I have two repro Brown Bessi. One from Loyalist and one MH. MH Besses are cheaper to buy, but you have to drill the touch hole. I sent the musket to a gunsmith to drill the touch hole. He found the frizzen was to soft so he hardened it. Being conscientious he removed the breech plug before drilling the touch hole and discovered there were threads on the breech that weren't covered when the plug was screwed in. He added metal to the breech plug to cover the threads, he believed that the uncovered threads would wick water back into the plug and cause rust. Now this Bess functions great. The Loyalist musket fuctions great right out of the box. With this work the muskets ended up being about the same price. The two cosmetic concerns were; 1) the stain MH uses, comes off on everything. 2)the detail on the trigger guard finial and ramrod thimbles is better on the Loyalist Bess. The only complaint I have, a little one, is the rate that these robust locks eat flints.
Hope this helps,