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I think Revell got it right all those years ago with their British Napoleonic infantry set: long slender muskets with bayonets. I appreciate that moulding such long items is a problem, but it can be done.
Incidentally, I handled a Baker Rifle (and also a Mk 1 SMLE) last time I was at the Rifles Museum in Winchester. The thing that impressed me with both weapons was how 'right' they felt in terms of balance and being able to hold and aim the rifle. Getting this reflected in a sculpt is quite a thing, and to give the sculptor credit they tried this with the British Firing Line poses...just the 'wrong' musket without a bayonet!! Better with the Highlanders though.
There is something special about holding old weapons isn't there? I can't quite put into words how it feels. Like we suddenly have a direct connection to the past.
I know it was meant to kill, but when I too examined the Baker rifle, it almost looked like a work of art in it's own way.
The grain in the wood, with the finish/polish given to it, the whole firing mechanism, the little bits of brass here and there. As Hagman would say "she was a beauty"!
The people who built those weapons back then were some very fine craftsmen/women.
As has been said in this discussion: Strelets has managed to do this better before and is even now doing it with other sets (WSS, perhaps with the exception of the French infantry firing set). So it's neither a problem of the mould nor that it's hard to do in this scale. Imho it's the same issue as with some horses, it's not (yet) a detail the sculptor is very good at. Maybe he should take a look at some old Strelets' masters, viz.: