http://www.middlesexvillagetrading.com/PRHR.shtml
So, a couple of questions: Does anyone have any experience with this company? I seem to think I've heard before they're reputable. Any experience with the guns? Are they shooters or just lookers? How would they stack up as a beginner rocklock? I have plenty of experience playing with percussion revolvers, but no experience with flinters.
Although I have not dealt directly with Middlesex, after a lot of on line research of the dealers in Indian made guns and after reading countless contentious threads at various muzzle loading and re-enacting forums, I had decided they were my best choice for a Long Land pattern Brown Bess. This was just before Thanksgiving.
However, I ended up finding the exact model I wanted at my local black powder dealer/gunsmith that came from Loyalist out of Nova Scotia. He made me a deal and threw in a fitted bayonet for about what I would have paid for the musket alone from Middlesex. If not for that, I would have gone with them.
That said, I would not choose the Scottish style pistol as my first flintlock or any smoothbore for that matter. Sure it will go bang and make smoke, but unless you are a re-enactor, or fending off a boarding party of pirates at close quarters, no smoothbore is going approach the usefulness of a rifled barrel flintlock pistol past 15 or 20 paces. They have no sights anyway.
Of course, because they are smoothbore, one can load them with shot to use as a scattergun.
I used to think I wanted one of the Murdoch style pistol, until I started seeing used replicas occasionally show up at gun shows. I also inspected 2 or 3 of them at Dixie back in the 1980's. They all had one thing in common. Because they are made entirely of steel in the white they are absolute rust magnets. The reason I looked at 3 of them when at Dixie was that every one they brought out of stock had surface rust.
Obviously, one will have to be fastidious in keeping them oiled--including the grip--or conversely only handle them wearing gloves.
After acquiring a nice Pennsylvania flintlock style rifle, I eventually also got a similarly style flintlock pistol with a rifled barrel that included primitive sights. I can actually hit targets more consistently at distance than I can with my C & B revolvers and since it has a nice walnut stock, I don't have to worry so much about rust from handling.
I finally did obtain a smoothbore flintlock on the cheap. It's one of those .69 cal Tower or Sea Service affairs. I've shot it a few times--mostly on Independence day, and it looks great on the wall. However, I only paid $50 for it.
If you are willing to spend $300 to $400 for a flintlock, I would highly recommend first getting a nice Pennsylvania, Kentucky, or Hawken style wood stocked pistol that is going to have a rifled barrel with both a front and a rear sight. I think you will ultimately get more use out of it.
If you watch the auction sites there are always a few rifled barrel Italian made flintlock pistols in great condition in the $250 to $325 range.
Of course just having bought a monster smooth bore Brown Bess, I'm hardly one to be arguing about practicality, but my excuse is that it was simply on my 'bucket list" and now it's checked off. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Cheers
P.S. The reason that some of these India made gun come unvented is because they
all come that way out of India. Evidently India has some very strict laws and punitive taxes on the manufacture of firearms. To avoid these laws and taxes, the small cottage industries that produce these guns do not vent them and thus are able to sell and export them as decorator products.
It appears that the two Canadian sellers (Loyalist and Military Heritage) also do not vent the weapons, which allows them to sell to the US out of Canada. Any seller who vents the gun technically becomes an firearms manufacturer by doing so.
This does not appear to be an issue for Middlesex, Veteran Arms, or Flintlock Sales & Gunsmithing in the US. To the best of my knowledge, the Murdoch is one of the few India made firearms that Dixie carries and they obviously don't feel compelled to deal with the issue.
The fact that these guns are initially sold as decorators only--is of course part of the fuel in the fire of the debate over their safety. Some choose to accept the reasons given and some do not.
