Contact Matt Avant at TVM. ( Tennessee Valley Muzzleloaders)
http://www.avsia.com/tvm/
He has kits which he can make up in any caliber, or barrel length, and finish as much of the gun as you want.
Also, contact Tip Curtis, at
[email protected]. Tip has a well stocked shop with guns, and usually very good prices. His Shop is located in Cross Plains, Tennessee.
I would recommend that you have the company install the breechplug, and the vent liner, sights, and barrel hangers. You may also want them to install the buttplate, and cut the lock mortise for the lock chosen. They usually shape the stock, leaving extra wood for you to sand down to final shape and size, but cut the barrel mortise, and the ramrod hole for you. Its up to you how much more work you want to pay them to do. They can install the ramrod pipes, fit the lock, trigger(s), and trigger guard to the stock, too. And if you want a patch box, they can do that, also.
The more work you have them do, the higher the cost, of course. Guns sold " in the white" are guns that have all the parts put together, but none of the metal parts, or the stock has been finished, leaving lots of sanding and scraping to be done on the stock, and then finishing work on both metal and wood to be done by you.
The nice thing about a .36 caliber rifle is that you can buy 000 buckshot, and its the right size to be used as a PRB. Buckshot usually costs much less, than buying cast, or swaged balls. Ideally, you will buy a mold and cast your own. When My club did public demonstrations, we often had as many people standing around our ball caster demonstration watching him do the work, and asking a ton of questions, while ignoring the firing line where other members were doing trick shooting.
( That is not unusual. With TV, many people have seen famous trick shot artists break small targets, or flying targets with a single bullet. They haven't seen some of the more mundane work like ball casting. I helped another member erect his Cheyenne style Tipi one year at a park in a small town celebrating its 150th year anniversary, and we had people show up with their lawn chairs JUST to watch us put up that lodge. Then, when we took it down later, they gathered around to watch us do that! We invited them to come on in the lodge and find out how it felt, but very few of the folks accepted our invitation. Go figure.)
