• This community needs YOUR help today. We rely 100% on Supporting Memberships to fund our efforts. With the ever increasing fees of everything, we need help. We need more Supporting Members, today. Please invest back into this community. I will ship a few decals too in addition to all the account perks you get.



    Sign up here: https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/account/upgrades

Indian Muskets

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Just as in America, there are cheap guns and better guns. As an attorney I sued two AMERICAN gun manufacturers for exploding guns. One semi auto blew on the 6th shot from new. The slide split in half and the rear half lacerated the owners cheek requiring 20+ stitches. That model was recalled by the wholesaler before it was on the market for a month. During that time, over a dozen mishaps occurred and the manufacturer out in Montana went belly up. All Indian made guns are marked with the identification of the maker. usually under the barrel. A few have been making guns for over 60 years. Val Forgett imported doubles from India and sold them under Navy Arms name. Any body who thinks Indian made muzzle loaders are bad never bothered to look at the Belgian manure sold by Dixie and others in the 1960's. They make the Indian stuff look like Weatherby. Try to make a warranty claim to Thompson center under their life time warranty and see what that gets you. Several American made custom guns have failed to pass European proof testing to the point that some shooters in Europe do not trust US made muzzle loaders. Now there's a hoot. I have ( and had) four or five India made pistols. The Ketland reproduction (From M. Sikligar in Udapur India, ) sparked better than any Thompson Center flintlock ever did. I have about 300 shots through the Lancer Pistol with no problems.
 
More CVA brand, properly Proofed barrels from an actual proofing house in Spain, have exploded using black powder, than have India origin musket barrels. This is documented, and CVA pulled that particular rifle off the market and changed proofing houses. More knuckle heads on Youtube alone, have blown up a muzzle loading barrel by accident, than are the documented cases for India rrigin musket barrel failure.

OH and you can pay the guys in America or Canada for a musket, parts made in India, or you can pay the guys in Canada or America, for an Italian made musket....Not sure how "who get's paid" has anything to do with the situation as both are foreign made?

LD
 
OH and you can pay the guys in America or Canada for a musket, parts made in India, or you can pay the guys in Canada or America, for an Italian made musket....Not sure how "who get's paid" has anything to do with the situation as both are foreign made?

There are 100% American made guns available aren't there?
 
OH and you can pay the guys in America or Canada for a musket, parts made in India, or you can pay the guys in Canada or America, for an Italian made musket....Not sure how "who get's paid" has anything to do with the situation as both are foreign made?

There are 100% American made guns available aren't there?



If you find a reasonably priced American made 18th century reproduction musket, let us all know, please.
 
The more I read on the Indian muskets, the more I want one. They seem like a good buy.

I’d like a Brown Bess and maybe also one of the British flintlock military pistols.

But of the importers, like Loyalist Arms etc., I hear some bring in better made guns than the others. So which one of the resellers brings in the best of the lot? Which of these import companies should I buy from?
 
The more I read on the Indian muskets, the more I want one. They seem like a good buy.

I’d like a Brown Bess and maybe also one of the British flintlock military pistols.

But of the importers, like Loyalist Arms etc., I hear some bring in better made guns than the others. So which one of the resellers brings in the best of the lot? Which of these import companies should I buy from?

See posts #4 & #9 on page 1 of this thread.
Melnic bought from Veterans Arms,
Grenadier1758 and Loyalist Dave bought from Loyalist.
Every gun is an individual.
Any answer is probably going to be based on the importer's reputation and the buyer's personal experience.
Always consider the return policy, parts availability, service, price and which models that they have in stock when you're ready to buy.
Do you want the touch hole pre-drilled? ;)
 
Last edited:
More CVA brand, properly Proofed barrels from an actual proofing house in Spain, have exploded using black powder, than have India origin musket barrels. This is documented, and CVA pulled that particular rifle off the market and changed proofing houses. More knuckle heads on Youtube alone, have blown up a muzzle loading barrel by accident, than are the documented cases for India rrigin musket barrel failure.

