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- May 24, 2005
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Hi all. I purchased a position with gun builder Mike Brooks about a year and a half earlier (that I almost forgot about). A call to Mike confirmed I was on his List and he had only one other build ahead of me. Since I already own an English Fowler and Blunderbuss built by Mike, I did not even know what I wanted him to build? Then I remembered how I always wanted the early Doglock Pistol #627 from TRS. Not holding my breath, I called TRS and the Gentleman told me everything was in stock except the completed lock, but would check inventory again and call me back. Later that afternoon a nice lady called me and said they "found" a completed lock and could ship Friday. It was Wednesday and I purchased it over the phone. Well, two ADDITIONAL Fridays later they shipped. It arrived in two boxes. One containing the barrel, the other containing the rest of the Kit. The afternoon it arrived I was busy packing to leave town early the next morning. So I inspected the Kit for less than three minutes (not smart) before re-boxing everything and had my Brother ship it to Mike the next morning. A while later I recieved a call from Mike making me aware of some issues. 1) The right side octagon barrel inlet in the stock had a slight machine error and leave a very slight gap between the barrel and stock. But Mike thought he could make it work in view of the heavy antique finish I requested. (It did work. Have to look real close to tell). 2) The barrel is advertised in the TRS catalog as a .54 caliber (I assumed smooth bore for a 1640 pistol). Mike told me the barrel was the correct size, but it was a .50 caliber RIFLED barrel??? 3) Then, later on Mike broke the top jaw screw trying to take the (band sawed no less) flint out of the jaws :shocked2: Why TRS screwed it down so tight is a mystery. I thought about trying to resolve these issues with TRS, but figured this is the type of thing that would drag on for weeks/months with TRS. So, I told Mike to go ahead and build the gun. Mike found a temporary screw and I would deal with that later with TRS. Well, the gun finished out GREAT!!! I was very happy with the results. Now to resolve the top jaw screw. Sent an email to TRS explaing the situation. I received an email back saying they would send a new top screw out THAT DAY. Well, a month later I received it. The screw diameter too large and the wrong thread size. 
:cursing: So, I used the temporary screw Mike provided and sent back both advising them of the situation. Two weeks later, I just now received the correct top screw and the pistol is complete. Purchasing from TRS is quite an adventure, requiring lots of patience surfing through the mysteries. :surrender: Anyway, here are some photos. Hope you enjoy. Rick.
An interesting footnote: I also own a TRS #812 1690 French Calvery Pistol that I purchased complete, second hand. It too has a .50 caliber (as advertised) barrel - but also RIFLED. Strange.
This last phot includes a Pistol "Bucket: converted for shoulder carry, made by T.C.Albert. Flap is bear fur. The Flask is original staghorn made in Nurenburg between 1590 and 1600. Thought they all looked good next to each other. :grin:
:cursing: So, I used the temporary screw Mike provided and sent back both advising them of the situation. Two weeks later, I just now received the correct top screw and the pistol is complete. Purchasing from TRS is quite an adventure, requiring lots of patience surfing through the mysteries. :surrender: Anyway, here are some photos. Hope you enjoy. Rick.An interesting footnote: I also own a TRS #812 1690 French Calvery Pistol that I purchased complete, second hand. It too has a .50 caliber (as advertised) barrel - but also RIFLED. Strange.
This last phot includes a Pistol "Bucket: converted for shoulder carry, made by T.C.Albert. Flap is bear fur. The Flask is original staghorn made in Nurenburg between 1590 and 1600. Thought they all looked good next to each other. :grin:
