about building an indian trade musket

[taylorh]

Hello,
I am thinking about building and indian trade musket offered by Track of the Wolf in 20 gauge. I would like to hear from any of you that have attempted building such a gun. What stains did you use? Level of difficulty? Browning formulas? Satisfaction etc...
:thanks:

 

[max]

Just finished building one from Track. I used their premium grade maple stock but have mixed feelings on it. The ramrod hole was drilled 1/8" off centre and the grain could be better, but otherwise it's O.K. I used Birdhwood Casey's Brown Mahogany with good results and Laurel Mountain Forge on the metal with the usual excellent results. The Davis lock required extensive tuning and quite a bit of metal had to be removed from the mainspring (must have been a leaf spring from a model T ) before it would break at a consistant 2 1/4 lbs. I used the Tulle trigger and plate which should last longer than the pinned one in the catalogue. I also used the traditional turtle front sight and find the gun shoots about 3 1/2" low at 25 yards using 70 gr. of 2f. Will have to remove some of the top of the sight to correct this. The barrel ( I think it's a York ) lookes smooth but you can feel the variations in reaming when you drive the ball home. Hope this helps.

 

[rich pierce]

Dang I could live with any of those things except an uneven bore. I'd lap it if it was mine.

 

[OTHERN]

For about the same price you can get a kit from Northstar West. I put together the Northstar west tradegun and it is great and Matt was very helpful and the service was great.

Othern :m2c:

 

[Trot]

I built one a year ago and I love mine. There is a fair amount of work involved, but nothing too complex. The lock on mine is a great sparker and works real smooth, as previously stated however it has a heavy trigger pull. I used Birchwood Casey browning and it came out real well. My only regret is that I got the maple stock instead of spending the extra for the walnut one. I used Birchwood Casey walnut stain and it looks great, but walnut is more historically accurate. This has become my favorite gun. I may go back over it this winter and trim the stock down a little and refinish it, there is a fair amount of wood to remove in the kit ,and I left it a little hefty in the forestock. Good luck.

 

[11th corps]

I finished mine in the early summer. When I ordered my "kit" I paid for the plain maple stock, but they upgraded it. It turned out very nicely.
I had no complaints (except it does have a heavy trigger.)
Otherwise the lock is a great sparker and I have enjoyed shooting it
Someone else mentioned not shooting point of aim. There have been several threads describing shooting a smoothbore-look in the search function-head position makes the difference.
The only thing I would change if I did it again would be to use the turtle sight. It just looks cool.
BTW, the guys here on the forum are very willing to help with your questions-they sure helped me-