Traditions .32 cal Crockett kit build

[railshot]

I do hope anyone viewing this will chime in and give suggestions, hints, etc. as this is only my 6th kit build in the past 40 years, with a 40 year absence since 1978 until September of 2018.
I have retired, and now can do what I really love to do.... build me some "tools" for survival, and enjoy doing something with my hands and eyes!

Over the past 3 months, I have built a Traditions Kentucky .50 cal. and a Traditions St. Louis Hawken .50 cal.
Each one has presented some problems, and a lot of re-learning of what I did quite well 40 years ago...…. ahhh, age (I am 65 as of today) has taken it's toll. Heheh….

I post this in hopes of encouraging anyone that wants to try building their own muzzleloader to do so even if you have never done it previously!

I am not expert, with very limited woodworking skills or tools, I have only the desire to do something with my hands, that honors the history of these fine "tools" and the men who used them to live by.
They were what I would call "fiercely independent" as I am today.

Enough of that, here we go!

Unboxing....
Here is the box as I received it today.

Here is a shot of the box opened as received.

I have learned to remove all the parts from the packaging, sort them by where they should go to be sure all is there, and do a "dry" fit before going any further.

Amazingly, everything dropped right in where it should with no modifications to the stock being needed!
This is totally contrary to what I experienced with both the Traditions Kentucky, and the Traditions St. Louis Hawken.

This one, with only 3 or 4 screws, I could literally shoot right out of the box if I was so inclined!

Here is a shot of the butt plate fitment of the Crockett.

Here is a shot of the Traditions Kentucky butt plate out of the box last September.

Worlds of difference in the amount of wood needed to be removed to achieve a proper fit.
Not sure at this point if that is good, or possibly bad.....
I will have to see how the finishing goes, but I think a "little" extra wood may have been better, but the Kentucky was ridiculous to me, requiring literally hours of sanding by hand.

Special pic below of Chewy (a.k.a. "Little Dude") as you will more than likely be seeing a tail or nose or the whole dog in a lot of pics.

He is my bud, my friend, my peace, and listens without judging me..... Love the little guy, and when he hears either a shot, or firecracker going off, he runs towards it!

To be continued as things develop, but this one I am really going to take my time on.
I plan on browning the barrel at the moment, but looking at the other metal parts that are already blued, I probably will be bluing the barrel when all is said and done.

Seriously, I appreciate any and all comments and suggestions and will check in daily to see if anyone has anything to help me improve on this one...…..

Oh yeah, and the name "railshot".....?
This might be a clue to the beginnings...…. ask me if you want the whole story... it is kinda funny.
A very good friend made this for me, and it is a true heirloom to me.

 

[Phil Coffins]

Happy birthday, and as a resent retired fellow myself I feel your pain !
The first thing that most people fail to do is reshape the lock panels and thin the comb at the front near the wrist. That kit can be made into a fine looking rifle if you spend time on the details.

 

[railshot]

Happy birthday, and as a resent retired fellow myself I feel your pain !
The first thing that most people fail to do is reshape the lock panels and thin the comb at the front near the wrist. That kit can be made into a fine looking rifle if you spend time on the details.

Hey Phil,
I truly appreciate the response, and birthday wish, this is the one I do plan on spending time on the details.
Something about a .32 has me inspired.

I was going to purchase a Henry Golden Boy .22 next, but after I had one in my hands, and looked at the details of it, I decided to go with this kit.
Don't get me wrong, the Henry was a fine tool, but the way it loaded just seemed wrong to me?

I will have a Henry big bore in the future, but for now, I still need to be "old school"..... maybe a past life memory?

hmmm, need to reduce my picture size a bit more from what I see...… I hate having to scroll to see pictures.... time to edit!
hehehe.

 

[Cowboy]

Your attachment’s are not showing up for some reason my friend ??

Respectfully, Cowboy

 

[railshot]

It may be that I was reducing the size of the attachments when you looked at it?
I just logged in, and all of them are there now, but I do not need to scroll to see them.
Try again and let me know!

 

[Cowboy]

Okay my friend, they’re there now .
Respectfully, Cowboy

 

[railshot]

Glad all can see them now!
I truly dislike having to scroll to see pictures on any of the car forums I belong to, so I edited these to fit better.
Old school, simple guy here, that can be dangerous with new technology at times.

