Heir Kommt Die Sonne
Member
So as some of you may recall, early last year I had decided on getting a Baker Rifle. I found a site Veteran Arms, they sold a Indian repro of the Baker but there was a 12 week wait. Which I was fine with. It was a long wait however and it was only this recent December I got it (Covid's fault).
Anyway, I felt really compelled to give this review. As this rifle (or rather musket, because it's smoothbore) has been a big disappointment to me.
So first off, this is my first functional flintlock. First time I ever shot it (And only time currently) there was a massive delay between the shots. I still need to control my flinch but I intend on fixing that as time goes by. Couldn't hit anything. Only fired it 4 times, and the last shot I couldn't fire (it's still loaded in the rifle). It was too gummed up or something but i had to take it home and clean it, and shortly after I had to go back to Texas so that's where I am now.
Look wise, the rifle looks fine. It's a beautiful weapon. I blued the barrel myself which adds uniqueness and more historical accuracy to it.
The main problems is in the lock work. 'Half cock' was really just "90% of the way" cock and the trigger can still be pulled at that position. There is a gap between the flash hole and pan which makes powder prone to getting into the action. A huge disappointment and turn off for me as someone who's never been into flintlocks before.
Right now the lock doesn't even work correctly because when I put it into full cock, it falls back down to half cock. But when I take the lock out of the gun, it functions fine. So it needs more wood working inside the action.
The worst part for me though is the smell the paint/laquer that was on the wood when it arrived. First day I opened it, there was this strong weird smell on the rifle which I noticed was the red layer on the stock. After a few hours I got a severe migrane. A few weeks ago I sanded off this paint layer and it defintately is better now although there's still traces of the smell. This is perhaps the biggest reason why this rifle is a turn off for me. I don't even like handling it.
I apologize for the bad review. I just didn't expect this would be such a disappointing purchase for me. Usually when we buy a new rifle, we fall in love with it but this time around, I was already in love with it before I bought it, and after I had it, I started to hate it.
Lesson learned: Don't buy muskets from India
Anyway, I felt really compelled to give this review. As this rifle (or rather musket, because it's smoothbore) has been a big disappointment to me.
So first off, this is my first functional flintlock. First time I ever shot it (And only time currently) there was a massive delay between the shots. I still need to control my flinch but I intend on fixing that as time goes by. Couldn't hit anything. Only fired it 4 times, and the last shot I couldn't fire (it's still loaded in the rifle). It was too gummed up or something but i had to take it home and clean it, and shortly after I had to go back to Texas so that's where I am now.
Look wise, the rifle looks fine. It's a beautiful weapon. I blued the barrel myself which adds uniqueness and more historical accuracy to it.
The main problems is in the lock work. 'Half cock' was really just "90% of the way" cock and the trigger can still be pulled at that position. There is a gap between the flash hole and pan which makes powder prone to getting into the action. A huge disappointment and turn off for me as someone who's never been into flintlocks before.
Right now the lock doesn't even work correctly because when I put it into full cock, it falls back down to half cock. But when I take the lock out of the gun, it functions fine. So it needs more wood working inside the action.
The worst part for me though is the smell the paint/laquer that was on the wood when it arrived. First day I opened it, there was this strong weird smell on the rifle which I noticed was the red layer on the stock. After a few hours I got a severe migrane. A few weeks ago I sanded off this paint layer and it defintately is better now although there's still traces of the smell. This is perhaps the biggest reason why this rifle is a turn off for me. I don't even like handling it.
I apologize for the bad review. I just didn't expect this would be such a disappointing purchase for me. Usually when we buy a new rifle, we fall in love with it but this time around, I was already in love with it before I bought it, and after I had it, I started to hate it.
Lesson learned: Don't buy muskets from India
