Precarved stocks

[bioprof]

I am looking at buying a Lancaster precarved stock from Virgil Ott at Gunstocksplus. Do any of you have any experience with using his stocks? How is the quality of the wood?

 

[Cherokee]

I would like to hear this to. I been thinking of having two stocks made by him when I get some free money.

 

[George Holton]

:yakyak: Somehow or another ,I think that the new people in this sport are cheating themselves out of the joy of making their own piece by going the kit and precarved route,Rough castings and a plank of wood will give hours of solitary joy of achievement, and when finishedd, the product , for better or worse , is YOURS ! Very old Bob not necessarily in reply to anyone, meerly an observation

 

[AeroncaTAL]

Bob,
I don't think that going with a kit is "cheating". I went with a Lyman GPR for my first muzzleloader, and it gave me many hours of enjoyment building it. This rifle is definately mine, and it has only wetted my appetite for more challenging projects.
Scott

 

[George Holton]

:v I learned to fly on an airknocker champ. I just remember the distain of kits in the eaarly days,when they first appeared, When we started we had to rehab old origionals that we chased out of barns and corn cribs.Then barrels became available,Then some old, locks ,were copied and sold, but it was up to us to copy old guns and styles, from planks and carve them out. I am talking from 1955. now we can buy complete locks breeched barrels and polished furniture and precarved stocks. Guess I am too darn old to really appreciate the shake the box mentality of today. Now you can buy a complete rifle and go shooting the next afternoon. Amazing. I am not really knocking anyone . Bob

 

[Cherokee]

IM not a wood carver. I have made the rear buttplate areas and inlet tangs thats all I want. Give me a stock that needs final fitting and adjustment.
I have screwed up a few inletting jobs and had to bail myself out to make it look passable.
I dont want passable anymore.
I have kids and they have homework, diapers, etc, etc.
I have one rifle that I have been working on over 2 years. Its so far is my best but its nowhere near what I could buy already built.
I want to be shooting or hunting not building.

 

Old Bob, First, welcome to the forum. The kits these guys are talking about, are not the kind you see in your big box gun store, but rather a collection of parts, and a stock that is generaly shaped to a particular style. The main thing is that the barrel, and ramrod channel is cut. These are probably the two scariest things to do on a blank, as it can go from a $100 plus piece of wood to kindling in a blink. Just my two cents. PS I myself do prefer to build from a blank, but I do have them sent out for barrel, and ramrod cutting, and I know a number of pro builders do also.
Bill

Been there, done that, got the Bandaid to prove it!

 

[Vaino]

I usually build LRs from scratch, but have built a few from kits and still prefer to build from scratch. My first MLer build was a TC "Hawken" kit and my 2nd was a scratch built Lehigh LR, but if it wasn't for the TC, I might not be building LRs today. I'm 75 yrs. old and through the years I was fortunate enough to acquire a degree of tolerance which has allowed me to accept other's ideas and ways of doing things. Most things are not chiseled in granite so whatever gets the job done, is really the way to do the job. There are "builders out there that mainly produce first class LRs from kits which greatly delight their customers as to quality and price, so what's wrong w/ that? I only build 3-5 LRs a year and utilize every modern tool that can be used to build LRs and if available, these same tools would have been used by the "Old Masters"....Fred

 

[wallgunner]

I've purchased a piece of wood or two from Virg. Good quality, quick delivery, and a very nice person to talk to on the phone. Loves to hear about what your building. But has a hard time of hearing, so speak loud. He does barrel inletting. The last time I spoke to him he was trying to figure out a way to inlet barrels and breechplugs at the same time. I will do business with him again :thumbsup:

 

[George Holton]

And wouldn't they be amazed if they could step into yours or my shop today? :surrender:

 

[bob1961]

bob....i bought a pre-carved stock from pecatonica river fer mt T/C hawken that was 98% inletted, but look at the work i had to do to get my T/C parts to fit....it just wasn't a drop in my parts and shoot the gun the next day....my lancaster i'm building now i went with a pre-carved from them too that i had the barrel channel done to rices B weight .54 42" swamped barrel and ram rod hole drilled onl.... i still had to scrape a good amount out to get the barrel to fit....there's alot of wood they left fer carving also :v ..............bob

 

[George Holton]

lookin good,keep it up. Bob :thumbsup:

 

[AeroncaTAL]

...When we started we had to rehab old origionals that we chased out of barns and corn cribs.Then barrels became available,Then some old, locks ,were copied and sold, but it was up to us to copy old guns and styles, from planks and carve them out...

Bob,
It is because of people like you, doing what you did with the materials that you could find that kept this sport alive. This allowed traditional muzzleloaders to develop to the point where it is today, so a person like me, with little skills can put together a beautiful firearm that they can be proud of.
My hat is off to you sir! :hatsoff:

Scott

 

[renovato]

Bob, a lot of it depends on the kit. So far I've only built factory kits and for the most part they just need minor fitting, shaping and the finish. The semi-custom kits aren't so easy. They take a lot of fitting skill. Not as much as building from scratch, but they're a nice stepping stone to hone skills with. I'm planning on going that route also, on my way to hopefully becoming a scratch builder.

 

[Desert Rat]

I have one of Virgil's Lancaster stocks and am in the process of working it now. I had a barrel and he custom cut the channel for me. I had to wait awhile but he told me how long it was going to take when i ordered it (I've had the stock almost for three months now and I almost have the lock inletted.... I'm not in a rush). The wood is good and seams to be good and tough. It is very oversized and is going to take a lot of scraping/sanding to get it into final shape and porportions. Not being done with it yet I can't say for sure if I'd do it again, but like Cherokee said I have a lot of other things going so I'm thinking when this one is done it may be awhile if ever before I tackel another.