Plain ol' smoothbore trade guns too! I imagine such firearms saw more use in North America than any other! Least Mr. Hanson thought so!!!
Close to 300 years constant use. Or more!!!
Absolutely, and the fact that we'll never run out of rocks makes the flinters even more usable.
Smoothbore anything. Plenty good hunting accuracy at distances farther than most modern inline users would admit to, using patched round balls. Add to that the capability of slinging birdshot and what better all-around gun is there, come to that?
Do we really think that 200 years from now people will be waxing nostalgic about plastic stocked inlines the way we (or at least some of us) do about trade guns, fowlers, fusils, muskets, etc. now? I highly doubt it.
My Nicholas Beyer smooth rifle is a thing of beauty. .48 caliber, so I tend to think it was reamed smooth along the way sometime from a .40 or .45. Or not. Who knows?
