Recent Posts

21

General Muzzleloading / Re: kit vs. non-kit

« Last post by flintboomer on September 09, 2024, 07:09:56 PM »

I agree with Hotfxr that building a kit helps you understand how they work.
BUT:
I have seen some terrible kits and a few kit guns that were simply screwed together and painted. Some of the early kit guns were actually just a way to sell reject parts or made with little expectation that they would ever be put together and shot. My brother in law had one that looked like the barrel was made from a section of 1/2 inch pipe and the quality of the rest of it was equally bad..
A good kit and some help or working knowledge makes a huge difference in the finished product.

22

General Muzzleloading / Re: kit vs. non-kit

« Last post by hotfxr on September 08, 2024, 04:41:24 PM »

Now that I have more time, I would like to expand on my earlier reply. This would actually be a more relevant question if it was 20 years ago. Unfortunately there are a lot less kits and/or finished firearms out there these days. Over the years I have restored and modified a goodly number of muzzleloaders, kits and finished.
Note that the quality of the kit guns vary greatly.
If you wanted to build or buy say, a Philadelphia Derringer, there is a $30 difference between the kit and the finished pistol. For the cost, I would absolutely buy the finished product. The kits are not the best quality and it is difficult to machine out the holes needed with the shape of the blank.
Kits also vary in the machining.
Pedersoli kits come actually assembled and only need a minimum amount of sanding to finish them off. It makes the "kit" savings worth it. Of course you are on your own if you want checkering, something I am woefully unable to do.
Plus, I believe, all kits will need to finish the barrels and furniture.
I have "built" several kits for myself and for others. When I first started my black powder journey I wound up purchasing a few kit rifles that others had built. Hence the modifying and repair mentioned before.
With the help and advice from many members here I wound up building a few from scratch. Tedious, time consuming, and not for the faint of heart, but also not as difficult as I originally thought.
For anyone who is thinking about embracing the muzzleloader life, I would recommend going ahead and building a kit, such as a Traditions Kentucky pistol. It's not that hard and what it will do is give you knowledge of how the parts interact with each other. Something that will help you out if you have a problem at a shoot.

This is just my personal take of this topic and des not necessarily reflect the view of this forum.

 

23

General Muzzleloading / Re: kit vs. non-kit

« Last post by gunhawk on September 08, 2024, 03:42:17 PM »

Not actually asking this for myself, as i don't think i could put together a kit to a factory finish that I would be satisfied with.  I have however, seen some very nice kit guns built by others.
  Just curious how others here feel about building a kit gun.  Thanks for all responses.

24

Useful Information / Re: T/C Load data from 1980 publication

« Last post by flintboomer on September 08, 2024, 01:00:37 PM »

Interesting, this just showed up as a new topic but does not show a new response before mine.

I will check to see if it still works and let you know if it works or not.

No longer works.
This will only take you to a political sight so don't bother trying to it check out.

25

General Muzzleloading / Re: kit vs. non-kit

« Last post by bmtshooter on September 08, 2024, 01:00:20 PM »

I have indeed put together a couple of rifle kits over the years.

If you truly want it to "look as good or better than the factory rifle", you should probably just get the factory rifle.  Then you can decide if you want to risk "improving" the rifle by modifying it.  If you decide not to do any modifications, you have a factory rifle, nonetheless.

Many a kit has languished unfinished in people's closets because the builder ran out of energy and/or confidence.

But you know you better than anyone ........... so it depends on your levels of perfectionism and perseverance.

26

Useful Information / Re: T/C Load data from 1980 publication

« Last post by flintboomer on September 08, 2024, 12:57:31 PM »

Interesting, this just showed up as a new topic but does not show a new response before mine.

I will check to see if it still works and let you know if it works or not.

27

How Do I…..? / Re: Bear grease

« Last post by flintboomer on September 08, 2024, 12:53:55 PM »

My nephew uses bear oil/bear grease. His rifle is a tack driver with it but I never have used it.
I have tried deer tallow and buffalo tallow before and find that they work but other things are more convenient.
If you are using it to hunt you need something stable like tallow, bore butter or?
If you are shooting for entertainment which includes plinking, rendesvous or club paper matches I use spit, hand lotion or moose juice.

Moose milk/moose juice has many variants, but what I use is:
water soluable cutting oil
Murphey"s oil soap
water

Use equal parts water soluable cutting oil and Murphey"s oil soap then add water as desired.
What I was originally taught was 1/1/30 but I use 1/1/4 as a better lube and it still works for cleaning.

28

General Muzzleloading / Re: kit vs. non-kit

« Last post by hotfxr on September 08, 2024, 09:30:27 AM »

That is not a question with an easy or simple answer. There are different levels of quality in both kits and finished firearms. I would encourage you to peruse older posts in this forum as there are many discussions about this topic.
I would encourage you to first decide which firearm you want, then look at what is available out there.

29

General Muzzleloading / kit vs. non-kit

« Last post by gunhawk on September 08, 2024, 06:18:06 AM »

 Greetings,
  Wondering what you think of building a kit muzzloader vs. just getting the finished rifle ?   
 Seems like a good project to put together the kit, but realizing it takes some skill.  Perhaps a lot of skill.   Want the finished kit to look as good or better than the "factory" rifle.
 And, chime in if you have ever put together a muzzleloading kit rifle (or pistol).

30

How Do I…..? / Re: Bear grease

« Last post by Hanshi on September 07, 2024, 03:28:00 PM »

I found the TOW mink oil to be good stuff and preferred it for hunting.  Other than that Hoppes BP Lube has been about as good as anything else I've used.  Hoppes changes their lube as time goes by and has now two products, BP bore cleaner and their patch lube.  I have some of both and both work well as patch lube.  I find the field too crowded now with too many decisions.  In the past if something worked then the choice is already made.  Spit patch is the cheapest and works as well as most.