Your best deal acquiring a muzzleloader, either trade or purchase

Was at a show a number of years ago, guy has a Smith carbine, $125.00, I bought it, sold later for $600.00

4570Tom said:

Was wondering what your best deal was acquiring a muzzleloader, be it trade or purchase.

In 1989 I purchased basic modern pistol from a small LGS. I tried liking it, but it just didn't do it for me. At this point I didn't have a muzzleloader and had never shot one. In 1992 I was invited to go shooting with a couple of guys. One guy was a Civil War buff and had what I think was an 1861 Springfield replica. The other guy had a CVA Hawken in .50. I shot them both and was hooked. Funds were tight and I was trying to figure out how I was going to get a muzzleloader, plus whatever supplies I would need. Later that year I end up back at the same small LGS and sitting in the rack is a used .54 GPR. I forget the price, but it was more than what I could scrape up at the time. I asked him if he would take a trade and he said maybe. I went home, got the little used modern pistol, and took it back. His eyes lit up and he said sure. Then he pulled out the box of accessories that came with the GPR that he had also taken in trade. Balls, conicals, patches, jags, nipples, other ramrod attachments. We did a straight trade and we were both happy. I've acquired other muzzleloaders since then, but the GPR is still around. Need to take it out more than I do.

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No story here. Best deal- FREE to a good home. Early production CVA that I've taken to the range and had great results. I'm going to pass that rifle on to a fellow instructor who could use some extra rifles in the arsenal for instruction purposes.

Many years ago was given a ultra rusty TC rifle by a guy for sharing cigarettes with his dad while he was in hospital for long term wound treatment. Had no interest at time so I gave it to someone else I know who was into muzzle loaders at the time

Last year got into it by scoring a Lyman imported Uberti NMA 1858 clone in excellent condition with almost 300 caps, 6oz pyrodex, 200 balls, a single ball mold, cleaning stuff including a collectible S&W screw driver, 200 wads, powder horn and a presentation case for $170

I am loving these pictures
Here is a 3 band Enfield by Aston, made for a volunteer regiment, all the fancy bells and whistles down to the bronze tipped ramrod. An amazing musket.
Best of all, the cross pins had seized so you couldn't get the lock off and a nipple protector had been jammed on so nobody had been able to bash the platinum lined nipple flat. A bargain at £535.

I went to a January gun show and picked up a new in the box CVA HAWKEN MOUNTAIN fifty caliber rifle for a measly hundred dollar bill. The funny part is it said made in the USA and marked as a 45 caliber but is actually a fifty. Duh!

Treestalker said:

Dear Mr. Foley, you are welcome here on our Forum, and the U.K. forum who banned you can go jump. Whitworths are welcome here and I once watched a Whitworth repro cannon (rifled, but not hexed) being fired at a U.S. Civil war reenactment. I was on a Blakeley repro that day and so could not volunteer for service on the Whitworth. The English did make some fine ML cannon and rifles in the day, and it's a shame they have to put up with Jack-in-the-Box gun restrictions nowadays. Please remember we respect and cherish you; we are not like the rest, LOL!

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I thank you, Sir. That's by far the nicest thing said to me today. The other couple of things were 'Don't move, I'LL make the coffee', and a timely reminder that 'this coming Saturday will be a guest day at our gun club - can you bring some muzzle-loaders?'

4570Tom said:

Was wondering what your best deal was acquiring a muzzleloader, be it trade or purchase.

In 1989 I purchased basic modern pistol from a small LGS. I tried liking it, but it just didn't do it for me. At this point I didn't have a muzzleloader and had never shot one. In 1992 I was invited to go shooting with a couple of guys. One guy was a Civil War buff and had what I think was an 1861 Springfield replica. The other guy had a CVA Hawken in .50. I shot them both and was hooked. Funds were tight and I was trying to figure out how I was going to get a muzzleloader, plus whatever supplies I would need. Later that year I end up back at the same small LGS and sitting in the rack is a used .54 GPR. I forget the price, but it was more than what I could scrape up at the time. I asked him if he would take a trade and he said maybe. I went home, got the little used modern pistol, and took it back. His eyes lit up and he said sure. Then he pulled out the box of accessories that came with the GPR that he had also taken in trade. Balls, conicals, patches, jags, nipples, other ramrod attachments. We did a straight trade and we were both happy. I've acquired other muzzleloaders since then, but the GPR is still around. Need to take it out more than I do.

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Picked up a 50cal Hawken Woodsman for $110 at a pawn shop, they thought it was just a decoration.

1980's: From pawn shop, picked up an unfired Mirouku Brown Bess for $125.00.

Early Last Year: A Pedesoli 1859 Sharps Berdan Infantry Rifle in new condition for $425.00.

I just thought of another good deal that I acquired back in 2013, I've posted a link to the thread with pictures. to see the pictures, I had to add them at the end because tinypic lost all of them on the beginning page.
https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/my-quasi-target-rifle….89636/

The good deal and the bad that I thought was good.

I found a TOW Issac Haines kit new in the box for $650 shipped on an archery classified, rice barrel, upgraded wood and already had the dovetails cut and the buttplate installed by TOW. I ran the numbers on TOWs online order form and came up with $1100 not counting the wood upgrade and the work done by TOW, I jumped on this deal.

