Most of these early rifles featured a heavier stock than used for the later period. The rifle's forestock was usually plain, with a high straight comb and a wrist extending far down toward the buttplate.

The most common carvings along the stock were "C" scrolls, a design common to the 18th Century that can also be seen in period furniture. A daisy-type patchbox, with its lid fastened by three screws, makes most of these rifles easy to identify, but we have seen a few Lancasters with other floral patchbox designs. These may have reflected the individuality of the gunsmith and his client.

Since Lancaster was one of the biggest and most important rifle-making centers in early America, and since it is known that gunsmiths took their own and each other's sons on as apprentices, we can imagine the high degree of competitive craftsmanship that would have been reflected by the firearms of this period and region.