This is my first muzzle loading kit. I don't have experience building these and needed a guide to help me. This kit does not come with a guide nor instructions for this model. I had to buy a CD drive to read the CD that came with it, and there are only guides for other far nicer rifles and pistols. This CD is accompanied by a DVD promotion from the late 90's. No instructions. It came with a printed sheet listing the included parts and their names, and a booklet in about ten different languages listing safety procedure and firing load data.

This leads to much confusion when assembly comes. My pistol arrived with several parts already installed, and installed extremely poorly. The trigger plate was bent and installed upside down, with a MODERN GALVANIZED wood screw attaching it to the wood so tightly it punched through the brass trigger plate completely. The trigger plate pin that attaches the tang screw and trigger guard together is press fit in, having no shoulder to hold it on or ability to rotate it. This means my trigger guard will not tighten completely and I have a lot of concern it's not fit tight enough to hold the barrel into the wood frame. The trigger guard looks cast and the threaded section that screws in to the trigger plate pin is about 1/8" long with like two threads cut into it, and not cut all the way down flush.

The escutcheon was already hammered into the wood, bending and denting it tremendously. The stamped pattern on it is light and barely visible as well as crooked. After needing a hammer pull to remove it I discovered the space cut for it in the wood was cut much too deep, and it was then filled with clear epoxy to fill the void. So now I have visible clear epoxy on a historic pistol and a dented shield shaped escutcheon that needs to be hammered flat and bent again. This is inexcusable.

The brass wedge plates are stamped 1/32" brass sheet. I figured these must just be decorative based on how thin they are. There is no stamped pattern or engraving on them as shown in pictures here. They were dented and bent needed to be hammered flat again. The wedge is way too small and just falls right out. I've got no clue if I need to bend it or something because I have no instructions. The nails that attach the plates to the wood are too long and go all the way through the wood and into the channel for the barrel.

The trigger was roughly ground and not cleaned up, leaving sharp folded over edges. I had to figure out how it connects to the lock plate and engages the sear by deduction.

The wood frame it's self was machined nicely, however there is not much material left to remove if any at all.

The barrel looks great and the finish is wonderful, however the nipple that came with the kit is either not complete or I need to drill it out myself, again, I have no instructions to know anything about this. The rear sight channel is dovetailed yet the rear sight it's self is not. Again, no clue if this is normal or not.

I'm not happy at all with this. I bought this kit with 1 left in stock so I'm assuming I was either sold an incomplete/damaged kit that was thrown together or I've received a kit that was previously returned. I've already got the thing nearly completed and I made it look pretty nice but this was certainly not worth $570 and I'm not sure it's safe to shoot. For $570 I expected at the very least an undamaged kit that didn't have parts glued in or destroyed. This was a birthday gift for my father so I don't have time for a replacement.

I do not recommend this purchase, especially if you want a guide to come with it. I did not take pictures before I started the work and I regret that. I will not post pictures of the parts as I have them now so you don't think my polishing and repairs are what you will expect when you get yours.

I give two stars because of the quality of the barrel and because I owe 1 extra star for my mistake in not immediately asking for a return directly.