OH and you can pay the guys in America or Canada for a musket, parts made in India, or you can pay the guys in Canada or America, for an Italian made musket....Not sure how "who get's paid" has anything to do with the situation as both are foreign made?

LD

What was the particular CVA rifle? ?
I do buy various guns and want to stay away from any problem guns.
 
Define reasonable. Would you describe what you get paid for your job as reasonable?
It’s up to us all. Most of us are middle class but that’s a broad definition.a 100k goes a lot further in Alabama then NYC. 50 k can do real well in small town Arkansas and be pretty low in Ca.
Bob and his wife with grown kids can do a lot better then Joe, wife and three kids on the same income.
It took me about seven months to save for the build I’m doing now, stuffing away a little every pay check. This is an expensive hobby. It’s not worse then many ‘normal’ hobbies but still can be costly . Linen at $20 something a yard, wool nearly double. A correct military set of clothing runs pretty high.
A look on track site you see 5 k guns, true works of art, but out of my price range. The ability to buy a fair gun at $7-800 vs twice that much for an Italian, or seven times that much for a bench copy that’s as close as humanly possible to an original is going to weigh heavy on your choice.
That’s not to say the 5k gun isn’t worth every penny. It is for sure. But we don’t need to say if you can’t afford our best toys your not slowed to play our game.
 
This is posted on the CVA Help Center. It speaks of something we don't talk about and my only reason for posting it is because it clearly does not include the side-lock traditional guns that were sold by CVA.
RECALL NOTICE: If you have a 1995 or 1996 CVA in-line rifle with a serial number ending in -95 or -96, please call us at 770-449-4687 or email us here for important information about your gun.
 
This is posted on the CVA Help Center. It speaks of something we don't talk about and my only reason for posting it is because it clearly does not include the side-lock traditional guns that were sold by CVA.
Yes but I mentioned it as it points to a failure of an actual Proofing House, proof stamp, which some folks erroneously think is the end-all-be-all of BP safety assurances. It was only one model of all of the CVA rifles, but they posted a recall of every modern style rifle in a 24 month period, AND ..., they switched to a different CIP Proof House.

Further, it should be noted that if you look up articles of the incidents, you find a lot of articles by Randy Wakeman, who makes a slight mistake. He is under the impression in his writing that CIP Proofing Houses have standard formulas for Black Powder Proofing, just as they do for modern cartridges. This is NOT the case. Each proofing house when it comes to black powder may set its own in-house standards. The Spanish proofing house that was used by CVA had different standards than the house in Italy used by Pedersoli, and that house has a different standard than the Proofing Houses in Germany and England. ;)

LD
 
The more I read on the Indian muskets, the more I want one. They seem like a good buy.

I’d like a Brown Bess and maybe also one of the British flintlock military pistols.

But of the importers, like Loyalist Arms etc., I hear some bring in better made guns than the others. So which one of the resellers brings in the best of the lot? Which of these import companies should I buy from?


Two of my pistols came from Veteran Arms. I got the others second hand and do not know who imported them.
 
I once bought an Indian made gun and had to return it the next day!
The lock parts were made of cheese and I was not prepared to accept it.
The barrel was of no worries at all.
I don't know which maker it was but the store I got it from has all sorts of Indian made muzzleloaders. Alas it's a long drive away!
They do a matchlock of which I am tempted. At least it won't matter so much if the lock is made of soft steel then!
 
India made guns seem to cause much discussion pro and con. I own four of them and have shot only India guns for the last two years.
I bought from Access Heritage in Canada and drilled the flash vents myself with a power hand drill after researching diameters and positions. This allowed me to place the holes correctly
In relation to the pan. I did pull one barrel
Breech plug and deepen the groove to allow proper vent placement.
I have had tuning done on three locks that improved ignition. I have had to do tinkering but that has been part of the fun in owning an India gun.
They all are accurate and shoot only as good as the operator.
Powder charges are sixty to eighty grains of ffg behind .610 wadded roundball.
The guns will be around long after me as long as they are used sensibly.
I hope to attempt a turkey this year and know the tool I’m using is up to the job if the operator does his job.
India guns. Not perfect but good enough for me!!
 
Back
Top