someone to mentor me in north illinois.

[JOLIET]

Howdy all
I am hoping to find someone in my area that willing to give me some help put my first rifle kit. I live in Joliet IL. I do have basic woodworking skills, very little metal skills, I know I know can thrown the kit together, but I want to made this a real nice rifle to give to my kid when I am gone,, I have a bad heart, I am not looking for you to biuld, just help me i can call or drive to you, just to show you thing.
thank you frank

 

[khwils]

Louis, What kind of a kit? I've done a few TC/CVA/Deer Creek/generic off the shelf kits, bored with that now. I am currently putting together my first precarved parts "collection". Boy is this a whole lot more fun but I have to research every move I make. If it's a simple kit I could probably help you. And I've also read many books (still buying) and watched three different sets of videos! By the way, if you have more than one instructional book on building a muzzleloading gun you will get more than one answer to every question you have. BTW, I live in Kankakee. Kurt/IL

 

[JOLIET]

howdy Kurt
I have a deer creek mountian kit in 50 cal. i have start to sanded down the trigger guards. what should i do first? should i put the rifle together to see what i need to fix?
i know the butt plate is bend bad. what any help would be appreciate :applause: i started my cider vinegar stain too.

 

[khwils]

Louis, Yes, assemble it first to see how everything fits together. I have one of those kits sitting on my bench that I haven't started yet. I didn't like the metal to wood fit in a couple of places and I haven't decided how I am going to fix it yet. I also don't like the buttplate but I will just replace it. I am also going to replace the foreend cap with a poured pewter one but I'm mostly doing that just to try it. Fit everything together before you start sanding anything, you might have to "hammer" some pieces to get them to fit better. BTW, I also decided that I am not going to sand this one, I'm going to try scraping. Also, check out that barrel by running a patch down the bore, feel for any constrictions. Kurt/IL

 

[JOLIET]

Kurt
yes the butt plate suck! and your right about the wood to metal fit. look's like alot of sanded around the trigger guard, to much wood. plus the wood at the end cap is too short, the end cap is about 1 1/2 long inside, but the wood is back back only 1/2 or so. but they did sent me a real nice curl maple :: what type of butt plate will you buy and from who. tomorrow is will drill the hole for the trigger guard, can you take a look at your. if you look at the bottom of the wood. do i have to cut the wood in between the hole, becaue the if i put the trigger in and put the trigger guard over it. at the back the guard hit the wood. if you take a looks i think you will see what i mean. if not maybe i could call you, frank

 

[khwils]

Louis, I will probably pick up a buttplate from TOTW and fit it to the stock. Although I have heard that someone has a replacement for it, my gun is the "clone" of the CVA Hawken or the Mountain rifle, I don't remember which. I don't remember any issue with the trigger or triggerguard but I will look at it when I get home. There is not a lot of extra wood on mine, it is pretty slim already. The fit between the breech and stock on the drum side of the barrel is horrible, probably 1/4 of an inch. I will try to glue some wood in and recut that area. The plates around the barrel pins aren't so great either. I will probably cold hammer the plates larger to fill the gaps or make new ones. I'm getting braver at fabricating, after starting the parts set I finally realized that everything doesn't come fitting exactly and you can make a lot of things yourself. I just got done making barrel lugs for the "Southern parts set" out of 1/16 sheet metal by cutting, bending and soldering them. I then installed them with a hacksaw and safe-sided Triangle file(that I made) and then filed them to size and shape. Piece of cake, it went really fast after I did a couple. Kurt

 

[JOLIET]

HI KURT
I think deer creek fix the slim stock, becaue mine is realy fat, but fatter is better vs slim. today i fix the breech plug and barrel to much metal on the plug, last nite i cut out the lock area with a knife. i was sanded it but it was go slow. talk to you later, frank

 

[mowolf]

Hi,

I have a bit of experience with the off the shelf kits. Most of the extra wood can be trimmed with a sharp pocket knife or small rasp, go slow and measure 5 times. First rifle I built we the CVA Mountain rifle (I believe that is the same on you have). The second was a Traditions KY pistol kit, then a CVA Mountain pistol and now am working on a Traditions KY rifle kit. All require some amount of work, I think the Traditions require a bit more. Make sure you file/sand the back sides of all metal as it is usually rough and will cause fit problems and cause you to do more sanding than might be needed.

If I can answer any questions or make suggestions feel free to ping me.

If a part has excessive slop, as in the barrel to barrel channel fit, I would call Deer Creek and request a different stock, unless the barrel is crooked, happens then I would ask for a new barrel. Most of the off the shelf manufacturers will work with you. I had the trigger guard break right off the bat on my Traditions KY rifle, called Traditions bingo new one showed up at no cost, even though it was my fault trying to bend the darn thing to get it to fit. It was off on the back side by about a quarter of inch. With the new one, I carved/sanded it to fit.

Waya :m2c:

 

[JOLIET]

mowolf
thank you, so far so good, i have been fitting the trigger guard to the stock, i am taking my time,