And once it goes through the proofing process, there is nothing to say that any gun wont blow up on the next shot.
If a gun is proofed at both Birmingham and London proof houses it is unlikely that it will blow up on the next shot providing there is no barrel obstuction . These two proof houses are the best in the world .
Feltwad
A Flint Lock will not secure a chicken house door
i would agree Feltwad .
however the proof ,no mater who does it , is not a guarantee of any real term dependability . .
There are any number of things that will take a barrel out of proof . thus most everything but the newest of firearms that have been proofed should IMO be considered out of proof
All the proof really does is to document independently that at the time the barrels or complete gun , were submitted , they met the standards of proof .
It should also be noted that proof doesn’t mean quality . It only means that at the times of submission, the barrel or entire gun , withstood the tests .
In the case of the IOB , its more then a proof , it’s a complete documentation of ever part , piece , the maker of as well as numerous levels of proof .
That however isn’t the issue as these do not go through a proofing house of any kind .
So people then have to trust that the retail importer , has set a given safe standard . On top of that , hopefully they do tests to insure that standard is maintained .
If we compare that with the Spanish and Italian imports , they all go through proof that is defined by their governments . Now we can disagree with the quality or level of that proof , its doesn’t change the fact the barrels for those pieces have been submitted in one form or another , to proof , as distended to be used as a working firearm.
Again this isn’t to say im against the India , Imports . Im not . I in fact have a couple . However those also went through IOB proofs and were not built as curiosities with the intent of making them functional .
I would also agree that we need entry level options .
However , what I find to be rather interesting is that these are not really entry level pieces in that they are not intended for the average Joe who wants to go shoot some BP . Instead they are marketed more for the re-enactor market . Oddly enough its that market demographic that seems to be crying the loudest about these .
While it is also true that there has always been an cry concerning imports like CVA , Traditions , Ultra Hi , Jukar …….. That cry had at least some base . Even though the majority of it was really IMO based more around the product being cheaper then we could produce here .
In this case we don’t really have that . Myself I don’t see the custom market being effected by these imports anymore then it was effected by the CVA , Jukar , Lyman products .
Since we do not and frankly cannot provide a low cost entry level product here in the US , there is no real challenge on that level .. After all , it only takes just a few minutes of adding up the cost of parts to quickly understand that even to build a semi custom piece, adding in paying ONLY minimum wage , will through you cost , well over the 1000-1500.00
OH and by the way , one might want to look at the cost of a Pedersoli . For that mater the cost of replacing the parts on a cheep Pedersoli
So that leaves us with the real warnings about these guns , coming from those who have owned and had problems . Those who have seen others with problems OR those who just continue to repeat what they read , with no real experience on the subject .
So I would say that for someone just getting started , these maybe an option . However I would highly recommend doing your research and ONLY by from the most reputable company . Also realize that what re-enactors find to be suitable and what folks who use their pieces to actually fire a projectile are 2 complete different things . So be sure to research both camps for recommendations on where to purchase or who to purchase from
