this is the part about 18th century long guns that i dislike - the "who made what when and were?" and "who's style is that gun?".
strictly from my perspective, a large amount of this is SO theoretical, based on so few physical examples and far too little 18th century written proof. while there clearly IS a kinda "style" that what few indications exist 300 or so years later for perhaps a certain gunmaker, guns were also SO unique in far too many ways. how many thousands, more than likely tens of thousands of long guns have we not seen, recorded, understood ... and how would they fit in with the few that did survive?
many of us have in our mind's eye what a mid 1700's long gun should look like, and while our thinking is probably reasonably correct, what did the TYPICAL civilian's gun really look like, it's materials, it's bore, and given a 1700's year range, was it rifled or smoothbore?
