Kibler Gap Question

[CascadeRob]

Please forgive me I don’t have pictures of this, but I wanted to get this thread going hopefully before I get home. This sounds like a total newbie question but I want to make darn sure I’m in the clear on this.

So this is my third Kibler I’ve done (it’s a Colonial) so I’ve gotten a bit familiar with them. My question is gap along the barrel/breech. I’ve got the tang, and backside of the tang TIGHT there is zero gap there. But there is a tiny tiny gap on the barrel, the side that 45’s off the rifle. The side that faces the lock and what I presume the other side is tight, you can see no gap. Am I good to go with this? Or do I need to try and tighten this gap up. Im a bit flustered because when I go to put on transfer color to see where I’m hitting it comes back with nothing. I’m afraid if I try messing with it more it’s going to go downhill real quick.

You can put a piece of paper in there which (that’s about how big the gap is) it “bottoms out” which I believe is hitting where the breech is meeting the wood. Apart of me thinks this will be fine since the barrel has full contact on the stock at both the lock side and the lock plate side. I apologize for a newbie question but I don’t want to mess this one up this time

 

[bigted]

I'm no Kibler builder, however I can say that the back which would get the recoil needs to be touching all the same so when the rifle recoils it is recoiling evenly on all contact points at the rear.

If these points;
Rear portion of the barrel.
Rear portion of the breech plug.
Rear of the tang.
Are touching wood evenly then your chance of splitting the wrist decrease dramatically. The sides are more cosmetic than functional. Although the sides also provide stability for the bedding of the barrel in the wood.

Hope this is clear enough as sometimes (according to my wife) I tend to be a little cloudy on my explanations ...

 

[CascadeRob]

I'm no Kibler builder, however I can say that the back which would get the recoil needs to be touching all the same so when the rifle recoils it is recoiling evenly on all contact points at the rear.

If these points;
Rear portion of the barrel.
Rear portion of the breech plug.
Rear of the tang.
Are touching wood evenly then your chance of splitting the wrist decrease dramatically. The sides are more cosmetic than functional. Although the sides also provide stability for the bedding of the barrel in the wood.

Hope this is clear enough as sometimes (according to my wife) I tend to be a little cloudy on my explanations

I'm no Kibler builder, however I can say that the back which would get the recoil needs to be touching all the same so when the rifle recoils it is recoiling evenly on all contact points at the rear.

If these points;
Rear portion of the barrel.
Rear portion of the breech plug.
Rear of the tang.
Are touching wood evenly then your chance of splitting the wrist decrease dramatically. The sides are more cosmetic than functional. Although the sides also provide stability for the bedding of the barrel in the wood.

Hope this is clear enough as sometimes (according to my wife) I tend to be a little cloudy on my explanations ...

Clear as day, thank you! Probably should tighten up the gap somehow then.

 

[Dave Marsh]

If you are concerned about it, I would take a picture and send it to Jim Kibler.

 

[EC121]

A paper thin gap isn't a problem. Put a drop of Gorilla Glue in the gap and it will expand and be invisible. It hardens up after 24hrs.

 

[PathfinderNC]

And here I thought Kibler Gap was a passage through the mountains

 

[bigted]

Can you see the gap once the barrel is installed?

If not then maybe I'd think about bedding the rear end with something like bedding glass or even JB weld for a solid recoil bed.

The suggestion to contact Jim at Kibler and run it by him is a splendid idea also. Think I'd do that before anything at this point. He will know what is what for sure

 

[wiscoaster]

....Im a bit flustered because when I go to put on transfer color to see where I’m hitting it comes back with nothing.

Probably it's contacting and hitting somewhere else you're not looking for. No, don't start "adjusting" before you know for sure what needs adjusting, because like you said, things go downhill real fast. Ask me. I know. Been there and been downhill and had to fight my way back up. I think better to forget the bedding or the glue for now. There should be another solution. The better solution. There should be no gap there. As recommended above, it you're at the end of your string, contact Jim Kibler. He's very good about helping people get his kits finished the best way possible. And it never hurts to put the project aside for a couple days and just kind of let things cogitate around in your mind and sometimes during that time the right way to proceed just kind of pops out of nowhere.

 

[CascadeRob]

Probably it's contacting and hitting somewhere else you're not looking for. No, don't start "adjusting" before you know for sure what needs adjusting, because like you said, things go downhill real fast. Ask me. I know. Been there and been downhill and had to fight my way back up. I think better to forget the bedding or the glue for now. There should be another solution. The better solution. There should be no gap there. As recommended above, it you're at the end of your string, contact Jim Kibler. He's very good about helping people get his kits finished the best way possible. And it never hurts to put the project aside for a couple days and just kind of let things cogitate around in your mind and sometimes during that time the right way to proceed just kind of pops out of nowhere.

