Kit rifle question

[SmoothboreMurph]

My Grandfather has always hunted with his .77 Caliber Canoe Gun or his .72 caliber target rifle. But now he is 68 and the larger calibers are too much for him. The Canoe gun is a hand cannon in its own right and the Target Rifle weighs in at 18 lbs due to it's heavy barrel. He asked me to find him a rifle that was .50 or .54 caliber and it needed to have sights he could see and be under 12lbs weights. He has trouble with shorter barrel guns as my friends Jaeger with a 37" barrel left him squinting at the sights. I stumbled upon Jim Chambers website and my Grandfather took a liking to the Smooth Rifle with the .54 caliber rifled barrel. He likes the "smoke pole" flintlock rifles and likes the idea of a 46" barrel. Has anyone built this kit or knows how hard it is to assemble ? My Grandfather no longer has fine control of his hands so I will be assembling the kit. I have never built a kit before. How much inleting is required for a Jim Chambers stock ? I'm sure someone has assembled a Jim Chambers kit or this Kit in particular so I come here with my questions. I would like to get collect some information here before I contact Jim Chambers and pester them with my questions as I am sure they are busy now. Thank you to all who give information and input and shed some light on this topic. ( Just an FYI my Grandfather hates the Kibler Colonial kits, I showed him that one first and I figured I could cheat and get one in the white but he didn't like the rifles at all).

 

[tnlonghunter]

Most of these "kits", including Chambers (which are very good quality) are NOT something you just throw together. A better description is that they're a a box of rough parts. The stock is about 90% cut, but that last 10% is a lot of work. I read somewhere that it's an average of 100-150 hours of work, which tallies with the 2 rifles I've built.

My first was a Chambers York rifle. Being my first real attempt at that kind of work, it looks pretty clunky. There was a lot of fine inletting work on every piece of hardware. It shoots fine, but it honestly looks like crap to me. If you're willing to pay someone to assemble it in the white and simply do the final sanding and finishing yourself, that would probably get you the very best mixture of good results and not terribly expensive.

It's a shame he doesn't like the Kibler, as that's the only kit out there that will be relatively easy to build.

 

[SmoothboreMurph]

Most of these "kits", including Chambers (which are very good quality) are NOT something you just throw together. A better description is that they're a a box of rough parts. The stock is about 90% cut, but that last 10% is a lot of work. I read somewhere that it's an average of 100-150 hours of work, which tallies with the 2 rifles I've built.

My first was a Chambers York rifle. Being my first real attempt at that kind of work, it looks pretty clunky. There was a lot of fine inletting work on every piece of hardware. It shoots fine, but it honestly looks like crap to me. If you're willing to pay someone to assemble it in the white and simply do the final sanding and finishing yourself, that would probably get you the very best mixture of good results and not terribly expensive.

It's a shame he doesn't like the Kibler, as that's the only kit out there that will be relatively easy to build.

Maybe I will have to convince him to go down 2 inches and go with a kibler Colonial, not unless I can find someone to make the kit. I work the farm and work as a mechanic for my local county department so I would never have enough time to complete it by December 18th which is his birthday. Can kibler stocks be fitted with longer barrels should the need arise ?

 

[Eric Krewson]

You can't change the barrel length on a Kibler.

Your grandfather doesn't need a longer barrel to see the sights he just needs the rear sight moved down the barrel where he can see it.

I am a 74 year old grand dad and make my guns with the rear sight moved down the barrel to where it is over the rear ramrod entry pipe. The rear sight isn't perfectly clear at this point but I can make it out well enough to shoot. In the normal rear position a rear sight is just a blur to me.

 

[SmoothboreMurph]

You can't change the barrel length on a Kibler.

Your grandfather doesn't need a longer barrel to see the sights he just needs the rear sight moved down the barrel where he can see it.

I am a 74 year old grand dad and make my guns with the rear sight moved down the barrel to where it is over the rear ramrod entry pipe. The rear sight isn't perfectly clear at this point but I can make it out well enough to shoot. In the normal rear position a rear sight is just a blur to me.

Thanks for the information, do you personally own a Kibler? If so is it a good flintlock rifle.

 

[Dave Marsh]

You can't go wrong with a Kibler. I have a Colonial in .54 and it is my favorite. Reliable and accurate. Grandpa won't be unhappy and I am speaking as a 73 year old great grandpa.

 

[SmoothboreMurph]

You can't go wrong with a Kibler. I have a Colonial in .54 and it is my favorite. Reliable and accurate. Grandpa won't be unhappy and I am speaking as a 73 year old great grandpa.

Thanks I will bring Kibler back into his attention

 

[Eric Krewson]

My Kibler, an early model SMR in .32 with a 46" barrel. The early ones had parts that weren't as uniform gun to gun as the ones he makes today, I might have spent 15hrs on it, I had to do more inletting than on todays models.

 

[hanshi]

What Eric Krewson said! The Kibler Colonial will be heavier than the Kibler SMR. I don't know if he's making them in calibers over .45 but the .45 is always a good choice. Kibler also has a smoothbore fowler in the works that should be available before too terribly long.

 

[Ed Pilkington]

This is my Colonial .58 smoothbore that only took a day and a half to put together. Jim sent it in 3 weeks. I’m starting stock stain now. I’m 83 and it was fun as well as quite easy to assemble. Exciting!

