Kit recommendations and experiences

Been wanting a smoothbore for some years now, just not sure of what is good out there kit wise, what is yalls experiences and recommendations? I know about TVM, Kibler, Sitting Fox and October country and the kits they all offer. Can yall help me narrow things down?

@Uriahs, almost all the kits offered for the building of a smooth bored guns will be a collection of parts.

Pecatonica, Caywood, Chambers, Clay Smith and some others are also reputable suppliers of kit parts. Pecatinica and Track of the Wolf are essentially similar kits with Pecatonica having a wider selection of styles.

Do you have any of the books on the building of muzzleloading guns? "The Gunsmith of Greenville County", the book from Dixon's or the book by Buchele, Aleander et al.?

Have you watched any of the assembly videos by Jim Kibler, Bill Raby, Mike Miller or some others?

What experience do you have with precision wood working and metal finishing? What tools do you have for the metal work. such as a drill press? What work benches and vises do you have for solidly holding your work? What chisels and carving tools do you have for shaping the stock and inletting side plates, locks, trigger guards, trigger plates and butt plates?

How historically correct (HC) do you want to be?

What is your skill level? Most folks with moderate mechanical or woodworking skill can build most any of the "Component sets".

As the Grenadier says, what tools and place to build do you have? Are you beginning and/or wanting to start gathering tools to do the work? It is a good opportunity to jump in and learn the craft.

I have worked with many of the 'component sets' that you mentioned. All have good materials but some are more HC than others. I mostly enjoyed working with the Chambers' officers 20 bore Fusil/smoothbore, and I have enjoyed hunting and shooting with it for over 20 years.

Do your research to find more about which might fit your needs and wants. It is an investment in time, sweat, money and emotion.

Enjoy the process. It is rewarding.

DanL

Grenadier1758 said:

@Uriahs, almost all the kits offered for the building of a smooth bored guns will be a collection of parts.

Pecatonica, Caywood, Chambers, Clay Smith and some others are also reputable suppliers of kit parts. Pecatinica and Track of the Wolf are essentially similar kits with Pecatonica having a wider selection of styles.

Do you have any of the books on the building of muzzleloading guns? "The Gunsmith of Greenville County", the book from Dixon's or the book by Buchele, Aleander et al.?

Have you watched any of the assembly videos by Jim Kibler, Bill Raby, Mike Miller or some others?

What experience do you have with precision wood working and metal finishing? What tools do you have for the metal work. such as a drill press? What work benches and vises do you have for solidly holding your work? What chisels and carving tools do you have for shaping the stock and inletting side plates, locks, trigger guards, trigger plates and butt plates?

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I have mostly all the tools needed I haven't read any of those books though, and I have been through all of Kibler's videos. Are the books still in print?

Most of them still are available, either through Amazon (use the advertiser's link at the top of the page so the Forum gets a rebate) or Track of the Wolf, Dixie Gun Works and few other suppliers of books.

Here's a link to a thread with the exact titles. Walker's book is getting hard to find. Good thing there are many videos available on the internet.

https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/t-c-help.145613/#post-2049741

You need to watch some of the kit videos on YouTube to get a feel what kit building is like, there are plenty of them. Look up "duelist" on YouTube and Bill Raby on Rumble.

Duelist kit build episode 1;



Here is Bill's smoothbore building series, episode 1, there are a lot of episodes;

For what you are asking, I’d say…figure out exactly what you want, then go and try to find a supplier that offers it.

Years ago I wanted a smoothbore. Dixie GunWorks sent me a flier that they were closing out some Pedersoli Brown Bess Carbine kits. I built myself a smoothbore. My first flintlock


For years, I wanted an early period Plains Rifle; something that would fit nicely between Lewis & Clark…and the Mountain Man Era. Nobody made what I was looking for…so using a couple different suppliers, I pieced together a kit for the gun I’ve wanted for so many years. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the skill to assemble this kit and do it justice. I found a local builder that did…and he did…


Kibler makes amazing kits. I don’t have a lot of skill at building, crafting, and assembling these awesome period firearms, but I really wanted to try one out. My Kibler kit was awesome…one of the finest quality products I’ve ever seen.


You want a good smoothbore kit, what you want might be out there. Find it and order it, and build it.

