our 54 cal. Woodsrunner arrived today

My son ordered around the end of August and found me the T/C Hawken kit to practice on at the same time. Timing couldn't have been much better, Finished the Hawken about a week ago then had a couple of out of town jobs and before I headed home today my son sent me a picture of a box that was on the porch when he got home from work around noon. I finally got home about 9:00 and hurried in with screw gun in hand to find my son with all but 2 screws out. This is the extra fancy maple. My only concern is the bend in the stock.

that is too extreme of a warp in the wood

it is a lemon

sorry, I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer but there isn't wood enough there to fix it

Looks like your wood has Peyronies disease.

In my (very) limited experience with both highly figured maple and standard grade, it seems the figured wood is more prone to this. I finished a rifle that had a CM4 grade precarve stock a few months ago that had a twist full length from foregrip to the muzzle end. With a hot water soaking and clamping against the twist overnight, it took out most of it but not all. It actually ended up really nice and you'd have to really look for the twist in the finished rifle. The barrel supports the stock, not the other way around. Jim Kibler is the final authority on this matter and I'm sure he'll square it away for you.

I have seen this on his guns in videos or you tube and was an easy though annoying fix. I got mine in the white and it came fully assembled and straight as could be

Mine is the same way, with the barrel pinned in and installed its nice and straight, I wouldn’t worry about it

I had a fancy maple stock that was worse than that and with moisture and pressure it nearly straightened out, barrel took out the rest of the bend.

My woodsrunner is an extra fancy and it had a little wup in the stock like that when I opened the box up, I knew I wouldn't be able to start it for a couple weeks so I got the barrel into the stock and left it in. Didn't pin it in just put it in and left it. Now that I am doing the assembly I have had the barrel in and out of the stock a bunch of times and it is staying straight. I wouldn't worry on it.

I think the barrel will bring it back. On a slim muzzleloader like this the barrel supports the forearm, the forearm does not support the barrel!

But if you are in doubt, contact Kibler’s. They are good people to work with.

I am going to assemble it and set it aside for a week or two while I turn my shop around. I restored a guitar a few years ago that the maple neck had warped after 40 + years in poor storage, I straightened that so this should be easy as there is only a small fraction of material with this. It was delayed at our Post Office and I think it was in a damp area as the patch box cover won't close all the way without binding. Having slept on it I decided with a little help here to take my time and proceed as it is a pretty piece of wood.

Do nothing. Slip the barrel in the stock and move on. This is a non-issue. Even if some think it is, please just trust me.

That means I'm one gun closer to receiving my Woodsrunner! YAY!

James Kibler said:

Do nothing. Slip the barrel in the stock and move on. This is a non-issue. Even if some think it is, please just

Click to expand...

I installed the barrel, I had to trim the breech a little to close a small gap at the rear of the tang. It is a beautiful piece of wood. Thanks, John.

My Colonial kit arrived couple days ago. Very impressive. Mine is straight. In any event the kits is really nice and the lock is a work of art. I won’t be able to start it for a while so it sits in the shipping box waiting.

Geez, look at that curl! I got a tracking number earlier today. It's almost better not to know it's on the way. Double-whammy: Waiting for your first Kibler to show up at the same time you're waiting to hear from the Air Force Academy on whether your kid got in!

skyhigh315 said:

Geez, look at that curl! I got a tracking number earlier today. It's almost better not to know it's on the way. Double-whammy: Waiting for your first Kibler to show up at the same time you're waiting to hear from the Air Force Academy on whether your kid got in!

Click to expand...

Mine arrives Thursday! Oh and GOOD LUCK to your youngun'. My son is USAF/New Mexico Air National Guard. I'm one proud dad.

kansas_volunteer said:

Looks like your wood has Peyronies disease.

Click to expand...

I never had wood like that. At my age though, getting ANY kind of wood, is good.

akroguy said:

Mine arrives Thursday! Oh and GOOD LUCK to your youngun'. My son is USAF/New Mexico Air National Guard. I'm one proud dad.

Click to expand...

Thank you very much. I appreciate that. I'm pretty proud, too! This kid had a pilot's license before he had a learner's permit for a car. Asked some girl out on a date and flew her to Catalina for lunch. She was impressed. Between that, and being able to get a 4" group with a Pietta 1851 .44 Sheriff at 25 yards, he's a pretty remarkable kid. Wants to fly F-22's!

You might write the Kibler company and show them the photo. It may be as simple as steaming the stock, putting the barrel in and letting the hot steam re-form the stock to the barrel.
Ohio Rusty ><>

If you warm the bent area up with a heat gun (a hair drier on high will work) and then install your barrel the kink will come out and stay out after it cools off. Keep your heat source moving and don't scorch the wood, heat it until you can only touch it for about a second, it will bend back easily.

I did this on a pre-carve from the P place that they sent back without the barrel which got lost in the shuffle. Mine was bent down from the entry pipe at about a 30-degree angle. In my case I heated the barrel as well then pulled the hot forearm gently into place and zip tied it tightly to the barrel until it cooled off. It was arrow straight when it cooled off.

28 years of bending bow wood taught me a few things.