Kibler Kits.

[RB POWELL]

I was taking a hard look at the colonial rifle myself and was debating between the Maple or the Walnut stock? What think ye?

Personally, I got fancy maple. It is beautiful. What ever you decide on I don't think you will be happy.

 

[RB POWELL]

UNHAPPY. Sorry for the typo... You will like what you get! How's that?

 

[sidtrog]

My first build was a Kibler SMR .45 done three years ago over a week at the NMLRA workshop in Western Ky. It was done under the watchful eyes of Jim K. who taught the course! It was very informative for a first time builder (?assembler). Learned a great deal about wood finishing, got the standard maple and with aqua fortis it turned out beautifully. And yes, I learned a lot about draw filing the barrel, filing lock and metal. The Chambers lock sparks like a fiend and the rifle shoots truer than I can. I'm sure his new CMC locks are at least as good. Highly recommended.
Now I want a smoothbore and have been looking at the Chambers kits for a bit more of a challenge, and Kibler hasn't offered one yet. Any suggestions for a smoothbore kit I can use with shot or ball and expand my skills a little?

 

[EC121]

Here is what can be done with one. Mike brooks did the work for me. He added the set triggers. The wood is supposed to be Kibler's standard grade, but it has a lot of curl.

 

[Art Caputo]

I was taking a hard look at the colonial rifle myself and was debating between the Maple or the Walnut stock? What think ye?

I debated the choice between long and hard between the two. In the end, I think it boils down to personal preference. I ended up going with the fancy grade Maple and was quite pleased with the choice. IMO, there is a greater choice of color tone treatments available with maple I ended up going with an Iron Nitrate/Tannic Acid process which produced a dark brown with golden highlights. This satisfied my desire for the darker toned stock, characteristic of walnut. I probably spent more time deciding on this aspect. I was happy with the end result, none the less.

 

[Treestalker]

My first build was a Kibler SMR .45 done three years ago over a week at the NMLRA workshop in Western Ky. It was done under the watchful eyes of Jim K. who taught the course! It was very informative for a first time builder (?assembler). Learned a great deal about wood finishing, got the standard maple and with aqua fortis it turned out beautifully. And yes, I learned a lot about draw filing the barrel, filing lock and metal. The Chambers lock sparks like a fiend and the rifle shoots truer than I can. I'm sure his new CMC locks are at least as good. Highly recommended.
Now I want a smoothbore and have been looking at the Chambers kits for a bit more of a challenge, and Kibler hasn't offered one yet. Any suggestions for a smoothbore kit I can use with shot or ball and expand my skills a little?

Unless you're building from scratch, which I would do with component parts from TVM, Jack Garner, I would hold out for one of Jim Kibler's fowler kits which is reputedly just around the corner. PS. last year I had the privilege of viewing a TVM fowler which had a 5 foot (60") barrel in 16ga, which the new owner will have to wipe the drool off of, LOL!

 

[vezePilot]

So after looking at a number of images of completed long rifles, I have realized that I don't prefer the more red coloring. The golden and brown hues are very nice, in the manner that Art has finished his (shown just above). In Jim Kibler's video using Tannic Acid and Iron Nitrate, the process resulted in very Red hues, but apparently there are ways to produce Browns as opposed to Reds. I found this image, and this is what I'm leaning toward right now:

So I really like the Barrel and Lock Browned, the Brass shiny (no patina process) and the Brown and Gold Curly Maple wood treatment; less dark and no black.

It seems someone has said that Katherine at Kibler Long Rifles is very knowledgeable about their products. Would she know about how to produce this sort of Color and Finish?

 

[Mulebrain]

Kibler colonial got from a forum member. Will get her on the range soon

 

[Flintandsteel]

The colors produced by AF is based on the chemical make up of the wood. However the tones can be adjusted with dye stains.