idea for a product

[mattybock]

I've wondering about something, about a product similar to a kit rifle.
Let's say that company X made a musket kit. A plain musket c 1750 or so, no buttplate, flintlock, 46 inch barrel in 20 bore, very spartan, just like what the average man might have had at the time.
This gun is of fine quality, but needs some simple work to make it your own. The stock is in the raw (sanded smooth but unfinished), the barrel and lock is in the white.

This hypothetical gun comes with a parts warranty for life, and is made right here in the USA, by real Americans, also made in the US. :grin:

Would you buy this kit? Why or why not?

Now answer a second time, but with this in mind - the kit (lock, stock, barrel, rod, single trigger) is only 50 dollars.

 

[ericrutters]

for $50 i dont see how you could go wrong i think if said hypothetical gun should ever be produced here in the USA id like to be in the know even if it just for tinkering with on rainy days

 

[Trench]

I'd say no, I wouldn't buy. Given the cost of quality components already made in the US today, the seller of this hypothetical kit is either taking a loss of hundreds of dollars per kit, or the components are made of tin foil and cardboard. :wink:

 

[matt denison]

I've wondering about something, about a product similar to a kit rifle.
Let's say that company X made a musket kit. A plain musket c 1750 or so, no buttplate, flintlock, 46 inch barrel in 20 bore, very spartan, just like what the average man might have had at the time.
This gun is of fine quality, but needs some simple work to make it your own. The stock is in the raw (sanded smooth but unfinished), the barrel and lock is in the white.

This hypothetical gun comes with a parts warranty for life, and is made right here in the USA, by real Americans, also made in the US. :grin:

Would you buy this kit? Why or why not?

Now answer a second time, but with this in mind - the kit (lock, stock, barrel, rod, single trigger) is only 50 dollars.

Hahaha hahaha hahaha :rotf: :rotf: :rotf:

Wake up, you're dreaming

A mouse trap duct taped to a water pipe with a broom handle for a stock would cost about $50.00.

 

[wattlebuster]

You cant fill up the average auto for 50 bucks :youcrazy:

 

[necchi]

With it all layed out as you have it in your dream, of course I'd buy it.
How your going to do it is what I'm wondering ?? :hmm:

It is a crime to "recieve" stolen property,

 

[mattybock]

I wouldn't say hundreds, not if they know how to handle their money.
The cost of a birch wood stock and the raw steel used to make any muzzleloader would run about $80.
What bites the bullet for overall cost is not the wood nor the steel, but the castings, which are apt to contain very costly copper.

The hypothetical kit in question would be very simple, both in design and in the pretty factor. - No buttplate, but the rough edges of the butt are sanded over to keep your clothes from snagging, just like on a poor man's tennessee mountain rifle.
- no nose cap, just like on a trade gun
- only sheet iron two rod tubes (as opposed to the basic three of cast brass)
- sheet iron stamped trigger guard, no brass castings

This hypothetical kit is almost a literal lock,stock and barrel, and had it not been for the ramrod two tubes and bead sight, it would be.

Any second opinion?

 

[mattybock]

the basic compontents are not that hard to make en masse (this is a factory kit, not a custom gun), nor are they costly. Here's my new math on it.
Let's up the price for the whole gun to $80, rather than 50.

Stock - the cheapest hardwood of any quality is birchwood, not mirror polished quilted maple by any means!
But for the entry level shooter, this is just about right, seeing as how many modern gunstocks are being made with generic maple, versus grandpa's walnut.
Birchwood is easy to cut and with the right blanchard lathe, these stocks, void of any fancy, would be around $10.

Barrel- the steel most used in muzzleloader barrels is about $8 for a foot x 1.25 inches wide. The barrel is just about $40.

Lock - a flintlock with few internal parts, no coil springs (how I hate them), and with cast steel , the whole cost of the material would be about $20.

Labor - let's guess at $20 profit for each gun made.

So, for $80, would you buy the kit, warranty and all.

 

[necchi]

Birchwood stocks, $10.

Barrel- about $40.

Lock - about $20.

Labor - $20 profit for each gun made.

