“Hans Jacob Honaker was my great great great great grandfather. He made this gun in a mountain hollow, just like most of the rifles used in The Revolution were made.”
What a great ancestor to be proud of! However he was a Swiss-trained professional gunsmith with a brass foundry accessible from the ‘mountain hollow’ so not exactly your typical colonist start-from-scratch gunsmith.
Too bad the rifle was converted to be a smooth-bore shotgun...not that anyone will be firing it.
If I had to set up a brass foundry big enough for that barrel It wouldn't take much, although cannons and large bells are a different breed of cat. I have a sister who actually built one for the sculptures she does, using propane.
A friend of mine was collecting filings from all the local key cutting machines and making some impressive stuff on a charcoal forge.
Lots of things aren't as high tech as people think, imagination and determination go a long way, and a good file will make a lot of dust before it wears out..