I am considering a rifle kit from Pecatonica River. Anyone have experience with them?
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Pecatonica River kits
- Thread starter jefair1
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No experience with the kits, but their stocks are great.
Over the years, I've built 12 rifle "kits" bought from Pecatonica River Long Rifle Supply.
Some of these were the standard kits they offer in their catalog and many of them were based on their parts but the parts were of my own choosing.
I've never had them breech a barrel but I have used their services to mill the sight grooves and install the barrel underlugs.
Their prices were always more than reasonable and the quality of their work was great.
On many of the rifles I built I wanted to use a different lock than the one they cut the lock mortise for so I called Dick and told him what I wanted. A XXXXX stock the barrel channel cut for a XXX octagon barrel (or whatever) without the lock mortise. He was happy to sell me exactly what I wanted.
All in all, Dick Greensides, the owner is a great guy to work with and he knows all about building muzzleloading rifles and is more than happy to help resolve any issue a buyer may have.
I believe his company sells some of the best curly maple for the money. That is, what some places would call a #4 grade, he sells as a #3 grade. (Higher numbers have more stripes and the stripes are more uniformly spaced.)
Most of the rifles I've built from his kits were bought with #3 grade CM and I was never disappointed with what he sent.
It is rumored that his company supplies most of the stocks Track of the Wolf sells and IMO, Pecatonica's prices are almost always better.
These are all #3 grade curly maple stocks.
They look a bit different because no two pieces of CM is the same.
Some of these were the standard kits they offer in their catalog and many of them were based on their parts but the parts were of my own choosing.
I've never had them breech a barrel but I have used their services to mill the sight grooves and install the barrel underlugs.
Their prices were always more than reasonable and the quality of their work was great.
On many of the rifles I built I wanted to use a different lock than the one they cut the lock mortise for so I called Dick and told him what I wanted. A XXXXX stock the barrel channel cut for a XXX octagon barrel (or whatever) without the lock mortise. He was happy to sell me exactly what I wanted.
All in all, Dick Greensides, the owner is a great guy to work with and he knows all about building muzzleloading rifles and is more than happy to help resolve any issue a buyer may have.
I believe his company sells some of the best curly maple for the money. That is, what some places would call a #4 grade, he sells as a #3 grade. (Higher numbers have more stripes and the stripes are more uniformly spaced.)
Most of the rifles I've built from his kits were bought with #3 grade CM and I was never disappointed with what he sent.
It is rumored that his company supplies most of the stocks Track of the Wolf sells and IMO, Pecatonica's prices are almost always better.
These are all #3 grade curly maple stocks.
They look a bit different because no two pieces of CM is the same.
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I used them for a SMR build. Their customer service was absolutely first rate. Mr. Greensides is a very accommodating fellow. His prices are more than fair, and his stocks are always at least one grade better that what you pay.
Would do business with them without hesitation. Even if you get your parts from someone else, get your stock from Dick.
Good luck with your build!
Would do business with them without hesitation. Even if you get your parts from someone else, get your stock from Dick.
Good luck with your build!
First off....w/ this caveat....check everything over before starting.
My 3rd build was a half stock Hawken from Pecatonica and I didn't heed the above caveat. After a few hrs of work, fitted the trigger ass'y and found that there wasn't enough vertical room for the DSTs. They mislocated the lock inlet too low
Called them and seeing I was 80 miles away, told them I would be down the next day.
Walked in w/ the precarve and they checked it out and agreed that the lock inlet was wrong and seeing the precarve was a #4, they told me that they had one in stock. I checked it out and the LOP was 13-1/4" which was way too short for me. They hemmed and hawed that that was all they had and that was it.
After some negotiations and questions on my part and stating that I had all day, they took a #5 blank and profiled it and I happily walked out. This became my elk rifle and is now owned by my son. The curl is awesome and really adds to this "plain" rifle.
Later on bought a Dickert parts set {kit} from TOW and the next day it was shipped back to them....too many mistakes.
So....whatever company you buy a parts set from, a close inspection before starting will eliminate a lot of headaches......Fred
My 3rd build was a half stock Hawken from Pecatonica and I didn't heed the above caveat. After a few hrs of work, fitted the trigger ass'y and found that there wasn't enough vertical room for the DSTs. They mislocated the lock inlet too low
Called them and seeing I was 80 miles away, told them I would be down the next day.
Walked in w/ the precarve and they checked it out and agreed that the lock inlet was wrong and seeing the precarve was a #4, they told me that they had one in stock. I checked it out and the LOP was 13-1/4" which was way too short for me. They hemmed and hawed that that was all they had and that was it.
After some negotiations and questions on my part and stating that I had all day, they took a #5 blank and profiled it and I happily walked out. This became my elk rifle and is now owned by my son. The curl is awesome and really adds to this "plain" rifle.
Later on bought a Dickert parts set {kit} from TOW and the next day it was shipped back to them....too many mistakes.
So....whatever company you buy a parts set from, a close inspection before starting will eliminate a lot of headaches......Fred
Herb
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I am building a lighter .50 caliber rifle for my antelope hunt this fall, using a 32" Rice Jaeger barrel. I will build it as a fullstock Hawken, based on the Kit Carson rifle. I compared my barrel's dimensions to those of the Colerain 38" C-weight Early American swamped barrel Pecatonica inlets for. My barrel would fit in that inlet, with my swamped muzzle section inlet. Dick Greensides at Pecatonica cut this stock for me, took about 4 weeks as he said, and I am well pleased with it. He could have inlet my barrel if I sent it to him, but I did it.
Col. Batguano
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What web thickness is correct for this gun? Apart from the actual bedding, this is one of the most critical dimensions to get "correct" in any build, as it determines all the other geometry and architecture. You wouldn't think that only 1/16" +/- would make that big of a difference, but it does.
Col. Batguano
75 Cal.
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That's pretty thick. Not saying it's not correct though. In order to attain real thinness in thin styled LR's, like Bedfords, Bucks,Emitsburgs, Bethlehems, etc., people advocate for a web thickness between 1/8" and 5/32" at the muzzle, and between 1/32" and 1/16" at the breech. Not all styles require that. Guns with half stocks and ribs for instance have their web dimensions set by the rib thickness.
