Investarms

[Crows-R-US]

Woodworking is one of my hobbies. Beechwood blotches bad walnut doesn't. I put three coats of sanding sealer on the stock it still botched like pine. I wonder if the distributor did a cut and paste of the specs.

Could be. My Great Plains kit back in the 80's had beautiful grain in the light colored Euro walnut stock but, anywhere there was end grain it got splotchy as all getout. Had to stain it really dark to even it all out.

 

[kansas_volunteer]

I've never seen an Investarms that wasn't walnut. There are exceptions to every rule.

 

[Prairieofthedog]

My biggest complaint on the Investarm guns.The stocks are fair looking to hideous. They all seem to be some kind of forest ***** walnut.Some have huge heartwood streaks running thru them,some are solid brown,black,red etc.The worse thing is it has to be some of the heaviest wood put on a gun.The buttstocks of all my Hawkens weigh a ton.I have taken the butt plate off of almost all of them and hogged out the stock with a drill and they still weigh way to much!

 

[Steve Martin]

I have owned two Invest Arms Hawkins style rifles over the years, one a .54 caliber flintlock and my current one which is a .54 caliber cap lock. Both were very fine guns and shot great. Neither of mine had chrome bores and this is the first time I have ever read that they ever came that way! Interesting that apparently most did not but yet some did come with chrome bores. I wonder if the chrome bores were confined to a certain period of time? I can see how that would make clean-up much easier!

 

[Dave Markowitz]

Back in the 90s I had a Lyman Great Plains Rifle .54 and I currently own a Cabela's Hawken in .50 that I got in 2013. Neither rifle has a chrome bore and both were very well made.

 

[Dale Lilly]

I would like to see them do a smoothbore or two. How does invest arms compare to Pedersoli?

I recently purchased, on this forum, a "Gallyon" 12 gauge smoothbore made by Investarms. It is very nice in all respects. They are no longer being made, but I saw one on

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a few days ago. It is not quite as nice as mine, but still nice. You can look them up on the internet to see some. OOOOPS! correction, I saw it on 'Guns International' in the Muzzleloader section. Price is $850.

 

[Crows-R-US]

I have owned two Invest Arms Hawkins style rifles over the years, one a .54 caliber flintlock and my current one which is a .54 caliber cap lock. Both were very fine guns and shot great. Neither of mine had chrome bores and this is the first time I have ever read that they ever came that way! Interesting that apparently most did not but yet some did come with chrome bores. I wonder if the chrome bores were confined to a certain period of time? I can see how that would make clean-up much easier!

If proper care is taken so that it never starts flaking, that chrome bore may make cleaning easier. But unfortunately, the used one I bought a couple years ago on gunbroker had started flaking and it was a monster to clean.

 

[Trot]

I may be wrong, but I think some of the shorter carbine versions had chrome lined barrels.

 

[muzzlecap]

I may be wrong, but I think some of the shorter carbine versions had chrome lined barrels.

I think that is correct. I believe their model 150 was chrome lined and I think maybe the gallyon smoothbore. But could be wrong.

 

[Dale Allen Raby]

Over the years, I sold a few Investarms guns used in the store. They looked good, sold quickly and did not come back with any complaints. One I remember came in looking pretty bad. Hadn't been taken care of properly, but it cleaned up OK and the next week somebody bought it.

Some day I might acquire one if the price is right. I'd actually like to see a chrome-lined bore on a muzzleloader. If it is done right, it might be a useful feature... though a good quality stainless barrel would be superior. Gotta look for another Greyhawk, have a nice Walnut New Englander stock to swap the parts into.

Sorry, some days I ramble....

 

[Ed C.]

I must have got a lemon. The spec sheet called out european wallnut I got beechwood. The lock was 1/8" too far forward. The wedge was missing and the replacement fell out.
If you buy one check it over real good.

I recently got a Dixie Hawken (Investarms) and it was a mess. Beechwood stock, mortise not cleaned up, sawdust and chips in trigger and lock. Terrible triggers. They would not even work. Barrel dated 2017. Cleaned it all up. Adjusted triggers and replaced the front trigger adjustment screw with a longer one that could actually adjust the trigger. The gun now is very good, very accurate and I'm happy with it. A week later a left hand Bridger Hawken (which I wanted in the first place) became available through Muzzle Loaders. Also a Beech stock but a new barrel and finished OK. I did have to deepen the inlet on the lock to get a proper hammer hit on the nipple and set up the triggers. Also very happy with this gun now, also very accurate. IMPO, any gun shipped out by a retailer should be checked out for function before shipping. No excuse for taking a gun out of the box and the triggers don't work. The basic components of the current Investarms seem good, not so sure about the craftsmen assembling them at this time.

