Pecatonica Fusil; Novice Build

[Comfortably_Numb]

They leave too much wood between the ram rod channel and the bottom of the barrel. That is a non-starter for me.

 

[11th corps]

I assembled my first with components from Track of the Wolf. A northwest trade gun. I had them put in the breech plug, drill the ram rod channel, solder the lugs and the front sight. There was still plenty to do. Finish inletting the barrel, the lock and for me the trickiest part drilling the tang screw that enters at an angle. Plus browning the barrel, and finish shaping the stock to my liking.
I did manage to not center my flash hole, but it really hasn't made any difference. I still get good ignition.
My suggestion is let the mfg do the hard stuff. Ramrod channel, most of the inletting, barrel lugs.
After you finish the work you mentioned building guns for your wife and daughter, if you feel you have a handle on things then go ahead to do more of the work on the next two.
In addition to a manual, you tube has great video's on most work these days.
Good luck.

 

[Comfortably_Numb]

I assembled my first with components from Track of the Wolf. A northwest trade gun. I had them put in the breech plug, drill the ram rod channel, solder the lugs and the front sight. There was still plenty to do. Finish inletting the barrel, the lock and for me the trickiest part drilling the tang screw that enters at an angle. Plus browning the barrel, and finish shaping the stock to my liking.
I did manage to not center my flash hole, but it really hasn't made any difference. I still get good ignition.
My suggestion is let the mfg do the hard stuff. Ramrod channel, most of the inletting, barrel lugs.
After you finish the work you mentioned building guns for your wife and daughter, if you feel you have a handle on things then go ahead to do more of the work on the next two.
In addition to a manual, you tube has great video's on most work these days.
Good luck.

Good advice here if you're just starting out.

 

[The Crisco Kid]

The pre-carves I've seen are a whole lot better than what they produced in the '70's. Still, there is the chance that there is too much wood in one place and not enough in another. The main problem is that you are stuck with their dimensions. If you want some cast in the stock you can forget it on a pre-carve. If you really want a custom stock you need to start with a blank.

 

[Eric Krewson]

Yep, Rice C weight .50

 

[Comfortably_Numb]

Yep, Rice C weight .50

HA! The C weight barrel they use as their pattern barrel is BENT! I went round and round with them over this to no avail. I would send them a blank AND MY STRAIGHT C WEIGHT BARREL and they would send me back my blank with a bent barrel inlet. They wouldn't even use my barrel to make a straight pattern. I gave up at that point and moved on.
I only used them for a short time as they are close by and shipping costs were much lower. But, I had to go back to shipping my blanks to the east and west coasts again to get them done right.

 

[Eric Krewson]

My precarve was out of alignment from the buttplate to the nose cap with a visible dogleg in front of the lock. Fred Miller did all of my early builds, unfortunately I thought everyone who did barrel channels and ramrod holes was as good. I just got a pistol barrel and stock with the barrel inlet and ramrod hole done by Mark Weader, talk about perfection!

 

[Jim K]

My precarve was out of alignment from the buttplate to the nose cap with a visible dogleg in front of the lock. Fred Miller did all of my early builds, unfortunately I thought everyone who did barrel channels and ramrod holes was as good. I just got a pistol barrel and stock with the barrel inlet and ramrod hole done by Mark Weader, talk about perfection!

I hope to be taking Mark a stock next week to have done. Have you seen B Kauffman’s interview of Mark? It was extremely interesting to see how he did it. I’m going to Allen Martin’s tomorrow to get the stock. Then to take it to Mark.

 

[longcruise]

Just a positive note about Pecatonica. I ordered their TC stock to restock Renegade parts. The TC Renegade stock is designed for scope mounting.

The fit of all the parts was excellent getting a fit is more about being very careful.

 

[HSmithTX]

I was able to get a little under 3/16" cast off on the Pecatonica stock I built on, purely because there was that much extra wood on both sides, leave the right side where it was pretty much and move the left side to it. It also had 3/16" between the barrel channel and the ramrod hole/groove, that I was happy with. My lock was low by about 1/8" and the triggers were deep by almost 1/8", and the ramrod hole poked out into the trigger inlet. These were the only serious issues with the precarve, but they were enough.