MVTC English "Ketland" Fusil?

[mauser182]

Does anybody have any experience with this gun or any other gun from MVTC? I really want a Northwest trade gun but the price of one has me looking at the MVTC Ketland Fusil. Is the quality there with any of their products? I am also looking at their Brown Bess as another option. If not is there any other companies that offer a decently priced Northwest trade gun? Any information would be great.

 

[Steve Blancard]

May I suggest you do a search for "MVTC"? Their products and quality have been discussed many times before.

You will find many opinions, but a lot depends on what you plan to do with it. I have one of their 1816 Springfield muskets. I completely refinished and reworked a few things on it to make it to my liking. Its a good sparker and serves my purposes. At best, I think you need to look at the India made guns a kit that just happens to come assembled. Most will require, at a minimum, complete disassembly, cleaning and tuning. Unless you like the mirror finish that comes on the metal and the light teak wood stocks, you may want to refinish both the wood and metal. They do stand behind their products from what I've seen.

 

[gizamo]

I will add that after working on the lock, finishing my stock, and aging the metal.... It was a very satisfactory gun. Out of the box, it was very accurate. No complaints

 

[Twice boom]

Are you saying that flinter was made in India,am I right.
Looks pretty darn good to me.
Twice.

 

[gizamo]

Twice,

Yes, it is a MVTC gun. Actually a Ketland, as mentioned in the original post. Lots of work, to change it's appearance.

Before pic.

 

[Twice boom]

Giz.
Although I like what you did to it better I see nothing shaby with it's original state either.
Thanks for sharing .
Twice.

 

[satwel]

Gizamo,

Great job refinishing that Ketland. I especially like the color of the stock. I just picked up an Indian made Third Model India Pattern Bess and I am going to give it the same treatment--strip, trim, smooth, stain the stock and then take down the chrome-like polish on the metal to a more authentic arsenal bright. Can you please provide some details about how you achieved the finish on your fusil? What did you use to stain the teak stock. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Again, nice job. I hope I can duplicate your results.

 

[tiger13]

I had one of their India pattern model Bess that I just loved to death,I had been wanting a Bess for years and I finally broke down and bought the only one I could afford, it looked real nice, the fit was very good, lock sparked very very well, and it hit what you aimed at, and it got stolen when I had my house broken into Dec 30, I'm on the waiting list for a new one come April!. For a cheap alternative to an otherwise expensive flintlock, you cant go to far wrong.

 

[tg]

Nice job on cleaning that gun up Gizamo, it really looks nice now.

 

[gizamo]

Tg,

Thanks friend, it is a welcome compliment from someone whose opinion I respect.

Acetone was used to strip the finishes off the teak. Used various dyes an oils, followed by ...... Shoe wax. The metal was added with yellow vinegar, judicious use of cold blue more mustard , steel wool and oil.

Here is the stock, next to a hundred year old walnut stock.

 

[dave_person]

Hi Folks,
Gizamo, you did a nice job working over that gun. I understand perfectly, the need to find relatively inexpensive reproductions of historical guns. In an effort to be helpful, let me urge all of you to do as Gizamo did to upgrade his gun. I would also go a step further and reshape the lock panel area. It looks like they left plenty of excess wood on the stock. In fact, it looks the way mine do when I have finished rough shaping with rasps and files. You should be able to carve the lock panels down to a more historically accurate appearance. See the photo below of a 3rd model Brown Bess. Very narrow lock moldings were the norm. The heavy panels on the India-made guns are because they quickly shaped them on machines, which cannot duplicate the hand fine work of gunmakers past. Doing that would be a great learning experience about the architecture of historic guns and a relatively low-cost way to practice some gunmaking skills.

dave

 

[mauser182]

That gun turned out very nice indeed. I glad to see some positive reviews. Overall I'm pretty new to this hobby and can't justify spending $1000+ on a flintlock when I can get one that will work for half despite a being a little rough around the edges. My main concerns are safety and function.

 

[Cheyenne]

Good job Gizmo.. :thumbsup: ...now thin the panels and it'll really look good....like the metal work...how'd you pull it off?

 

[spudnut]

I have two long guns and a pistol from MVTP and though I would love a beautifuly done custom(I do have two of those too)They are a quite servicable and decent gun.
I had to rework the locks to get the trigger pull down to what I like and I refinished them I trust the guns to go off better than my custom bess that I have had to reharden the frizzen a couple times and rethread a couple of the lock screws.I wish I had kept the Japanese besses I owned that I had when I started into this hobby and the old timers(at the time) poo pooed as being cheap junk.
I like them.

 

[BillinOregon]

Dang it, Gizamo, you really made your gun look great. Might have to go down this path myself.

 

[BigDeutscher]

That looks Great ...nice job
I hope I can make my Cookson look that good
Deutsch

 

[Ray-Vigo]

I wish they would offer a lefty war musket just as a fun gun. It's not purely PC, but it would make a nice, inexpensive shooter for lefties who want a Bess/Charleville to mess with.

 

[nkvd]

Hello All

I must agree with you,not all of us have
unlimited funds and have to do what is
feesable to enjoy this here hobby!

Cheers,Rob