Yet Another Kibler Longrifles Kit Build...

[Flintandsteel]

I just finished a GM barrel in a Colonial. It definitely needed draw filing. Had fine ridges across the flats . Nice looking barrel though.

 

[troy2000]

Fitted the butt plate. Not really hard, but a bit tedious: smear a little Prussian blue, tap it in place, remove it and file away the blue spots. Rinse and repeat... there's a surprising amount of metal on the butt plate from the two sprues (gates?). I filed one of them, but think I'm going to tackle the other one on my disc sander - carefully, of course.

I'm appreciating the versatility of my vice setup. A couple of shots show how adjustable it is... rolling it to about a 45 degree angle allowed me to clamp the buttstock firmly, without bearing on the cheek piece. And having both jaws swivel makes it easy to accommodate odd shapes.

 

[Kozmo]

Nice work Troy! I'm reliving my SMR build through your posts! I had many of the same experiences from wonky lug pins to lessons in going slow and steady. Your stock looks similar to mine too. Is yours a sugar maple?

Here's how mine finished out. With aqua Fortis, I'll bet you get some similar figuring.

 

[troy2000]

Nice work Troy! I'm reliving my SMR build through your posts! I had many of the same experiences from wonky lug pins to lessons in going slow and steady. Your stock looks similar to mine too. Is yours a sugar maple?

Here's how mine finished out. With aqua Fortis, I'll bet you get some similar figuring.

I don't know anything about my wood, except that it's gorgeous. I did pay for 'extra fancy maple,' and I'm looking forward to seeing the results after I hit it with the aqua fortis. With the butt plate screwed into place, the stock is a little fat on one side. So I'll be filing some wood away before I start sanding...

Yours looks good. Thanks for posting the pic's. It's hard for photo's to do a good wood finish justice, because that translucent effect - where it seems you're actually looking into the wood - doesn't show well.

 

[Shooter1]

Really enjoying watching your progress. Thanks for posting.

 

[troy2000]

I started draw filing my Rice barrel, and ran into this. It's an actual gouge; I wasn't rocking the file. By the time I took the pic I had it about halfway filed down, and it came out eventually. But I'm going to have to feather it on back, to keep from having a noticeable whoop-de-doo in the side of the barrel. I have no idea whether it's par for the course or an unusual flaw; this is the only barrel I've ever worked on.

 

[Art Caputo]

I decided to try Jim’s Aquafortis, let dry, then brushed a coat of the Tannic Acid solution, also supplied by Jim. It’s quite easy to take down the very dark surface coating produced by the Tannic Acid, but it really produces a contrast with the end-grain section of this stock which was “fancy” grade(not extra fancy). Like Flintandsteel commented, the fine cross-sectional machine marks on the barrel flats of this GM barrel did require quite a bit of draw filing to remove....Same with the lock plate.

 

[LawrenceA]

I started draw filing my Rice barrel, and ran into this. It's an actual gouge; I wasn't rocking the file. By the time I took the pic I had it about halfway filed down, and it came out eventually. But I'm going to have to feather it on back, to keep from having a noticeable whoop-de-doo in the side of the barrel. I have no idea whether it's par for the course or an unusual flaw; this is the only barrel I've ever worked on.

That looks pretty deep
You can see where the tool shifted.
I doubt that is normal.
Pity it was on a flat that was visible.
Perhaps you just enhanced the "Swamped" look?????

 

[Art Caputo]

I started draw filing my Rice barrel, and ran into this. It's an actual gouge; I wasn't rocking the file. By the time I took the pic I had it about halfway filed down, and it came out eventually. But I'm going to have to feather it on back, to keep from having a noticeable whoop-de-doo in the side of the barrel. I have no idea whether it's par for the course or an unusual flaw; this is the only barrel I've ever worked on.

From the looks of the gouge, looks like it may be a machining flaw, with machine marks appearing in the valley of the gouge, and unlikely caused by draw filing. Maybe Jim will replace the barrel. They are interchangeable withIn the brands.

 

[Buckskinn]

File it out, that's what draw filing is for...

 

[troy2000]

File it out, that's what draw filing is for...

That's what I did, Buck. Then I tried the barrel back in the stock, and there's no visible gap between the filed area and the wood. So I'm good to go, unless I run into something much worse on one of the other flats.

 

[Flintandsteel]

That gouge is probably only a few thou deep, just a little more work, but not dangerous.

