Initial ID on Southern Iron Mounted rifle

[bama]

A friend of mine bought an iron mounted rifle that was in a antique shop in NC. This is not your normal southern iron gun. It appears to be a restock of a rifled musket. I will post pictures of rifle later. First I would like to see if anyone might have an idea who the initials belong to. The initials are engraved and filled with silver wire. The initials read IHWM.

[Tanselman]

Any chance you can post a picture where the initials themselves are in better focus? The "rough" edges on a couple letters, particularly the last "M," make me want to see it more clearly.  Shelby Gallien

[bama]

Here are pictures of this rifle. Maybe It will help ID a possible location to go with the initials. Maybe some of you musket guys can ID which musket these parts started life as. It is straight rifled and about 58 cal.

[Don Steele]

Jim,
In the muzzle picture, am I seeing radius rifling..??

[bama]

Don, I believe that it is filed radius at the muzzle only. My bore light is not the best but the rest of the rifling appeared to be flat bottomed.

[Hungry Horse]

 In my experience rifled muskets almost never have barrels this heavy. I suspect the barrel at the very least was part of a rifle. The ramrod pipes all seem to be part of a set, and may have been on the original gun. The triggerguard, and the buttplate, appear to be shop made, and of a pattern I’ve not seen before. Probably the most eye catching feature is the unusual stock profile. The only other gun I’ve seen with this stock profile was attributed to a Cherokee gunsmith from North Carolina.

  Hungry Horse

[Cades Cove Fiddler]

  ..... Jim, when I first saw what appears as "AL" on the under-side of the hammer, I thought "Ambrose Lawing",... !!!! ... (NOT),... !!! (HaHaHa) ... have a couple questions,... why was the stock fore-arm cut on an angle just forward the rammer entry pipe,...? ... the two lock bolt screws on a cap gun are interesting too,...  I tried to match a name from the Cherokee alphabet, but couldn't,... Cherokee gunsmith "Salola" is the only one I know of, but have never seen a rifle attributed to him, and only one pistol,... Cline has info on him in his great book,.... interesting rifle,... regards,... CCF

[bama]

CCF I believe the splice in the forearm is original to the gun. I think the builder didn’t have a piece wood long enough to make a full stock gun. It may have been just something the builder wanted to do. The spacer between the stocks is a different type of wood but both stock halves appear to be the same type of wood and the finish is consistent over the whole gun. Like I said, this is a different rifle gun than what we normally see. It’s one of those that the more you look at it the more it grows on you. I would not be surprised to find out that it was made in the area around Cherokee. Whoever made it was a skilled builder.