least favorite task

[TPH]

The inletting of the buttplate is always a bugaboo with me as it is with many others, but I'll add another for you since no one else has mentioned it. Almost all of my efforts are military muskets and fitting barrel bands can be unpleasant. In theory not that tough but in actual practice it is TEDIOUS! And the front band (you know what I am talking about, the double-strapped Charleville type) is just frightening, especially getting it lined up and leveled with the already cut ramrod groove and hole. Measure carefully....

[Stophel]

It used to be lower rod pipes (the uppers are a breeze), but I have finally got the hang of them, after learning to get the fore end shaped pretty well to final shape before inletting (which goes for ALL parts...don't inlet any more than you have to, thank you Ron Ehlert!), so they're not so bad anymore.

Absolutely the most tedious, time consuming, utterly excruciating thing to do on a gun is making, fitting, inletting, drilling, slotting and pinning barrel tenons.  Hands down.  NO competition.  Nothing else even comes close.  The slotting is a special PITA.  Takes me about four solid hours to finish four barrel tenons and get the barrel secured in the stock, and I dread the task almost as much as going to the dentist.

This is what I should have a little apprentice boy for.

[Steve Bookout]

I hate the sore fingers you get when polishing brass.  Your fingers also want to crack and split open right at the spot where they're sore, too.  Sometimes I wish I were a masochist.  Come to think of it, I guess I am.  Cheers, Bookie

[Leon]

Being a rookie I would have to say fixing one of my many screw ups. Oh and drinking too much whiskey. Leon

[J Shingler]

I would have to say that the entry ramrod pipe is my least favorit. I like inletting the lock, but not fitting that round barrel. Guess I just have not done enough of them. I never know how big deep long to make that flat on the side and the worry of getting it crooked or out of plumb.
Jeff Shingler

[Osprey]

Having to go a whole day without getting in the shop to work on something!   

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

drilling pin holes!!   Handsdown is the biggest pain....now that has always been on precarved stocks so far. My next gun is a plank so I will see if the square sides cover for my incompetence.  I actually find inletting difficult as well....I sharpen and sharpen, but it is still hard not to get chip outs etc.....I am becoming a master at fixing them!! 

[Benedict]

drilling pin holes!!   Handsdown is the biggest pain....now that has always been on precarved stocks so far. My next gun is a plank so I will see if the square sides cover for my incompetence.  I actually find inletting difficult as well....I sharpen and sharpen, but it is still hard not to get chip outs etc.....I am becoming a master at fixing them!! 

Drilling pin holes is a snap with Dave Rase's jig.

Bruce

[eagle24]

Drilling anything!  I learned a lot the hard way everytime I turned the drill press on.

[WV mountaineer]

Explaining to my wife I'm building a new rifle
I would say getting a idea for what to carve in the stock.

[Daryl]

Hogging off large quantities of wood to get to a rough shape is my least favorite. I know many enjoy this. Final shaping however is my most favorite.

Yeah - that's the part I like - trouble is, I never stop soon enough. Love to see the wood fly!  Hate everything else about building, except for finishing - that 'shines' too.

[Jim Filipski]

I like designing it...I like finishing it but it the $#@* in between that really brigs me down
 
Jim

[Daryl]

Used a hatchet once to rough out a stock  - worked really well, but didn't stop soon enough - oh well - it was a fast build to that point.