Matchlock rifle

B

bungiex88

New member
I'm interested in buying a matchlock muskeet. Any recommendations on where to buy. I don't want to spend a fortune. But something good for the money.
 
I imagine you're going to have to build one. I think Middlesex sells one but if you want to shoot it I'd leave it alone.
 
There are Indian made ones for a decent price, but I've no idea the quality or safety, they are not proofed like Italian guns.
 
Got a budget in mind? And an era? Dixie Gunworks doesn't sell 'em anymore, but a net search turns up 14,000 sites that do. Have a look at Loyalist Arms, .militaryheritage.com or Veteran Arms.
You're looking at around $650US. BP is not for the faint of heart either. Buy a copy of the Lyman BP Handbook and Reloading Guide too.
 
Most of those sites are the same India made guns sold by Middlesex. Pipe barrels or two piece barrels welded together. There have been cases where Bess barrels blew up. They make good wall hangers but you couldn't pay me to shoot one and there's not much I'm scared of.
 
Always good to err on the side of caution, but I have heard that the Middlesex guns go through some extra scrutiny and you can have them proof the barrel at a cost. I think they (as opposed to some others) do their best to ensure you don't get a crappy lock (they harden them, but you don't have that problem with a matchlock anyway) and provide some assurance that you won't be getting a pipe bomb. I don't have an India made muzzleloader either, so I'm not speaking from experience, but I have read a lot about them. I wouldn't hesitate to load and fire a MVTP gun.
 
"...are the same India made guns..." If the stuff was unsafe to shoot there'd be hordes of law suits. There are not. And anything made in India would be so marked. Loyalist Arms, at least, has been in business for years. So has Middlesex.
Any BP firearm that blows up is likely caused by the operator failing to load the thing properly. In any case, the OP's question was where can I get one?
 
I can't see why one can't build their own. Matchlocks are about as simple as they can get.

There's a guy at Arfcom who has a bunch of them. If one is in Sacramento, CA, Dale Shinn is there and he makes his own wheellock locks.
 
Now wheellocks are the most complicated muzzle loading guns to build. The mechanism is similar to a clock. It wasn't until the advent of the flintlock which was simpler, cheaper and more dependable that we see a rapid expansion in the number of guns, both long guns and pistols. Matchlocks are simple to build, to me the ones I have seen look almost like a crossbow stock without the bow and a barrel mounted instead and the hammer holding the slow match.
 
At the Fraser Arms Museum in Lexington, KY, they have an 1700s period wheellock jager. Flintlocks had long replaced the wheellock but I think that old German gunsmith made it just to demonstrate his skill.
 
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