 

[troy2000]

That gouge is probably only a few thou deep, just a little more work, but not dangerous.

That gouge is probably only a few thou deep, just a little more work, but not dangerous.

Yep. But it was a PITA to file out. I've done two more sides now, and each of them also had a similar gouge at the muzzle end. Again, nothing near dangerous; just extra work.

As I said earlier, this is the only barrel I've ever done. So I don't know whether marks like this are to be expected, or something out of the ordinary. Regardless, they're getting handled...

 

[Dwight Rutherford]

I’d send the two pictures above to Jim & Katherine and ask for their thoughts.

 

[Bob McBride]

Hey Troy, I’ve had those sorts of low spots to file out but it is the exception and not the rule. I agree. Give Catherine a call so Jim can be on the lookout for those. He’s got a new barrel supplier and he would probably like all the feedback he can get on what’s going on regarding his blanks. GM is doing the profile and he’s boring I believe.

 

[troy2000]

Hey Troy, I’ve had those sorts of low spots to file out but it is the exception and not the rule. I agree. Give Catherine a call so Jim can be on the lookout for those. He’s got a new barrel supplier and he would probably like all the feedback he can get on what’s going on regarding his blanks. GM is doing the profile and he’s boring I believe.

This is one of the old Rice barrels, Bob; Green Mtn barrels for the Southern Mountain rifles were running late when my order was filled.

GM will be furnishing blanks, and Jim will be doing the profiling himself. One nice thing about that is that he's machining the barrel lugs as part of the barrels, instead of having them dovetailed as separate pieces. And if I remember correctly, he'll be doing the rifling himself up to .40; GM will rifle the larger calibers.

If Jim and Katherine weren't phasing out the Rice barrels, I'd definitely give them a heads-up, because I don't think the gouges can really be considered routine machining marks. But since they did file out, I'm calling 'no harm, no foul.' The exercise I got was probably good for me anyway...

I installed the touch hole liner earlier. I put a bit of anti-seize on the threads, grabbed it with vise grips and screwed it in, then cut it at the groove with a hacksaw and filed it flush. I may regret it, but I went with the carbon steel instead of the stainless, so I wouldn't see that shiny little circle behind the pan.

Now I'm getting ready to file a bevel on the muzzle and install the sights. I killed the edges of the flats a little after I finished draw filing, and gave the barrel a good rub down with Scotch Brite, so I should be ready to try my hand at using the patina solution I bought from the Kibler store.

And again, I love my vise.

 

[troy2000]

OK. The muzzle is beveled, the rear sight is in, I've decided to hold off on the front sight until I've done the patina thing on the barrel, and I'm calling it a day. Or an afternoon, anyway; I spent the morning replacing a serpentine belt on my wife's old Mazda MPV minivan. The belts are a lot more interesting on front wheel drive cars, because the engine is sideways and the belt is up against a wheel well, under all the miscellaneous gizmos and plumbing and God knows what that fills modern engine compartments.. Don't know about other cars, but on this one you have to jack it up and crawl under it. I gave up and removed the inner wheel well cover so I could see What? I was doing, and it suddenly got easy.

Celebrating a productive day with a double Dark and Stormy, which is a Moscow Mule that substitutes dark rum for the vodka. The standard recipe is two ounces of rum, four ounces of ginger beer, the juice from half a lime, and lots of ice. My dog got all excited when she saw the lime in my hand. She thought it was a ball, and she goes into hunter/killer mode any time I throw a ball. She doesn't just retrieve them, she chases them down and savages them like they're little furry critters. I think she might've been a coyote in a previous life.

When I feel that using straight dark rum in a Dark and Stormy is a little heavy, I've been known to go with half rum and half vodka instead. I call that a Dim and Breezy...

 

[Flintandsteel]

I’ve used prob 30 Rice barrels, and NEVER seen anything like that. I would at least let them know. There must have been a quality control glitch when this one was made.

 

[toot]

all great posts.

 

[MTGUNNER]

Hey Troy, I’ve had those sorts of low spots to file out but it is the exception and not the rule. I agree. Give Catherine a call so Jim can be on the lookout for those. He’s got a new barrel supplier and he would probably like all the feedback he can get on what’s going on regarding his blanks. GM is doing the profile and he’s boring I believe.

Hey Bob. The way I understand it, GM is supplying the blanks, with .45 and up with the rifling. Jim is profiling them with the smooth transition all the way down the barrel instead of the stepped way it was before.
>> Jan <<