Kibler Fowler progress so far

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Oct 31, 2024
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Well I have my Fowler mostly done, French red filler/stain worked well, several coats of truoil afterwards, I was going to age it with bone black from kibler’s but my supplies from the Fowler orders haven’t showed yet, no biggie I’ll use them on the other Fowler that is on order with them. I left the lock and barrel bright, fire blued the screws and trigger, which are more black than blue do to a couple factors. The buttplate screws wouldn’t fire blue, might be stainless? I got them darker any how and the plate will be aged so that’s fine. I blew out a pin hole do to finish clogging it and trying to force a pin through. I’ll dye some thickened epoxy and fix it, it won’t be noticeable and is very minor. I adjusted the trigger so it has the slightest amount of play. Anyways here’s some pictures…..
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If you havnt done so, round your pins, at least the end that your pushing through the holes and you wont blow out your wood. I normally round both ends of my pins, that why I I can’t forget which end I’ve rounded.. lol. I like the color you’ve chose.. it looks really nice! Looking forward to seeing the finished product.Since your ordering another one I’ll buy this one from you when your ready! I’ve got a Jackie brown Fowler that I’ve reworked to my liking, I’m getting ready to sell it to fund my kibler Fowler.. or buy one when one comes up for sale.
 
lol, yeah the sad thing is they are rounded on both ends, I actually blew it out trying to start the pin through the dried filler/finish and the pin went sideways, it’s more like a small gouge. I was being lazy and should have used a drill bit to open it first. I got away with it on all the other pin holes, but that one time lol. My resin dye was all dried out, of course, so will have to wait till Wednesday to get the dye and fix it. This Fowler is a 20 ga, the other is a 16ga. I plan to do the next kit to a much finer finish and will get the brass hardware engraved in the same style as the originals. Figured I could knock the dust off with this kit, I haven’t built a gun in over 10 years, maybe 15. I think next time I will fire the screws to a lighter blue and quench them in a different oil so they aren’t so dark. I can always buff them back some but will probably just let them be, they will lighten up with wear.
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Thanks! I need to engrave the hardware yet, but I’m not skilled enough. Will have to find someone or wait till I’m learned and practiced enough. I’d like to put some simple borders and some English roses on some of the hardware and border on the tang. Now onto the ramrod, I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to blue the ramrod tip after fitting since the pins should be pinned and filed. I may use pin stock, fit it and either not peen it since the pins should will already be fitted or I will put a similar “sheen” as on the barrel and lock. I think the blued finish would look sharp though.
 
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Well I built and fit the ram rod to the gun, filed grooves on it so it’s easier to pull from the gun, I don’t like the way the grooves look but it is necessary for hunting in cold weather and I hunt mostly in freezing weather some times into the -20f range. I stained the rod with French red and will oil it tomorrow, then I can start using it and aging it a little. My goal was to do a quick efficient build and to have a gun that looked a few years old. This will be my everyday beater gun for now. The next one I’ll take more time with and hopefully end up with a more refined gun. I’m lucky enough to live out where I can hunt everyday and have tons of game of all sorts. I hunt a lot of waterfowl and want to develop a good efficient non-toxic 20ga load for ducks and geese plus pheasant since I often hunt them on waterfowl production areas that require non-toxic shot. Fortunately I reload modern shells for it so I have about every non-toxic component available for twenty gauge. I also want to try PRB through this 20 gauge. The 16ga I ordered will primarily be an upland bird gun with bismuth or lead shot.
 
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