Jack Garner guns

[WV MZL HUNTER]

I asked about his guns did not get very much feed back? What little I did read, some said ok and some I read said not so good? Now I am not sure to spend the cash on this gun? It has SILER LOCK
DAVIS TRIGGERS AND GM BARREL. Fancy stock.

I am more concerened about the workings of it?
I will shoot it a lot.

 

[jimeckersley]

Tell us a little more about the gun you're looking at, including the asking price.

 

[WV MZL HUNTER]

The gun is one of a 1000 made for WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY. It has ingraving on both sides of the stock. The ingraving was done by lazier.
It is #77 of 1000 but is has a small scratch on the stock. Asking $1450.00 It is fancy.
I am more concerened about the work of the builder I don't want to get stuck with a gun that will not shoot. I will shoot this gun. I don't care how fancy it is, I take care of my guns.

 

[richardn]

Billygoat - jack is an old hand in gun building. I would not expect any mechanical problems with his creations.

 

[oldarmy]

I have bought one of his Tenn poor boys in the white.
Nice rifle and also number of his kits. both are a great value and I think they were well worth what I paid.
However He does some things the M/L community frowns on.
Mine had the milled out ramrod. does that to save throwning away stocks.
Sometimes he uses a big wood screw instead of a tangbolt.
If these bother you. I would check the rifle first and then decide wether to buy or not.

 

[tnlonghunter]

I've also got a TN rifle of his. .50 flintlock with a Siler and double set triggers. I love it to death. I've never had a problem with it. It's deadly accurate with the right load (I shoot a .495 PRB with 75 gr. of gFFF and get 1" at 50 yards). I know some people don't care for his guns, but I'd probably not have any concerns buying another. It's never let me down.

 

[jimeckersley]

It's my understanding that Jack farmed out some of the work on these rifles. I personally know a gunsmith who did some of the work. But, Jack supervised and still has his name, and reputation, involved. I wouldn't hesitate one minute to own one of the West Virginia University rifles. As I said, I know one of the gunsmiths who did some of the work. They're nice pieces with mostly standardized parts. If you ever needed to, you can replace locks, trigger assemblies, etc.

 

[WV MZL HUNTER]

Thanks for the feed back, I am sure I will like the rifle. I have been shooting Muzzleloaders for over 30 years but they have been T/C guns. :thumbsup:

 

[Jon in MI]

I have a Jack Garner Late Lancaster, and I love it and hate it. It's very accurate and works very well. But as I started to build my first gun and learned the right way to do things I found a lot of corners cut on my Lancaster. Things like the front lock screw is a fake and lock inletting was way too agressive, took out too much wood. That said, It shoots great, always goes off and I've had nothing brake on it.

Jon

 

[LRB]

Garner takes many short cuts. He positively has no concept of how to fit a wood patchbox. I have never come across one that did not need a touch, here or there, to make it work properly. The locks I have seen were built from a parts kit, and not very well. That said, his prices are not bad, but it helps to have a few skills in refining what you get. Overall, you get what you pay for, hand built guns are not cheap.