Thanks for those images Bad Karma. I really appreciate it. I was trying to visualize what the snail drum looked like, and I just couldn't come up with a clear picture in my mind.
The Rice snail drum on these drop-in barrels doesn't look much like any traditional snail drum that I have ever seen.
What I would like Jason to do is fabricate for me a 41" long, swamped, octagon-round, 4140CM steel, .45 caliber, 1:14" fast twist barrel that has a "B"-weight breech that immediately starts tapering to an "A"-weight waist, & then flares out to an "A"-weight muzzle.
He would then breech the barrel with one of these percussion, CNC machined, 4140CM steel, Manton-style, hooked breech plugs. Only I would like for the snail drum to have a more traditional look. In addition, from my discussions with him, Jason has stated that, for an additional cost, he can provide a matching, fitted, CNC machined, 4140CM steel, 6" long beavertail tang such as was found on some English Sporting Rifles, Hawken rifles, and eastern mountain rifles
Then I would have a barrel, percussion hooked breech plug, and long tang set that could eventually be made up into a Woodsrunner-style, iron-mounted, early Virginia longrifle that had been converted to percussion late in its working life.
I have a builder in mind that is interested in such a project. Now it's just a matter of getting the money together to first purchase the barrel, breech plug, & tang. That will be at least a 6 month wait once the deposit is sent, & the order is placed.
