One thing we struggle with is customer expectations. Especially those with little to no experience. I can say without hesitation, that we make the finest muzzleloading kits available. No others are even close. Not being boastful, but just being honest. For those who have little experience they often don't appreciate what they are getting. I'm not saying we don't sometimes make mistakes, because we do. In those cases, we feel quite bad and immediately try to make it right. Our goal is to make an absolutely perfect product for our customers. Believe me, we work extremely hard and spend LOTS of money to try to attain this goal.
We have great reviews online and photos of extremely well assembled and finished rifles. These are fantastic and really help drive our business, but they can also generate some unrealistic expectations. No, the kit will not assemble itself nor will it wipe your butt when it's finished! There are sometimes minor discrepancies to adjust for while assembling and finishing. We try very hard to make sure these are infrequent and very minor, but nothing ends up being absolutely perfect.
My background is of course making very high-end custom rifles. The same standards I judge these rifles are used to evaluate our kits. So, what I am saying is that if you don't have a great deal of experience I would encourage you to trust us and understand we have your back. We would NEVER attempt to trick a customer. This business is our life and we want every customer to be extremely happy. In fact, this is honestly what drives me personally. With this said, we do have to stand up for ourselves as a business. Some perceive issues when there aren't any. Some become overly concerned about something that shouldn't be. I've taught many classes, some on assembling our kits, which is a great situation, since I can guide students. Not only guide them with technique, but also with what is important and what isn't, and finally how to overcome minor set-backs. I can steer them in such a way that they are trilled with the outcome!
As to the stock in question, I recall it being an exceptionally fine piece of hard sugar maple. Most our wood is red maple. Red maple is a fine stock wood, but sugar maple is king when it can be found. Sugar maple can be a little more difficult to finish in a way that the curl explodes, since there is less stain penetration, but with care it can be done. Using criteria from years of custom rifle building as a guide, I see this piece of wood as being fantastic! I recall even commenting to Katherine how amazing I thought it was. As to the small chip near the buttplate, I think I recall this as well. This should be pretty much gone when the buttplate is installed and the wood / buttplate is filed down. If it doesn't seem to go away, file the edge of the buttplate down a touch! This is just sometimes part of the process.
We are extremely thankful for each and every customer and we tirelessly try to make the absolute best product possible. Business is beyond whatever I ever imagined and we have many exciting things planned for the future.
All the best,
Jim
