Complete Kibler Colonial Smoothrifle

[Crewdawg445]

To keep things simple I decided to start a new thread for the completed rifle, if you haven't looked upon the build thread check it out detailing some of the in's and outs of building a Kibler kit from start to finish. With great excitement I'm pleased to finally show off this new baby! It's been a pleasure building such a wonderful kit, a true "kit rifle".

 

[Black Hand]

Needs dents, dings and scratches... :wink:

 

[Crewdawg445]

You speak blasphemy! :wink:

 

[sb 54 cal.]

Very Very Nice and a smoothie to boot :hatsoff:

 

[stubshaft]

Nicely done Sir :hatsoff:

 

[smo]

Congrats it looks Great :hatsoff:

 

[Crewdawg445]

Thank you gentlemen!

 

[mogrene]

Beautifully finished gun. The metal-to-wood fitting is amazing. Very impressive.

 

[jdw276]

Sorry, but WAY TO purty and nice to shoot. A true wall hanger for sure. I would not take a chance on scratch or dent. Yep over the fireplace it goes for display purposes only. Under glass is another option to keep the finger prints off of it.

Obviously VERY nice and well done.

 

[Crewdawg445]

Thank you kindly! 122hrs of meticulous detail work. I'm very proud of how she turned out. Jims kit rifle will yield one beautiful gun if the builder does their part!

Concerning wood to metal fit, allot of work needed done on the mountings to ensure the necessary fit. The trigger guard and buttplate especially. A good amount of wood was removed for shaping. A often overlooked area I feel indeed is the trigger guard. The wood to metal fit there is nice and appealing to the eye. The extra details put forth were extremely well worth the time.

 

[tlallijr]

Great job Ben ! The wood and metal finish is beautiful.

 

[Crewdawg445]

Thank you my friend! You obviously know how much of a joy this rifle is to build first hand!

 

[Cowboy]

Absolutely Beautiful !!!

Can I have it ??? :haha:

Again, the fit and finish is excellent !!

Respectfully, Cowboy

 

[Crewdawg445]

Thank you my friend, she indeed doesn't want to go anywhere but straight to the woods in my hands! Hehe. :thumbsup:

 

[BillinOregon]

Dawg, you did a spectacular job on this one. And I am just as impressed with the photos you took, as the length of these flint-era firearms makes them a real challenge to document. The only subject tougher to photograph that I can think of is a longbow.

 

[Crewdawg445]

A few more with the sun out of some finer details.







Notice the heel of the buttplate extends past that of the stock. The wood stands proud and a good amount of wood removal is needed. I've seen several originals were the plate extends to protect the heel of the rifle. Example was taken from Recreating the American Longrifle.



Angles of the trigger guard transitions to the underside of the lock panels, fine amount of shaping.



Same applies to the entry pipe, I had to work this area as the inlet was a tad bit off and not perfect.



Notice the wrist shape, the transition from the tang to wrist area. Allot of wood is left here to be shaped accordingly.







Cleaning up the buttplate was one tedious endeavor as with most brass mountings, however worth the time and patience.

 

[Boomer]

Beautifully done! You should be very proud!

How does she shoot? You have had a solid weekend with her so please tell me you went & got her dirty.

 

[Crewdawg445]

Thank you sir, not a full weekend just yet. Finished it up Saturday evening. Judging from past experience it'll shoot like a dream come this weekend. Potentially some squirrels will be in the deep freeze!

 

[hanshi]

That is a gorgeous rifle. You did impeccable work.

 

[Crewdawg445]

Thank you hanshi, a quality kit certainly deserves the attention to detail and a fine eye to complete! Very proud of this particular rifle.