For an iron mounted southwest Virginia gun, there is a group of guns that have a lot of similar characteristics, ca: 1790-1810, from Botetourt County on south and west through Wythe County, etc,. possibly even over into Tennesee and Kentucky, that Wallace has shown in his Muzzle Blasts articles. These are the best examples that I know of to work from.
Some features on these that I would consider in building something in this style -
- subtle stepped wrists - somtimes you have to look really hard to see it
-some are iron mounted, some brass
- triggerguard with a bow longer than the grip rail, and the spur pointed down, and the grip rail is usually slightly curved.
-English trade/import style lock
-patchboxes with simple geometric shapes, somtimes very angular shapes, sometimes with a captured lid, sometimes just a touch of accent engraving - very simple and folky borders, etc, but often plain and unengraved.
-usually no carving other than toeline, cheekpiece and forestock moldings but sometimes do have some incised carving, like the MESDA gun
-the comb is sometimes very gently radiused - some people call this a "soft" comb rather than a curved comb.
-set triggers, rear trigger sometimes slanted but not always
-toe plates that do not (or have sections that do not) extend the full width of the toe of the stock.
-barrels are often key fastened
-full two-screw one piece sideplates
-the iron mounted ones tha I am aware of usually do not have any silver inlays, but the brass mounted ones somtimes do
-buttplates around 1 and 3/4 inch range, give or take, with a slight curve and sometimes a pronounced heel
You will probably have to make the hardware or heavily modify available castings to get the right look.
Gary Brumfield shows some examples of some fancier brass mounted southwestern Virginia rifles on his website.
Good luck
Guy
