Ok, quick update.
For those of you hoping for a firearem built to the specs of a custom gun for under $500.00... It would be a good time to hit your "back button" as you would be disapointed.
For those of us who know what to expect from a Indian made firelock, please read on.
The Bunderbuss has a high Cool factor, it made my heart skip as I unboxed it.
The Lock has that clunky look of a early style firearm, the springs are stiff and strong, the frizzen is a ugly ducking in shape, but sparks like a firestorm... (this is the 3rd current made Indian flint lock that I've seen in the last 2 years and they all throw a firestorm of sparks that is far beyond what my 3 custom flintlocks can do...)
The cock is designed to throw the sparks right in to the middle of the pan. The pan has a nice depth to it. There is no waterproofing ridges to protect the priming charge from water( but I don't know it they were doing that yet in the 1690's)The frizzen is stiff to set, but flies forward smoothly when struck.
I have not been able to pull the lock off yet as I have to sneak around my wife with this firearm that she dosen't know about... :hmm:
The trigger pull is a nice 8 or so pounds :shocked2:, (I have had to do lock jobs on the other two Indian made flintsers I've seen lately as they were in the high 20-30 pounds for trigger pulls... one was LA the other was HM) The trigger on this is crisp with an nice clean break.
Bore is smooth and nicely polished in a .65 cal , the metal work is done well.the Cannon style muzzle is well done. Threads on screws are nice, but the workers tried to put that "pimp" bright Indian polish on all the parts... over tool marks, etc... :shake:... I'll just take that pimp finish down and acid gray all the metal.
Wood... ok, it's that fruit wood.... My gun has a sections of the stock that are damn nice, it looks like walnut, then the grain opens up to a very large size... most of the wood work is very nice, comb is nice, overall style is nice, but the workman left heavy rasp marks in the stock near the buttplate, broke out a few wood chips at the top of the butplate...
and the fitting at the end of the breech and the ramrod entry into the stock is rough... it can be cleaned up with sharp tools and a bit of skill. The work around the lock is nice, but I have not yet pulled the lock to see what the wood work looks like under the lockplate.
The stock finish is a walnut look alike that was slopped on in some places and applied nicely elsewhere(It looks like it was applied with the gun assembled as some of the metal has stock finish on it). I just used a sanding pad to knock down the shine and the goop-up areas with fairly good results (long time goal is to refinish with a better finish).
The one odd thing about the fruit wood is that it absorbs the Indian stain in most parts of the stock but some places it just dries on the surface. I had a few spots where I had to "repaint" the wood with a dark walnut stain I had as the finish just peeled off with a simple touch leaving a stark white wood. :shocked2:
Now, after saying all of this... I think the new "buss" is cool. I like the way it handles, and I think it's a great gun for the money. :thumbsup:
Overall coolness factor. 10, Baby!
Lock work 9.0
Wood work 7.5 (but most problems can be fixed)
Metal work 8.0 ( It be higher if they didn't do the "pimp" polish, sigh...)
Once again, if you are hoping for a $2000.00 gun for $495, you would be disappointed. If you can live with a bit of rough wood workthat is fixable on this type of working gun, then it's a buy at $495.00
Don't forget, many sea faring guns had their stocks japanned, you can cover a lot of "sins" with a bit of black paint. I may do that with this one in time... but first, I need to get it to the range!
Cheers,
DT
