Traditions Muzzleloaders

[luieb45]

I have heard bad things about spanish made guns and wondered if the guns made by traditions are bad too because they're made in Spain. But, I've heard good things about the guns made about traditions. Are traditions guns any good?

 

[texcl]

Traditions generally makes guns of mediocre quality, but they seem to be quite servicable and in some cases, with the right load are pretty accurate. When I was younger I used a traditions rifle as a stepping stone into the sport and it worked fine for the price, I wouldn't buy one of their flinters though, it might give you the wrong impression of what a flinter can do.

 

[FJTBONE]

I have four traditions,2 percussions and 2 flinters, I have had no problems with any of them that were not my fault. The fit and finish on the Pennsylvania rifles are quite good IMHO. Tbone

 

[luieb45]

But for about 300$ are they worth it?

 

[boar]

Have the corners full of Spainsh guns,there the ones I take hunting. Kill my deer and groundhogs with them. I only bought two of them new,rest used. Have one Tradition Hawken and gave my grandson a Tradition Panther. Gave two Bobcats to my other two grand-kids. Good guns,killed a lot of game with them. Dilly

 

[mykeal]

But for about 300$ are they worth it?

Depends on what else is available.

By that I mean, if you have the choice of a used good condition Thompson Center Hawken or Lyman Great Plains for $300 - or often even less - no, they're not worth it. But, how often does that choice come along?

 

[luieb45]

A used gun rarely comes around these parts and if one does come by they are poorly taken care of and are all rusted up. I had in mind either a tradtions kentucky or a frontier rifle.

 

[cowpoke1955]

Have you thought about a Lyman Trade Rifle? $289.77, brand new at DNR Sports: http://www.dnrsports.com/ . They come in .50 and .54 percussion, flint a little more. Lyman is made by Investarms of Italy and they make a quality product. Check them out :thumbsup:

 

[luieb45]

No the gun for $300 has those dang weird sights on it.

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

The $290.00 rifle may not have the peep sight on it. You might give them a call and find out. There appears to be a regular rear sight on the barrel too. And the peep sight is removable anyway. The Lyman is three times the gun the Spanish made one is. And Lyman has been around for a long time and is known for quality. Traditions is known for...ah, being the modern version of CVA. Sort of like a modern car company being known as makers of the modern Yugo.

 

[shootemup]

Traditions is known for...ah, being the modern version of CVA.

I agree. You can work with them and eventually figure out how to get fairly reliable service from them, but they are what they are.

I recommend going with the Lyman product mentioned above, or a used T/C. You can get a used T/C Renegade or New Englander, in good condition, for $250 any day of the week on the auction sites.

Good luck with it -

:hatsoff:
Spot

 

[ohio ramrod]

Traditions are what they are, Lower cost, safe and the potential to shoot accutately. They are IMHO not as good as the American built or Italian built guns, but they don't cost as much. Resale value is much lower. That said, my oldest boy's gun is a traditions frontier kit that I rebarreled with a spainish made 45 caliber Jugar barreland tuned the lock. It has won several matches with my nephew's boy shooting it. There were several adults at these matches shooting some very expensive custom made guns.And it has accounted for several deer.If you want the best and can aford it and aren't able to do gunsmith work I advise against them. But if you are limited in money and are able to do even minor tune ups of the locks they can provide a safe starting point.

 

[cowpoke1955]

Russ is right. Those sights are the optional peep sights. The Trade Rifles I've seen in stores had the fixed primitive rear sight. The store also wanted $399.00 for the same rifle :cursing:

 

[luieb45]

Traditions are what they are, Lower cost, safe and the potential to shoot accutately. They are IMHO not as good as the American built or Italian built guns, but they don't cost as much. Resale value is much lower. That said, my oldest boy's gun is a traditions frontier kit that I rebarreled with a spainish made 45 caliber Jugar barreland tuned the lock. It has won several matches with my nephew's boy shooting it. There were several adults at these matches shooting some very expensive custom made guns.And it has accounted for several deer.If you want the best and can aford it and aren't able to do gunsmith work I advise against them. But if you are limited in money and are able to do even minor tune ups of the locks they can provide a safe starting point.

How often do you have to tune the locks?

 

[ssettle]

If your planning to buy the gun hopefully you've worked on guns before because their locks are manure. Some folks like Traditions I don't, you'd think a business that makes firearms would use better quality materials. I like the style of their small game rifle (32 cal)but the one I looked at had a loose hammer and wasn't even lined up with the nipple. RMC was selling it for over 330 dollars. You could look on E-Bay if you have a mind to. I found a very good T/C stock with everything but the barrel at a fair price and a new 32 Green mountain barrel. I didn't pay much more for it than RMC wanted. Do a little looking around before you buy...Good luck SS

 

[luieb45]

What about the traditions kentucky? Also would traditions guns be ok for someone that just intends to hunt a couple times a year and shoot every once in a while. I am not intending to actually do competitive shooting with this gun.

 

[Lostrifle]

One quick word on style of gun; if you're looking for a longrifle, T/C and Lyman GPR's don't fit the bill. Good(maybe great) Plains and Mountain rifles, but I haven't seen them making any Eastern-style long guns.
Regarding the Traditions, some may be poorly made. I believe the Penn rifle I have is an earlier version of the Traditons(it doesn't have all the inlays that the current model does)and it seems to work okay. I didn't buy the gun; it was given to me. I can't find any markings on it that say it's by Traditions, but it looks like the newer ones.
Far as I can tell, the lock works okay. Ignition is pretty quick(not instantaneous, but close to it). The lock could probably use some tuning, but I'm hopeless at such things. Then again, when my car has problems, I take it to a skilled mechanic.
My ambition is to have a longrifle made for me, from a kit or scratchbuilt if I can come up with the cash.
For a starter gun(if you want a longrifle) Traditions is worth looking into, IMHO.

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

I have heard bad things about spanish made guns and wondered if the guns made by traditions are bad too because they're made in Spain. But, I've heard good things about the guns made about traditions. Are traditions guns any good?

To go back to your original post, these guns are about as bad as you can buy. They are poor beginner's guns due to the inferior quality of their manufacture and components. As long as you buy one understanding this you won't be disappointed, but you likely won't get to do much shooting either. The Italian gun is a better buy by far. I'd rather have a shorter gun that actually worked but wasn't quite what I wanted than long rifle that looked like what I wanted but was a horrid piece of junk.There's an old saying: Buy in haste, repent at leisure. It surely applies here.

 

[luieb45]

But would you recomend one if they were a beginner and on a budget of about $250 and they're goal was to hit 90% of their shots into a target the size of a plate at 50 yards would it be good for them?

 

[Trot]

They are certainly capable of better accuracy than that. The problem may lie with misfires, possible lock problems and the like. I too would go with a Lyman.