Went with the Loyalist Arms India Pattern bess in .75/.76 cal. I was going to go military heritage because they are local, but after reading about a hundred online reviews comparing both companies on a muzzle-loading board, I decided against the MH product.
I had considered a Pedersoli, but I didn't want a Long Land type 2 clone with some historically inaccurate features that has doubled in price in less than 5 years (you'd think Pedersoli is ripping ppl off? No?) and I didn't want to buy their 2 band Bess which from what I understand is a fantasy piece that never existed in the British Army. I also really wanted the war of 1812 Era India Pattern and Pedersoli doesn't make one. Only other supplier I know of is TotW in kit form from rough castings, and frankly my skill level isn't high enough to build up a kit from rough wax castings at this time.
To summarize, what I had found out were that LA charges about $100 more, but for that you get a better finished stock, a lockwork assembed, fit and finished by LA in Halifax by Canadian gunsmiths from the Indian made parts, pre-drilled touchole, load data and a very good warranty and a parts source.
Military Heritage, while cheaper, is known for poorly hardened frizzens, poor frizzen to pan fit, rough frizzen faces, breech plugs that aren't properly slotted for the optimal touch-hole location, and a really pooor wood finish that tends to rub off easily. Nothing is fit or finished in Canada, they arrive in Toronto and Ottawa as "non-firing replicas", all assembly done in India.
Both guns are made with an Indian fruit tree hardwood generically referred to as "rosewood" that bears a close resemblance to the reddish European Walnut, but with a more open grain. Aparently though, they each use a different breed of rosewood and many buyers claim the LA musket wood is a bit harder and lighter than the MH wood. I have no idea if that's true though as I've not seen both in person. I do know that both copies are made in the same Indian city, but at different small factories. All the springs are hand-forged, which is good.
Sometime down the road if I really like the musket, maybe I'll have a walnut stock made on a duplicator. We'll see.
Another big advantage to the LA musket is that they were much more helpful on the phone and had their India Pattern on sale for March for $625 which makes it just $50 more than the MH offering - my gunsmith would have charged at least that much to pull the breech plug and drill the touchhole, dress the threads in the barrel if needed, re-harden the frizzen and fit it to the pan, smooth the trigger pull, etc. etc. True, I could have done most of it myself, but $50 is cheap for what Loyalist is offering as a service IMHO.
Of course, I'll post pics when it arrives in a couple of weeks. The store is a bit backed up from what I've been told.
This should hopefully been fun as it will be my first military smoothbore flintlock. I know alot of ppl have mixed feelings about these Indian repros, but from what I can tell, the most critical people are the folks who don't mind dropping $2000+ on a hand-made custom replica. Most folks who actualyl own the Indian guns seem to like them, but I figure I'll be able to form my own opinion soon enough.
I had considered a Pedersoli, but I didn't want a Long Land type 2 clone with some historically inaccurate features that has doubled in price in less than 5 years (you'd think Pedersoli is ripping ppl off? No?) and I didn't want to buy their 2 band Bess which from what I understand is a fantasy piece that never existed in the British Army. I also really wanted the war of 1812 Era India Pattern and Pedersoli doesn't make one. Only other supplier I know of is TotW in kit form from rough castings, and frankly my skill level isn't high enough to build up a kit from rough wax castings at this time.
To summarize, what I had found out were that LA charges about $100 more, but for that you get a better finished stock, a lockwork assembed, fit and finished by LA in Halifax by Canadian gunsmiths from the Indian made parts, pre-drilled touchole, load data and a very good warranty and a parts source.
Military Heritage, while cheaper, is known for poorly hardened frizzens, poor frizzen to pan fit, rough frizzen faces, breech plugs that aren't properly slotted for the optimal touch-hole location, and a really pooor wood finish that tends to rub off easily. Nothing is fit or finished in Canada, they arrive in Toronto and Ottawa as "non-firing replicas", all assembly done in India.
Both guns are made with an Indian fruit tree hardwood generically referred to as "rosewood" that bears a close resemblance to the reddish European Walnut, but with a more open grain. Aparently though, they each use a different breed of rosewood and many buyers claim the LA musket wood is a bit harder and lighter than the MH wood. I have no idea if that's true though as I've not seen both in person. I do know that both copies are made in the same Indian city, but at different small factories. All the springs are hand-forged, which is good.
Sometime down the road if I really like the musket, maybe I'll have a walnut stock made on a duplicator. We'll see.
Another big advantage to the LA musket is that they were much more helpful on the phone and had their India Pattern on sale for March for $625 which makes it just $50 more than the MH offering - my gunsmith would have charged at least that much to pull the breech plug and drill the touchhole, dress the threads in the barrel if needed, re-harden the frizzen and fit it to the pan, smooth the trigger pull, etc. etc. True, I could have done most of it myself, but $50 is cheap for what Loyalist is offering as a service IMHO.
Of course, I'll post pics when it arrives in a couple of weeks. The store is a bit backed up from what I've been told.
This should hopefully been fun as it will be my first military smoothbore flintlock. I know alot of ppl have mixed feelings about these Indian repros, but from what I can tell, the most critical people are the folks who don't mind dropping $2000+ on a hand-made custom replica. Most folks who actualyl own the Indian guns seem to like them, but I figure I'll be able to form my own opinion soon enough.
