Austin & Halleck .50- cal.-Mtn. Rifle

[2feathers]

Hello
I have the opportunity to pick up an Austin-Halleck .50 cal. mountain rifle for what I think is a fair mkt. price but am not familiar with this particular brand. Will someone who knows about this brand give me some of their experiences with this brand. the bbl. is .50 cal. with a 1:66 twist.

 

[bioprof]

Just before they closed their doors, A&H was closing out their Mountain Rifles for 50% off. I bought one, but turned around and sold it for a small profit because I wasn't impressed. The inletting was less than perfect, I could see sanding marks in the wood and the wood was very soft. The finish on the metal wasn't very thick either. It looked like they applied only 2 or 3 coats of cold browning solution to the barrel and lock. Oh, and the inside of the barrel was browned also. :shake: Personally, I wouldn't pay more than what the factory was selling them for just before they went out of business. My experiences were with closeout rifles though, and they may have been trying to get rid of less than perfect stock.

The A&H Mountain rifles may look nice in their pictures, but I think a person's money might be better spent by buying a T/C Hawken or a Lyman rifle.

 

[renovato]

I own a couple A&H rifles and have sold a few others (I bought a bunch when the factory closed them out). They are a really good gun for the money but they did let an occasional lemon sneak out. Of the 12 I bought at closeout, all were 100%. They have very crisp, light triggers, relatively fast lock times and the bores are absolutely flawless. They have the best barrel of any factory gun that I know of. Mine will easily outshoot all my Lyman and T/C guns.

A&H had Boyd making the stocks for them and occasionally they had stock fit issues. Take a close look at the wood. Look for fit problems or hairline cracks. Be sure the seller lets you dry fire it a few times (protect the nipple if it's a percussion gun). If the lock works smoothly and the trigger is crisp, you have a good gun that I think you will enjoy.

 

[Bob Riegl]

:hmm: Frankly having owned an A&H, and I as others sold it, choosing to keep my GPR as a better built rifle IMHO.I never quite thought what I had seen of A&H guns that they were in no way superior to GPR and cost a few bucks more---never liked them. :thumbsup:

 

[playfarmers]

I had one in flint that had several issues, and they finally replaced it with a very nice looking rifle. It took a bit of work with the lock, but ended up a real good looking shooter. The 9+ lbs was not to my liking, so I sold it and ended up with a Lyman Trade percussion. The Lyman rifles are much better in my opinion.

 

[steelerzzz]

It seems the reason that some guys think they are great rifles and other guys think they are junk is that(as told to me by another forum member)some were made in Missouri and some were made in Provo Utah.The ones that are made in Weston Missori are beautiful well made rifles and the ones made in Utah were of much lesser quality. This is probably the reason for such a difference of opinions. I have a Weston made flintlock that I have a minor lock issue on...but its curly maple stock and deep browned finish make it a much nicer rifle than any of the T/C or Lyman Hawken style rifles!

 

[Zonie]

One hazard that has come to light here on the forum is the fact that parts for the AH rifles are apparently not available.
A member is looking for lock parts and the last I saw he was batting zero.

IMO, anyone considering buying a used (or even new in box) rifle should think carefully about having a gun that can't be easily fixed.

 

[faw3]

That must be why no one grabed (now gone) the one with the 400 buck scope for sale on here, if I could still shoot I would of tryed to grabe it, that Malcom scope is a winner if you have bad eye's like mine. Fred

 

[shmrck1]

Hello
I have the opportunity to pick up an Austin-Halleck .50 cal. mountain rifle for what I think is a fair mkt. price but am not familiar with this particular brand.

jerrylm,
If you don't know anything about
Austin-Halleck then how do you know about
fair market price?
snake-eyes:hmm:
jerrylm,
Follow this thread!

 

[steelerzzz]

lol......good point! Parts are pretty much impossible to find...I'm going nuts trying to find a tumbler for a lock.

 

[Swampman]

I like the way they look and if I could find one cheap say $225.00(in percussion with fancy wood)I'd probably buy it. I wouldn't want one in flint.

Because the parts were made in Spain, I tend to think of them as a high grade CVA.

 

[renovato]

The only thing made in Spain, to my knowledge, is the barrel. Ardessa did a far better job with the barrels for A&H than they do with the barrels for the Traditions guns that are also made by them.

I believe the lock and trigger parts were made in Utah at the North American Arms plant where A&H did their assembly.

If I had to make a choice between the A&H or a Lyman, I'd probably take the Lyman, even though the A&H is more accurate. Simply because I haven't had my A&H guns long enough to know how well they'll hold up, and if there will be parts wear issues. I know Lymans are durable.