I have the utmost respect for the craftsman that hand make period correct replicas. Some of the works of art I have seen here and elsewhere never cease to amaze me. I wish I had the patience, time, and talent; I don’t. I also don’t attend rendezvous or events mostly because none are near me and I work a government job that does not give me weekends off.
I do shoot a lot and go on solo treks with my muzzle loaders. I also really like to work on all manner of firearms. I was fortunate that my job sent me to numerous armorer schools so I am no stranger to fixing broken guns.
My advice goes like this. India guns are often poorly assemble parts kits made by people who probably don’t know how to shoot them. So if you have high expectations and want to shoot them a lot like I do be prepared to disassemble them day one and do some essential work.
My first example:
This pistol was purchased from Access Heritage for $399. I had to drill the touch hole, completely strip the poo colored sprayed on finish, stain the teak brown with Fieblings leather dye, and put four coats of tung oil on the wood. I also browned the lock and made a new ram rod out of oak. I also had to fix the ram rod channel because it was too narrow in a few spots. All up I spent 10 hours working on it before I fired one shot. Fortunately I have ended up with a reliable accurate handgun. I’m well aware that it could have went the other way.
Second example:
This musket is another purchase from Access Heritage and it cost me $699. It too came with the same nasty sprayed on finish that I removed. The wood was also dyed brown and finished with tung oil. I also browned the lock and had to rub back all the over polished metal with 1000 grit wet dry paper. I added sling swivels from Track of the Wolf and a sling that I made myself. All up I probably have 20 hours into improving it.
Both these guns spark well and shoot point of aim every shot. I have had amazing luck shooting with tied round balls out of both and fortunately for me they are both the same caliber (62).
My balls:
Both these guns were heavily inspected when they arrived. They sparked well, had decent trigger pulls, and had properly indexed sights. If any of these things were bad I would have sent them back immediately. I’m a firm believer in not polishing a turd. So the only real work I had to do was cosmetic. My point is, if you have some skill and more time than money an India can make sense. If you buy one of these with unrealistic expectations you’re going to end up with an ugly wall hanger.
I do shoot a lot and go on solo treks with my muzzle loaders. I also really like to work on all manner of firearms. I was fortunate that my job sent me to numerous armorer schools so I am no stranger to fixing broken guns.
My advice goes like this. India guns are often poorly assemble parts kits made by people who probably don’t know how to shoot them. So if you have high expectations and want to shoot them a lot like I do be prepared to disassemble them day one and do some essential work.
My first example:
This pistol was purchased from Access Heritage for $399. I had to drill the touch hole, completely strip the poo colored sprayed on finish, stain the teak brown with Fieblings leather dye, and put four coats of tung oil on the wood. I also browned the lock and made a new ram rod out of oak. I also had to fix the ram rod channel because it was too narrow in a few spots. All up I spent 10 hours working on it before I fired one shot. Fortunately I have ended up with a reliable accurate handgun. I’m well aware that it could have went the other way.
Second example:
This musket is another purchase from Access Heritage and it cost me $699. It too came with the same nasty sprayed on finish that I removed. The wood was also dyed brown and finished with tung oil. I also browned the lock and had to rub back all the over polished metal with 1000 grit wet dry paper. I added sling swivels from Track of the Wolf and a sling that I made myself. All up I probably have 20 hours into improving it.
Both these guns spark well and shoot point of aim every shot. I have had amazing luck shooting with tied round balls out of both and fortunately for me they are both the same caliber (62).
My balls:
Both these guns were heavily inspected when they arrived. They sparked well, had decent trigger pulls, and had properly indexed sights. If any of these things were bad I would have sent them back immediately. I’m a firm believer in not polishing a turd. So the only real work I had to do was cosmetic. My point is, if you have some skill and more time than money an India can make sense. If you buy one of these with unrealistic expectations you’re going to end up with an ugly wall hanger.
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