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Traditions Kentucky rifle kit build questions

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formernuke

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I've been wanting a flintlock rifle and got a free rifle kit.

The wood has been stained already and both the outside of the barrel and the plate where the flint strikes have some surface rust.

I fitted everything together and it fits, but I'm concerned about where the barrel meets the back of the stock.

Has anyone done one of these kits?

What do I need to do in order to make this a fully functional rifle?
 

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From what I can see you need sights, a flint/leather, and maybe a ramrod. The spot where the barrel meets the back of the stock is called the breech, and the tongue is called the tang. That needs tightened up but if it doesn't want to go you might need to clean up the inletting. Show us an overview of that area and we can help out further. Don't worry about the surface rust steel wool will take it right off.

That's not too shabby of a stock for a traditions kit, I dig the grain and color.
 
The breech should be sitting up against the wood and the top of the tang should be down in the wood not sitting above it. You also have quite a lot of wood that needs to come off down the forestock, that top edge should be rounded over not square like it is.
 
They did a good staining job, I'll have to see how much of it is left after I'm done sanding.

The ramrod is there i just didn't install it because I was dry fitting the actual rifle.

Whats the leather mentioned above for?
 
formernuke said:
They did a good staining job, I'll have to see how much of it is left after I'm done sanding.

The ramrod is there i just didn't install it because I was dry fitting the actual rifle.

Whats the leather mentioned above for?
Click to expand...
It's padding for the flint while in the jaws, just helps hold it in there and give the jaws a better grip
 
a flint 5/8 square #40 pocket drill for patching, 490 ball and powder
DSC03287.JPG
ram rod
the above was a kit given to me by my son put together for grandson100yrd sight in target after working up a load (65grns swiss3f #40 pocket drill 490 ball tallow lube) the high and right then move sights to hit center not a bad starter rifle. the lock not so great, but Brad at cabin creek muzzleloaders can tune/fix the lock to work right
red rifle 100yrds.JPG
 
Any tips for best way to remove the wood without taking to much off, and what should I seal it with?
 
File and sandpaper, or of your comfortable you can scrape it with a sharp scraping tool. I used Tru-oil on my traditions, oil and wax on nicer things with higher grade wood.
 
RobertIN said:
File and sandpaper, or of your comfortable you can scrape it with a sharp scraping tool. I used Tru-oil on my traditions, oil and wax on nicer things with higher grade wood.
Click to expand...

Is true oil clear? With the sanding I need to do I'm pretty sure I will need to restain it.
 
Yes it is and you'll defined to restain it. Try to get all of it off, or at least get it as even as possible before restaining.
 
When you shape the forestock use the nose cap as your guide. Sand to match. It's not a bad idea to file the nose cap to a little leaner but you may not want to get into that and it's not necessary.

Glue some 40 grit to a flat piece of wood about eight to twelve inches long and start taking wood off. Long strokes and working long sections. The sides should be the same width all the way to the lock ppanels. The way the factory leaves the kit wood kinda flat sided but when you match the width and contour to the nose cap it will be less flat.
 
longcruise said:
When you shape the forestock use the nose cap as your guide. Sand to match. It's not a bad idea to file the nose cap to a little leaner but you may not want to get into that and it's not necessary.

Glue some 40 grit to a flat piece of wood about eight to twelve inches long and start taking wood off. Long strokes and working long sections. The sides should be the same width all the way to the lock ppanels. The way the factory leaves the kit wood kinda flat sided but when you match the width and contour to the nose cap it will be less flat.
Click to expand...
It has been awhile since I have seen one of these. If my memory is correct which doesn't always work at my age the nose cap is a huge brass casting that actually conforms to the shape of all the excess wood that they left on the fore stock. The nose cap itself has excess material that needs to come off also which can risk exposing voids in that casting. I have a diagram that John Schippers drew on how to shape a fore stock on a rifle, will try to dig that out and post it.
 
stubshaft said:
Yup, it looks like the barrel/breech is sitting too high in the stock.
Click to expand...
Keep an eye on touch hole/pan relationship as you work on tang depth. I can only see so much on my phone, but it looks like your barrel should move back a little to line up pan/hole. It also looks like you shouldn’t lower barrel too much into stock, or your touch hole will be too low in relation to pan. May have to take a bit of metal off top of tang to get it to appear lower in stock? Most of these suggestions are based on advice I’ve gleaned on the Forum, and my experience of putting one of these together.
 
ronaldrothb49 said:
It has been awhile since I have seen one of these. If my memory is correct which doesn't always work at my age the nose cap is a huge brass casting that actually conforms to the shape of all the excess wood that they left on the fore stock. The nose cap itself has excess material that needs to come off also which can risk exposing voids in that casting. I have a diagram that John Schippers drew on how to shape a fore stock on a rifle, will try to dig that out and post it.
Click to expand...
The nose cap is definitely oversized but might not be something that the OP wants to tackle. If I ever build another one I'll cut the barrel off to eliminate the nose cap altogether and also eliminate the stock spacer. Next up would be throwing the thimbles away and using conventional thimbles attached with pins.
 
What is the fit up I'm looking for for the pan hole.

Next question I've read that the flint lock portion could use some polishing, is there.a thread explaining how to do this?
 
Front-to-back alignment of pan/touch hole looks ok in these larger pictures. A search on the forum, or someone with far more experience than I have, can advise you on preferred touch-hole vertical alignment with bottom of pan. Just be aware that, in your quest to lower tang deeper into stock, you can go too far, and get touch hole deeper than ideal. I almost did this on my kit. Luckily I discovered my error before it was too late!
 
airiest-falcon0n said:
Front-to-back alignment of pan/touch hole looks ok in these larger pictures. A search on the forum, or someone with far more experience than I have, can advise you on preferred touch-hole vertical alignment with bottom of pan. Just be aware that, in your quest to lower tang deeper into stock, you can go too far, and get touch hole deeper than ideal. I almost did this on my kit. Luckily I discovered my error before it was too late!
Click to expand...

That is my concern, hence why I'm wondering how much of that hole should be present.
 

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