FWIWorth Ted
I've been shooting a Boss damascus toplever hammer gun (lettered to 1877) for some years and it was built with dovetail construction as a best gun. I think that you'll find that it was fairly common around that period with the use of damascus.
As for the gun on Champlin's site.....I'll allow that the stock is just gorgeous but you might ask about the quality of the checkering as it appears (to me) that the borders that track around the lock tails are anything but uniform. Maybe it's my old eyes, but something looks out of 'sync' there. Maybe it's just fine, maybe checkering execution isn't a big ticket item for you, but for me the most beautiful of wood won't draw my eye away from a poor lay-out for long.....which may not even be the case in this instance. I hope I'm wrong, as it is a lovely gun otherwise. And the tip above re: the (pitting) condition of the breechface is a good one on these early hammer pieces.
Robt.
