Well, my doglock musket came in three days early! I recieved it about 30 minutes ago. It is a very nice musket, overall and I am not disappointed. But, the bad news is, it was damaged by UPS!!! :cursing: There was a large hole in the shipping box. The musket was nicely wrapped in bubblewrap and styrofoam peanuts, but the wooden ramrod was completely broken in half just below the lower thimble. It looks like it took a good hit and it is obvious that the damage was caused by UPS package handlers. There was no other damage to the musket. The rammer must have taken the full brunt of the hit, whatever it was. The package was even marked "Fragile". That must mean to UPS, "don't throw farthur than 5 feet". :shocked2: I tried calling Military Heritage to get them to send me out a replacement rammer, but they were already closed for the day. I will have to call them on Monday.
The musket appears well made with a nice reddish brown finish to the stock, which I believe is rosewood? The finish on the metal surfaces is very good. The cock is very slightly loose, but I believe it will tighten up. I may have to put a small thin washer under the cock screw to tighten it. The muzzle crown is very sharp and needs to be crowned a little better. I can do that myself. But for the price, I am not really disappointed in the musket. I am disappointed in UPS! It is a beautiful musket. The lock plate is marked, "Walker". The side plate is a nicely engraved serpent pattern. It has a fairly heavy trigger pull and the square-topped frizzen is a little stiff. The brass buttplate is nailed on as I believe the originals were.
I would like to shoot it this weekend, but still need to drill the vent hole. I will probably use a 1/16" bit. I can use the rammer out of my Pedersoli Short Land Pattern Musket until I get a replacement rammer from MH. Oh, wait a minute, that won't work. The doglock musket is .69 caliber and my Brown Bess is .75 caliber. Hmm, maybe I can use the rammer out of my Armisport Model 1842 Musket. Oh well!