Help with 1757 Spanish musket from TRS

[dichthase79]

I am new to the forum and to the hobby, and have purchased a 622 kit with brass furniture from TRS. Unfortunately I'm having difficulty finding a gunsmith who can assemble the musket in my locality (southern Louisiana near Lafayette).  I've come across Mr. Dale at Deep Creek Long Rifles in FL and Mr. Jim at Cavalry Long Rifles in AL in forum discussions and have reached out to see if they can help. I am still looking for anyone closer to my locality, like in the Houston area, who has worked on TRS kits before if neither Dale or Jim have the availability for the work. Any help or guidance would be appreciated.

[Scota4570]

Unless TRS has the item ready to ship forget it.  Unless the builder is extremely experienced and willing to spend LOTS of time forget it.  Be sure they know what they are getting into and have done TRS "kits" before. 

I have assembled two TRS Bakers.  They soured me on TRS kits. 

The parts are crude.  The metal parts are made from casting made from original parts.  They are smaller than the originals. 

The wood is worse, really terrible.  The first stock was not usable.  I bought a second stock and the same panto-graph mistakes were present.  The panto-graph master is flawed on the Baker master.  No effort seems to be made to fix the problems.  I even told TRS that there was a problem, I sent pictures.  The second stock was messed up the same as the first.  The master seems to have damage and wear that has not been repaired.  With some serious head scratching and creative work arounds I made that one work.

Is it possible  to make a nice rifle from a TRS Baker kit, yes.  IT just took me way to long due the flaws.  It will it take lots of extra time working around problems created by TRS. 

I assembled one lock and made a decent working lock.  I made a new tumbler from scratch and ignored the cast in spots to locate the holes.  The other lock came assembled for me.  IT was not a good lock. The mainspring was weak, bent and dragged on the lock plate.  The fit of the parts was sloppy.  The screws and tumbler were not located properly. 

I have only shot one of the Bakers.  Accuracy was dismal.  The bore was rough and had very tight an loose spots.  The inside of the muzzle was larger than most of the bore.   It took me many-many hours of lapping to get it to shoot acceptably well.  In hind-site I should had turned a better barrel and scrapped the first one.  I would not use another TRS barrel without knowing who made it and inspecting it with a bore scope. 

The TRS guns I assembled seem to be more suited to the historical re-enactor than a serious shooter. 

Sorry to be a "Debbie Downer".  Maybe others have had better luck. 

[Zarkoon]

Contact the Rifle Shoppe they usually give me a few names

[Clark Badgett]

Unless TRS has the item ready to ship forget it.  Unless the builder is extremely experienced and willing to spend LOTS of time forget it.  Be sure they know what they are getting into and have done TRS "kits" before. 

I have assembled two TRS Bakers.  They soured me on TRS kits. 

The parts are crude.  The metal parts are made from casting made from original parts.  They are smaller than the originals. 

The wood is worse, really terrible.  The first stock was not usable.  I bought a second stock and the same panto-graph mistakes were present.  The panto-graph master is flawed on the Baker master.  No effort seems to be made to fix the problems.  I even told TRS that there was a problem, I sent pictures.  The second stock was messed up the same as the first.  The master seems to have damage and wear that has not been repaired.  With some serious head scratching and creative work arounds I made that one work.

Is it possible  to make a nice rifle from a TRS Baker kit, yes.  IT just took me way to long due the flaws.  It will it take lots of extra time working around problems created by TRS. 

I assembled one lock and made a decent working lock.  I made a new tumbler from scratch and ignored the cast in spots to locate the holes.  The other lock came assembled for me.  IT was not a good lock. The mainspring was weak, bent and dragged on the lock plate.  The fit of the parts was sloppy.  The screws and tumbler were not located properly. 

I have only shot one of the Bakers.  Accuracy was dismal.  The bore was rough and had very tight an loose spots.  The inside of the muzzle was larger than most of the bore.   It took me many-many hours of lapping to get it to shoot acceptably well.  In hind-site I should had turned a better barrel and scrapped the first one.  I would not use another TRS barrel without knowing who made it and inspecting it with a bore scope. 

