Some time ago I started saving comments/reviews I found posted on the web. I've accumulated quite a collection of stuff but here's just a sampling of the more recent comments on Traditions guns:
**IronMike6971
After seeking advice on this forum, I ordered a Traditions flintlock PA long rifle from Sportsmans Guide. I’d like to thank everyone who recommended Traditions for setting me up with this p.o.s.! It cost me near $700 with the shipping and when I opened the box there before me was the worst looking piece of crap I’d ever seen. First thing that got my attention was the ugly wood, ugly finish and even uglier inletting. I figured since I already spent the money, I may as well give it a fair shake so I drove the 23 miles to the range, loaded it up and “snap”. No, not a mis-fire, the snap was the trigger breaking. Pulled the load, 23 mile drive back home, phone call to Traditions, very nice people who said they’d send a trigger out right away. The end of week four, the trigger finally arrived, checked it out, functioned okay so I do the 23 mile drive again.
This time it went bang several times but with a long delay. Just happened there was another fellow who offered to help, he explained a little about the touch hole being too low in the pan and using less pan powder. After several trials with just FFFF primer in the pan, sometimes it went off, sometimes it didn’t. I tried several different flints, still the same inconsistency of ignition, using more primer in the pan reduced the inconsistency but caused the long delay. Since the delay wasn’t really an issue shooting from the bench, I started load building. Best group of that day and every other day was 3” at 50 yards – so much for the .50caliber being good for a 100 yards because this gun sure isn’t accurate enough beyond 60 yards. Before anyone claims I don’t know what I’m doing, this is after months of load building with the help of several seasoned flintlock shooters. So my thanks to everyone for getting me to tie-up over a grand into this total p.o.s. because now I see that for another $300 I could have bought a good hand-made gun.
**PaFisherman
Traditions PA Pellet Rifle
The sights are poor quality-a plastic front sight is not a good idea since they are constantly breaking. When the sights aren’t broken it shoots 3-4" groups at 50 yds- 2-50 gr pellets and a 250 gr TC shockwave. Gun is fairly easy to clean and fires most of the time, not bad once I got used to the delay.
**DeltaDawn
I have a Traditions PA pellet flintlock and the plastic sights are worthless. This is first time I got the first three days of deer season off work in years only to spend the opening day driving around trying to find a gun store that was open so I could get new sights put on my new rifle because the plastic ones were broken. By the time I found a store, had them install the sights and got back to camp it was dark so I had to wait until the next day to sight the rifle in again loosing more hunting time! Day three I finally get to hunt, see nothing all day until just before quitting time when a nice buck walks right in to me. I take careful aim, slowly squeeze the trigger and “SNAP”. Deer runs off while I try to figure out what now ….. something inside the lock broke. My advice, don’t buy a Traditions!
**Dan_M
I bought a 50cal Shenandoah flintlock by Traditions last spring. It is way overpriced for the lack of craftsmanship, one of the first things I noticed was the ramrod holders were very loose in the stock. It took a couple days but I got them glued in with epoxy. After days of shooting trying different loads, balls, patches, even wadding, this rifle will not shoot any tighter groups than 6 inches at 75 yards. Since I rarely shoot deer at more than 50 yards, this isn’t a particular problem for me but I would like to see much better accuracy and a lot less firing delay. IMHO, this rifle is worth no more than a couple hundred bucks at best, definitely nowhere near what I paid for it.
**1FreightlinerPusher:
I have a Traditions Hawken flint lock, the trigger broke on the first firing. Returned it to Cabella’s and the gunsmith said he had to order the part but should have it done in a week, took nine days but I got it back with no charge. Back at the range I was initially impressed at how close to the bull the first shot placed but with a clean or fouled bore, there’s no accuracy records being broken with this gun, Best 3-shot group was 3-1/2” at 65y, average is about 4-3/4”. Back at Cabella’s, the gunsmith tells me 80gr 2F and a Hornady Great Plains bullet. Back at the range, first 10 shots with the GPB’s, none of them even came close to the target but I continued trying. With the last remaining GPB from the pack in the bore and still not a hole in the paper at 65y, I saw something flying off the side when I squeezed the trigger, there I found the frizzen laying on the end of the bench, snapped right off. Overall on a 1-10 scale I give Cabella’s gunsmith a 7 for being polite and trying to help. Traditions gets a 4 because they actually did replace the parts even though they should not have broken in the first place. The gun itself gets a 1 because by my own scale I can’t give it a zero.
**huntertrapper1969
Hello. My name is Stephen and I’m a frugal shopper. After getting the $2000 sticker shock from a custom gunmaker, I put my mouse to work on the web. After weeks of careful shopping, I found I could get a Traditions Pennsylvania flint lock rifle delivered to my door for just $693. After many months of screwing around trying to get it to fire reliably, I sent an email to the guy who gave me the $2000 price. He said he could replace the lock with an L&R for about $150. I waited almost four months to get my gun back after paying the guy $240 because of the extra work he said was needed to make the lock work in this rifle. The lock worked good, far less snaps without fire in the pan but there was still plenty of problems getting the main charge to go off. Another trip back to the gunmaker set me back another three months and $200 to have the flashhole bored out and the pan ground lower. Now, with $1133 sunk into the rifle, not counting all the flints, powder, balls and gasoline driving to and from the range and the gunmaker’s shop. I figure I have spent about $1400-1500 on this “less expensive rifle” that I’m still not happy with. So much for my being frugal!
