It takes some experience to sort through "old iron" to find something that
still got life in it.
Unfortunately it also takes some experience with the import "kit" lathes to
tell whats wrong with them and what needs adjusting or fixing when they show
up.

If you go the new import route, I would only consider Jet and Grizzly in
that order as they have the best after sales support for the imports. Jet
will even send someone out to fix your lathe if its not running right.

Either the 12" or various 13" inch imports will do the job for you. If you
plan on making a lot of your horns I would go with the best 13" you can
afford. Stay away from the 9" imports, although in theory they could do the
job, they seem to be a large step down in quality from the larger imports.
The 12x36 imports have a lot of happy owners, and is probably the cheapest
lathe that will do the job for you pretty well.

Theres a forum on Yahoo that can be helpful in setting up and using the 12"
and 13" lathes (its called 12x).

Along with the lathe I would recommend an Aloris type quick change toolpost
set (Phase II makes a pretty good import version of this, but don't go
cheaper than that) and a set of carbide insert cutting tools. Actually, you
can get a "real" Aloris set for not that much more than the Phase II, so
check on mscindustrial.com, enco.com and the other tooling sites for the
best prices you can get on the Aloris and Phase II sets.

Don't let any oldtimers talk you into using HSS tool bits for this, that was
cool in its day but times have changed, and its a lot easier to get
repeatable results with the carbide tools, especially for learners. For this
size lathe you would need the positive relief type tools, take a look at
http://www.thegallos.com/carbide.htm for some background on this.

However, to be fully candid, to make a part to the specifications you
described takes some machining skills.
I guess you could learn this on your own, but it would be hard without
someone looking over your shoulder.

You should consider either some metalworking classes or perhaps finding a
retired machinist in your area that would be interested in helping you learn
to run a lathe, and you should be willing to pay for this. If you find the
right guy he could help you select the lathe also, and if he's familiar with
other machinists in the area might have some leads on a good used lathe.

Good luck-

Paul T.