The TRS guns I assembled seem to be more suited to the historical re-enactor than a serious shooter. 

Sorry to be a "Debbie Downer".  Maybe others have had better luck.

As many people as I have seen assemble TRS lock kits and turn out outstanding locks, it might be your skills that is the issue.

[whetrock]

Unless TRS has the item ready to ship forget it.  Unless the builder is extremely experienced and willing to spend LOTS of time forget it.  Be sure they know what they are getting into and have done TRS "kits" before. 

I have assembled two TRS Bakers.  They soured me on TRS kits. 

The parts are crude.  The metal parts are made from casting made from original parts.  They are smaller than the originals. 

The wood is worse, really terrible.  The first stock was not usable.  I bought a second stock and the same panto-graph mistakes were present.  The panto-graph master is flawed on the Baker master.  No effort seems to be made to fix the problems.  I even told TRS that there was a problem, I sent pictures.  The second stock was messed up the same as the first.  The master seems to have damage and wear that has not been repaired.  With some serious head scratching and creative work arounds I made that one work.

Is it possible  to make a nice rifle from a TRS Baker kit, yes.  IT just took me way to long due the flaws.  It will it take lots of extra time working around problems created by TRS. 

I assembled one lock and made a decent working lock.  I made a new tumbler from scratch and ignored the cast in spots to locate the holes.  The other lock came assembled for me.  IT was not a good lock. The mainspring was weak, bent and dragged on the lock plate.  The fit of the parts was sloppy.  The screws and tumbler were not located properly. 

I have only shot one of the Bakers.  Accuracy was dismal.  The bore was rough and had very tight an loose spots.  The inside of the muzzle was larger than most of the bore.   It took me many-many hours of lapping to get it to shoot acceptably well.  In hind-site I should had turned a better barrel and scrapped the first one.  I would not use another TRS barrel without knowing who made it and inspecting it with a bore scope. 

The TRS guns I assembled seem to be more suited to the historical re-enactor than a serious shooter. 

Sorry to be a "Debbie Downer".  Maybe others have had better luck.

Scota,
I gather from Clark's comment that he has seen some good locks. Sounds like you had a different experience. I appreciate you taking time to outline what you found.
Whetrock

[Scota4570]

As many people as I have seen assemble TRS lock kits and turn out outstanding locks, it might be your skills that is the issue.
[/quote]

I think you missread it.  I assembled a very nice lock from the casting set.  I did not use all of the TRS parts though.   The TRS pre-assembled lock was not OK.  My Bakers were as good as anyone could have made from the parts supplied. 

I am giving my honest assessment of what my experience was.  My opinion is nothing that has not been said here before.   TRS fills a need for some people.  I am only trying to save somebody a lot of frustration who may have unrealistic expectations.   

I am not disparaging the family who runs it.  They are gracious and knowledgeable.  TRS does fill a unique niche. 

[rich pierce]

Some sets of TRS lock castings are easier to assemble than other sets. The stock issues mentioned are common. I’d rather buy a parts set without the stock.

They are replicating stocks from originals without modifying them. So the gun fit may not always suit today’s shooter. If you build from a blank using their parts sets you can get the fit the way you like and avoid any issues. I had a 1728 fusil ordinare kit I ended up restocking in cherry as a New England parts gun fowler. The lock was pre-assembled and worked fine but benefited from a re-sole of the frizzen. Accuracy is excellent. Never built a rifle from them and don’t know who supplies their rifle barrels.

[Bob Gerard]

Brad Emig recently repaired a TRS French 1690 lock that is on a pistol I purchased from a second or third (or more) owner.
Brad had a laundry list of issues with the lock he described as “low quality”, “poorly assembly and bad lock geometry”.
It works very well now; a hefty investment.
Brad’s suggestion to me was to try and avoid something built from The Rifle Shop by someone else unless the builder/assembler is known for doing good work.

[Bob Roller]

Years ago I made a right and left pair of flintlocks from TRS externals and they were found after the owner passed away on a closet shelf and never used,I think they were Mantons but I am not sure after all this time.The internal parts that came with these locks were pathetic and I wouldn't try to use them.
Bob Roller