. I've changed things a few times, not satisfied with the over all lines, and then took off more wood in fitting the stock to my hand. The trigger was a challenge of try, refit etc just to get the right "feel" to the thing.  Unlike a rifle , or a fowling piece, everything about a pistol is right there, being small i.e. your eye seems to take in the thing all at once. Every flaw shouts out at you. This  has taken longer than my last rifle. 

[Acer Saccharum]

Not having build a decent pistol yet, but having studied a few European examples, there is a lot of stuff jammed into a small package. There is very little extra real estate.

[Bob Roller]

This project has been both challenging and frustrating. I've changed things a few times, not satisfied with the over all lines, and then took off more wood in fitting the stock to my hand. The trigger was a challenge of try, refit etc just to get the right "feel" to the thing.  Unlike a rifle , or a fowling piece, everything about a pistol is right there, being small i.e. your eye seems to take in the thing all at once. Every flaw shouts out at you. This  has taken longer than my last rifle. 

I made about 125 flintlocks for Helmut Mohr's Boutet pistols and he told me that pistols are a pain in the fanny and rifles are much easier to make. The Boutet is a half stock with no rib style and would be easier to manage during the build than an American full stock pistol.Helmut's representation of this French gun is elegant and has won a number of award and championships in competition.
He also used a special Swiss style caplock I made for him for a copy of a Weber&Reusch .31 caliber target pistol.
Maybe about 100 of these but I'm not sure.Both of these pistols used a precarved stock of very high quality and the I have one for the caplock that looks like CNC work and is about 35 years old.Saved a lot of S.E.A*work.

Bob Roller

S.E.A*work----Sweat-Effort-Aggravation

[jerrywh]

 There is another book called Georgian Pistols. You can get very good photos by googling.
http://mitchyatesgunmaker.com/gun-galleries/pistols/

[Mark Elliott]

I hadn't seen that work of Mitch before.   Mitch, those are some very attractive pistols.    You are a man of many talents.