Has Anyone Ever Bought A Lemon?

[arcticap]

If you've ever bought a black powder gun that was a lemon, then please swallow some pride and work up enough courage to tell us about it.
I realize that not every lemon was as bad as you may have thought it was.
Some folks actually like guns that have some defects since they often try to fix them.
What were some of the defects that you felt that your gun had and how did the problem get resolved?
Did you fix it, live with it or did you simply pass it along by selling it off?
I'm sure that we all have some stories to tell!
Maybe by passing on some of the lessons you learned will help other folks to avoid the bitter taste of biting into...I mean buying into a lemon!

 

[crankshaft]

nope....

 

[Le Loup]

If you've ever bought a black powder gun that was a lemon, then please swallow some pride and work up enough courage to tell us about it.
I realize that not every lemon was as bad as you may have thought it was.
Some folks actually like guns that have some defects since they often try to fix them.
What were some of the defects that you felt that your gun had and how did the problem get resolved?
Did you fix it, live with it or did you simply pass it along by selling it off?
I'm sure that we all have some stories to tell!
Maybe by passing on some of the lessons you learned will help other folks to avoid the bitter taste of biting into...I mean buying into a lemon!

Yes, many years ago I purchased a second hand .50 caliber Thompson/Center rifle. I found that the bore was not central to the barrel, & the bore went from side to side, so it was impossible to adjust the sites to make it shoot straight. I returned it to the gun shop & got my money back.
Keith.

 

[Britsmoothy]

I bought a Berretta super imposed in a hurry that the barrels had not been cleaned correctly and had pits that required the one inspecting them to wear a miners lamp!
It fitted me perfect and shot ball and shot to an excellent level but I just got fed up with that feeling of roughness as I loaded. I tried honing and sanding but eventually I could not stand it so traded it.
A sad and costly affair!

 

[Carbon 6]

Yes, I guess I have, but no risk no reward. Muzzleloaders and modern guns alike, I've found jewels among what others would consider garbage.

 

[appalichian hunter]

No, do your research and find a reputable builder and ask for references, ask to see their work and question the parts to be used and where they are coming from, ask if any of the work is farmed out. I usually do not take chances on used weapons of any type. The most recent was a R.O.A. and it turned out to be excellent, even at the price I paid if it was in poor condition it would of been parted out to recover the cost. Be sure if you buy a used weapon un seen that the seller has a return policy. The best advise I give a person do not impulse buy.

 

[SDSmlf]

Purchased a muzzleloader ‘lemon’ in the late 70s. The two piece stock Kentucky Rifle (percussion) kit by CVA. It was a complete disaster. Holes were misaligned (pin holes between the two piece stock for example), oversized and off location. Dovetails were oversized and crooked. There were lock problems. The hammer was nowhere near to striking the nipple. A long list of issues. A good example of an early Dukar and their problems.

Wrote a long letter to CVA customer service with detailed sketches of all areas of concern. Actually used the word lemon in my letter. They responded rather quickly with an offer of a new kit or a completely assembled gun. Took the assembled gun. Turned out to be quite a shooter and it still sits in a safe at a buddy’s house. It has been the first muzzleloader for each of his two boys.

Soon after receiving the replacement gun I went to a sportsmen’s show in town. Introduced myself to the CVA rep who happened to be in attendance (they were a real American company then) and we talked about the issues I had and thanked him for what CVA did. The rep told me to come back before I left the show. When I returned before heading home he handed me a new rifle from their display, just like the one I had recently received and he told me to keep it. He wanted me to know they stood behind their products. That gun sits in the safe I unfired to this day. Just never got around to shooting it. Keep file folders on all my guns. Believe the letter from CVA is filed there.

 

[Eric Krewson]

Back in the day we all bought a lot of TCs, I have to confess none of us knew about working up a load for them. I has one that was the most accurate gun I owned at the time and two or three that shot foot groups at 5O yards, again I didn't know about working up loads.

My last TC was a my first flintlock, the touch hole was in the rear corner of the pan and the lock was made to fit the inlet with hot melt glue. I sent it back to TC, they said nothing was wrong with it. It didn't go bang, it went click. wooooooosh and finally bang. I considered the gun a lemon and didn't buy a new TC ever again. I did put together a kit my dad had and built Renegade from random parts, but am not a huge TC fan.

 

[bang]

74- 75, first one. Newbie beyond newbie. Was maticulas and got everything fitted. Went to shoot it and it hit so bad to right. Got to looking at it and the barrel was drilled a bit off center but didn't appear to be so much as to cause that much a problem.found me a metal rod about 8 feet long and put in down barrel. Well the bore was off center but drilled to center at breach. Chocked it up to my bad for not preinspecting it. Figured it out up to 25 yards an used it for a shotgun. Still shot a bunch if squirrels with it till it was time to go better. Then built a TC Hawkin 4 years later.

 

[tenngun]

Never a bad gun, but a lemon lock, a Davis that had everything wrong with it I could think of.
I’ve had other Davis’ that were good but one that was designed to test the faithful.

 

[Juice Jaws]

The best advise I give a person do not impulse buy.

If it wasn't for impulse buying I would not own anything.

