Middlesex Village Trading Co

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Anyone know anything about the guns they make. Thanks
Loyalist Arms has an excellent reputation and apparently so does Veteran Arms. Pretty much most people say to stay away from Middlesex specifically if ordering online. All of them sell Indian made guns (from India)
 
If you want to really appeciate the high quality of "Made in China" junk,
buy something made in India. 😳
That's not quite fair to the manufacturers in India but it is your opinion and you are entitled to it. Yes, many of them do make poorly made things but they also produce some high quality things like the Royal Enfield motorcycle I own. It has been 100% reliable and given me far fewer problems than the BMW I owned.

The biggest issues I've seen with the Indian made guns is they aren't very representative of the original guns because of errors in the shapes of the stocks and the kinds of wood they used.
 

Attachments

  • MUFFLER-003WEB.jpg
    MUFFLER-003WEB.jpg
    119.4 KB
My experience with them is they look pretty on the surface, but they are junk under the facade. The lock works on the one I bought were filthy and rusty and everything that couldn't be seen was flat out nasty. I'm still working on making it workable and I've had it a month
 
I've never ordered anything from MVTC, and based off what I've read of them on the Internet I never will.

The owners is apparently very.......'cantankerous", takes *forever and a day* to get anything done, and even then has the tendency to apparently not do that great a job
 
That's not quite fair to the manufacturers in India but it is your opinion and you are entitled to it. Yes, many of them do make poorly made things but they also produce some high quality things like the Royal Enfield motorcycle I own. It has been 100% reliable and given me far fewer problems than the BMW I owned.

The biggest issues I've seen with the Indian made guns is they aren't very representative of the original guns because of errors in the shapes of the stocks and the kinds of wood they used.
OK. Granted I don't have any any experience beyond tools and BP accessory items, but quality on them has been far from good.😫
 
Middlesex has turned into a shard business, I know 2 people personally who were ripped off by him. Told him the guns were all hand made to order, but neglected to say that his stock was fully assembled in India and sent to the USA. This amounts to a 12-24 month wait on most guns shipped over from India. Not to mention his quality control seems to be terrible. Of all the Indian guns I’ve ever heard of failing or blowing up, were from his shop.

Do yourself a favor and go to Loyalist Arms.
 
That's not quite fair to the manufacturers in India but it is your opinion and you are entitled to it. Yes, many of them do make poorly made things but they also produce some high quality things like the Royal Enfield motorcycle I own. It has been 100% reliable and given me far fewer problems than the BMW I owned.

The biggest issues I've seen with the Indian made guns is they aren't very representative of the original guns because of errors in the shapes of the stocks and the kinds of wood they used.

Indian guns are overall .... oversized. The locks are often chunky, not shaped right and the steel is poor quality. The stocks are made of teak Or rosewood, I’ve seen a few cut from a species of Asian Oak which is junk.

Loyalist arms makes their guns from rosewood which tends to be harder and heavier than walnuts or maples, is much better for gunstock uses than the later.
 
I can't say much about a new one, but I did buy a used India gun from a member here. It has a very nice finish on it, is very reliable and suffers from none of the maladies that the bashers here keep crowing about. Over the last 3 years I have put close to 750 or 1,000 rounds through it. It works as it should, requires no additional maintenance except for routine cleaning. It's as accurate as I would expect a large caliber smoothbore to be. AND - it was something that I could afford being a third of the cost of a Pedersoli and half the cost of a kit from The Rifle Shop.
So is it better to have one like I have and be perfectly happy with it or have nothing at all because of runaway pricing?
That's one you will need to decide for yourself.
P.S. I don't give a "darn" about absolute perfect reproductions. It's close enough for me and the couple of dozen folks I let shoot it at the range. They (and I) enjoy it as a good shooting and reliable firearm.
 
