Plain Maple Colonial is finished

[Jason holgate]

That stock is super nice ...nothing plain about that maple

 

[MountainSmoke]

That stock is super nice ...nothing plain about that maple

Thanks, it was a super clean and flawless piece of wood to work with, very dense, it scraped really well.

 

[yellowhammer]

MountainSmoke, How much finish work did you do on the lock? I.e. Is the finish on the hammer/**** and lock in the pics as-received?

 

[MountainSmoke]

MountainSmoke, How much finish work did you do on the lock? I.e. Is the finish on the hammer/**** and lock in the pics as-received?

Hi, no not as received. I disassembled the lock and sanded and polished the lock plate, **** and the frizzen. Don't mess with any of the internal working parts. It's tedious work, I spent 10 hours doing it but it gives the lock the correct look. I left mine shiny(in the white) but a lot of folks either blue or brown the lock. The lock would be 100% useable as you receive it and I've seen some people just slap it on like that and call it good. Just doesn't look right to me though.

 

[Urban_Redneck]

Your choices highlight what I call "quiet beauty", much like a shapely woman in a black dress, bathed in moonlight.

Well done!

 

[MountainSmoke]

Your choices highlight what I call "quiet beauty", much like a shapely woman in a black dress, bathed in moonlight.

Well done!

Thank you. Have a great day!

 

[RB POWELL]

60 hours later here it is. Standard grade sugar maple stock. This is my first attempt at putting together a muzzleloader kit. What a experience it was! I found myself constantly visiting this forum searching up old threads for guidance and help. Would have been vastly more difficult without it so huge thanks to the forum and it's members. Of course, Jim Kibler's YouTube videos were invaluable as well. I started this project expecting every step to go perfectly and quickly learned that I'd better be happy with" good enough" or I was going to drive myself crazy. There were victories and there were defeats, all part of the experience. Even long before I started this kit I had a vision in my mind of how I would want a rifle to look based on personal preference and authenticity. Dark plain maple stock with a scraped finish,a few tool marks here or there wouldn't bother me. Metal parts finished in the white. Brass not too polished. No carving. Just a plain old workhorse rifle that is going to see a lot of time in the mountains. Some details: 54 caliber, stock was stained with two fairly heavy coats of iron nitrate and then heat was applied. Tried and True varnish finish 3 coats so far but may add another one or two. If your on the fence about putting together one of these kits like I was, just do it! The experience and knowledge learned is priceless and you will have a beautiful quality made longrifle that you can be proud of forever. Thanks Jim Kibler for giving folks that opportunity.View attachment 214865View attachment 214866View attachment 214867View attachment 214868View attachment 214869View attachment 214870View attachment 214871View attachment 214872

 

[RB POWELL]

60 hours later here it is. Standard grade sugar maple stock. This is my first attempt at putting together a muzzleloader kit. What a experience it was! I found myself constantly visiting this forum searching up old threads for guidance and help. Would have been vastly more difficult without it so huge thanks to the forum and it's members. Of course, Jim Kibler's YouTube videos were invaluable as well. I started this project expecting every step to go perfectly and quickly learned that I'd better be happy with" good enough" or I was going to drive myself crazy. There were victories and there were defeats, all part of the experience. Even long before I started this kit I had a vision in my mind of how I would want a rifle to look based on personal preference and authenticity. Dark plain maple stock with a scraped finish,a few tool marks here or there wouldn't bother me. Metal parts finished in the white. Brass not too polished. No carving. Just a plain old workhorse rifle that is going to see a lot of time in the mountains. Some details: 54 caliber, stock was stained with two fairly heavy coats of iron nitrate and then heat was applied. Tried and True varnish finish 3 coats so far but may add another one or two. If your on the fence about putting together one of these kits like I was, just do it! The experience and knowledge learned is priceless and you will have a beautiful quality made longrifle that you can be proud of forever. Thanks Jim Kibler for giving folks that opportunity.View attachment 214865View attachment 214866View attachment 214867View attachment 214868View attachment 214869View attachment 214870View attachment 214871View attachment 214872

 

[RB POWELL]

That is a beautiful rifle. Well done.