 

[railshot]

Tomorrow I plan on beginning the sanding process to smooth the stock prior to staining.
Is there any recommended sequence to sanding?
I am thinking 400 grit, 800 grit, then 1200 grit prior to staining.

Final finish will be boiled linseed oil over the stain, hand rubbed (once per day for a week, once per week for a month, once per month for a year, and once per year forever.....) but with the last two kits I built, they both took stain differently.
One, the Kentucky, turned quite red with a standard walnut stain, and the second, the Hawken, turned dark, with a dark walnut stain, in most of the stock, except a short section towards the muzzle that does not take stain very well.


The Hawken:

I believe they were both beechwood stocks, and even on the Kentucky, where it splits to two different pieces of wood, I can see a distinct difference in the way the stain reacted to the wood.


The Kentucky:

Beechwood seems to vary considerably as to how stain will be absorbed into it.

Any suggestions on how to "level" this out?

The above two pics were taken prior to rubbing with boiled linseed oil in case that matters.
The more boiled linseed oil I put on them, the more I like them, but I wish the stain was more consistent on each of them to begin with.

 

[kansas_volunteer]

If you mearly sand the stock and do not remove all the excess wood and refine the shape you will have only a poorly completed kit rifle and nothing to be proud of.

You will find if you sand the beech too smoothly then stain may bead up on the surface and not penetrate. Don't use finer than 320 grit, with 220 grit probably being enough. Do use the right sort of paper. Garnet won't do. Test stain inside the barrel channel, with the understanding the channel won't be as smooth as a properly sanded outside surface and it will take stain differently.

Why go to all the trouble to do a time consuming and drawn out linseed oil finish if you aren't going to be doing anything other than throwing together a rough unrefined kit.

 

[railshot]

Thanks Kansas_volunteer for the input,
I have already stopped at 220, and found some machine marks still in the stock after the first preliminary staining, so this is going to take a while from what I see now.
Pretty typical of the last 2 kits I have built, you just do not see it until you stain it one time.
Like has been said before, when you think it is good enough, its usually only 1/2 way there.

I am truly going to keep going until it is "clean", then continue on.

Once I had the preliminary stain on, I did another "dry" fit, and found several items that needed to be addressed.... (these show up more once stained), and I do not mind removing stain and excess wood to get it to where I want it, and start over again.
I have nothing but time, so this is rather therapeutic for me.

The "shaping" of this one, is what made me go for it in the first place, so as far as shaping, I like the factory cut of it and intend on keeping it like that as much as I can while refining what is there.

As far as "unrefined", I think that all depends on the end result we all start out with in mind.....

I personally like the look of a used but loved and maintained rifle, not a pristine fresh one, and in the end, that is what I am shooting for.
The fit of the butt plate, nose cap, trigger guard and other exterior items will be proper and aesthetically pleasing to anyone seeing it, but the end result is going to be just what I like.

Boiled linseed oil is what I have used in the over the past 50 years, (I stared shooting around 15, so that makes me 65) and have liked what it does despite what many say as far as protecting the wood.
It has worked well for me, and to be honest, the application of it to the stock helps me keep an eye on things at least every 6 months or so later on.

After all, I am the one going to be using, maintaining, shooting, and loving it.

Trust me, I am proud of all of the kits I build, and would not trade any of them for a pre-fab factory finished one ever!
Heheh….. now back to sanding!

 

[Cowboy]

Well said my friend! You just keep on keeping on!! We all wait anxiously for your end results.

Respectfully, Cowboy

 

[railshot]

Where is that "like button" for Cowboy!??
heheh.
Ok, I needed a break from sanding anywho, so here are a couple of items I did run into when I did the first dry fit after sanding today.
Keep in mind, I have only had this kit a little over 24 hours now, and am loving it!

First thing is the barrel would not lay flat in the stock?
It turns out, the very small screw that holds the spring for the ramrod retainer in the stock was too high.

I had to Dremel about .125" off of it to get the barrel to sit level in the stock after removing as much wood from beneath it as I felt comfortable doing. Not a lot of wood left in this area anymore, so the screw head had to be sacrificed. There is still enough left to remove and install it, so all good there.

Once that was done, I discovered that the barrel attachment for the ramrod ferrules was improperly drilled, or the holes in the barrel are off! Could be either, but not a game changer.
With one screw in on one end, I could get the middle one of the three in, but the last will not go in.

I am going to need to open up each of the mounting holes a bit to get the third screw on...… no biggie, but it should be correct out of the box eh?