 

[Tenring]

I wish Kibler would offer more than two Rifles, maybe a late Lancaster or something else, I am sure it’s a lot of work setting up the programs and such on the machines that’s why he keeps it at just two.

 

[ohiochuck]

"wish Kibler would offer more than two Rifles, maybe a late Lancaster or something else"
I agree
Jim

 

[Ricochet]

He also has a smoothbore in the works but I Sure am glad he offers those other 2!! Love my SMR .40, its just a good shootin gun, fun to carry and nice to look at.

 

[William Lincoln]

I would call Chambers or Kibler and seek out a 45 or 50 caliber plains type Rifle.
possibly a Hawken style with carbine shorter barrel. I am also old and shoulders
and arms get weaker. My favorite is a Hawken carbine at about 5 lbs. You do not have
a heavy barrel to fight. Highly accurate. Interarms made one of these and you can build a duplicate. If you are over 65 you do not want a 10 lb rifle to hold while hunting or at range.
I would check on the auction sites for "carbines." Rebuild or customize, add some straps
and go. Maybe even get one needing redoing or rehabbing. He will love you for it.
Keep it for yourself when you put on some years. Loan it to young or ladies.
With ear & eye protection, triple important for the senior shooter, and a Hawken carbine
he can stay in the game (pun intended) and out of pain. Awesome deer getter.

 

[SmoothboreMurph]

I would call Chambers or Kibler and seek out a 45 or 50 caliber plains type Rifle.
possibly a Hawken style with carbine shorter barrel. I am also old and shoulders
and arms get weaker. My favorite is a Hawken carbine at about 5 lbs. You do not have
a heavy barrel to fight. Highly accurate. Interarms made one of these and you can build a duplicate. If you are over 65 you do not want a 10 lb rifle to hold while hunting or at range.
I would check on the auction sites for "carbines." Rebuild or customize, add some straps
and go. Maybe even get one needing redoing or rehabbing. He will love you for it.
Keep it for yourself when you put on some years. Loan it to young or ladies.
With ear & eye protection, triple important for the senior shooter, and a Hawken carbine
he can stay in the game (pun intended) and out of pain. Awesome deer getter.

Yea I don't know why he is dead set on the long barrels. He told me 7 or 8 years ago that his grandfather had a 46" barrel 15 bore fowler and that he liked the look of it. I just recently got him to start looking at the Kiblers and he is deciding between .45 cal and .54 cal. He also has been eyeing up a Whitworth Rifle reproduction with a 6x scope from Hi-Lux which is on the whole other side of the spectrum. I honestly think he was just dead set on a long gun and now that he's seeing everything out there that you can get your hands on he doesn't know what to choose.

 

[William Lincoln]

Ya the older we get the more set in our ways. Muzzle-loaders.com had the Investarm
Hawken Carbine kits but are sold out. I love them so much I want to build one in
.54 caliber. They are under $500 when in stock. Once you carry one, everything else seems
wasted energy and bother. I can throw mine across my back and do not know it is there.
I can hold it out and shoot like a pistol. Mine is 45 cal--I really want the big bore version.
Try one, you will love it--less is more. If you build one and don't like it PM me before
offering it out for sale. Bill

 

[French Colonial]

Yea I don't know why he is dead set on the long barrels. He told me 7 or 8 years ago that his grandfather had a 46" barrel 15 bore fowler and that he liked the look of it. I just recently got him to start looking at the Kiblers and he is deciding between .45 cal and .54 cal. He also has been eyeing up a Whitworth Rifle reproduction with a 6x scope from Hi-Lux which is on the whole other side of the spectrum. I honestly think he was just dead set on a long gun and now that he's seeing everything out there that you can get your hands on he doesn't know what to choose.

I have one of the Chambers Virginia rifles put together by a custom gunsmith, while I really like the gun I will have to say that LONG barrel does take some getting used to and its fine at the range and open woods (hope he is not short cause that barrel is way up there when loading) but it would not be the best choice for heavy timber. If he shoots mostly at the range it's a fine rifle.

 

[Tenring]

A Hawken Flint or the like would sell , He would not be able to keep up I bet. It’s hard to wheeled a long gun in a tree stand or heavy brushed timber ,though I have a few i have to pick the spot to Hunt And most of the time that spot sucks, you guys know what I mean the Deer do not cooperate.LOL

 

[FastEdTex]

A Hawken Flint or the like would sell , He would not be able to keep up I bet. It’s hard to wheeled a long gun in a tree stand or heavy brushed timber ,though I have a few i have to pick the spot to Hunt And most of the time that spot sucks, you guys know what I mean the Deer do not cooperate.LOL

I also would love to see Kibler release a Hawken/plains style rifle as a flinter. Iron mounted.
Anyone else interested should drop Jim Kibler a note to let him know. [email protected] or [email protected]
The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Kiblers Longrifles does take customer feedback seriously.
If I have to pay $1000.00 + for a quality Hawken kit, I would 1000% prefer it be a Kibler kit.

 

[Osseon]

OP what did he hate about the Kibler exactly? Because I've seen dozens of Kiblers which look very different, including my own which is probably one of a kind due to what Dave Person did to it including bending the tang and repositioning the trigger. Did you show him the customer page?

https://www.jimkibler.net/customer-kit-gun-gallery---colonial.htmlHow can someone hate these?
The only reason I suggest it is because it sounds like a lot of work for someone advanced in years, and it would be a shame to buy something he can't finish.