Traditions BP guns

[bodiebill]

A shooting friend of mine is really down on Traditions BP guns. He bought one from Dixie Gun Works years ago and still has a bad taste for them.

Have they improved in quality? How would you rate them on scale of 1 to 10?
Thanks

 

[Little Wattsy]

Id give them a 8+ I guess...They look better and they "feeeel" better. The accuracy is in the barrel (with ANY gun) and there are SEVERAL capable of 2-ish inch groups at 100 yards. I tend to put everything into prespective as it relates to hunting sooo they can have moisture issues that some moderns dont but that aside apples to apples they are just as good. I hunt therefor I am; I BRIEFLY toyed with a Knight Bighorn and quickly set it aside for a Lyman and some TC's...assumeing its dry you cant tell the group differance at 100 yards.
I have kilt a buffalo and a deer (last and also my 1st year)with the side lock..one shot ~ one kill.

 

[William O.]

No, they haven't improved in quality, and given their track record and safety issues I would give them only a 4.

 

[nw_hunter]

A shooting friend of mine is really down on Traditions BP guns. He bought one from Dixie Gun Works years ago and still has a bad taste for them.

Have they improved in quality? How would you rate them on scale of 1 to 10?
Thanks

What exactly gives him a bad taste, and what make of gun did he purchase? "OOPS" My mistake........I misread Traditions for Traditional BG

 

[ozark57]

I have not had any issues with my Crockett pistol,except a floppy,creepy trigger, but the flint lock rifle has had lock issues. You get what you pay for.

 

[J.D.]

With a level 1 as absolute bottom of the barrel a TC at a 5, and a quality custom rifle in the $3500-$4000 range as a 10, I'd give Traditions a
2 1/2 or 3.

 

[Effigy]

I think "Traditions" is sold here in the UK under the Ardessa brand, and looks to be the entry level BP rifle. One or two guys at the club use them and rate them highly.

Thing is their low price and availability makes them look attractive as a first BP rifle.

 

[MikeChapin]

Those and the old CVA sidelocks got a lot of people started in muzzleloading. The percussion locks work all right but the flintlocks were iffy at best.

They were generally worth what you paid for them. The barrels were not custom but you didn't pay custom prices for them. They were generally accurate enough for hunting and some competition.

 

[PreglerD]

On the skala mentioned I will give them a 6-7. I have several of them from Deerhunter over Woodsman Hawken to Shenandoah Rifle and all work well and were straight shooters. About the flinters I can't say anything, because I don't buy any production flinters at all.

Regards

Kirrmeister

 

[rafterob]

I have a Traditions Woodsman Hawken in percussion about three years old. Have compared side by side with the TC Hawken and would not say TC is significantly better other than the stock, which is slightly longer and has a cheek piece. I have had excellent performance and accuracy out of mine. the safety issues that sometimes surface in these posts stem from issues they had with some of their *nl*nes years back, not the traditional rifles.-I will say that the quality is much better than the "old" CVA Rifles as relates to lock and tiggers.

 

[ohio ramrod]

The traditions guns are better than the first ones they made in the old CVA plant. But they still don't come up to the TC , Pedrosili, or GPR. But then they don't cost as much either. I believe they are safe to shoot and can be "tuned" into a fairly reasonable percussion, but I don't like their flints.

 

[No Grease]

Been shooting a traditions in .54 since 94. Have not had a problem with it yet. Each persons mileage may vary.


:thumbsup: :hatsoff:

 

[Kentuckywindage]

i have the kentucky and i will easily give it an 8.5 Absolute accurate rifle, great sparking lock, trouble free in 4 years ive owned it.

 

[Trench]

The lock on my Traditions broke a month after I bought it. I have the flintlock variety. It's not a bad rifle now that I replaced the lock with the L&R replacement. I would not go back to Traditions at this point. However, it did get me started. The $350 price tag was hard to beat at a time when I didn't know if I was going to get hooked or not.

Now, I'm on the cheaper end of the custom bandwagon. ($1200-$1500) From now on I'll be dealing with builders.