Exactly what "quality" is is a matter of opinion. There is no doubt that a $1200 gun is almost always much, much better than a $500 gun, but that dosen't mean manure if you can't afford a $1200 gun. You'd like to get out and be shooting, not planning what gun you "may" buy if you ever get enough money.
Most people I know started with commercial production guns. Some, like myself, have stayed with them because the “quality” is satisfactory for me and what I use the gun for.
Other people obviously feel differently, and that’s ok with me, it’s their money, they should buy whatever they want. But a few people (and this is not aimed at any specific person on the forum :surrender: ) seem insistent that if you don’t have a custom gun, you have a POS. There ARE POS production guns out there, but most of the production guns made by any of the big names in muzzleloading guns today are actually OK. Not great, but definitely OK.
Someone with a Hummer might tell you not to buy a Ford Escape, because the Hummer is so much better quality, wait until you can afford to buy the Hummer. It is better, I’ll agree. But the Escape does everything “I” need an SUV to do, and I’m perfectly happy with the Escape. So paying more money for “quality” that I don’t care about is a waste of money, TO ME.
I can look at some of the custom guns I’ve seen here, and other places, and say “Wow! That’s a nice gun!” WITHOUT also thinking “I wish I could get one like that”. If you’re not the kind of person who can do that, if you’re going to think “Man, I wish I had a gun like that!” every time you see a nice custom gun, then I absolutely agree that you’d be better served by waiting and getting a custom gun, new or used. Only you know about that.
I’ve had a number of production guns over the 30+ years since I started shooting black powder. They have overall been reliable, reasonably accurate guns. Reliable and reasonably accurate to MY standards, not to everyone’s, I’m sure. Only ever had a serious problem with one, a very cheap flintlock on which the lock broke after a few dozen shots, and for which replacement parts weren’t made, and that included no way to buy a complete replacement lock, not just the parts.
Historical accuracy is a different matter. I’m not concerned with historical accuracy very much so it’s not an issue for me, but if you’re interested in being historically accurate (which I understand means you have to pick a time and place to aim for) I think the production guns pretty much fall short, with a few possible exceptions, although there will be disputes there as well, depending on how historically accurate you want to be. (If you're not involved in the discussion about historical accuracy, it can be rather amusing to stay in the background and read some of the threads that develop on this issue, actually! :wink: )
Basically, my advise is to really think about what it is you want in a gun, but don’t discount the production guns out of hand.
Good luck! :thumbsup:
