It looks great. I just realized the barrel is still in the white. Is that also in deference to a German influence?
The lock and barrel are polished bright as many English, Dutch, French, German, etc. arms. I’ve wondered how the majority of early rifles in America were finished – my guess is that many were polished bright and many were blued. Browning seems to be absent until closer to the end of the 18th century if I recall. I have a reference somewhere to gunsmiths offering browed barrels as an option and I seem to remember it being closer to the last decade or so in the 18th century. People appreciated bright, shiny things in the period; after all, it’s so hard to achieve bright and shiny with pre-industrial revolution technology.
A lot of folks today are put off by bright and shiny because it’s so easily achieved with stainless steel, chrome, plastic, etc. and it can exude cheap tackiness. As hunters, a lot of us steer clear because glinting metal can scare game. Personally, I haven’t had trouble with bright metal parts when hunting, but that’s because I’m a phenomenal hunter (literary irony alert).