I had the barrel rebored to .54 but it wasn't a good job. This kit was such a train wreck I worked on it for 2 years, there were at least a dozen flaws in the precarved stock. Finished the gun in spite of the flaws but I doubt it is worth what I paid for the kit.,



Then there was my good deal; Over at the ALR site a guy posted a new in the box Kibler SMR for $800 shipped, said he didn't have time to put it together. BAM, pulled the trigger on that deal so fast it made my head spin.

Turns out the guy didn't know how to take the barrel out of the stock and had cracked the forearm very slightly, easy fix. This kit was from the 46" Rice barrel and Chambers late Ketland lock days when it took a bit of inletting to fit the parts but was still a walk in the park to complete.

I have 74 year old eyes, the rear sight dovetail was too far back for me, it was just a blur. Not wanting to cut another dovetail I decided to sell the rifle. I listed it for $1250, a $450 profit for me and had a line of guys who wanted it. This was local pick-up only at the Alabama Kentucky Rifle show, the sale went through and I found it was bought as gift for a great friend who lived in Clarksville TN, another win.

I remember you having that for sale, I wanted it but would have been third or fourth in line. I have since ordered a Kibler kit.

I own and have owned alot of different muzzleloaders in my life. The very best deal I think I ever got was on my first ml rifle. It was a brand new, in the box, CVA .50 Hawken. I bought it at the Best Company on sale for $99.99. The regular price was $129.99. That gun was very accurate and I used it for deer hunting for my first couple of years. Lost it in the divorce.

Best deal was at a gun show, I was about to leave when I came across a vendor who had a NSW trade gun, with a short 24” barrel, .62 cal, came with a mould as well, $150.00, could not pass it up, that was in 1994.

mark_fare said:

I own and have owned alot of different muzzleloaders in my life. The very best deal I think I ever got was on my first ml rifle. It was a brand new, in the box, CVA .50 Hawken. I bought it at the Best Company on sale for $99.99. The regular price was $129.99. That gun was very accurate and I used it for deer hunting for my first couple of years. Lost it in the divorce.

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I lost a pistol in a divorce one time. So I swore I'd never get divorced again. But it happened again as it does to many good men.
But this time I sold all her rifles on the way to my attorneys office to file papers.

A friend of my brother knew I shot muzzle loaders. He gave to me a CVA Kentucky percussion kit that was made in the 1970's. He bought it with the idea of putting it together and somehow lost interest. It was left in the box for years until he decided the gift it to me, no charge. A few small parts were missing but easily replaced.
That little rifle is a good shooter. Short stock makes it great for persons of a smaller stature.

Last year a friend and customer at the gun shop where I work gave me an old FIE muzzleloader. It is a 45 caliber percussion. He said it had been in his closet for about 50 years and he thought I might enjoy it. (It is the rifle I am holding in my picture.) I restored it and converted it to a canoe gun. (Some call it a blanket gun.) I have shot it a few times, before and after the restoration. It is a fun gun and I will be shooting it more when the weather clears up. --- The pictures are as acquired, the tear down, the restoration results and the gun on the top rack with some of my collection.

Have shot mostly percussion revolvers, in the past and cartridge conversions. However, I think my Best Deal, was this past January, when I bought a repro 1777 Charleville pistol, at a small local gun show. I was familiar with the vendor, but he still wouldn;t cut me a little break, even though the top jaw and screw were missing. I paid $150 for the pistol and later acquired the missing parts for $30. Am looking forward to finally shooting it.

Here is another; When my Dad went to assisted living my brother found a TC Hawken kit in his closet that he had given Dad about 40 years earlier but he never worked on. I had seen this kit in Dad's basement a few years earlier and suspected it would be a rusty mess. My brother offered the kit to me for free.

My Dad didn't have two dimes to rub together, I had helped him with his bills from time to time and didn't feel right taking the kit for free. I looked up what an untouched kit was going for on Gun Broker at the time and found $300 was a fair price. I gave my brother $300 to slip in the back door of my dad's almost depleted checking account without telling him. This made me feel better about getting the "free" kit.

This is an OLD pre warning kit in the white, even with all my gun building experience it took some serious work to fit the parts and make a respectable rifle. Turns out the barrel was still in the original sealed plastic sleeve and was pristine, the only damage from the basement storage was the sear spring and cup were fused into a rusty lump that took a milling machine to mill out to be replaced.





Done;

My best deal a cva 50 cal. It was sitting in a corner of a living room. I ask the lady about it she ask my husband hesin the other room. I ask him he you need it.I could use it .He said put in your truck. I thank him put in it need a nipple a little inspection i noticed something was in the bore . It was a gun clean jage it took today of oil and cleaning to get it out. To it shoots like a new gun

Before I knew anything about muzzleloading flintlocks really ( I had shot percussion in my younger days) I was at a gun show in orange CA a while ago. I came across a table with 6 pedersoli flintlock rifles all priced at $400 each. I picked out the one the one that I liked best on a impulse. I didn't really know what I bought until I got home and looked it up. It was Pedersoli Mortimer in excellent condition. Obviously it was someone's collection this guy got for cheap was trying to make a quick buck. Knowing what I know now I would have bought all 6 I just didn't know what I was looking at.
My son shooting the Mortimer last month.