Hi,
I don't think anyone contributing to this thread has a stylized view of what the colonists had at the beginning of the AWI. I for for one, understand completely that there was a range of muskets and quality which was available. Everyone did not have "poor boy" muskets and not everyone had Hawk, Pomeroy, Doud, Hill, Annely, or Earle fowlers turned into muskets. Moreover, Americans in general were some of the most prosperous people in the world during the 18th century at least in the Northern and Mid-Atlantic colonies. It might have been different in the south, where plantation slaves could be farmed out for trade and manual labor, and white wage earners and small farmers may have struggled to compete. The biggest problems for colonial Americans were that they did not have much hard currency, the value of which varied among colonies, and value added manufacturing was suppressed by England. In addition, most of the action during the early years of the war did not take place on frontiers but in well settled and prosperous NE, NY, NJ, and PA and was fought by colonists from those areas with the addition of some from Virginia and some well equipped troops from Delaware and Maryland.
dave