I started hunting with a flintlock in 1977...I bought a .45 caliber custom made flinter when I lived in Atlanta...The builder ended up being one of the builders written up in Foxfire V...I killed 30 or so deer with it through the late 70s and through the 80s...

About 1986 I had an experience with a black bear on one of our farms and I decided I wanted a .54...After checking out how much it would cost to have one made I decided to do it myself...Fortunately I found a local guy that sold barrels, stock, locks and the hardware...I wanted a gun that could have been used in 1770 in the North Carolina area...

It took me 2 years to finish that rifle...I make my own patch lube, buy bulk pillow ticking for patching and mold my own balls...I've taken at least 40 deer with the .54...

I have since converted the .45 to a .40 and use it for small game...I also give talks to local schools and Boy Scouts on the American Revolution and Colonial Living in North Carolina...

btw...Daniel Boone moved to North Carolina in 1750 with his family when he was about 16...It was from here that he started his long hunts into Kentucky, the first in 1769 and it lasted 2 years...

You want reality??? How many of us could live in the woods for 2 years, much less dodge the Cherokees and Shawanees???

Here is the .40 caliber, loaded with 25grs of FFF it's deadly on squirrels...




Here is the .54...



Here I am showing some Boy Scouts how it's done...
This is at a camp near Charlotte...Bass Pro sponsers the event and we average 800 Scouts a year for the weekend...