I just traded for a like new TN mountain Rifle from a good friend of mine. I know he has had this rifle for at least ten years and to my knowldge may have shot it once. I am not in the states right now and do not know a lot about these rifles other than they are very well put together. it is a 50 cal. Any imput will help, plus gives me a project to plan and work on until my deployment is over. Thanks in advance for the help.
Gary

Well your friend may have only fired it once but if he failed to properly clean it afterward it is ruined. I've become very leery of used muzzleloaders because nearly every one I've examined has had a rusty bore. If in good shape, the bore that is, they are fine rifles. I've had a couple, a .50 caliber flintlock and a .32 percussion. They have decent locks, triggers and barrels and the general style is much more traditional than most factory built ML rifles. That is one I would not be at all embarrassed to take to rendezvous. If I could find another of the early ones with the lighter 7/8" barrel and a good bore I would jump on it as they carry and balance much better than the later ones with 15/16" barrels. In fact I'd even go for one with a bad 7/8" barrel as it is easy enough to fit a new Green Mountain barrel to a rifle if all else is good. If your friend has properly maintained it I'm sure you will be happy with your new rifle.
Is it flint or percussion? Either way you will need accessories and you can spend a lot of time (and money) online deciding just which shooting pouch, powder horn, patch knife and such you will want. I'd suggest you check out "Track of The Wolf" for an online site with excellent photos of their very extensive catalog. You can drool over some really fine guns and perhaps even see guns very similar to your own and get some ideas as to how you might like to dress it up. It's a good site to kill time, dream a bit and get your mind off that **** hole you're stuck in. I sure do want you to know that we appreciate your service and I hope to see you at rendezvous!

I just recently worked on one for a friend of mine. I think that they are on of the best factory made guns I've seen in person. They seem to have decent locks and hardware. The only issues I saw were the sear screw backed off on it's own which caused it to have a bad hair trigger and the drum wasn't fitted and extended into the bore. This prevented the jag or cleaning rod to go clear to the face of the breech plug. Both if these problems were easy fixes. My friend says that it shoots very good.

Thanks for the imput guys. As for condition of the barrel The last time I saw this rifle out of the safe it was like brand new insid and out. As for the care this guy is like no other when it comes to making shure his weapons are clean and stored correctly. He is the Gunsmith for the department I used to work for and I thought I was bad on making sure things were correct. I know he bought this rifle in the mid 90's and lost intrest in BP after one outing. The stock is Tiget maple and if I remember right it was the high end one at the time.
I can not wait to get back and play with it. In the mean time I can get the things I need so I can be ready to shoot.

That sounds like a plan, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

It's been over 10 years since I've fired a shot from a muzzleloader, so I am far from an authority... but I always thought the DGW TN Mtn Rifle was the best looking muzzleloader around.
There may be fancier, and there are probably better made custom rifles, but I just loved every inch of it's styling. It just looks "proper". The only thing that comes close is the TN Squirrel Rifle they made (maybe still make) in .32 caliber.