I hesitate to open this door but what the heck. I love this forum but there is a two points of view on all things!
On this forum it always comes down to traditional and non traditional and by that I do mean PC and non-PC.
The first thing that comes out in one of these discussions is that it doesn't look right. It's close but maybe that's not good enough for some! But guys we are all after the same thing,"traditional muzzleloading"! If you weren't you be out there shooting on of those new fangled blanety :redface: blank inlines and this forum would be of no intrest to you.
My first rifle was a Traditions, the St. Louis Hawken, it was a kit. It allowed me to do what I had wanted to do for years. Get back to something I had tried 20+years before and that was, "traditional hunting/shooting"!
I live on a limited income since I got messed up 12 years ago, and there was no way I could afford to go with a higher priced rifle let alone a custom!
Now I will grant you from my experience my Traditons kit lacked alot of fit and some finsh. But through this forum and asking for and getting good advice I managed to end up with a fairly decent rifle. It is more like a custom in some aspects because I basically reshaped the entire stock, refit some of the hardware, and built some parts of my own. All things learned and furthered by this forum. At the end of the day, when I got through the Traditions rifle turned out to be a good shooter, if I do my part it will do it's part!
In the near future I am going to be starting my second rifle another kit. I just purchased a Lyman GPR and I think it's going to be a dandy! Had I not took a chance on a "lesser quality" gun to get my foot in the door, at a price I could afford, I probablly would not be looking at building my second rifle. Who knows my next one may be a total custom reproduction with the absolute best barrel and furniture that money can buy. That dosen't mean it will make me a better shot, just more PC!
The point I am trying to make here gentlemen is this. Even in traditional muzzleloading we have our purists, who would not be caught dead with anything less than an accurate reproduction/custom of an origional rifle, and more power to them if they can afford to go that route.
On the other hand you have those who have an intrest for the traditonal but, for one reason or another either can't or are unwilling too pay the extra buck for the high priced custom/reproduction.
Is there that much difference in the two groups? Absolutely not! They both love tradional muzzleloading, one probably just tends to have the money and resources to pursue this love of in a more PC manner.
But when you decide to do this kind of analagy you have created two groups and gentlemen two small groups that fight and bicker all the time have far less power than one large group who will stand together.
In this day and time this kind of thinking is counterproductive. We are fighting daily to maintain are rights as citisens of the USA. Not just against a foreign enemy but, those libaralist right here in our country who constantly fight to take away your rights!
It is much more productive for these two groups to realize, they are by far more alike than different!!
As for the rifle, it may not be PC but, its a big step closer than say CVA's new "Electra".
To make a true run at the market at that price will require that, Traditions to make a significant improvement in quailty production. Too me that means they will have to fit in between the Lyman GPR and say the Pendersoli Rocky Mountain Hawken and I have doubts of them be able to pull that off! If they are willing to do this then they might just have themselves a winner, that would put them back in the running for a piece of the American market again.
Having said all that, I would much rather see some one walk out on the range with one of these in his or her hand than an inline any day. At least I know there heart is in the right place!!!!!!!
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