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The stacks of finished muskets are fascinating to view!
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How Indian flintlocks are made
- Thread starter bornintheussr
- Start date
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I ride an Indian made motorcycle all over the woods and on the highway, almost daily. I even buy parts from India that is shipped here faster than some U.S. Retailers. I'm not comparing the bike to the Indian muskets, I'm merely saying they CAN produce a quality product and their customer service is outstanding.
As others have stated these hardworking gentlemen in India are building firearms under similar conditions to our
colonial era backwoods gunsmiths days & are doing a great job for what they sell for..
Were fortunate that our forum has numerous senior members with varied backgrounds in collecting, building & shooting who openly help those newer to our history rich sport.
My experience based personal opinions & choices may draw some kickback but there is no benefit for me to mislead anyone.
During the past 60 years I've operated muzzleloading businesses were I repaired customers guns, custom built, collected, restored & shot & competed with mostly original European built firearms as I personally preferred their generally larger bores & style of rifling.
After working on hundreds of replicas & originals the quality & workmanship varied greatly by when & where they were built.
Naturally early firearms built in England & Europe generally exhibit much higher quality metallurgy, workmanship locks & barrels than those built much later by blacksmiths in our much newer American colonies. Cannot expect frontier blacksmiths/gun builders to equal England & Europe's master gunsmiths & metallurgy skills.
As skilled English & European gunmakers settled in our Colonies they started building some very fine firearms & spread their gun building knowledge & we acquired some noted & artistic firearm builders.
Overall it's been my experience that the barrels on the India mfg firearms are much safer than many of our early colonial era forged barrels where I've often found small forging voids in the bores.
With some colonial era American firearms that I intended to shoot extensively in competition I had the barrels relined.
Forged barrels that have been relined tend to produce tighter groups as they generally don't drift due to heat through continued shots.
Locks built in India remind me of some early American colonial era locks. They are somewhat functional but require considerable reworking of internal parts geometry & springs to make them functional unless your happy with a 20 Lb. trigger pull.
Bottom line, it's great that in most parts of America we still have firearm choices & opportunities to purchase what we want & can afford !
colonial era backwoods gunsmiths days & are doing a great job for what they sell for..
Were fortunate that our forum has numerous senior members with varied backgrounds in collecting, building & shooting who openly help those newer to our history rich sport.
My experience based personal opinions & choices may draw some kickback but there is no benefit for me to mislead anyone.
During the past 60 years I've operated muzzleloading businesses were I repaired customers guns, custom built, collected, restored & shot & competed with mostly original European built firearms as I personally preferred their generally larger bores & style of rifling.
After working on hundreds of replicas & originals the quality & workmanship varied greatly by when & where they were built.
Naturally early firearms built in England & Europe generally exhibit much higher quality metallurgy, workmanship locks & barrels than those built much later by blacksmiths in our much newer American colonies. Cannot expect frontier blacksmiths/gun builders to equal England & Europe's master gunsmiths & metallurgy skills.
As skilled English & European gunmakers settled in our Colonies they started building some very fine firearms & spread their gun building knowledge & we acquired some noted & artistic firearm builders.
Overall it's been my experience that the barrels on the India mfg firearms are much safer than many of our early colonial era forged barrels where I've often found small forging voids in the bores.
With some colonial era American firearms that I intended to shoot extensively in competition I had the barrels relined.
Forged barrels that have been relined tend to produce tighter groups as they generally don't drift due to heat through continued shots.
Locks built in India remind me of some early American colonial era locks. They are somewhat functional but require considerable reworking of internal parts geometry & springs to make them functional unless your happy with a 20 Lb. trigger pull.
Bottom line, it's great that in most parts of America we still have firearm choices & opportunities to purchase what we want & can afford !
Great posting Alek !!
bornintheussr
45 Cal.
well said Chuck!
If the locks seem to be the part most likely to cause problems, would it be feasible to replace them with a Rifle Shop lock?
Any option is possible but tuning an Indian lock is much more more cost effective & something many can do with some online research & mechanical abilities.
1General_Grant
40 Cal
Based
1General_Grant
40 Cal
Here watch this: Ignore the thumbnail, it's satire
bornintheussr
45 Cal.
I tuned my first Indian lock following Chuck guidance last year and it was easy, it was free and all I used was a dremel.
Any idiot can blow up the highest quality firearm barrel if thats their intent.
Video actually proved that India made barrels from this source are safe in hands of a sane person.
Video actually proved that India made barrels from this source are safe in hands of a sane person.
1General_Grant
40 Cal
Yes, I know. The reason I posted it is because it proves Indian made barrels are safe.
Thanks Alek
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A rifle shoppe lock is sold as rough castings. Indian locks can be tweaked to work very reliable.
It’s at the same place Rice and Green Mountian are proofed
Point well made General
Your posting on this subject serves a good purpose.
During my years in the firearm business I've seen some crazy gun destructing incidents,
most were caused by operator errors & occasionally due to manufacturing flaws even in better noted replicas.
We rarely find absolute perfection in any modern firearm unless it was custom built by someone like Ron Scott, Kibler, etc, etc.
Luckily we have several excellent gun mechanics on our forum who are willing to help members resolve just about any problem.
Is there a thread detailing how to tune one of these Indian locks?
bornintheussr
45 Cal.
that's a good idea, we need one.
My dog lock from loyalist arms is the best sparking lock I’ve ever owned, and I’ve used Davis,Land R, Chambers and TC
When looking on the various Indian gun importer sites, I’m seeing about an 80-90% “out of stock” rate.
Wouldn’t mind trying one of their blunderbusses or trade pistols but they’re nowhere to be had.
Wouldn’t mind trying one of their blunderbusses or trade pistols but they’re nowhere to be had.
