Middlesex Double Barrel Flinter

[flintboomer]

Mike, I told you that you would like it here.  There's a  great group of  people here.

And the rest of us are OK too!

[mikeoosting]

Mike, I told you that you would like it here.  There's a  great group of  people here.

Yes thanks for directing me to this forum!

[mongrel]

Welcome to the forum, from the "attack pup".

While I build quite a few guns and am familiar with most commerically-made brands, the India-made Middlesex stuff is something I have no experience with. However, those I know who actually own the guns, seem to think highly of them. There have been a few issues with locks and such, but given the relatively low price of the guns and the fact that the fixes for the problems have all (as far as I know) been fairly simple, it would strike me as pointless to spend lots more money for something that might please the MLF crowd.

"Poor quality asian softwood" to describe teak. I like that. Says a lot for the mentality of someone making such a statement, that they'll conjure up the most deragatory thing they can think of to say, with no regard for anything having to do with truth or reality.

Incidentally I have a lifetime ban from the MLF outfit owing to a refusal to back down from one of the ruling cliques, so your problems with them rate my sympathy and appreciation. None of that nonsense is tolerated here. My mission in this sport is to make it as inclusive as possible, and anyone making a practice of exclusion, on any grounds, won't find me (or anyone else here) overly agreeable to deal with.

[mikeoosting]

Good to see all the support!

There still seem to be a few reasonable people on that forum and one of them is suggesting something very intelligent. Get a .50 cal. from Lyman (I'd most likely be going for the Lyman Trade Rifle, there's a distributor only 2 hours away from here that sells them for $386) and have Ed Rayl down in West Virginia bore it out to a 24 gauge smoothbore which apparently he will do for under $100. That would put me at $450 or so for a nice smoothbore, which I could use for just about anything.

I think I may work my way up to a double barrel in the future but for now a converted Lyman will do just fine 

[flintboomer]

One nice thing about getting the Lyman is that you could also get a second barrel, leave it rifled, and easily switch them out to suit your mood and different circumstances.

If you can find one, TC made .56 smoothbore barrels for their Hawken, but they were percussion and you would have to convert it to flint which would probably cost as much as boring out the barrel.

[Baldy]

Having had rebore work done by Rayl, I know his work is very good.  His backlog is also quite high.  When I sent my barrel in a couple years ago it was 6 months.  Last I heard it was a year.  So talk to him first (he doesn't do email, only phone) so you aren't shocked when you find out how long it may take.

[Blackfeet]

Good to see all the support!

There still seem to be a few reasonable people on that forum ..................

Ahem.....

I have no allegiances to any of the silly cliques on that forum but the fact of the matter is that in this case even the ones who were the most negitive about your choice of that particular gun were the first to respond to you and offered advice that anyone reading there or even here would accept as reasonable.  they suggested that for a newcomer to flintlocks, it would be advisable to get a quality single barrel fowler with a known quality lock instead of having to cut your teeth on two locks of what is agreed even here to be questionable quality. AND this was prior to them getting negative. After that it was predominantly trying to steer you toward what some of them considered better options for a beginner. One local gent  even offered to put the exact same gun in your hands to let you see for yourself
Just saying.......not big on calling folks liars or putting them all in the same pot

[mikeoosting]

Ahem.....

I have no allegiances to any of the silly cliques on that forum but the fact of the matter is that in this case even the ones who were the most negitive about your choice of that particular gun were the first to respond to you and offered advice that anyone reading there or even here would accept as reasonable.  they suggested that for a newcomer to flintlocks, it would be advisable to get a quality single barrel fowler with a known quality lock instead of having to cut your teeth on two locks of what is agreed even here to be questionable quality. AND this was prior to them getting negative. After that it was predominantly trying to steer you toward what some of them considered better options for a beginner. One local gent  even offered to put the exact same gun in your hands to let you see for yourself
Just saying.......not big on calling folks liars or putting them all in the same pot

Yeah, as I noted there were some extremely helpful people on that forum who were willing to bear with how completely green I am to muzzleloaders. Those people were great and for that reason I'm still actually on that forum.

On the other hand, there were people who presented opinions without anything backing them up (note that the very first response was one word, "Junk") and criticized me when I asked for clarification...

[Blackfeet]

Yes, that is true, but the very next post was his advice to start with what he considered a equally enjoyable option. I am just saying that when asking for opinions, one should expect opinions, some based on actual experience and some based on hearsay.Now at over 100 posts, I would say that you got your money's worth even if you have to disregard a few.

What one fella considers junk may be another's challenge. In this I refer to the locks that seem to be needing work or replacement in a fairly high proportion of cases as noted by actual owners. I suppose that if one looked upon the lock as the 'engine' of the gun then if it were a car that needed the engine replaced or major overhaul before driving off the lot, the term 'junk'  meaning' not of much use in it's current condition', doesn't seem to be so inappropriate in those cases.

My 2 cents and worth half that.

Good luck in whatever you decide