The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #68178   Message #1147044
Posted By: JohnInKansas
26-Mar-04 - 05:44 PM
Thread Name: BS: Building a Flintlock Jaeger
Subject: RE: BS: Building a Flintlock Jaeger
The Jaeger was typically a short barrelled large bore "utility gun" as known in "the Colonies" and was typified in the "Brown Bess" of the Revolutionary era. As such, it would be expected that there was seldom much "carving" beyond what was need for a simple, serviceable tool.

The "type" did come from European "estate hunters," and one might suspect that some fairly ornate examples might be found there, but for an "American" arm, "the simpler the more authentic" would be the expected rule.

The only illustration I could come up with immediately is at
Bonhams and Butterfields antiques Austrian Flintlock Jaeger Rifle
First Quarter 19th Century. This may, or may not, be typical of the "type" to which you want to work, but appears to be rather "unadorned."

Of course, an accurate reproduction of a useful stock shape is something to be sought, but I haven't come up with anything helpful there.

My recollection is that I always thought the "Brown Bess" Jaegers shown in illustrations I've seen in the past were rather clumsy looking – sort of "blockish;" but numerous comments in blackpowder hunting and reenactment reports have cited them being much "handier" to carry that the long rifles that eventually supplanted them. The above illustration does have much more "graceful" lines than my recollection would suggest as typical of early American examples.