 

[MountainSmoke]

That is a beautiful rifle. Well done.

Thanks,much appreciated

 

[doulos]

Really nice looking rifle. Hope you smoke a big buck with it. That will give you a great memory forever.

 

[MountainSmoke]

Really nice looking rifle. Hope you smoke a big buck with it. That will give you a great memory forever.

Thank you, I am definitely going to try!

 

[duca]

Come on shoot that thing already! Lol

 

[MountainSmoke]

Come on shoot that thing already! Lol

I did shoot it! I'll put a couple pics up this evening. I was not disappointed that's for sure.

 

[Snakebite]

I would definitely say "good enough!" It's really is nice. I would be happy if I could do one like that half as well.

 

[MountainSmoke]

I would definitely say "good enough!" It's really is nice. I would be happy if I could do one like that half as well.

Thanks, I'd say you could do one that would be just fine, might surprise yourself!

 

[sqqy14]

Beautiful...what stain did you use?

 

[MountainSmoke]

Beautiful...what stain did you use?

Hi, thanks. I used 2 heavy applications of iron nitrate and finished with Tried and True.

 

[Pratt1861]

Beautiful rifle! Great job to my eye. I haven't visited this site in quite awhile. Kinda stepped away from muzzleloading for various reasons.

Anyway, I just received my Colonial .58 smoothbore kit last Friday, plain maple. I need to get my bench setup properly before I start.

I’ve been aware of Jim’s kit for a few years but always felt like I wasn’t up to the task. Even with all the hard stuff being done on the kits. It’s interesting the enhancements he’s made from the older Colonial videos.

One area I’m nervous about is elongating the barrel tenon holes. Been looking for a jewelers saw that isn’t a piece of junk like a lot of reviews on sites like Amazon. And figuring out the right blades to use. Any tips there?

I got a box of curly maple scraps off eBay and some random cast brass parts at a gun show to practice on.

 

[MountainSmoke]

Beautiful rifle! Great job to my eye. I haven't visited this site in quite awhile. Kinda stepped away from muzzleloading for various reasons.

Anyway, I just received my Colonial .58 smoothbore kit last Friday, plain maple. I need to get my bench setup properly before I start.

I’ve been aware of Jim’s kit for a few years but always felt like I wasn’t up to the task. Even with all the hard stuff being done on the kits. It’s interesting the enhancements he’s made from the older Colonial videos.

One area I’m nervous about is elongating the barrel tenon holes. Been looking for a jewelers saw that isn’t a piece of junk like a lot of reviews on sites like Amazon. And figuring out the right blades to use. Any tips there?

I got a box of curly maple scraps off eBay and some random cast brass parts at a gun show to practice on.

Hi, thanks for your comment. Congratulations on your new kit. From what information I was able to gather when I was doing mine is that slotting the under lugs is not as important with a standard grade stock as opposed to one with a lot of curl as the wood is less likely to move. Most originals were not slotted but some do have slightly oversized holes in the under lugs. If you do some searches on here you will find a bunch of good ideas about slotting the under lugs. I didn't want to buy a jewelers saw for mine so I just got one of those cheap little wire saws at the camping section at Wally World and used it to slightly elongate the holes and it worked pretty well. I then got a round needle file and smoothed and evened out the slot. It really doesn't have to be much of a slot. Don't enlarge the hole any up or down, just horizontally. As stated, some people don't even worry about this step. I chose to do mine just very slightly. Have fun putting together your kit just be prepared for some things to go easier than others. If you make a mistake learn from it and do your best to work around it. At the time it may seem like the end of the world but once your gun is finished all of those little mistakes are forgotten and never as bad as you originally thought. At least that was my experience. Have fun doing it, that's what it's all about.