Can you see the gap once the barrel is installed?

If not then maybe I'd think about bedding the rear end with something like bedding glass or even JB weld for a solid recoil bed.

The suggestion to contact Jim at Kibler and run it by him is a splendid idea also. Think I'd do that before anything at this point. He will know what is what for sure

Yes you can see the gap when it’s installed.

 

[CascadeRob]

Probably it's contacting and hitting somewhere else you're not looking for. No, don't start "adjusting" before you know for sure what needs adjusting, because like you said, things go downhill real fast. Ask me. I know. Been there and been downhill and had to fight my way back up. I think better to forget the bedding or the glue for now. There should be another solution. The better solution. There should be no gap there. As recommended above, it you're at the end of your string, contact Jim Kibler. He's very good about helping people get his kits finished the best way possible. And it never hurts to put the project aside for a couple days and just kind of let things cogitate around in your mind and sometimes during that time the right way to proceed just kind of pops out of nowhere.

Thank you for the words of wisdom lol. Yeah setting it down for a few days is probably best. I rack my brain all day long thinking of how am I going to fix that when I get home

Next steps will be to call Jim

 

[bigted]

Nother question is how does the flash hole line up with the pan?

If the flash hole is forward of the middle of the pan, then you could carefully inlet the tang back till the flash hole lines up perfectly and the rear most barrel and breech plug would end up in contact with the wood for a flawless recoil touching effort.

And no more gap

 

[CascadeRob]

Nother question is how does the flash hole line up with the pan?

If the flash hole is forward of the middle of the pan, then you could carefully inlet the tang back till the flash hole lines up perfectly and the rear most barrel and breech plug would end up in contact with the wood for a flawless recoil touching effort.

And no more gap

It lines up perfectly. As is. I wanted to check that as well, but it sits perfect where it is, so if I removed wood from the tang area, it’s gonna mess up it’s geometry right quick.

 

[bigted]

Best bet than is a talk with Dr. Jim at Kibler first off. My recommendation.

Good luck and I will watch to see the culmination and hopefully some pictures of your end product.

 

[CascadeRob]

Best bet than is a talk with Dr. Jim at Kibler first off. My recommendation.

Good luck and I will watch to see the culmination and hopefully some pictures of your end product.

Yes sir. Thank you. Left him a message so hopefully I’ll hear from him in a day or so

 

[olskool]

posting a photo here would really help.

 

[CascadeRob]

posting a photo here would really help.

 

[olskool]

it looks close, is the end of the tang already hitting the wood? it has to be already hitting somewhere. either the end of the tang or in the breach plug area, a very small amount of wood has to be removed in order for the gap to close. you need to scrape in the areas that is proud with wood more than cut, when i have a small gap, and i mean really small i use a soft mallet to hit the end of the barrel to drive it back a bit and settle the barrel in place. this can also be done if it is a tad high, when removing wood go slow! a little can be all but too much! you are close just keep tweaking it.

 

[CascadeRob]

it looks close, is the end of the tang already hitting the wood? it has to be already hitting somewhere. either the end of the tang or in the breach plug area, a very small amount of wood has to be removed in order for the gap to close. you need to scrape in the areas that is proud with wood more than cut, when i have a small gap, and i mean really small i use a soft mallet to hit the end of the barrel to drive it back a bit and settle the barrel in place. this can also be done if it is a tad high, when removing wood go slow! a little can be all but too much! you are close just keep tweaking it.

Yeah the tang is 100 percent backed up against the wood. There is no give there. Thank you for your help. I’ll give it a go after work today, and just really keep my eye out to where it may be making contact.

 

[45man]

You waant where the gap is to be seated good or all the recoil will be at the rear of the tang. If you do not want to move it back, bed it there.

 

[Eric Krewson]

Looks mostly cosmetic to me, when you black the back of the barrel is there plenty of black on the back of the inlet? I fixed the barrel inlet before I did the tang in this picture.

Mostly like this, in my opinion this is good enough, you can glue in a thin shim to close the gap, I have done this several times.

After you shoot the gun a bunch of times the recoil will seat the barrel just a little further back.

Barrel, tang shims, I have closed a gap or two at the breech the same way, they are paper thin where they are glued in and don't show on a finished gun.