BP guns that need touch-hole drilled

Klunk

Klunk

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Hey,

Have seen a couple 'replicas' that have required the touch hole be drilled by the owner...

is this a legal thing?
or a insurance thing?

or does it mean the gun shouldnt even be fired?

or what??

Im thinking of a B. Bess repro .75 cal, specifically but I suppose it would apply to anything
 
Probably all of these. I assume you are referring to the Made in India guns.
There is lots of discussion around the 'net about these.
Basically if someone buys an unvented replica/reproduction, and chooses to drill a touch hole, he has assumed all responsibility for the thing.
Barrel material, breeching, proof testing, etc, need to be studied.
It is reported that the locks often need attention before they spark reliably.
 
I have three Indian reproduction guns. Number one came from Loyalist ready to shoot. Number two came from Military Heritage: touch hole needed to be drilled, the lock needed to be tuned, the breech plug was pulled and the threads needed to be cleaned up. Number three is an early one from Loyalist which will need to be tuned and checked. I have fired hundreds of round of rounds out of the first two guns with zero problems. ymmv:)
 
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.75 are difficult to find. The best bet is to mic the bore then contact Jeff Tanner and have him make you a mould/mold. I have heard all the best smoothbore shooters don't use a patched round ball, they use a slitely unsized ball and fiber wads.
 
You can buy the balls for about 30 cents a piece. There is alot of lead in em! 30 ish bucks for a hundred big whacks in the shoulder.
 
Klunk said:
Hey,

Have seen a couple 'replicas' that have required the touch hole be drilled by the owner...

is this a legal thing?
or a insurance thing?

or does it mean the gun shouldnt even be fired?

or what??

Im thinking of a B. Bess repro .75 cal, specifically but I suppose it would apply to anything
Click to expand...

My understanding is that many of these are undrilled to deal with some countries' laws regarding import/export of firearms. If undrilled it's uncontrolled, if drilled it's a firearm. In Canada it doesn't matter regardless, but others apparently it does.

With that in mind, some are apparently higher quality than others. I'd probably say that like most things in the firearms world, the fear associated with quality is not proportional to the actual likelyhood of major flaws, but since there's no harm in checking, tuning and strengthening a firearm it wouldn't be a bad idea anyways. It seems that most of them shoot fine or at least safely, and those that poo-poo them do so on the basis of quality rather than safety, as most experienced blackpowder owners seem able to build their own or find way better guns through their friends.
 
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