Here is a quick shot of where I was at on the dry run putting it together after staining.... anybody see something wrong with the ramrod?

The barrel is still in raw steel, and you know what...…. I am starting to like it, but will still be doing either browning or blueing!
The woodgrain pattern of this particular piece of beechwood is really quite nice looking to me, so I am going to try to enhance it as much as I can from here on out!

This kit was advertised as having a wooden ramrod!...
ok, I need to work on my camera focus a bit.... heheh… think I may have left it on close up.

I like the idea of an aluminum one simply because this is a .32 cal. and the rod would be / is pretty thin, but would prefer a wooden one just because that is what it said it would have.
...… time to contact Traditions again, and they have been excellent with my past two when I contacted them, so I am pretty positive I will have a wooden ramrod soon..... heck I know I will, as a trip to the lumber yard would get me what I want rather quickly.

As a side note, if you do have an issue with any kit you purchase, please contact the manufacturer in a polite and civil way.
I have found that works the best for me, and in the end, it really is not worth stressing over is it?...….

To be continued:

 

[S.Kenton]

Man I still can't see your photos.... It's killing me!

 

[railshot]

That is odd not being able to see the pictures S.Kenton...
I am on windows 10 right now in the basement, and double checked on my Linux Ubuntu laptop down here, and I can see them on both.... along with my win 10 laptop upstairs.

 

[Ksacane]

Thanks for posting this build. I've been wondering about one of these kits for awhile.

 

[Crewdawg445]

Neat, I'm not a fan of the cheapo traditions guns and kits one bit... However I must say I do like the looks of that little .32. Well done on the wood removal and shaping, it doesn't look like the vast majority that resemble a 4x4 square post near the lock panels. I do have a feeling that little rifle will be fun to shoot, cleaning will be a different story with the small bore and patten breech these manufacturers use. Get yourself a .22 caliber bore brush to get down in the breech channel. Enjoy!

 

[azmntman]

I would brown the barrel for sure myself. Cant believe the fit you got on the other two! Looking good, we will need a range report oon please! Mine like 10 gr for squirrel (hits em like a .22 mag). Other go way towards and past 30 gr, no need IMHO unless that is what he gun needs for accuracy.

 

[railshot]

Thanks for the feedback everyone, it is appreciated.
These are pretty cheap kits, and I think that is part of the charm of them for me to be honest.
If they were to just snap together, that would be boring.

If I totally screw one up, it is not that huge of a loss, and a learning experience for the next one.
Each one that I have built recently, has made the next one that much better.

I just crawled out of the basement after another 3 hours of sanding, and then re staining the stock.
Looks much better now, so I will probably do another dry run at assembly later this morning once the stock is dry enough to handle safely.
The barrel tang is way too tight when I tried it yesterday, so I will have to improve on that a bit today.
I have a feeling that itty bitty ram rod spring retaining screw is still holding the stock up just a tad.

Here are a couple of close ups after my stock work this morning.
I can still see a small bit of the machining marks, but you have to look very closely, and at the right angle to make them out.
I can possibly see one more sanding and staining session, but will hold off on that for a while.

I am really liking the grain on this one!
I cannot wait to get the BLO on it!....
dang it, out of focus a bit again, and yup, left the camera on close up.

Browning is looking like the way I am going to go on this one as I like that look also.
I am thinking about browning the lock too, but may leave that blued as is for now.

Originally I was going to brown the Kentucky, and the Hawken, but went in a new direction for me with the cold blue I used.
Never tried it before, so I had to do it as a learning experience.... worked rather well in my book.

Birchwood Casey Plum Brown is in front of me on my desk as I type this, so maybe later today I will give that a go.....
or, wait until Thanksgiving dinner is being cooked and use the oven when nobody is looking to heat up the barrel.. hehehe.....

 

[railshot]

I have figured out the tight wedge fit in the barrel tennon....
The brass nosecap is setting above the stock a bit and holding it up out of position just a very little bit, and the wedge is actually bent... how the heck did they send a bent wedge in the kit?

Time for a little metalworking.

Quick question, should the barrel float in the stock, and should the wedge be the sole support for it on the forward end?
Never really thought about that until now, so don't hate me for asking.... heheh, I am here to learn from you guys.

 

[hanshi]

I can't help you with kit building; but I'm a Crockett fan and really like those little rifles. Mine was as accurate as anything I've yet fired.