 

[sussexmuzllodr]

If you've ever bought a black powder gun that was a lemon, then please swallow some pride and work up enough courage to tell us about it.
I realize that not every lemon was as bad as you may have thought it was.
Some folks actually like guns that have some defects since they often try to fix them.
What were some of the defects that you felt that your gun had and how did the problem get resolved?
Did you fix it, live with it or did you simply pass it along by selling it off?
I'm sure that we all have some stories to tell!
Maybe by passing on some of the lessons you learned will help other folks to avoid the bitter taste of biting into...I mean buying into a lemon!

Have an old T/C that I fell down a hill with.
Broke the stock good. Surgery with glue and brass screws. Stronger than before I broke it.
Part of its history now. When it gets passed the visual will remind my heir of the clumsy old guy!

SM

 

[Kansas Jake]

The first rifle kit I bought in the middle 70s was a CVA Jukar kit. The lock was bad and the barrel rough. I kept it a number of years for sentimental reasons, but eventually traded it off. I also bought a Rogers & Spencer at a gun show a couple of years ago. I couldn't get a good look at the bore, but it was cheap so a took a chance. It shoots okay, but has a terrible bore. It is beyond recovery. Still I only gave a little over $100 for it.

 

[sussexmuzllodr]

Back in the day we all bought a lot of TCs, I have to confess none of us knew about working up a load for them. I has one that was the most accurate gun I owned at the time and two or three that shot foot groups at 5O yards, again I didn't know about working up loads.

My last TC was a my first flintlock, the touch hole was in the rear corner of the pan and the lock was made to fit the inlet with hot melt glue. I sent it back to TC, they said nothing was wrong with it. It didn't go bang, it went click. wooooooosh and finally bang. I considered the gun a lemon and didn't buy a new TC ever again. I did put together a kit my dad had and built Renegade from random parts, but am not a huge TC fan.

Eric, My New Englander capper always faired better than the flinter.
SM

 

[Prairieofthedog]

Back in the day we all bought a lot of TCs, I have to confess none of us knew about working up a load for them. I has one that was the most accurate gun I owned at the time and two or three that shot foot groups at 5O yards, again I didn't know about working up loads.

My last TC was a my first flintlock, the touch hole was in the rear corner of the pan and the lock was made to fit the inlet with hot melt glue. I sent it back to TC, they said nothing was wrong with it. It didn't go bang, it went click. wooooooosh and finally bang. I considered the gun a lemon and didn't buy a new TC ever again. I did put together a kit my dad had and built Renegade from random parts, but am not a huge TC fan.

I have restored a lot of TC's and have only seen a few earlier ones that didn't have the hot melt glue somewhere on them LOL!Their inlets were usually good, but the depth was usually to deep.I think their machinery just got sloppier after many years and thousands of guns.

 

[russellshaffer]

I bought an early 70's CVA Kentucky kit, too. It absolutely would not group and I tried everything I could think of. I finally put the barrel in a vice and removed the breechplug. The barrel looked like it had been rifled by a metal eating worm crawling down the bore. I gave the barrel to a gunsmith who had a rifleing machine he was learning to use and the rest of the parts went to my brother, I think. I don't think my gunsmith friend ever did anything with the barrel - it would have needed to be bored out smooth and redone and there probably wasn't enough meat for that.

 

[nkbj]

I'd once purchased a Renegade by mail with great assurances of a great bore, no crack opposite the lock, yadda yadda.
EE-ooo!

 

[Carbon 6]

Sometimes the price is so good, lemon or not it's had to pass up.

 

[arcticap]

I bought a brand new Navy Arms .45 mule ear rifle quite a few years after I had bought the same model in .50 caliber, and which was made by Pedersoli in many calibers .32 - .50.
Went to the range and the trigger broke before I could even fire 15 shots out of it [IIRC it was about 11 shots].
I sent only the stock to Navy Arms to have it fixed and called them periodically over a 2+ year period to find out when it would be ready.
First they said that their gunsmith didn't get to it yet, then they said they couldn't get the part and that the gunsmith
would need time to fabricate one,
Eventually they said that they couldn't find my gun [they misplaced it] and that they would give me any used gun of similar value from their gun shop
if I would come in and pick one out.
So I drove over 2 hours each way and picked out an Ishapore .308 with a synthetic stock which they agreed to ship to my FFL.
They sent the gun to my FFL without any paperwork.
I didn't trust the chamber spec's. on that rifle so I sold it on consignment.
Since I still had possession of the barrel, I use it with my .50 stock and it fits perfectly.
Some years later I found a new replacement Pedersoli mule ear lock for sale and bought it.
How I wish that I had never sent the stock back to them since whatever part that broke couldn't have been that hard to fix.
That was the 2nd run of that particular model, and many guns of the 1st run were defective due to manufacturing defects by Pedersoli.
I think that the .45 was a gun that was left over from the 1st production run.
When I wrote a letter to Pedersoli asking about accessory barrels or parts, they replied that there were none available,
but that if I wanted to special order 500 guns that they would be happy to build them.

 

[BrownBear]

Sometimes the price is so good, lemon or not it's had to pass up.

I hunt for them. Often as not someone else's "lemon" is in fact just a gun that's been mismanaged. If the guy didn't do much damage in his ignorance, a little cleaning and maintenance can reveal a treasure. My favorite "lemons" are the ones that had their barrels seasoned and are eventually "shot out." Shoot.... A good cleaning with brake cleaner or carburetor cleaner gets rid of all that useless "seasoning" and reveals nice shiny rifling beneath it. Last one wasn't a whole rifle. A guy just gave me his shot out barrel when he ordered a new replacement. Thanks bud!