Sorry about your experience, but my dealings go back to the mid-1950's, and I have yet to get a messed up delivery except once, and they quickly corrected it.
The problem encountered on this thread involves the interior quality of a barrel, and that's something the manufacturer caused, not the importer. I suspect that if they examine other similar pistols from the same maker they'll find them to be pretty much the same.
Across the board, top quality reproductions of 18th and 19th century firearms involves a fair amount of hand work, and no matter how you cut it, expert hand work is going to cost meaningful money now in the 21st century. It is not by coincidence that top marksmen (and women
) are usually found to be using firearms with some custom work done on them - and the nature of the game doesn't matter.
Experience taught me long ago not to expect that my admittedly high standards were likely to be met by one of the current European reproductions, unless I was willing to part with around $1,000 or more. I have on many occasions reduced that cost by doing my own aftermarket work.
I hope that Coodill's situation works out to his satisfaction, but at the same time one can sometime avoid disappointment by having a clear understanding about how things are vs. what we both wish would be what we'd like them to be.
