Chambers' Silver / Virgina Rifle Kit

[AZ-Robert]

I'm thinking of taking the plunge and doing my first kit build. Chambers's kits come highly recommended but at least one of his kits had some problems:

Read About it Here

Now, if a body knows what he is doing he can overcome these kinds of things, but I'm not sure I want to wrestle with them on my very first project. So, how about it -- was this a fluke? Or are "small" things like this to be expected?

I'm especially interested in hearing from anyone who has put together the Chambers' Mark Silver / VA Rifle kit as that is one of two or three that I'm considering as a starter.

 

[Razz]

Robert,
Give the folks at Chambers a call and ask them about the issue described in your attachemnt. Everything on mine lined up correctly. In fact I had to remove wood from behind the tang and breech in order to get it to fit. Elevations and alignment with the lock were very good. I talked with them quite a bit before I got my MS kit from them and have been very pleased with it. I called a few times along the way in my building and they were great, gave this first timer all the reassurance I needed. I'm just about done with mine, need to apply the finishing touches and I can get to shooting.
Good luck and have fun!
Razz

PS We have all seen this recommendation over and over and I'll add to it...Get the Gunsmith of Grenville County and read it over. I kept mine right next to my bench and referred to it from time to time. It really helped.

 

[Mike Brooks]

I've probably put together 1/2 dozen in my shop and supervised the building of another 15 or so. The trigger plate is the only glitch on these. It needs to have the trigger slot lengthened so it will sit in the place it needs to and still have the trigger function.
All the other problems mentioned I've never had a problem with. Unless you pick your own piece of wood and send it to have it shaped you may end up with a piece you're not fond of. Every piece of wood is different and cuts differently under the chisel. Luck of the draw unless you have control over what goes into the stock.
Mainly, I suggest thinking each step of a kit through before inletting the parts. Some thinking will save you a lot of frustration down the road.

 

[Stophel]

If you can specify "sugar maple", all the problems of crummy, hard to carve, hard to finish, spongey, soft, fuzzy, hairy, good-for-firewood-only soft maple go away in one fell swoop.

Precarve makers seem to avoid using sugar maple. I think basically it's because they would have to sharpen their cutters much more often.

 

[Dane]

Like Mr Brooks said,

I've put together around a dozen Chamber's kits.

I've never had any fit problems with any of them.
From reading the complaints, it looks like a little better thought before hand would have solved these problems. Sometimes you need to set the barrel back a little farther to make everything fit together...i.e. touch hole placement, tang, etc.

Remember, these are NOT snap together kits, it does require some tools, common sense, and putting things together in the right order to make everything work out right.

Use the old measure twice cut once rule, and you should be fine.

Does that mean that there couldn't be one out there that had a problem??? No, but no doubt Barbie and Jim will always make it right.