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cositrike

40 Cal.
Joined
Dec 11, 2007
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Location
East Sussex. England
I was up at Kalamazoo at the weekend. One of the vendors was selling the Indian made repro's and I heard one of the staff say, that they just had to be activated. 'You drill the touch hole and harden the frizzen and they're ready to shoot.
Frightened me, I can tell you.!!!
 
They need to have someone look at how the breech plugs are installed, type of metal used, etc. Sound like a good project for one of these product writers to take on.
:doh: :thumbsup: :idunno:
 
Just worried me how the ladies on the stall could just give members of the general public such dangerous information, without any suggestsion of a need for proofing or anything like that
 
They were more than likely repeating what a wholeseller had told them. If you do a search on here on Indian made musket's you will do alot of reading Pro and Con about them. I have one, I shoot it, But it is from a seller that sells ready to fire Muskets. Myself I have no problems with mine. I got lucky mine has a good trigger pull. Heavy trigger pull is a big complaint with them. What was these that you looked at price wise.
 
Sharps1863 said:
They were more than likely repeating what a wholeseller had told them. If you do a search on here on Indian made musket's you will do alot of reading Pro and Con about them. I have one, I shoot it, But it is from a seller that sells ready to fire Muskets. Myself I have no problems with mine. I got lucky mine has a good trigger pull. Heavy trigger pull is a big complaint with them. What was these that you looked at price wise.
Didn't look at the prices. Just the (lack of) quality. Heard the chat and thought, what would happen if the guy bought one and it just blew up on him. Made me shudder.
Dont get me wrong. I've shot a lot of guns over the years and some have been unprooofed, but I knew what I was getting in to. This was just a regular punter, who from his questions, knew nothing about the guns he was picking up
 
Ive got a couple from the American dealer that comes ready to fire and has a saftey booklet shipped with it.Ive seen the ones at K-zoo and thought my dealer had a better product.I shoot mine all the time(Though I'm having a hard time sighting the one...see my post above)and am very pleased with mine and will continue enjoying it.It sparks better than my expensive semi custom Bess(though I can hit the targets better with it)
 
Sharps1863 said:
The can of worms has been opened again. :idunno: :idunno: :rotf:

the can should really be divided between "indian Manufacturers" and Vendors of Indian-Made muskets.
I have less of a problem with Indian Mfg than I do with shady merchants obscuring or misrepresenting their products (indian made or not)
 
I agree not all Indian made muskets are meant for live fire. Buy from an established seller and you should have no problems.
 
Just so all would know which MAKER of Indian muskets to avoid, and like I said in earlier posts you can tell these muskets from the absolutely horrendous workmanship putting them together (yes guys, they are worse than all the other Indian guns) is this place :
www.indiamart.com/n-v-sikligar/
Most of the good importers, MVTC and a couple others buy from other MAKERS, not these guys. if you get a gun from these guys, chances are, it wont blow up, because it wont spark!. it it does, well.... you will probably blow the lock off because there is an 1/8 gap between the lock and the barrel, and the powder has gone behind the lock and is waiting to blow the lock off when it ignites!, let alone blow the barrel up!. As I have said in the past, I am a defender of the Indian muskets, but NOT from these guys, know who you get them from, or buy from a reputable seller of the Indian muskets.
 
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Well, I am going to add this link for what it is worth. I'll say up front that it is from the N-SSA site and we all know that the members of the N-SSA are some of the best, most practised shooters on the planet. They have no patience with sloppy work or borderline safe firearms. Please read the entire thread and be sure to watch the attached video at the end after you have read what leads up to it:
http://www.n-ssa.org/vbforum/showt...s-approval&s=652ea153b7a553887e511d6b572accda

Moderators, if this link from another discussion forum is inappropriate or against any rules, please delete it but it does say some important and well informed things about the quality (or lack thereof) of the imitation guns being imported into North America and Europe. (Remember, we would do well to remember that the title "imitation guns" is the legal description of these devices under Indian law.)
 
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"Established" means a seller with a good track record and established client base. Someone that has repeat business from their buyers.
 
I didn't get to the video. One post by a member who proofed a barrel didn't convince me. There are, or may be, many manufacturers. One lucky gun isn't very comforting. I noted another member who lives in Europe who posted:
I know the company (companies), they usally exhibit their goods on the IWA show in Nürnberg, Germany. I talked to the representatives last year and they clearly said that their guns are absolutely not manufactured for shooting. These guns are manufactured in India and Pakistan. I would say it is not only barrel question. The wood can be dangerous also if it breaks after a shot.

We tested some of the guns in the Hungarian CIP gun proofing laboratory. Some were good, some were immediately rejected after checking the bore with endoscope.

That is scary convincing. I don't even want to stand next to one of these things while being shot.
 
Actually the link says nothing.

No really it's mostly generalities. One barrel maker is identified as selling to MVTC and Track (Really? I've not seen track offer Indian made guns for sale "new"?), but the "source" claims that he talked to three barrel makers. He got one story from one maker that the barrels are not for shooting, and later the story was that they are. He does this in Budapest, and doesn't mention if he asked if different barrels are made for different markets. (Some countries in Europe permit wall hangers to be owned without touch holes drilled and no permit, and drilling the touch hole does not make them safe to fire as the breech plugs are "staked" in, not threaded.)

The NSS-A official in the link mentions burst guns, but not the importer nor the models, nor the year. He then mentions their ban on Indian made guns.

So again we have negative claims, but no way to verify them.

You will get a better made, more authentic musket if you have a custom one assembled from rifle shop parts by an expert. Nobody denies this. You will pay top dollar. You will get a very good, hopefully properly made, musket from Pedersoli, and you will pay top price for even on sale they are expensive.

I say "hopefully" for I have seen too many recent examples of lack of quality control to say they are "great guns". Currently I am trying to repair a Pedersoli Bess lock with an improperly machined frizzen screw location. Came from the factory that way. When sent back they simply drop in a new screw, when they should replace the lock plate.

OR, you can go to one of the three importers, one in Canada, or one of two in America, and get a functional musket that costs half the price of the Pedersoli, sent to you ready-to-shoot, but is more than half the quality of the Pedersoli.

:dead:

LD
 
LD, I have to agree about the :dead: thing. I have had the link available for quite a while but avoided posting it because it was just another example, to me anyway, that these things aren't worth considering for shooting purposes. It really is a shame because the Indian manufacturers are completely capable of producing good quality, safe firearms. But they don't because their customers don't demand them. The market only has itself to blame for the lack of quality and the Indian producers get the blame.
 
Wonder if track would try proofing and/or doing a breech plug inspection then presenting their findings?
 
If I remember right MVTC will proff the rifle for you but they charge like 50 or 80 dollars to do it
 

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