Kibler SMR Arrived Today

[TDM]

The iron nitrate and Tried & True is what I’ll be using too.

 

[woodsnwater]

I used the permalyn sealer like Jim did in the Shawshank video, it looks similar to Chiefs finish. I rubbed the shine off with oooo steel wool.

 

[TDM]

Well no fool like an old fool. I’m at my camp and my wife is at home waiting for my SMR to arrive. She’s going to bring it to me and stay for awhile.
I just checked the tracking and it showed delivered, so I called her up. She went outside, no box. Front porch, no box. I had her walk over to my Son’s house, no box. I’m in a panic, getting ready to call the post office and I realized I’d looked at the delivery notice for the iron nitrate & Jax black that arrived yesterday!!! So now I can relax, a bit.

 

[Trapper Scott]

Well no fool like an old fool. I’m at my camp and my wife is at home waiting for my SMR to arrive. She’s going to bring it to me and stay for awhile.
I just checked the tracking and it showed delivered, so I called her up. She went outside, no box. Front porch, no box. I had her walk over to my Son’s house, no box. I’m in a panic, getting ready to call the post office and I realized I’d looked at the delivery notice for the iron nitrate & Jax black that arrived yesterday!!! So now I can relax, a bit.

That was scary

 

[TDM]

Yes it was!

 

[david w]

My Kibler SMR in .36 caliber arrived in today's mail. Sheila, my rural mail carrier said that I owe her big time because the crate was so long she had to stick it out the back window of her Toyota Tacoma. This lets dust come in the cab going down the gravel roads. Unfortunately I can't start on it until next week when all the family is gone and I get my work table set up with a vise. I don't want to work on the steel table that I weld on.
View attachment 134015

By the way, the kit came in way ahead of schedule. I placed the order on Saturday, March 26th and it arrived today April 14. That is about 2 1/2 weeks. I asked Ms Kris at Kiblers if they made a mistake. She said no but it may be that someone ordered one without paying up front and then backed out. Mine is standard maple with no frills so that may be the reason. A friend of mine has been waiting since January and was told that since he ordered extra fancy wood with an extra barrel, it would take longer. He was told that extra fancy wood is hard to find right now. I am perfectly happy with plain wood because I shoot my guns and not worry about hurting a $200-$300 stock.

Before anyone gets their feelings hurt, that last statement does not mean I don't like pretty wood or hold anything against someone that likes to pay more for pretty wood. Like we used to say in Nam, "What ever makes your tailrotor spin."

I have the earlier.36 SMR. It has the Rice 46" barrel. I understand Kibler now make his own barrels at 44" My SMR is the extra fancy maple. Yes, I'm not afraid to get a few dings. That's what gives it character. However, my .62 caliber full stock Hawken is plain maple because that's the grade they typically used. I even used a custom .36 caliber Bedford County that cost a little over $3,000 in 1988. The maker was amazed I was shooting it. I told him guns are made to shoot!
About the delivery: My carrier showed up in a Jeep. It was stuck between her windshield and stuck out the back. My 2019 Ford Ranger isn't wide enough for it to lay flat in the back seat. I had to make a harness that hooks over the headrest so the butt is on the floor, the the barrel is almost touching the roof.

 

[woodsnwater]

Try strapping one across the back of a four wheeler and threading your way down a rough, narrow trail. Pretty high on the pucker scale.

 

[Trapper Scott]

Yes it was!

Yes it was!

I had trouble receiving mine, but not at the fault of Kibler. USPS shipped it around the world before it got to me. With porch pirates everywhere I wouldn't leave home because I didn't know when it would arrive.

 

[TDM]

I had trouble receiving mine, but not at the fault of Kibler. USPS shipped it around the world before it got to me. With porch pirates everywhere I wouldn't leave home because I didn't know when it would arrive.

Luckily it arrived at the house about 20 minutes ago! But now my wife says she has things she has to do tomorrow so she won’t come up here till after Church on Sunday. So a little longer wait, but at least it’s there!

 

[Trapper Scott]

Luckily it arrived at the house about 20 minutes ago! But now my wife says she has things she has to do tomorrow so she won’t come up here till after Church on Sunday. So a little longer wait, but at least it’s there!

Good deal.

 

[Tenring]

That is one nice piece of wood, Curly Tiger Maple is so sweet.

 

[deertraks]

I finally finished my Kibler SMR today with the installation of the lock that Jim Kibler so kindly fixed. The rifle is finished with 4 coats of Tried & True varnish oil over iron nitrate as per one of Kibler's videos. I fire blued the steel parts. Do not fire blue the frizzen like I did and ruin it. After getting the lock back from Kibler Longrifles, I blued the frizzen with Birchwood Casey Perma Blue. The barrel is done in JAX steel blackener. The barrel actually came out looking antiqued without too much work. Over all, I like the way it came out. I did make some mistakes along the way but they were all fixable. I did ding the stock here and there which is not visible unless you look real close. If you are hesitating because you don't think you have the skills, I would recommend you try one of these kits. I am more of a wrench type guy but thoroughly enjoyed the build. Support from Kibler is excellent.

I am looking forward to shooting it this weekend.

Looks great! I like the dark color.

 

[Togo]

Here's what my SMR 40 cal extra fancy maple stock looks like after using aquafortis and true oil

 

[TDM]

Nice!!

 

[MSW]

still working on mine ... dropped some coin on an ash stock ... kinda spendy but really pretty

 

[Snydly]

The KIbler kits here look fantastic. Hope they shoot as good or better than they look. Got mine ordered a while back. Supposed to be here in the next week or so. Have a question for the gentlemen here. I have put together a few guns in the past from different manufacturers. Always with a walnut or maple stock. This time around I ordered the Cherry wood. Does anyone here have experience with Cherry wood. What kind of stain,,finish etc looks good? Any pictures you might have would be really appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[TDM]

@Snydly, @Trapper Scott just finished his in cherry.

 

[Trapper Scott]

@Snydly, @Trapper Scott just finished his in cherry.

The KIbler kits here look fantastic. Hope they shoot as good or better than they look. Got mine ordered a while back. Supposed to be here in the next week or so. Have a question for the gentlemen here. I have put together a few guns in the past from different manufacturers. Always with a walnut or maple stock. This time around I ordered the Cherry wood. Does anyone here have experience with Cherry wood. What kind of stain,,finish etc looks good? Any pictures you might have would be really appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Kibler recommends using Permalyn sealer for the cherry stocks and there was one gentleman who had a rifle for sale that was finished using the Permalyn that looked pretty nice I thought, so you might find his ad in the for sale section and have a look to see if the color suits what you're after. I wanted a little darker finish and went with a lye wash concoction I mixed myself that suited what I was after. Of course, your mileage may vary but it all depends on what you want. A lot of folks just leave a cherry stock unfinished because cherry will naturally darken over time when exposed to sunlight. I would be glad to share my lye recipe if you decide to go that route. I would advise you to ask Kibler to send you a few scrap pieces of cherry with your rifle so you can experiment with different finishes before applying them to your rifle.

Lye wash Below is the link for the gentleman that used just Permalyn
https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/wts-southern-mountain-flintlock-rifle-45-caliber.153037/

 

[Birddog1911]

That's a beauty, Crew Chief. Pretty much the same as I'm doing to mine.

 

[Spillikins]

Here's what my SMR 40 cal extra fancy maple stock looks like after using aquafortis and true oil

When you treat the wood like that do you still get chatoyance in the maple?