II have to be honest never seen one of these Indian made flintlock doubles but I have seen many flint and percussion muskets that are used for historic re enactment. In general they are functionable but they do have some problems though with a bit of effort on the owners part they can be moved up the quality ladder. These are things that I have found on let me say the negative side. The barrels have very thick walls making them heavy also they seem to be struck off with a file so giving surface scratches that are very noticeable. The barrel bore was polished but not to a high finish but that said they went through the proof house and therefore fit for use. The wood used I have no idea what species it was all I can say the overall colour was red and close grained. The lock internals where never polished just left as last filed. The one lock shortcoming is the tumbler has no bridle this putting all the spring force on the lock plate through hole eventually causing the hole to ware oval. Finally the spring pull and the trigger pull was on the high side. Some of the cosmetic improvements that I have seen owners undertake very simple but very worthwhile. The lock side plate changed from steel to brass, stock end cap and barrel side nail escutcheons from steel to brass, with just a few having brass but plates. One or two guns owners had fitted a tumbler bridal and had rollers pitted on the frizzen to the spring.
I have also seen two guns that where made in Pakistan imported from Germany though this was some time back now, They had a high quality of finish they also had recognisable Walnut stocks. I will say that if you dont set your sights to high you should not be disappointed because they work.
Something I should have said in the first part of my post. India has two distinct muzzle loading gun industries the largest one is the one that makes for the Move/Film industry making guns that externally look the part but for all intents and purposes low quality junk. The other side of the industry make usable firearms. Now I am sure that some not so honest dealers try pass the lower grade prop items of as working pieces. Luckily that type of underhand practice can not happen here because of the gun Proof laws meaning every gun sold here the barrel is safe to use but that does not reflect on the total merchantable quality of the firearm.
Last edited by damascus; 10/02/24 07:08 AM. Reason: More info.
