Lock $100, stock $150 minimum, barrel $150 minimum, Buttplate and trigger guard $40 for the pair , mIsc pipes and screws probably another $25.
That's $455 and probably a conservative guess on the parts. That leaves a $200 profit. Not much money for putting a gun together in the white. I know I wouldn't do that work for that kind of money. :shake:
the lock is a run of the mill L&R that he gets at a volume discount... "We like L&R locks very well, their historically accurate, and availability, reliability, and service have been outstanding. We buy a lot of them and in turn we pass this savings on to our customers.".....est. $75
he buys only stock blanks and they are straight grain unless u wanna pay extra for fancy (covering any cost above the normal stock, and probably he makes a few bucks on ya there too).... "We don't shape our stocks on duplicator machinery, were proud to say it's all done by hand tools. "A" grade maple is our standard grade of wood, very similar to the wood used on a plain original Long rifle." .... est. $50
he makes his own barrels outta hyd tubing unless u wanna foot the extra 100 bucks for the colerain... "Standard lengths are 24" 36" 42" and 46" available in .50 .54 .62 and .75 caliber Cloverleaf groups at thirty yards are common. They are made up from industrial grade hydraulic tubing. It's 1026 mild carbon steel much stronger than anything made in the 18th century. I have proof tested them with 250 grs. of FFFg black powder and six patched round balls. I took caliper measurements of the diameter in six locations before and after with absolutely no change. Colerain brand octagon to round smoothbore barrels are available for additional 100.00" ....est. 40 bucks tops.
maybe 25 bucks for triggers, and 50 bucks for the rest of the bits n pieces cuz he buys in bulk at wholesale prices.
thats $240 for pretty much everything as far as i can tell from company website prices and takin a pretty good guess. so maybe 300 bucks in parts..... "We require a nonrefundable deposit of $300.00 on standard long guns a $400.00 deposit on all swamped barrel orders. I consider this payment earnest money in good faith and is used to purchase the majority of the components for your gun."
and shipping... " We generally ship insured ground UPS and its $25.00 extra. Barrels longer than the standard 42" we charge $45.00." .... is pretty well covered.
the cumberland smoothbore in .75 is $675, in the white, bare bones poor boy style. that makes "sweet larry" 375 bucks. now the one i want will have a wood patchbox, nosecap and the 75 dollar extra stock. that puts us at 800 bucks plus shipping. and he gets to pocket about 500-550 of that. now for a retired guy that just does it for fun, and has no real bills, thats pretty decent wages for a weeks work....probably less.
:hmm:
eace:
BTW, he sells the kit for the cumberland for 475 bucks, so if it costs him 455 for parts, he's doing all that basic shaping and pre-inletting for a twenty??? there's just no way.
im not trying to undermine anyone here as im not a gunbuilder in the least. and there's absolutely no excuse for the poor workmanship that got sent out in that box, but i really doubt that it was intentional considering his previous reputation. id bet that the summer help (probably along the lines of a 14yr old nephew or something) was told to "box that gun up after lunch break" and the kid had it wrapped by the time our hero got back out to the shop. probably had to #2 after lunch (i know i do at times) and sent the "help" back to work alone for a few minutes. no big deal, but kids are kids. :nono:
one possible scenario :imo:
