Hi Michael,
maybe you are right with your dating, however it is not easy without a lock
as the same period of the stock.
never the less I noticed a few features of this rifle that make me point at the end of the 17thC.
the straight trigger (without the Louis XIV scroll) has been used frequently from 1650 to around 1690. the earliest pistols with these type of trigger I can recall are the ivory stocked maastricht pistols.(1650-1680) Around 1690-1750 the scroll type came into fashion and the straight trigger reappeared in the third quarter of the 18thC.
after 1680 guilded brass mounts were often used next to the more common iron mounts but very typical for the the last decade of the 17thC is the flat
engraved counter-lock plate which disappeared almost totally in the first half of the 18thC.
The baluster shaped ramrod pipes are a very good dating feature of the end of the 17thC. this baluster shaped ramrod pipes were replaced by faceted shaped ramrod pipes in the first half of the 18thC.
taking above into consideration together with the butt which, whilst retaining the cheek piece and butt trap, has the outline and "inflated" thickness characterizing French style guns of the 1680s. make me date this gun 40years earlier then 1730.
best regards from Holland
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