Anyone have any experience with Traditions Warranty?

[Boerrancher]

A couple months ago I bought a new in box Traditions Flintlock Mountain rifle. Many people on other black powder forums had said donÂ’t wast money on traditions rifles, but I had always had great success with them in the past, so I gave it a go. Now I think I just wasted a bunch of money. I opened the box when it arrived and it was beautiful, the browned barrel and hardware looked nice, with excellent wood to metal fit, and a really nice set of sights, that I could actually see. Much like those on my Pedersoli. That is about as far as it went.

When I looked down the bore it looked dirty. I ran a patch through it and it was filled with powder residue and rust, because it never got cleaned after proofing. I pulled it apart and with lots of elbow got it clean. Next was to try the lock. I tried a new English flint, and click, it didnÂ’t open the frizzen. I tried it several more times and nothing. The mainspring was soft and mushy, like an old Smith and Wesson model 10 revolver. The frizzen spring was so stiff it was hard to force open, yes you read that right force open. I tried calling Traditions, useless because they are only open a few days of the work week. I sent an email with details and photos explaining how disappointed I was in their quality, and a week later got a reply with a number, day, and time to call.

I called when I was supposed to and got an RMA after explaining again what the problems were, and the gun was absolutely garbage and should have never left the factory in that condition. TheyÂ’ve had it a month now, and I called and talked to a different individual. I was told that after being there a month my gun still has not been looked at and that with the back log of guns it would be at least 4 to 6 weeks before they would even be able to look at it. I feel like I am going to be out a lot of money by the time this is over, and have to buy a new lock out of pocket, and buy a new barrel also. If they are putting junk parts on guns to ship, why would I expect the replacement ones will be better. I think I bought an $700 plus stock I could have bought off EBay for $50.

[LAGS]

I only had one warranty issue with a Traditions Crocket rifle.
The brass trigger guard broke when it was off and I dropped it on my floor that had carpet.
I called Traditions.
They said they would send me a new trigger guard , but it comes from Europe so it will take several weeks.
The pandemic kicked in and imports were delayed longer.
I got the new guard in four months.
But in the mean time I Brazed the original guard back together.
As far as quality .
I don’t think Traditions is Top of the Line.
But I buy mostly Kits and fit everything perfect myself.
I have not had to do any major repairs or improvements on these kits to make them a good lower cost rifle compared to the cost of Pedersoli rifles.

[dondiego]

Sometimes suppliers take back previously sold products and put them back into inventory or resell them as seconds. If it was shot and never cleaned this could be your issue. I have had this happen to me from Sportsman's Guide 25 years ago so they might not be doing it now. Just a thought.

[elmacgyver0]

Sometimes suppliers take back previously sold products and put them back into inventory or resell them as seconds. If it was shot and never cleaned this could be your issue. I have had this happen to me from Sportsman's Guide 25 years ago so they might not be doing it now. Just a thought.

Many years ago, I bought such a rifle from Sportsman's Guide, it was listed as blemished or something, it had been fired but the bore was clean, the breech plug had some fouling and a bit of rust that cleaned up ok. If I can remember it cost no more than $150.00 or less or I would not have bought it. I also bought a Traditions flintlock Hawkin for next to nothing from them, I haven't shot it much, but it worked the last time I tried it.

[Boerrancher]

Sometimes suppliers take back previously sold products and put them back into inventory or resell them as seconds. If it was shot and never cleaned this could be your issue. I have had this happen to me from Sportsman's Guide 25 years ago so they might not be doing it now. Just a thought.

No this gun was new,new. There were no marks on the frizzen and it showed no signs of use anywhere. I am thinking the barrel didn’t pass proofing and accidentally got tossed in the wrong bin. Instead of going in the scrap bin, it went into the build bin. Also I paid new price from it from Midway. The only reason I bought it there was because they were the only ones that had one in stock. I can’t believe their warranty repair department is 4-6 weeks behind on looking at the guns coming in much less repairing them. I feel like I felt with that Remington 7-08 about 9 years ago, Robbed. After Remington wouldn’t replace the barrel because it was in spec, 0.281 at the throat, and 0.286 at the muzzle, and was their specs they wouldn’t replace it. It sat in the safe for years until I decided to either use it as a fence post or have it rebarreled. I had it rebarreled, because I couldn’t see tossing $1500 out the window.

[schutzen-jager]

bought fox river 50 model 30 years ago, noticed that one of the lock plate washers missing, contacted them + was told parts not available - it is still accurate + reliable now - still would like to find replacement washer to replace my makeshift one -

[Boerrancher]

bought fox river 50 model 30 years ago, noticed that one of the lock plate washers missing, contacted them + was told parts not available - it is still accurate + reliable now - still would like to find replacement washer to replace my makeshift one -

I will, eventually when I catch a break, make a fancy plate of brass for my my 32 cal Pedersoli Frontier Rifle, to replace the butt ugly large head machine bolts that run through the stock and hold the lock on. I know it will require some inletting but If I do it right, I can have a truly one of a kind Rifle.

[LAGS]

I Customize factory rifles and dress them up a bit to make them look even better.
One of my common items is making custom Lock Side Plates.
I make some out of Brass in the size or shape I want to.
Others I buy lock plates and modify them to fit my lock or or even customize the shape to fit my stocks.
Inletting them is not that hard to do with a little practice.
You can see one of them in my post I did about my Hybrid Rifle that I posted a thread.
That is a side plate that I bought and brazed up the screw hole and redrilled it to the location I needed for my lock.

[Boerrancher]

I Customize factory rifles and dress them up a bit to make them look even better.
One of my common items is making custom Lock Side Plates.
I make some out of Brass in the size or shape I want to.
Others I buy lock plates and modify them to fit my lock or or even customize the shape to fit my stocks.
Inletting them is not that hard to do with a little practice.
You can see one of them in my post I dis about my Hybrid Rifle that I posted a thread.
That is a side plate that I bought and brazed up the screw hole and redrilled it to the location I needed for my lock.

That’s a nice looking rifle.

[LAGS]

Thank you.
I love having fun building custom rifles.
I don’t do it as a business , but end up selling some of them to friends or doing some customizing on some friends rifles.