I can't say much about a new one, but I did buy a used India gun from a member here. It has a very nice finish on it, is very reliable and suffers from none of the maladies that the bashers here keep crowing about. Over the last 3 years I have put close to 750 or 1,000 rounds through it. It works as it should, requires no additional maintenance except for routine cleaning. It's as accurate as I would expect a large caliber smoothbore to be. AND - it was something that I could afford being a third of the cost of a Pedersoli and half the cost of a kit from The Rifle Shop.
So is it better to have one like I have and be perfectly happy with it or have nothing at all because of runaway pricing?
That's one you will need to decide for yourself.
P.S. I don't give a "darn" about absolute perfect reproductions. It's close enough for me and the couple of dozen folks I let shoot it at the range. They (and I) enjoy it as a good shooting and reliable firearm.

Nobody is really on here saying an Indian Musket isn’t worth it, the main issue is the owner of Middlsex ripping off his customers.
 
I can't say much about a new one, but I did buy a used India gun from a member here. It has a very nice finish on it, is very reliable and suffers from none of the maladies that the bashers here keep crowing about. Over the last 3 years I have put close to 750 or 1,000 rounds through it. It works as it should, requires no additional maintenance except for routine cleaning. It's as accurate as I would expect a large caliber smoothbore to be. AND - it was something that I could afford being a third of the cost of a Pedersoli and half the cost of a kit from The Rifle Shop.
So is it better to have one like I have and be perfectly happy with it or have nothing at all because of runaway pricing?
That's one you will need to decide for yourself.
P.S. I don't give a "darn" about absolute perfect reproductions. It's close enough for me and the couple of dozen folks I let shoot it at the range. They (and I) enjoy it as a good shooting and reliable firearm.
Yep!
 
Nobody is really on here saying an Indian Musket isn’t worth it, the main issue is the owner of Middlsex ripping off his customers.
I do understand that. My experience has been very limited dealing with MSV. Limited to a single phone call looking for spare parts. And when I say "spare" I do mean spare. I was wanting to pick up some spare springs and a spare frizzen for future use if needed. Peter told me that I would have to send the lock to him to get parts properly fitted. I was not willing to send parts out that did not need repair as then I would not be able to use the gun.
My experience with them is they look pretty on the surface, but they are junk under the facade. The lock works on the one I bought were filthy and rusty and everything that couldn't be seen was flat out nasty. I'm still working on making it workable and I've had it a month
And yes, there are a few on here that like to do the super badmouth thing - I have yet to see any evidence to back the badmouthing.
I also do know that MSV is very slow to get work done and return parts, that much is a fact.
Given the abusive attitude that I see from many members here on the forum, I strongly suspect those that do the badmouthing probably take that same pissy (Karen) attitude with them when they talk to vendors - and as a result get treated the same in return. When I spoke with Peter on the phone he was polite, friendly and very clearly explained what they could and could not do for spare parts.
 
I do understand that. My experience has been very limited dealing with MSV. Limited to a single phone call looking for spare parts. And when I say "spare" I do mean spare. I was wanting to pick up some spare springs and a spare frizzen for future use if needed. Peter told me that I would have to send the lock to him to get parts properly fitted. I was not willing to send parts out that did not need repair as then I would not be able to use the gun.

And yes, there are a few on here that like to do the super badmouth thing - I have yet to see any evidence to back the badmouthing.
I also do know that MSV is very slow to get work done and return parts, that much is a fact.
Given the abusive attitude that I see from many members here on the forum, I strongly suspect those that do the badmouthing probably take that same pissy (Karen) attitude with them when they talk to vendors - and as a result get treated the same in return. When I spoke with Peter on the phone he was polite, friendly and very clearly explained what they could and could not do for spare parts.
My personal experiences with talking to Pete on the phone over the years have all been good. The local gun shops badmouth him, but then again he's the competition.
 
They usually are sent with no touch hole drilled and several have been brought to me to have this done. None were from Middlesex Village but from Veteran Arms. While crude the guns seemed solid and after a bit of work did fire well. As these were to be used by reenactors firing blank loads they did what they were supposed to do, Not sure if they would be up to full charges with patched ball. I've seen much worse from Spain, Brazil, Belgium and some of the eastern European countries. You get what you pay for.
 
Back
Top