Questions on a rifle I saw for sale

I have a few questions to ask about a rifle I found on one of the guns sales sites. It is a Dixie Gun Works Tennessee Mountain Rifle in .50 caliber and is Flintlock. The rifle looks to have a good stock and ramrod as well as a good bore. However, the barrel has rust about 2 inches from the muzzle across the entire barrel in a solid band measuring about 1.5~2 inches. The area around the touchhole also has significant powder corrosion from ignition which has removed bluing and the frizzen is well worn in from years of being struck. That all being said the seller wants $800.00 for the rifle. Is this too much for one of these rifles, I would presume this rifle was a production gun as I see them mentioned on here often. Is this rifle worth what the seller is asking or should I just wait for a contemporary build to pop up for the same price. The rifle looks nice but would hate to overpay for something worth only half of what I bought it for when I could spend a bit more for a lot more. Also, if anyone knows a good value for rifles like this could you share your input. I highly doubt the seller would back down on the price, but I would definitely wait to see if the price drops to something I could verify as reasonable. Thanks to all who reply, I would like to make this my first flintlock rifle as I only have percussion.

evaluation of the gun in question is nearly impossible without pictures. kind of like asking "is my girl friend pretty?". no real basis for a guess.
800.00 should get you a gun without warts i would think.

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/947637048. Here I bet its this one the OP is talking about.

There isnt any bore pictures of this gun and just my .02 worth its not worth the asking price

decent enough, but without bore pictures i would not get all heated up over it. that vent liner sure looks deep. i would be afraid of corrosion on backside of the lock plate.

It looks like a kit gun and not well put together at that.

Bore condition aside, IMHO those Dixie Gun Works Tennessee Mountain Rifles ... (1) aren't worth more than $550 and then (2) only if you like extremely muzzle heavy rifles.

The band of rust on the barrel looks like it could have been leaning in a rack of some sort for a considerable time , or had rope tied around it
Made in Japan , so it has some age on it , who would have made it ? Miroku ? Can you get parts for these rifles ?

SharpsburgEnfield said:

That all being said the seller wants $800.00 for the rifle. Is this too much for one of these rifles,

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In my opinion, too much for one of these rifles. And then 56 photographs and none of the bore? Or did I miss them?

Yes on Miroku and L&R makes RPL locks for it. No Dave you didn’t miss it there isnt any bore pics

BigAl52 said:

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/947637048. Here I bet its this one the OP is talking about.

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That is the exact rifle

mark_fare said:

It looks like a kit gun and not well put together at that.

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Thanks for the input I would have never been able to tell it was a kit rifle.

Flint62Smoothie said:

Bore condition aside, IMHO those Dixie Gun Works Tennessee Mountain Rifles ... (1) aren't worth more than $550 and then (2) only if you like extremely muzzle heavy rifles.

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Noted I did not know these rifles were muzzle heavy. I guess I should wait for a rifle to come up for sale here then.

I looked at the same rifle, the seller has no clue about anything muzzleloader related and is only selling at that price because another seller sold one for $881.00 he claims about 2 months ago. I would steer clear as it seems like a trash heap. You would be about $850~$900 in with all fees and purchase and then an L&R Lock on a site like TOTW will be about $220 so now you have a $1200 production rifle from the 1970s or 1980s. At that rate Kibler... I am waiting for a nice one to show up here.

My first flintlock was the factory version of this gun. I shot it so much that I had to go up. 005 in ball size to account for wear. Split cards, split balls, punched paper. Won a few matches.

Eventually I wore out the frizzen and had to have it resoled.

Front heavy? Maybe, but I never noticed. I still have the gun and intend to pass it down to my great nephew.

Can't recommend it enough.

IronHand

These were good rifles when they came out: still are. They have a cherry stock and were made in Japan. They are still in demand and bring a good price when in nice condition.

If I remember correctly the barrels were browned, not blued. They were also built to easily convert from flint to percussion by swapping out the lock and drum/ vent liner, so a shooter could use the same rifle for both types of matches.

BigAl52 said:

There isnt any bore pictures of this gun and just my .02 worth its not worth the asking price

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X2.

Call Dixie.
They are a straight up company and if they wanna make a sale have them send you bore pics. Just don’t buy a buff sling from them.

deerstalkert said:

evaluation of the gun in question is nearly impossible without pictures. kind of like asking "is my girl friend pretty?". no real basis for a guess.
800.00 should get you a gun without warts i would think.

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IF you really want a good one(in my opinion) add a couple hundred more to that, IF YA CAN, and get a Kibler kit!! I DON'T THINK YOU WILL BE DISAPPOINTED!!! Kibler long rifle.com

If it doesn't sell, email him and offer $500 or whatever you think it's worth. That has worked for me before.