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Finished Kibler Colonial #2.

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I have finished building my second Colonial Longrifle kit from Kibler. It has a Cheery stock and is .54 caliber.
I used the wooden patch box option on this one (my first one I added a Brass Patchbox), which I do like.
I added some detail carving arounf the wrist, cheek piece, and other places on the butt and lower fore stock. Then I sparingly used some of Kibler's Bone Black to darken some areas to give it an aged look.
It sure is a well balancer rifle. I hope to shoot it in the next couple of days.
Well done! I've been wondering how a cherry stock would look......nice!
 
Hi,
You did a nice job, Bob. The cherry color is nice and I think you used the bone black to advantage. Did you use a bluing on the barrel? I am having a little trouble with Birchwood Casey Super Blue on the Kibler barrel, which is a Green Mountain blank so it is 1137 steel. The bluing does not adhere very well and rubs off way too easily. I can get what I want with rust bluing but that will take longer.

dave
 
Nice looking gun PathfinderNC, I like the color of the cherry. Waiting on my colonial from Kibler. Ordered the extra fancy maple in .54cal. rifled.
 
For Dave:
I am having a little trouble with Birchwood Casey Super Blue on the Kibler barrel, which is a Green Mountain blank so it is 1137 steel. The bluing does not adhere very well and rubs off way too easily. I can get what I want with rust bluing but that will take longer.

dave
I have used 44/40 and Brownell's Oxphor Blue. The 44/40 holds up a little better than the Oxphor Blue, which seems to burn off easy around the touch hole area. Both are a pain in the butt to work with.
 
Hi,
You did a nice job, Bob. The cherry color is nice and I think you used the bone black to advantage. Did you use a bluing on the barrel? I am having a little trouble with Birchwood Casey Super Blue on the Kibler barrel, which is a Green Mountain blank so it is 1137 steel. The bluing does not adhere very well and rubs off way too easily. I can get what I want with rust bluing but that will take longer.

dave
Thanks Dave. Using the bone black reminds so much of my oil and acrylic painting! It does add some nice character to the wood, though I think I may do as well with adding the darkness using darker stains as I dye the stock.
For the barrel, it is the cold browning mixture “ New Improved Instant Antique Browning Solution” from Dixie Gun Work’s. I brush it on and within a few.hours you can see it working. No special humidifier or anything. Repeat brushing it on three or four times a day. After about four days the barrel gets a lovely heavy brown rust with some pitting which I like. However by carding off the excess rust I am loosing some really fine dimples in the metal. On my next rifle I am going to try the same browning method to get some nice pitting but use a rust remover to get down to the grey metal without removing any pitting.
I am so looking forward to see your build. I am learning a lot by watching.
 
I've read that it has a tendency to be a real bear to work with.
That’s interesting. For me (professional luthier) Cherry is not necessarily more difficult than other woods in its hardness scale. Sometimes you might get some challenging pieces, but not more so than other similar types of North American wood, in my experience anyway.
 
That’s interesting. For me (professional luthier) Cherry is not necessarily more difficult than other woods in its hardness scale. Sometimes you might get some challenging pieces, but not more so than other similar types of North American wood, in my experience anyway.
Thats good to hear! I surely DO love the look of cherry...
Thanks for your input!
 
I have finished building my second Colonial Longrifle kit from Kibler. It has a Cheery stock and is .54 caliber.
I used the wooden patch box option on this one (my first one I added a Brass Patchbox), which I do like.
I added some detail carving arounf the wrist, cheek piece, and other places on the butt and lower fore stock. Then I sparingly used some of Kibler's Bone Black to darken some areas to give it an aged look.
It sure is a well balancer rifle. I hope to shoot it in the next couple of days.
Really, very nice.
Great way to start a Saturday.
Great morning, very cool gun pics.
Neil
 
Absolutely, they are essentially perfect. Like I said, not really a knock and not meant to be a cut on Kibler's, they are top notch. But not everyone is an artist, so a lot of them tend to come out looking the same.
 
That is a beautiful rifle and wonderful color. The one knock (and it's really not a knock) is that most all Kibler's look the same, you've made yours unique and it works!
Thank you Buckskin. It’s always an enjoyable thing to see what can be done with Jim’s rifle kits. The Colonials have a bit more meat on them so they can be carved pretty well. And as far as functionality they are excellent.
 
Absolutely, they are essentially perfect. Like I said, not really a knock and not meant to be a cut on Kibler's, they are top notch. But not everyone is an artist, so a lot of them tend to come out looking the same.
Agree but they get you in the game with excellent quality items and if you decide to you can always artsy them up down the road or pay someone to. What is so nice about Jim Kimblers Southern Mountain Rifle is they were generally that I’ve seen simply finished unlike a Colonial Rifle. I just received my finished rifle from Paul Fieret and I can see myself shooting it all day and never getting tired it’s a beautiful slender rifle available in 4 calibers and several species of wood. I’m in awe over it and trust me I have some nice rifles one is a replica built by Tim Williams and though it’s majestic and well balanced it’s heavy. It’s a great shooter in 50 caliber. it’s my poser Flintlock! LOL
 

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