Kibler SMR Build

[Rangefogger]

Received my two .45 caliber specialty grade curly maple SMR Kibler kits last night after a long but worthwhile wait and got right to work this morning. After only 8 hours my first Kit is finished in the white... tomorrow I plan to sand stock and ramrod, stain both with aqua fortis, seal wood, draw file and sand barrel along with the furniture, install sights, antique metal parts with brass black, and possibly have a finished Smokepole by Monday!

 

[Sidney Smith]

8 hours? They must be as Ive read, a mostly finished rifle. Id like to go this route for the rifle my grandson wants. I want to give him one for Xmas, but dont know if Ill have time to do a more involved kit like my previous build.

 

[hanshi]

Wow, 8 hours; you work fast. As slow as I am it would take that long for me to just unpack it.

 

[11th corps]

Sweet rifle. I like it w/o all the brass and do dads you see on many guns.

 

[troy2000]

Congratulations, and it looks like you have some very nice wood. I'll be waiting to see the finished rifle...

Sanding, draw filing and finishing took longer on my Kibler SMR than fitting and assembly did. The only part that wasn't close to a perfect fit was the butt plate; that probably took me as long as fitting everything else put together.

 

[Hatchet-Jack]

I'd add on getting it sighted in shooting clover leaves at 50 yards by end of day tomorrow if your worth your salt

 

[BadDaditood]

Received my two .45 caliber specialty grade curly maple SMR Kibler kits last night after a long but worthwhile wait and got right to work this morning. After only 8 hours my first Kit is finished in the white... tomorrow I plan to sand stock and ramrod, stain both with aqua fortis, seal wood, draw file and sand barrel along with the furniture, install sights, antique metal parts with brass black, and possibly have a finished Smokepole by Monday!

I rushed to finish a rifle once... Never again. All the imperfections drove me nuts, had to get rid of it.
I still end up with tons of imperfections, but they take longer to show up ;-)

 

[MIOutdoorsman]

Nice looking kit. I'm debating a Kibler in a smaller caliber for squirrel. Sure wish I could fondle one first hand before committing. Maybe I'll see some at the Great Outdoors Show in Harrisburg this upcoming February?

 

[OhioHawkeye]

Received my two .45 caliber specialty grade curly maple SMR Kibler kits last night after a long but worthwhile wait and got right to work this morning. After only 8 hours my first Kit is finished in the white... tomorrow I plan to sand stock and ramrod, stain both with aqua fortis, seal wood, draw file and sand barrel along with the furniture, install sights, antique metal parts with brass black, and possibly have a finished Smokepole by Monday!

Yes. I took a class from NMLRA down in Bowling Green KY one year...(5 days I think?).. we had the guns done in just a few days. The final finish of wood and metal is what took the time. I've got 2 kits sitting here to get to...eventually. They are both cherry and I'll be using Oven cleaner for stain.

 

[Rawhide67]

I have one of these setting on my bench. Ordered by a friend who doesn't have the patience to "build" it. Butt plate is near perfect fit, as is the barrel, lock may take minor scraping. The wood was specified as plain maple. What they sent is not plain, but attractive with some grain and curl. Can't imagine what qualitlfies as fancy. Well made, well packed, nothing missing, and the kibler people were a pleasure to do business with.

 

[Rangefogger]

Got her all finished up last night and fired maybe 10 shots off hand at a few old pop cans. Not one miss at 20 yards! Pretty good for no sight in. Will be going to the range this weekend for all the fine tuning and working up an accurate load.

I have to say, I am a little put off by the amount of figure in this stock... it is supposed to be specialty maple which you have to call in to order, and it is one step higher than extra fancy maple which is the highest grade available on Kibler’s website. I paid an additional $150.00 on top of the charge for the extra Fancy maple for this stock and I’ve seen much better looking stocks that were just fancy maple... I do feel like I’ve been somewhat fooled into paying more for an average stock... but regardless it’s nice to have my first Kit finished and ready to shoot/hunt.

 

[Rangefogger]

These “specialty” stocks I ordered also had a few chips of wood busted off, one being on the edge of the ramrod channel of this rifle Which I had to fix by sanding and reshaping the wood on the ramrod channel area. my other kit has a decent size chip busted off on the fine edge where the Butt plate meets the wood. I’m disappointed about the quality of the wood on these kits after forking out an additional $350.00 on top of the extra fancy maple upgrade which is the very best they offer. My intention was to pass these rifles down to my two sons and wanted some real treasures to pass down to them.

 

[troy2000]

These “specialty” stocks I ordered also had a few chips of wood busted off, one being on the edge of the ramrod channel of this rifle Which I had to fix by sanding and reshaping the wood on the ramrod channel area. my other kit has a decent size chip busted off on the fine edge where the Butt plate meets the wood. I’m disappointed about the quality of the wood on these kits after forking out an additional $350.00 on top of the extra fancy maple upgrade which is the very best they offer. My intention was to pass these rifles down to my two sons and wanted some real treasures to pass down to them.

