Show N Tell your first MLer rifle

[Nor Cal Mikie]

Tell but no show. Think it was a TC kit that someone put together, fired, didn't clean, just put in the corner for a couple of years.
Pulled the .45 cal, barrel, did the electrolysis thang in a tank while I was working. Hooked a battery charger to it and watched it bubble for a couple of days. Turned out that the barrel, was JUNK (looked like a lava tube) so I picked up a Green Mountain drop in replacement in .32 (that they don't sell anymore) refinished the stock and made a shooter out of it. The first of many.
Tried to sell it but no takers. Only fired 3 or 4 times than bagged, oiled and put aside for another project. So you could say it's AS NEW.
Still got the lava tube barrel and have plans to hone it out and make a smooth bore out of it. Outside of the barrel (with sights) is in pretty good shape. A little steel wool and re blue job will make pretty nice barrel.
More into building than shooting so I've always got my fingers into something.

 

[Tannehill]

My first ml investarms. .45, friend gave it to me. It was in pretty sad shape. Spent summer completely stripping it down and refurbishing it. Killed my first ml deer with it that fall. It also has taken my biggest deer, 11 pointer.

 

[TrophyGuy]

Like many here, my first was a T/C .50 cal. kit in the mid seventies. I lived in an apartment with no tools or place to work, but somehow got the thing sanded, finish inlet, and the barrel draw filed and polished. I had a gunsmith hot blue the barrel, back when smiths did such work. I thought it was so beautiful that I had to clutter up its lines with T/C's vernier ladder rear sight and globe front sights. So much fun to shoot. Gave it to my Dad to use in Arkansas's new ML season. Dad scraped off the fragile tang sight and front globe, and replaced with awful red fluorescent sights that he used to bag deer every season until the siren song of in-lines turned him to the dark side. I lost Dad five years ago and welcomed back the battered T/C. Dad had used it as intended, as a working tool without much TLC for the bore. I freshed up the old girl with an aftermarket barrel, but kept the old one as a memento relic. I found the vernier tang sight in Dad's fishing gear, minus a few parts. I'm slowly getting it back to its original presentation condition to my Dad. So much nostalgia in an inanimate chunk of wood, steel and brass.

 

[reddogge]

A friend that I worked with was a ML shooter and got me interested. My first ML was a Lyman GP .50 cal. perc. kit that I bought at a gun show at the National Guard Armory in Boulder, CO back in the 1970's. IIRC I paid $165.00 for it, and I could tell that it had beautiful wood.
It is more accurate than I am! I added a different rear sight and some accent lines to the stock contours. I still have it and plan to shoot it more often now. View attachment 357233
View attachment 357235
View attachment 357236

Beautiful job on that rifle and the stock color and finish is superb.

 

[tenngun]

I always wanted a flinter and at that time loved the Roman nose style. Ha, until I shot it . Anyway in 1971 I got rained out on the heavy highway construction job I was working on. I asked my wife of one year if she would go to Dixie Gun works with me. She said yes, and we drove from Omaha to Union City Tenn to purchased my first muzzleloading rifle. This is a Italian made 45 cal and sparks very well. Still have it today.
Larry
PS. If I remember correctly it was right at $265.00 pick it up price. It did not come with set triggers nor a fly in the lock. I added the set triggers and fly after I found out why I needed a fly.


View attachment 356949

I had one of those as my third gun, and first flinter.
My first was a Mowrey.50 with wood for stock. And second was a Zouave from navy arms

 

[2Moons]

My first was a TC Hawken kit back around 1980 or so. Still have it, but she’s a safe queen now. Have too many others to play with. She was a shooter, though!

 

[BR Sorenson]

been to some shoots with my dad. Even before he had a muzzleloader rifel. We would go watch some of the shoots. The Cannon shoots were always fun to see.

Well he finaly got around to building himself a percussion Kentucky Rifle. He went the rout of a scratch build.

It took him a while to build it up. Working on it whenever he had spair time. when it was finished. I did try to shoot it. At the timei was about 12 years old. My Dad was a tall lanky guy 6ft 4in,with like a 37 inch sleeve lenght. So his Rifle wasn't a good fit for me.