 

[muzzlecap]

I picked up a nice Investarms 150 about a month ago as the price was right. I just had a look and the bore is chromed. As I mentioned, I think the gallyon was as well. They are also only the two Investarms guns that had checkering back then.

 

[Dale Allen Raby]

I've only seen a few chrome-lined bores... most of those were Browning Citori shotguns, M16 rifles and Chinese SKS rifles. Maybe I saw one chrome-lined Investarms a long time ago. Is this something that one can have done to an existing barrel?

 

[Frontier's]

You can easily smell the difference between walnut and beechwood.

Beechwood is full of what I call, golden nuggets through out the wood. Its softer and lighter too.

Investarm walnut is very hard, splinters, chips pretty easily on their guns.

The investarm bridger hawken I got, was beech wood as well.

 

[Crows-R-US]

I may be wrong, but I think some of the shorter carbine versions had chrome lined barrels.

The one I had with the flaking/chipping chrome bore was a Hawken with 28 inch barrel.

 

[JHB]

I recently got a Dixie Hawken (Investarms) and it was a mess. Beechwood stock, mortise not cleaned up, sawdust and chips in trigger and lock. Terrible triggers. They would not even work. Barrel dated 2017. Cleaned it all up. Adjusted triggers and replaced the front trigger adjustment screw with a longer one that could actually adjust the trigger. The gun now is very good, very accurate and I'm happy with it. A week later a left hand Bridger Hawken (which I wanted in the first place) became available through Muzzle Loaders. Also a Beech stock but a new barrel and finished OK. I did have to deepen the inlet on the lock to get a proper hammer hit on the nipple and set up the triggers. Also very happy with this gun now, also very accurate. IMPO, any gun shipped out by a retailer should be checked out for function before shipping. No excuse for taking a gun out of the box and the triggers don't work. The basic components of the current Investarms seem good, not so sure about the craftsmen assembling them at this time.

The shaping and inleting were terrible. I have to shim the tang forward inorder to line up the nipple with the hammer. I think I will open up the stock and make a brass shim that wraps the tang to move it forward.
Otherwise I like it. The rifle is as accurate as my other muzzleloaders shooting offhand.

 

[stephenprops1]

I’ve read lots of accounts/complaints about T/C’s quality. I think it’s like everything else. You put enough people to talking and someone had had a bad experience with just about anything. Both are solid guns and will get you shooting at a somewhat reasonable price.

I have owned several T/C guns over the years. I currently have a T/C Hawken in 45 caliber. None of them have ever given me any problems.

 

[Stykbow]

I have owned several T/C guns over the years. I currently have a T/C Hawken in 45 caliber. None of them have ever given me any problems.

I didn’t mean to imply that T/C’s were less. Just that no matter what it is someone has a complaint about something. If you look around you’ll find just as many folks harping about T/C’s quality as you will Investarms. At their price point you’ll have a hard time beating either.

 

[ohio ramrod]

I find them not only basicly equal in quality(If not cosmetic finish), But even many parts will interchange they are that close to the same.

 

[chorizo]

Chrome plating bores in shotguns in particular, was very popular during the 60s, 70s and into the 80s with Spanish and Italian makers. Both the Spanish and Italians are negligent cleaners. I used to get laughed at in Spain for cleaning my guns religiously after hunting.

When done right and with no scratches or thin plating, chrome works well. The US military used it for years in the M-16, especially those for export to latin american countries where high humidity and poor maintenance practices were common. Also it is highly resistant to bore erosion at high temps during rapid firing.

https://daytonatactical.com/ar-barrels-chrome-lined-versus-not-chrome-lined
The issue becomes that if there is poor adhesion or any breech in the integrity of the chrome, corrosion gets under the chrome and it starts to flake off. Worse thing is there is no possible way to stop it once it is under the chrome layer. On a rifle it has disastrous results whereas on a shotgun, it accelerates the deterioration of the bore.

I have found that chrome plating on Spanish guns and Italian guns to be spotty, poorly executed and prone to flaking. I believe it is mostly due to poor barrel prep and not removing all the oils prior to plating and the desire to do it on the cheap with thin layers of plating.

I spoke to a barrel maker in Spain (Bergara) and to numerous Spanish Shotgun makers in the Eibar/Basque country region where spanish guns are produced while serving as the USMC attaché to Spain in the 1990s. To them it was a marketing ploy and they didn't like it as it inhibited their ability to fine tune the bores on shotguns and it was usually restricted to the low end models. As for rifles, it was done when ASKED for, but not by choice. I cannot speak to the proclivities of the Italian makers, but I suspect they are not all that much different