SuperKirby1
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- Aug 5, 2008
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My Redemption came a couple days ago and I finally had a chance to open it up and take some pictures. Here it goes.
I unwrapped the plastic and saw this
Which opened to this...
Sights, ramrod cleaning attachment, and sight screws/plug screws
What they call the primer adapter, essentially a breech plug
Breech end of the barrel, rifled the full length of the barrel
No QLA
Forend off
Frame and stock
All put together
I had a set of Durasight Quick Release rings laying around and put them on the Cabelas Powderhorn 3-10 muzzleloader scope and got it adjusted like it should be.
I had plenty of room for my thumb to manipulate the breeching lever without any hangups. I dropped a few primers in and didn't feel like the scope was in the way at all.
Starting at the beginning, the packaging is good. The instruction manual is pretty standard, starting with the standard legal jargon and how not to blow yourself up. Next it covers the basics of muzzleloading and assembly and disassembly, and finishes with recommended loads.
The multi tool is plastic. At first I was slightly bothered by this, but then after playing with it a little I decided plastic is probably pretty good. Metal would just add a lot of weight to a pocket and would likely just cause scratches.
Next I pulled out the barrel assembly. The forend is held on by the sling swivel stud. When I first put it on and screwed it down tight, it was sideways. A real good squeeze on the end of the forend allowed another quarter turn. I was worried that it would loosen real easy, but that didn't seem to be the case. To loosen the stud I had to squeeze the forend again. I think it will be ok. Assembly/disassembly is as easy as it looks like it should
be. Hook the lug on the pin in the action and close it. Once close the forend slides on and the swivel screw tightens down. The forend seems to hold on real solid and doesn't wobble around or anything. I thought it might but this doesn't seem to be the case.
It appears the barrel and locking lug is put together using the “stub” process. I first learned about this when I was looking at custom barrels for the Encore and Contender platforms. Essentially the barrel is threaded into a machined locking assembly. This is supposed to be better than welding any sort of lugs on the barrel as it reduces inconsistencies caused by temperature fluctuations during the welding process. Barrel to frame lockup is very solid on mine.
The trigger on mine is good. There’s just a little take up, but you can definitely feel a solid point before the trigger breaks. I don’t have any sort of scale but it’s not very heavy – definitely lighter than my Pro Hunter was. I’m happy with the trigger.
I was interested in the striker slide. They advertise it as not having any sort of click or anything when you engage it. There isn’t. I was surprised. I thought there would be something. Once the striker is cocked, you can push the button on top if you don’t want to shoot. Opening the barrel also decocks the striker. One note here that I’m not thrilled with- once you do pull the trigger, the slide still shows that it’s cocked and doesn’t slide back to the uncocked position until you either break the action or push the decocking button. Not really a big deal I suppose, just wasn’t what I was expecting. Otherwise it’s good.
Wood to metal fit is good, with the wood being just a little proud of the frame everywhere, but it’s even. The finish is good and for “plain” walnut it has a nice grain pattern. There are no visible screws anywhere on the gun which I like. It looks clean.
The gun includes Williams fiber optic sights and comes with a scope base mounted. It also includes plug screws to plug the holes for either the open sights or the scope base, whichever you’re not going to use.
There’s a couple things I don’t love about the gun. I already mentioned the striker. Also the trigger guard and the black piece at the back of the forend where it mates to the frame are both plastic. It seems solid and I don’t worry about it breaking, just more the principal of it. I suppose it’s possible that if the piece on the forend were metal it would be noisy when opening and would also wear on the frame a lot faster. And the trigger guard is pretty large, which would translate to weight. I can only assume those are their reasons for using both, though I don’t know for sure. The fit was a little different at first. It wasn’t uncomfortable, but it wasn’t quite as good as it could be. I think a lot of it is that I got used to the very upright grip of my Pro Hunter (that gun fit me pretty well), and this is a much more traditional style grip. I think I will adjust just fine. Yesterday I played with it some then put it away. Today once work settled down some I got it back out and shouldered it a couple more times and it felt better than I remembered it the night before. I think once I get used to it being a different gun it will be just fine.
Overall, I’m really pretty happy with it thus far. I was going to wait to post any sort of review until after I shot it, but it looks like it will be a few days before I get a chance to make smoke, so this is at least an overview of it. I really think it will be a shooter and I look forward to shooting it. I also think it will be great to clean and I’m actually kind of excited about cleaning it. I’ll provide a range report as soon as I can get out to shoot.
I hope somebody found it helpful. Sorry it got a little long, er, a lot long. If somebody wants to see more pictures of it or something more specific let me know. I’ll be happy to take some additional pictures, though my next few days are pretty busy so it might take me a day or two.
