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Good advice,Might be good to build a kit , before a scratch build from a blank. Kit will get your head going in the right direction.
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Larry
Good advice,Might be good to build a kit , before a scratch build from a blank. Kit will get your head going in the right direction.
Mark, I totally agree if a feller just wants a gun, and can say he put it together. But, if you enjoy a project working on muzzleloaders, then I say go a little deeper, and do a scratch build that will give you a longer ride. Keep up the fun vids!I would forget the gun builders and purchase a Kibler Kit.
Prices are reasonable and you don't have to wait months/years to get it.
You can assemble a Kibler gun within a week and have an excellent gun to shoot.
You can't go wrong with a kit that simple to complete.
tenngun,Bill, I bought an Indian flute once. Worked hard and could play a few tunes.
Had a friend, who had musical talent. After about six months I showed off to him what I could do.
He had never seen an Indian flute, but thought it pretty nice. And wanted to give it a go.
Made two or three toots, listened to a couple of tunes and then set to playing. Sounded just like Carlos Nakai
I gave him the flute
Having been messing up gun builds for over forty years, and having learned a lot from your vids I have to chuckle at your statement. I feel like I’m stuggeling to get a toot while your Nakai![]()
Was thinking the same thing, @tenngun summed the disparity in skill levels up nicely. What’s easy to some, isn’t necessarily easy to others. I’ll never compete with Bill and the other fine builders here.tenngun,
What a hillarious reply. I wanted to say someting to Bill too. I am now on my tenth build and still struggle with some items. I get them done, but never to my satisfaction.
Wanna purchase another flute??
Larry
That works too....I guess it depends on what he wants to build.Mark, I totally agree if a feller just wants a gun, and can say he put it together. But, if you enjoy a project working on muzzleloaders, then I say go a little deeper, and do a scratch build that will give you a longer ride. Keep up the fun vids!
Larry
Now hold on there, Eric. I think you're being a little too quick to pass sentence here. Having been a teacher for over twenty years, and a student for more than fifty, methinks it's more a question of the quality of the teacher. And also, I'll admit, the dedication of the student, for dedication, passion, and drive trump talent every time. I've seen it in my students.I don't believe anyone can build a kit, much less complete a scratch build. What makes sense to some of us who have done crafty stuff is like reading a space alien language to someone who has never done as much as build a bird house growing up, they are out there and plenty of them.
The main thing is to take your time. Don't get feelin 'I gotta get that finished'. People screw things up when they get rushed and don't take the time needed to think things through. I have bailed a few folks out by finishing 'kit' guns that they started and messed up; the job isn't easier if you have to patch really bad inletting and mis-drilled holes. Don't be afraid of the job-it's hugely satisfying taking your own product out to the range, and in years yet to come, seeing your products in other folks hands still bringing joy.I’ve been out of muzzleloaders for awhile, but looking to get back in. Along with the Kibler woodsrunner, I’ve been looking at a couple Chambers kits and watching to see what happens by on the classifieds. Even if I discover I’m not quite smart enough to build the kit myself, I can always get a gunsmith or builder to help me out.
The first time I put a bead of weld down it did not look as nice as I can weld today either. Fact is, you don't know what you don't know until you learn it. The quality of something like a rifle build would obviously improve after building several rifles. I have my first real kit purchased and await its arrival. I am building a "Johnny Cash Cadillac" rifle too, learning as I go. The wood carving is likely beyond my level of skill and time commitment for now, but learning the mechanics and applying my machining skills to the metal bits will net me 2 rifles when I'm done, if i can find my way through the required wood working.
I'm having fun and learning, either way
And I've dropped more cash in a week on vacation than I will have spent when done too.
Time is the key. And we can get impatient. I’ve built guns since I was eighteen or nineteen, not a bunch but a few. Just once I kept track of every job I did. It was a track of tge wolf kit and it took me a hundred hours till first coat of oil went on the stock. This is a gun on the ‘east’ side.If I can do it, anyone can. It took me 5 months.
I used to be a Department Supervisor of one of the national home improvement stores. One day as I was walking to the front of the store an early 20 something lady asked me to find this odd ball light bulb she had. I found in fairly quick and handed it to her. Her response really floored me, "Can you send someone out to install this for me". I mean really you screwed the bulb out Just turn it the other way and it will go in.Reminds me of the guys who say they can't butcher their own deer. I ask them if it is hard to eat steak, ya know, since they can't cut up meat...they usually look at me strange before the light bulb comes on. The only difference is you start with a portion if it, disect it, chew it well, then move to another piece.
The way I see it, the "not able to" isn't a can't situation, it's "not willing to put forth the effort to learn" in most cases. We are not talking about learning to fly a jet where a mistake puts you upside down on the turf under a flaming mass of titanium and jet fuel. People can critique the way you cut your grass, doesn't mean it is wrong, it is your grass. If it was a contest it wouldn't be much fun, I didn't start down this path to be measured by others though.
I resemble these remarks.....I’m real good at turning a thousand dollars worth of parts in to a five hundred dollar gun
My inletting always leaves much to be desired. But.,,, I have so much fun doing them
And guess what. Most old time masters made glaring mistakes, and God knows there were lots of ugly guns, take a look at Seth Kinmans gun, you will do better then that
Hey guys, I am no expert by a long shot, but remember when I had the first hankering to build a rifle. I thought, "this is beyond my capabilities", but pursued it anyway. One day I was at a shoot and spoke to a fellow shooter who had a beautiful long rifle. After a nice discussion about his build I wondered what his background was. I asked "what do you do for a living?" He said, "I shoot cars". (painted cars for a living) Wow, I thought, if he can do it so can I! Anyway to all you guys and gals too, that would like to make a rifle, don't think about it, go for it. It will not be the best looking one at the range, but it will be one YOU made.
I saw this video and want to share. This guy says this is his first build muzzleloader.. His work is not refined as a seasoned riflesmith, but, remember he is not a seasoned riflesmith. He could/should give inspiration to anyone thinking about building his/her own.
Larry
Hi, boy you got that right about building a gun with keys and a standing breech. I'm in the middle of such a build, a Chambers English fowler and am doing just that, a standing breech, found after getting the breech inletted that I needed more wood in the breech area and had to sand a flat and glue more wood! So, aside from just the normal amount of work I'm having to do additional inletting and deal with gluing. I'll have to get some pic's up.Selection of what to build is also a factor, buy a Chambers or Pecatonica 'kit' with a hooked breech and wedge keys for your first build and it will be dramatically more difficult than something simpler. If I could change things in the past I would probably buy a Kibler kit and put that together, then start on a Pecatonica or Chambers having a reference to use in the Kibler, then go with a plank build having gathered some of the tools and knowledge to do so. Knowing and being able to see what it is supposed to be makes getting it to what it is supposed to be a LOT easier.
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