Percussion rifle kits

[paul f]

My neighbor and I are considering building rifle kits with our kids as a winter project. We have no experience with such but are at least average in ability to follow directions and are looking at several "beginner" kits. Are there any recommended resources (books/videos) which would be helpful before diving in?
Thanks.

 

[Zonie]

There are several good books on building a rifle.
I had built several CVA Kits as well as a Thompson Center Hawken kit before stepping up to working on my first Penn Rifle. The book I used was "THE ART OF BUILDING THE PENNSYLVANIA LONGRIFLE" by Dave Ehrig, Dave Miller and Chuck Dixon (Dixie BO0622 $20.00). This book is available from almost any place which sells Rifle Kits, or you could order it thru your local book store.
IMO it covers all you will need to know.
I'm sure some of the other books like "BUILDING THE KENTUCKY RIFLE" by J.R.Johnston (Dixie BO0385 $7.50) have their points as well, I just have not read them.

Although you didn't ask IMO there are two types of "Kits". The CVA, LYMAN, THOMPSON CENTER etc are vary easy to assemble. The main work envolved is minor cutting to get the lock and trigger to fit, some polishing of the trigger guard/butt plate etc., some stock sanding and applying the finish of your choice. You may add things like "thumb piece" and other escutcheons or inlays but on a halfstock they tend to look out of place.
The price is in the low to upper $200 s.

The other type of "Kit" is what Track of the Wolf, Pecatonica River, Dixie, and a host of others furnish. All sell what I call semi-finished stocks with the barrel channel and ramrod hole, lock inlet and trigger inlet cut and with the remainder "close" to finished form. For a fee they will install the breechplug, install the underlugs, and mill the sight dovetails in the barrel. (I recommend this for first time builders).
ALL parts will require filing, drilling, sanding, polishing and final fitting. Most importantly this type of "kit" requires a LOT of time and even more patients. IF your in a hurry to get it done, IMO this is not the kind of kit you would feel comfortable with. You really don't need Power tools but a electric drill, a belt sander, a bench grinder and a Dremal type tool are handy if you have them. Have a understanding of drilling and tapping threads and FILING.
With this type of kit you can make a truly custom rifle (length of pull, type of trigger, barrel weight and caliber, some stock cast etc).

I can only speak for myself (and I have built quite a few guns) but the first kind of kit will take me at most 20 hours (most of this is in stock finishing and barrel browning). The second kind of kit will take me a minimum of 120 hours. (I tend to put a lot of inlays and carvings on mine and this can increase my total time to 250 to 350+ hours.) (Beats watching TV!!!). The price for this type of "kit" ranges from about $400-$700 depending on the amount of machining you have done and the type and grade of wood you choose.
Just remember, even though the second type takes a lot of time and money, if you take your time you can produce an heirloom which will last and be appreciated for the next hundred years or more.

 

[tommy b]

Jim,
Just curoius. In which of the two categories would a Traditions Trapper model pistol belong?

 

[Zonie]

I haven't built one, and to be honest, I haven't really looked them over so the rest of this is just idle BS.
In general, the "big" production gun makers (Lyman, T/C, CVA, Traditions etc) kits are models of their current or "out of production" guns which they either pulled out of the final stages of production or used their old tooling to make. This being the case, they are just needing a little fitting between the wood and the metal parts to get the optimum condition and finishing the wood on the stock.
Of course you can, as I mentioned above add your own personal touches be they inlays or reshaping the wood. (Go careful with reshaping because once you've filed, sanded or ground away the wood it can't be put back on. On one of my first factory kits I got carried away and regretted the looks of the outcome).

Bottom line is the big factory pistol kits are the "almost falls together" kits and the pistol kits from the small speciality shops are in the same class as their rifles.
By the way, except for the physical size of the parts the amount of work needed to build a pistol is almost the same as a rifle. I think that's why there aren't that many origional pistols around.