Lead Ball,
You've got the right attitude. Get out and smoke 'er up!
I have some low-end semi-custom flintlocks, but I still bristle when I see T/C's and Lyman's referred to as "starter" guns. This is a hobby, not a vocation...
Occasionally you'll trip across something like that at a pawn shop for $150 or so...
A year or two ago, I blundered across a NIB .45 T/C Cherokee, along with a NIB .32 barrel, in the local pawn shop, for $250. Ran home; kidnapped The Bride, and hauled her down to handle said rifle, which she soon decreed she "... could shoot that one!".
I'd been searching for several years for a rifle short enough, and light enough, she'd enjoy shooting, and learn to love BP/MLs... or not, without breaking the bank account.
With a little personalization (chopping an inch or so off the LOP; replacing some of the hardware to please her eye, etc), it worked for the purpose: she's hooked on the smell and feel of burnt sulphur, and LOVES both calibers (any caliber beginning with a "3" or "4" being a prior issue).
Since that day, she's now the proud owner of a .45 longrifle she refers to as her "squirrel rifle", purchased used here as an assembled kit, shortened and personalized to fit her needs and tastes, and is dreaming great dreams about an elk rifle.
She still owns and treasures her "first": the T/C, while being fully aware of its limitations. It's mostly used nowadays for getting the grandkids started... although both daughters-in-law covet it badly. (Which means, Pop Pop's gonna have to build them each a rifle with no questionable breech issues to worry about).
Just yesterday evening, I saw an ad on ebay for a NIB .32 Cherokee barrel: asking price, six HUNDRED and fifty bucks.
Be patient: great deals do still come along now and again, and many of them are right here in the classifieds section.
