Well I just got back from the Adirondack mountains in NY and some visits to Vermont and NH. The weather was very nice -- it was like late October in the western part of NC. With leaves turning yellow and red it was a great time to go shoot some patched balls. I had 3 rifles to zero in the rear and front sights. I made a target holder that wasn't as nice as the one you built but I had to make due and it was so much fun to be shooting again up on the side of a mountain where I shot as a kid.
I don't like cleaning the flintlocks but I sure like shooting them. I have a couple of Hawken rifles with 50cal barrels and they shoot so nicely and they clean up so easily I tend to take them out in the field for the sake of ease. Every time I do that I wish I had my longrifles to mix it up.
These are set triggers. They are nice for target shooting but hunters get all up in a not when the big buck comes in sight. I make all my triggers double set and double action so if the shooter forgets to set the triggers he can still "hog" the front and fire.
Hawken 50 cal with hooked breechplug and tapered barrel. This rifle is just what made the Hawken brothers rifles so desirable for pilgrims leaving the east and not coming back.
This one is a small caliber rifle made from a sugar maple root dug out of the ground in southwestern NH. It shoots so well I just can't seem to sell it.
Many of the Plains Rifles were made in walnut with iron mounts. My nephew doesn't like the fancy brass and curly maple. He likes the 54cal Hawken with a nice trigger set up for targets and hunting. So..
This is how the bars of pewter start out. The rifle below shows a "poured muzzle cap" being shaped.
The brass mounts on the rifle below are from a wooden sample I made and used with a wax investment casting set up. The man who does this casting work for me is close to 90 years old and he works with a purpose in his step.