Well things being what they are with it damn near impossible to import anything and gun building supplies few and far between in the great land of Oz I snapped up an old 50 cal CVA Kentucky kit.
A 1987 kit still in the box and kinda close to all there.
This is an attempt at the story of the build.
Now I know half of you are cringing and I know that the old CVA Kentucky is not exactly the pinnacle of Long Rifle builds but I thought what a great piece to practice the craft.
This is what most nice ones look like.
They are chunky at best.
Well this is a gift to a freinds 2 teenage boys so I decided to trim er down a smidge.
Well I am finished now but here are the photos along the way.
Progress:
- Firstly I decided the brass spacer was not an option so just left it out.
- Took about an hour to get the buttplate nice and tight to the wood
- Inlet the lock in about 10 minutes
- Inlet the barrel so it sat well at the back and most of the way along (slight warpage in front end couldn't be helped).
- Had to set the barrel back to get the nipple to line up and play a little with the nipple and hammer.
- Put the corner in the tang and bent it
- Set the tang down in the wood and relieved the back of the barrel for the rear lock screw.
- The Lock screws were missing so I rethreaded a couple of others.
- Fitted the trigger. Had to bed it out and recut the threads and countersink to line up.
- Inlet the trigger guard ever deeper
- Cut the barrel off
- And the stock
- Inlet the rod thimbles
- Took to removing wood
- narrowed the grip maybe 6-8mm
- Narrowed the comb right down
- Rounded the rear forend
- Went to town on the forend such that it is about 3mm fatter than the barrel and fluted.
Before and after of forend
- Recut the muzzle and crown
- Shaped the muzzle end
- Made a forend cap (took a coupla goes). Waiting on the rivets to rivet it on.
- Shaped the lock panels
- Attempted carving
And here is the result. Missing a few bits like sideplate but I like it and light as a feather.
A 1987 kit still in the box and kinda close to all there.
This is an attempt at the story of the build.
Now I know half of you are cringing and I know that the old CVA Kentucky is not exactly the pinnacle of Long Rifle builds but I thought what a great piece to practice the craft.
This is what most nice ones look like.
They are chunky at best.Well this is a gift to a freinds 2 teenage boys so I decided to trim er down a smidge.
Well I am finished now but here are the photos along the way.
Progress:
- Firstly I decided the brass spacer was not an option so just left it out.
- Took about an hour to get the buttplate nice and tight to the wood
- Inlet the lock in about 10 minutes
- Inlet the barrel so it sat well at the back and most of the way along (slight warpage in front end couldn't be helped).
- Had to set the barrel back to get the nipple to line up and play a little with the nipple and hammer.
- Put the corner in the tang and bent it
- Set the tang down in the wood and relieved the back of the barrel for the rear lock screw.
- The Lock screws were missing so I rethreaded a couple of others.
- Fitted the trigger. Had to bed it out and recut the threads and countersink to line up.
- Inlet the trigger guard ever deeper
- Cut the barrel off
- And the stock
- Inlet the rod thimbles
- Took to removing wood
- narrowed the grip maybe 6-8mm
- Narrowed the comb right down
- Rounded the rear forend
- Went to town on the forend such that it is about 3mm fatter than the barrel and fluted.
Before and after of forend
- Recut the muzzle and crown
- Shaped the muzzle end
- Made a forend cap (took a coupla goes). Waiting on the rivets to rivet it on.
- Shaped the lock panels
- Attempted carving
And here is the result. Missing a few bits like sideplate but I like it and light as a feather.