I unwrapped the plastic and saw this
Which opened to this...
Sights, ramrod cleaning attachment, and sight screws/plug screws
What they call the primer adapter, essentially a breech plug
Breech end of the barrel, rifled the full length of the barrel
No QLA
Forend off
Frame and stock
All put together
I had a set of Durasight Quick Release rings laying around and put them on the Cabelas Powderhorn 3-10 muzzleloader scope and got it adjusted like it should be.
I had plenty of room for my thumb to manipulate the breeching lever without any hangups. I dropped a few primers in and didn't feel like the scope was in the way at all.
Starting at the beginning, the packaging is good. The instruction manual is pretty standard, starting with the standard legal jargon and how not to blow yourself up. Next it covers the basics of muzzleloading and assembly and disassembly, and finishes with recommended loads.
The multi tool is plastic. At first I was slightly bothered by this, but then after playing with it a little I decided plastic is probably pretty good. Metal would just add a lot of weight to a pocket and would likely just cause scratches.
Next I pulled out the barrel assembly. The forend is held on by the sling swivel stud. When I first put it on and screwed it down tight, it was sideways. A real good squeeze on the end of the forend allowed another quarter turn. I was worried that it would loosen real easy, but that didn't seem to be the case. To loosen the stud I had to squeeze the forend again. I think it will be ok. Assembly/disassembly is as easy as it looks like it should
be. Hook the lug on the pin in the action and close it. Once close the forend slides on and the swivel screw tightens down. The forend seems to hold on real solid and doesn't wobble around or anything. I thought it might but this doesn't seem to be the case.
It appears the barrel and locking lug is put together using the “stub” process. I first learned about this when I was looking at custom barrels for the Encore and Contender platforms. Essentially the barrel is threaded into a machined locking assembly. This is supposed to be better than welding any sort of lugs on the barrel as it reduces inconsistencies caused by temperature fluctuations during the welding process. Barrel to frame lockup is very solid on mine.
The trigger on mine is good. There’s just a little take up, but you can definitely feel a solid point before the trigger breaks. I don’t have any sort of scale but it’s not very heavy – definitely lighter than my Pro Hunter was. I’m happy with the trigger.
I was interested in the striker slide. They advertise it as not having any sort of click or anything when you engage it. There isn’t. I was surprised. I thought there would be something. Once the striker is cocked, you can push the button on top if you don’t want to shoot. Opening the barrel also decocks the striker. One note here that I’m not thrilled with- once you do pull the trigger, the slide still shows that it’s cocked and doesn’t slide back to the uncocked position until you either break the action or push the decocking button. Not really a big deal I suppose, just wasn’t what I was expecting. Otherwise it’s good.
Wood to metal fit is good, with the wood being just a little proud of the frame everywhere, but it’s even. The finish is good and for “plain” walnut it has a nice grain pattern. There are no visible screws anywhere on the gun which I like. It looks clean.
The gun includes Williams fiber optic sights and comes with a scope base mounted. It also includes plug screws to plug the holes for either the open sights or the scope base, whichever you’re not going to use.
There’s a couple things I don’t love about the gun. I already mentioned the striker. Also the trigger guard and the black piece at the back of the forend where it mates to the frame are both plastic. It seems solid and I don’t worry about it breaking, just more the principal of it. I suppose it’s possible that if the piece on the forend were metal it would be noisy when opening and would also wear on the frame a lot faster. And the trigger guard is pretty large, which would translate to weight. I can only assume those are their reasons for using both, though I don’t know for sure. The fit was a little different at first. It wasn’t uncomfortable, but it wasn’t quite as good as it could be. I think a lot of it is that I got used to the very upright grip of my Pro Hunter (that gun fit me pretty well), and this is a much more traditional style grip. I think I will adjust just fine. Yesterday I played with it some then put it away. Today once work settled down some I got it back out and shouldered it a couple more times and it felt better than I remembered it the night before. I think once I get used to it being a different gun it will be just fine.
Overall, I’m really pretty happy with it thus far. I was going to wait to post any sort of review until after I shot it, but it looks like it will be a few days before I get a chance to make smoke, so this is at least an overview of it. I really think it will be a shooter and I look forward to shooting it. I also think it will be great to clean and I’m actually kind of excited about cleaning it. I’ll provide a range report as soon as I can get out to shoot.
I hope somebody found it helpful. Sorry it got a little long, er, a lot long. If somebody wants to see more pictures of it or something more specific let me know. I’ll be happy to take some additional pictures, though my next few days are pretty busy so it might take me a day or two.