If you know what you want, but cannot find it…then piece it together, and build it. Or have a skilled local build it for you.

This is such a truly amazing sport/hobby…

As others have said, most kits are not 'click-click snap-snap' put togethers. They are a collection of parts with the stock only partially shaped and inletted. You need experience in woodworking and some basic tools so you don't turn a $1000.00 of parts into a $200.00 rifle, or smoothie.

As far as I know there is yet no smoothbore kit available from Kibler; that would be the easiest and the nicest. TVM does sell kits for hobbyists that are easier to build. It may not be quite as simple and straight forward as a Kibler kit but should be far more doable than most others.

There is also Pedersoli and a few others that sell kits that will be about as simple as one can get. I've never built a kit so can't go into anything technical about any kits.

I will never say a nice word about Pedo guns, I do not like them, not on land, no with green eggs and ham.

I went with Muzzle Loader Supply out of Little Rock AR.
Nice gals, they have 3 grades, brass, silver, and steel. You can mix and match parts to make it yours.
I do not know if other do this.

First question would be, what style are you looking for? Musket, trade gun, fowling gun, French fusil, smooth rifle? I would give different recommendations depending on which style of gun we are talking about.

Trot said:

First question would be, what style are you looking for? Musket, trade gun, fowling gun, French fusil, smooth rifle? I would give different recommendations depending on which style of gun we are talking about.

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French fusil or trade gun, would fit my persona and really well and my modern hunting best. Going for big and small game of what is in season really. I really like how the tulle butt drops with that curving slope, it is super appealing to my eye.

Rifleman1776 said:

As others have said, most kits are not 'click-click snap-snap' put togethers. They are a collection of parts with the stock only partially shaped and inletted. You need experience in woodworking and some basic tools so you don't turn a $1000.00 of parts into a $200.00 rifle, or smoothie.

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Lol I understand, I know for sure I can do the woodworking, my biggest fear is messing up the finishing of the metal. I ever only finished one barrel and it turned out pretty good, but its just a cheap beat up in the woods kit. I'm really looking to get into making some really nice firearms, but it'll take me some time to get where alot of you guys are.

Member PathfinderNC recently posted his experience building French Fusil kits from Pecatonica River and Clay Smith. I would check out his experience with those two options. Those two and Track of the Wolf would be the best current options in my opinion.

The ability to do great woodworking is fine, but knowing how to shape the wood to the correct dimensions is critical. I spent many hours at Martin's Station watching and talking with Mike Miller and others at many events there over the years. I learned a lot. It is necessary to be able to actually handle a gun to determine if it is a quality build or not. I have seen many that are a beautiful piece of woodworking but are not correctly shaped. And I have simply picked up a gun from a little-known maker and knew that he was very talented. It takes a lot of study and a lot of listening.

I have a Kibler colonial rifle in 58 smoothbore. I think it is the best quality and value you can get today.

Working on a Pedersoli Brown Bess kit now. Quality seems top shelf.
As already mentioned you will need a collection of wood working tools (rasps, files) and tools for finishing the brass up at least with the Bess. Steel components were all good. In fact it has the smoothest bore I’ve seen on a factory gun.
Stock: Came rough shaped and inletted but much work (which goes quickly with good tools) was needed to finish the stock. All metal was (intentionally) set too deeply into the stock and the wood was covered in machine marks and excess wood. Also took the time to remove an ahistorical feature. Rough wood but thats what I wanted. Gonna be better then the factory when I’m done.
Brass: As rough as the stock. This bit of metal work is new frontier for me but its basically a “super duper polishing” job with files, sandpaper, emery, and steel wool I was advised here. Just started on the brass today - mercifully not every piece needs a lot of work - and will stain the stock in the next day or two.

Highly recommend a kit gun if you are an OCD musket fiddler like myself.

roundballman said:

I have a Kibler colonial rifle in 58 smoothbore. I think it is the best quality and value you can get today.

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I love my Kibler SMR

Uriahs said:

Been wanting a smoothbore for some years now, just not sure of what is good out there kit wise, what is yalls experiences and recommendations? I know about TVM, Kibler, Sitting Fox and October country and the kits they all offer. Can yall help me narrow things down?

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I built a Jim Chambers English Fowler/Officers Fusil seven years ago. I highly recommend it. Top quality components and a pleasure to shoot.