madcatter1, much is said of the India- made barrels. I have one, which is now a wall hanger- lovely wood, an interesting looking piece, but it made a
very suspicious puff of smoke out of the bottom of the right barrel that last time i fired it, and i asked the person next to me (my wife- i
better be able to trust her) "hey, that didn't sound right, did you see something funny?" to which she said something to the effect of 'you'd better retire that one until you have it checked...' once i got it apart to clean it, the crack was obvious, and i simply took the nipples out of it and hung it up.
Does this mean all India- made guns are faulty? of course not, any more than my one bad experience with Volvo means they're all junk, but i sure won't see another one in my driveway in the foreseeable future.
if i were on a limited budget, i'd save my dough and get an American made barrel from Track of the Wolf or Pecatonica. Jim Chambers also makes a really nice looking fowler, which i will probably break down and buy when funds are available. I've built several rifles out of parts sets, and i think that if you have a modicum of common sense and mechanical aptitude, you should be able to produce a serviceable gun. Note that i didn't say it would be a work of art, that it would be historically accurate or period correct, or that it would get you 'oooh's and 'aaah's at the range- just that it would be a solid, reliable, serviceable firearm which would provide many years of service. (Heck- i even got all brave on myself and made a stock from a blank, which turned out to be a tremendously rewarding experience, and i got a custom built, custom fit stock out of it, and i learned a good deal and gained a new appreciation for why stockmakers charge the big bucks).
You will end dropping some major loot on this project- make no mistake, but you will end up with something you will cherish for the rest of your days and which you can pass on to the next generation. I'm pretty sure my kids will auction off my centerfire stuff about twenty minutes post mortem. they'll come to blows over the flintlocks at the wake.
So, in a 'cut to the chase:' save up your bucks, and buy, first, a few good books on gunbuilding. My two 'go to' books are
Recreating the American Longrifle Shumway, et al,
http://www.trackofthewolf.com/Cate...catId=4&subId=38&styleId=137&partNum=BOOK-RAL and
The gunsmith of Grenville County, by Peter Alexander (out of print, as best i can recall).
Then, check out (before you do anything else) the excellent tutorials on this website. Then, get really good at getting a shave ready edge on any and all of your tools. Then check out the Video and DVDs ... a bunch of great "how to" instruction at very reasonable prices.
Then take the plunge.
I started with a parts collection from Track of the Wolf and it was a real eye opener: what i thought would be a straightforward screwdriver affair involved a boatload more work than i thought, but once i had it together, i was hooked ... [insert mad scientist laugh here] ... another one turned to the dark side ... then another build, and another, and now a few on the bench in various stages of completion...
yes, it is an addiction
no, there's not a twelve step program for this.
if you can only have one gun, i would recommend a 20 gauge (.62 cal.) smoothbore flint. I think it's the most versatile muzzle loading gun available.
OK- that's the tirade for tonight ... let me climb down off my soapbox before i fall and get hurt.
