I want a smoothbore...

[Wildcat]

BUT,can't afford a North Star west or some of the other "big name" smoothbore gun makers. I've been looking at the Middlesex villiage trading company sight and have read both good and bad reports about the guns on there. Anyone have any experience with them? I don't really care for the brilliant silver barrels and locks they come with either.  Can anyone shed some light on some other decent places to find an "affordable" gun?  I'd buy used if i could find one that i knew was in good shape and wouldn't be just a waste of my time...

[beowulf]

those who give a bad review have never held one let alone used one . I have a short land pattern bess , and the only thing I`m not really sold on is the wood ! nothing really wrong with it , but it`s not walnut ! little denser and heavier ! shoot them the way you are supposed to , and not the way some idiots do ( over loading and such ) and you`ll have no problems with them ! as you can tell I like mine    one of the nicer things is the price is low enough that if you want to turn the piece into an "indian gun " it does`nt hurt as much as doing it to a pedersoli or uberti ! my bess is in the photo , been aged to look like its had years of use in the boonies !

[crazell]

Nice collection you have there beowulf !!

[beowulf]

thanks    few of them , others are on a different rack ! guess you could say I have an addiction   

[mongrel]

Since the complaints I've read of the Middlesex guns are almost word-for-word the same complaints I've read/heard about CVA products, I'd be inclined to agree with Beowulf. Let common sense dictate how you load your piece and you ought to have no trouble. As a gun builder, obviously, product liability is of more than just occasional concern to me, but my personal feeling is that anyone who blows himself up shooting a middlin'-quality product like a CVA or Middlesex was almost certainly loading the gun hotter than it ever needed to be loaded, on the basis of "I oughta be able to", and is a good candidate for a Darwin Award -- meaning, thank you for removing yourself from the gene pool, hope you hadn't bred before being an idiot finally caught up with you.

As far as the brightness of the steel, the Middlesex-type guns I've seen do seem to be polished a bit much, but that's all that silvery glare is -- polished steel. The originals were issued polished bright also, and if 18th-century English sergeants were anything like those in the American military, today, the guns STAYED polished for the duration of their service issue. Bit of trivia, too, in the British Army of that time a rank-and-filer who erred in some minor way (like failing to properly polish his weapon) wasn't ordered to drop and do twenty, he was tied to a post and GIVEN a dozen, or twenty, or fifty or more lashes, just to get across how vitally important it was to keep his equipment in what his sergeant considered decent condition.

The few guys I'm acquainted with personally, who own or have owned Middlesex guns, have spoken well of them.

[dfoster]

I've had two of the Middlesex smoothies. Admittedly, they were bright and the wood was a bit clunky and "off color."

On both, I stripped the finish, reshaped the wood to make the lines a little cleaner and leaner, stained them dark, and finished with several coats of BLO.

As far as the shine, I browned all the steel parts and them used a Scotchbrite pad to remove the brown. It left the steel shiny but not bright. After seeing a few guns polished in a period manner using brick dust, it came out pretty darned close. 

[pathfinder]

I have "re-done" quite a few of Middlesex gun's and they are really a good starting point to make a fine firearm. Some lock tuning and hardening of the frizzen,removing A LOT of wood and re-shaping,then a little naval jelly on the metal,Voila! ,a good looking and shooting firearm!

[old salt]

Form personnel experience from the 3 guns I have from Middlesex. The  4 locks rum 50/50, 2 were as good and any  of the lock you can get from TOW,
Dixie, or any of the gun supply houses the others were junk, one I had to make replacement parts my self with the help of a friend. The last one I have ordered a lock kit, and will build my own,
The rest of the gun parts were as good or better then any of other off the shelf
shelf models you can buy,
The wood to metal fit was fair to average.
Just my experience.

[Wildcat]

Beowulf,did you brown your the parts on your Bess? I did a barrel on a CVA mountain rifle that i had several years ago it was in 58 cal and wished that i had never sold it....... It came out great and actually surprised myself at how easy it was to brown it. I also did a Potsdam musket that i bought at a gunshop that had been chopped down and made into a poor mans musket. I'm to skeert to fire it,LOL. After all of the replies on here I'm gonna be getting me a fusil de chasse from MVTC as soon as possible. Thanks to everyone who took the time to answer my questions. Boy,what a great forum this is 

[beowulf]

cold browned the barrel and lock ! my lock functions nicely , but as some have said there can be problems . but then I`ve had those problems with cva and jukar guns as well and usually they can be fixed ! worst lock problems I`ve ever had was with a little spanish made .28 gauge smooth bore . they used to sell them through the national rifleman mags at about $27.00 . nice little gun once I tore the lock apart and polished every part in it . had a trigger pull of about 30 pounds  got it down to somewhere around 6 . nice little shotgun ,wish I still had it !

[Bulldog lady]

Wildcat,  glad  you got your questions answered.  I can't brag enought about all the guys and gals who so willingly share their vast wealth of informantion and also  booboos and ugh-oh's.       just my 2 cents worth - love my 54 cal. smoothbore, but just use 40 grains so far,  can at least hit the target if propped up, -   Badger shots it just fine and have no idea what he loads it with for him,  they are nice guns.  got it from one of the guys on site.  Again glad you aboard

[Red Badger]

usually 55 grains of 3 f   

[markinmi]

I own three from Middlesex and wouldnt hesitate to buy another if i had the funds.

[bmcret]

I've got a middlesex French 1717 and have no problems with it They will also brown them for you for 75.00 I think that was the price.

[bmcret]

fond a new site for you to check out 
http://www.veteranarms.com