So at when I was 14. It was time to make me a Rifle. I decided on a Hawken style of Rifle. So Dad did some more gun building research. And orderd a Dougla .50 cal barrel. A friend of his was well connected on getting things. He was also the local powder supplier.

We got the barrel and a stock pattern. Landing out on the same walnut plank as hus rife was cut from. And the process was started.

I had taken a close look at a Green River Rifle Works Hawken Rifle.

And wanted mine to as beefy as the GRW Rifle. I was give some suggestions for the lock and other hardware.

The stock was cut out and barrel channel was taking shape. I I putdad through extra sweat and engineering. By wanting a Hook Breach. Like the Hawken or plane's Rifles had. Making the breach plug from a bolt. and shapping it with a hacksaw and files. I think the tang was started from a piece of angle iron.

Our family was planning on a trip to Ohio. A club member who owned a black powder gun shop. Suggested that we go to a shop that he orderd supplies from in Ohio. So I saved my money and got to go shopping ot At The Log Cabin Shop. It was a long trip from Utah to Ohio. I couldn't wait. But finally I picked out that Cherry Corners Lock. Looked through the assortment of trigger guards, butt plates , ramrod thimbles and barrel lug. I now had all the major parts that I needed.

A few weeks later I had all those sand cast Brass pices all smoothed out and cleaned up shiny. We still needed to make the sights and trigger assembly. It finacame together my own Hawkins style of Rifle. Custom fit to me propper trigger pull lenght. Every thing working smoothly and it was shooting great. It still shoots great.

And now a year ago I decided to try a flintlock Rifle. I picked up a used Pedersoli Kentucky. That thing has so many things wrong with it. Bad lock geometry, weak lock springs, the touch hole was diameter was to big. 3FFG would get pushed out while pushing the ball down the barrel. Took me a few rounds to figure that one out.

So I thought well I will re barrel it. And I was learning more about lock geometry. I orderd anew Colerain barrel. And before th barely arrived. I thought. Why not just get one that will actually work. And order a Kibler SMR. I'm now finishing up my 5th Kibler. A cherry stocked .54.
That first Rifle was mostly built by my dad. The kits that I've put together. Had made me realize just how much he did to build the Rifle and the smaller aspects that I did. There were acouple of things that I did make for it. He shore was a handy man, and was able to do a lot of projects. I wish that guy was still around.
The Pedersoli project gun still is waiting, unshootable stock is stripped. Barrel chanel enlarged for the new barrel Some day I'll do something with it.

 

[WalnutRed]

My first was not a rifle. It was a 58 caliber Belgian flintlock trade musket made in 1862. I bought it at a yard sale in the early 70s for $25. Hunted everything from deer to squirrel with it until I traded it for a Navy Arms 45 caliber flintlock rifle. Don't know why I thought I needed a rifle for Ohio hunting.

 

[Edm]

My first was a TC Hawkin kit I got for Christmas at age 14. Dad and I built it. Still have it. Next was a Kentucky pistol same year. Paid $20 for it. Only worked half the time. At age 30 i decided to build one. A gentleman down the street from my parents helped me get started and find what to buy. I still have that rifle and it shoots great but is so ugly. Front sight was put on backwards and the side plate is mounted to far forward and has one screw. And it’s randomly put through to the lock. I had no plans and no pictures. If those two things were fixed I’d be fine with it. It’s pretty embarrassing however.

 

[1950DAVE]

.54 cal. GPR, flint. Built from a kit my kids got me for a Christmas present many years ago. It was built with much consulting with Eric Krewson. Thanks Eric.

 

[Ditt44]

First I ever owned, a TC Renegade flintlock .50 that I bought in the summer of 1991 for $270. Killed a doe the first day I ever hunted with it. First I every shot was a TC Hawkin kit gun my uncle built, probably around 1980. I hit the target on the first try and I was hooked. I had to have one. Only took me a dozen more years to get one of my own. I have anywhere from six to eight hanging on the wall on any given day and impulse now