I have a few of each, in both flint and percussion, and like them all. The Frontier Rifles have a browned barrel, as a previous response stated. The Blue Ridge rifles, made mostly for Cabela's, are "blued", but not in the traditional sense. It is more of a textured finish. Otherwise the rifles are identical, unless you go the Maple option. All mine are great shooters, and while not traditional, I really like being able to easily remove the barrel for cleaning. On my rifles, I strip the "plasticy" looking finish and replace it with boiled-linseed oil. Also you will absolutely want to get a real hickory ramrod to replace the dowel-rod it comes with. It will break! I drilled out my vent holes to 1/16" on the flint rifles, and chamfered with a larger bit, that really helped ignition. Finally I replaced all the front sights for something shorter and thinner. The factory front sight is too tall, and gets wider as it is filed down for zeroing. Easily replaced with numerous options, as it is a standard dovetail. I consider them to be good rifles, especially at the price I paid (well under $300 new) years ago. I realize they are much more now, but still 1/3 to 1/10 the price of a custom job.
