Thinkin on one for my next rifle:
I’ve had bad luck with the customs. Think my next one should be a factory. Has a roundball twist and looks good.
Thoughts?
I have had one of those since ~2004. It is nose heavy, heavy overall, shorter than most long rifles, too heavily decorated for historically accurate use during the Rev War, too much crescent in the butt for Rev War, wrist is too thin (should be wider than it is tall and it is the opposite), adjustable sights on it weren't available then, and I have yet to locate the Rev War group that Traditions claimed said it was accurate for the Rev War. It was neither the BAR (Brigade of the American Revolution) or the CL (Continental Line). Nonetheless no one turned me away from using it in reenactments for about 3 years before I got my Early Lancaster rifle from a private builder who used to be active on this forum.
The other big problem with it is that it will bruise your cheek when you fire it. That large Roman Nose curve to the top of the stock makes it hard to line up the sights. So the natural inclination is to lean your head over it until you can get them lined up. Then when you fire the rifle, the recoil slams into your cheekbone and you get a nice bruise. There are two ways to successfully shoot the rifle and avoid that bruised cheek.
1. Mount the rifle with your cheek farther back and slightly down the stock so you can use the sites without tipping your head over the top of it.
2. The second and usually best choice is to use an old shotgunner's trick. Mount the rifle in the normal place, but instead of tipping your head over the stock, turn your nose into the stock. This will allow you to align the sights looking out of the inside corner of your eye just fine and when you fire the rifle, the recoil slides along your cheek and doesn't smash into it.
Despite all of those problems with the rifle, it is actually a good shooter. Mine likes a 95-gr. charge of 3f black powder, which is a pretty heavy charge. But it really shoots a .490 patched round ball accurately with that load. I was living in VT when I first bought it and had the opportunity to shoot at a 1½' X 2½' metal target at 200-yds. Basically it was a metal "torso" target. On my first shot I hit low and to the right. So I aimed high and to the left and rang that target on all three of my subsequent shots.
So it is definitely a shooter for game and at .45 caliber legal for hunting deer. Because it has a straight or tapering octagonal barrel, it is very nose heavy and best to shoot it from a rest such as a tree limb when hunting. With my Early Lancaster rifle instead of a straight 40¾" barrel, I have a 44½" swamped octagonal barrel.
A swamped barrel tapers from the breech to the middle of the barrel continues straight for a bit and then about 8" to 12" from the muzzle flares out gradually again. So it's a bit of an hourglass on its side shape but not nearly as drastic. This "swamped" barrel design moves the balance of the rifle back into the forearm where you grip it. It's much easier to mount and night and day easier to hold and swing than a straight or straight tapered barrel. Offhand shots are much more easily done with my almost 4-inch longer swamped barrel, though I will absolutely use a rest for best accuracy if there's a tree branch close by.
They are also historically accurate as that's how all rifle barrels were until the mid-1800's when Remington devised a way to drill a long barrel instead of hammer-forge welding a rifle barrel around a mandrel. Typically they will add about $100 to the price of the rifle and it is far better choice to go with swamped barrel than it is to choose the fancier wood. Get both if you can, but that swamped barrel made a HUGE difference to me.
When I bought mine, it was $449. I understand they are almost double that now. Ask around here on the forum for suggestions of builders to use and you will end up with a far superior Longrifle than the Traditions Pennsylvania Longrifle and price will not be much more.
Twisted_1in66
Dan