That's 90.
Friend, Grand idea.
No disrespect intended, but did you take your meds properly this morning?
:wink:

 

[BrownBear]

Would you buy this kit? Why or why not?

Now answer a second time, but with this in mind - the kit (lock, stock, barrel, rod, single trigger) is only 50 dollars.

Sure I'd buy it- after it had been on the market three or four years and I could read lots of 1st hand user reports. I NEVER buy new models of anything. Let someone else spend their money, sweat and tears sorting out the snafus and mods.

 

[MSW]

sadly, i would have to say that this smelled of too-good-to-be-true, and i would probably take a pass on it.

the free market system (although muddied by a bunch of drags like taxes, shipping costs and so on) will dictate that the one who makes the product at the lowest cost can present the product to the public at the lowest cost and thereby generate profit. the more you can lower cost, the cheaper you can sell your goods and the better you chance of increased profit.

not to put too fine a point on it, but i can't help but think that if a fifty or eighty or even hundred dollar gun could be had, someone would be filling the UPS trucks with them.

just one guy's opinion.

 

[mattybock]

I suck at math. :redface:

 

[crockett]

I'd be a little careful. It sounds to me like the assumption is folks are always looking for the least expensive item. That might not be necessarily true. Lots of folks don't mind spending more as long as they get more. The competition on such a kit may simply be a used muzzle loading rifle- often the lower grades can be bought for about $100- ready to go- for someone just wanting the least expensive choice.

 

[Rifleman1776]

As long as the parts you state are high quality, yes, I would buy it.
Consider this post an order for 100 such kits. Remember, all parts high quality and American made. I'm waiting on shipment. :thumbsup:

 

[matt denison]

Hey kid, ya wanna buy a bridge?

The cheapest "lock" would be an underhammer that has the spring in the trigger guard. A $40 barrel would have to be hydrolic tube with no shaping or boring/reaming inside the bore and a welded on breech plug or short bored. A 2x6 could hold it all together with sheet rock screws. No ram rod pipes, who needs a stinking ram rod anyway.

There is a locally famous fellow in this part of the cuntry who made a rifle from a piece of locust with a WWII era fighter plane 20mm machine gun barrel. Ignition is a fuse. It is held together with radiator hose clamps. His only investment was the surplus barrel. Around here it is a right of passage to hold and shoot it with the fuse sputtering s#!% in your face and knowing that the 480 grain slug is going to create enough recoil to break your shoulder and crack a few ribs. Is that something you would want to shoot regularly? If so then there is your ideal $50 gun, made in the USA

 

[nkbj]

A light weight single barrel plain jane inexpensive shotgun would be a fine thing to have. Years ago you could find them on the market from Europe. Now occasionally one shows up resale.

 

[Idaho Ron]

I would not be interested in it at all for any price. It does not fit in with my ML hunting plans.
Ron

 

[longcruise]

You can buy unfinished rifles "in the white". You save a few bucks but not a huge amount. You seem to think that the "custom" guns and/or parts are extravagently priced. Just not so!

A "good" quality barrel with breech plug installed will run you $150 to $210. There is nobody out there making an economy barrel that would fit your financial scenario.

If you want the most basic parts you are looking at this:

Barrel with breech plug installed.........$175
Stock blank...............................$ 70
Lock......................................$135

Tot.......................................$380

(don't forget to add shipping :haha: )

You will need to make the rest of the hardware, eg., butt plate, trig guard, trigger and plate, side plate, thimbles, loops, and a few others to boot.

So, the kit you desire is already out there! Let us know how much you save!! :rotf:

 

[Mike Brooks]

If you can find birch stock blanks for $10 I'll take all of them.
So, your "kit" consists of a plank of birch, a piece of pipe, a piece of steel to make your lock out of and a stamped steel trigger guard....I think I and everyone else in the world would pass.

 

[Trot]

Your "cost" is for raw materials. You are going to spend how many hours boring, shaping, breeching the barrel, Making a functional lock out of a hunk of steel, shaping and inletting the stock, and make a princely $20 for your labor? It would be more profitable to pick up aluminum cans along the highway.