Did you take pic's of those chips, to send to Jim and Katherine? If sub-par product is making it out the door for whatever reason, I think they'd want to know about it.

Don't know what to say about the grade of maple you received; I was extremely pleased with the extra-fancy I ordered. You might try tannic acid, and rubbing it back to bring out more contrast, before hitting it with aqua fortis and heat. Then something with a little more gloss than usual for a finish coat might help bring out the grain.

I think this is the first negative review I've ever run into about Kibler kits, and I'm sorry to hear they apparently weren't up to normal standards.

 

[Hatchet-Jack]

Looks like a lot of figure but perhaps rushing the job you didn't do it justice and truly reveal it. I can't imagine getting XXfancy maple and wanting to finish that gun in a couple of days but that's me, to each his own.

Did you use iron nitrate and blush it a few times? How many coats of oil? Did you burnish the stock between coat? I used IN and tannic acid on my fancy maple and 20 coats of Tried and True Oil and I am very satisfied with how it turned out.

 

[qz2026_1]

Did you take pic's of those chips, to send to Jim and Katherine? If sub-par product is making it out the door for whatever reason, I think they'd want to know about it.

Don't know what to say about the grade of maple you received; I was extremely pleased with the extra-fancy I ordered. You might try tannic acid, and rubbing it back to bring out more contrast, before hitting it with aqua fortis and heat. Then something with a little more gloss than usual for a finish coat might help bring out the grain.

I think this is the first negative review I've ever run into about Kibler kits, and I'm sorry to hear they apparently weren't up to normal standards.

What he said...

Jim is extremely concerned about his quality but occasionally something gets by them. The patch cover on my Colonial had a broken drill bit in the predrilled hole which the patch door spring is located. All it took was a call and in two days I received two new patch doors, no questions asked. Why two? Because they wanted to make sure one would match the grain on my butt stock. And I'm sure that Jim would prefer comments on boards like this that supported his great service rather than a negative thread. You owe it to yourself and to Jim to give them a call about your issue.

 

[PathfinderNC]

Just wonder if, in all that haste to get the gun built, maybe it was damaged by removing it from the shipping crate???

 

[BadDaditood]

Yes. I took a class from NMLRA down in Bowling Green KY one year...(5 days I think?).. we had the guns done in just a few days. The final finish of wood and metal is what took the time. I've got 2 kits sitting here to get to...eventually. They are both cherry and I'll be using Oven cleaner for stain.

Those will look Great! Wish I had heard of ovencleaner when I built my SMR in cherry.
A friend talked me into BC TruOil, now I can’t do anything with it other than steel wool the shine off.
Might be just me or the cherry but the pins kept loosening and falling out even after drilling in bigger ones.
I’ve got some keys coming, no escutcheons, they would be too fancy. Unless the keys fall out!

 

[RB POWELL]

These “specialty” stocks I ordered also had a few chips of wood busted off, one being on the edge of the ramrod channel of this rifle Which I had to fix by sanding and reshaping the wood on the ramrod channel area. my other kit has a decent size chip busted off on the fine edge where the Butt plate meets the wood. I’m disappointed about the quality of the wood on these kits after forking out an additional $350.00 on top of the extra fancy maple upgrade which is the very best they offer. My intention was to pass these rifles down to my two sons and wanted some real treasures to pass down to them.

Contact Katherine, & Jim. They will make it right with you.

 

[RB POWELL]

Rangefogger, it could be me, but the negative vibe you project seems a bit apparent regarding these builds. You might be an specially talented builder, but I can not imagine finishing that quickly, and doing the wood justice. Like I said, I might be barking up the wrong tree, and I do hope you enjoy your rifles.

 

[Rangefogger]

I gradually and carefully Sanded the stock down to 320 grit stained with iron nitrate from Kiblers, burnished wood, 3 coats of Permalyn sealer, then coated finishing wax once dry to polish. I’ve Been working with wood including curly maple since I was a kid with my dad who is a woodworker. I know how to finish it. I Called Jim about the chip in the stock and he said I could sand it out and reshape the ramrod channel area. He went on to say if I wanted to do anything about the stock other than repairing it myself it would be a big hassle and it would be better for me to take care of it, which I did. It was a little frustrating to have to fix a chip that I didn’t put in the stock after paying so much for the best possible grade offered, but hey maybe I’m crazy (and no I didn’t chip the stock while unpacking... really? Lol) . I contacted him today and he said that is what a specialty above extra fancy grade stock should look like, so maybe I’m too picky. But the other of the two stocks I bought has A-LOT more figure than this one but it has a a chip in the butt plate area that will take some working out. Maybe my expectations were too high, but I do feel people should know what to expect so that’s why this is here.