Traditions Kentucky Rifle Kit

[Bill-52]

My 90+ year old uncle was given a Traditions Kentucky Rifle kit, .50 caliber percussion, by his son.  My uncle has asked me to help him with it. He's in Florida; I'm in Massachusetts, so I'll be helping via phone. My uncle is familiar with modern firearms and is mechanically handy.  Growing up there was always a car and/or motorcycle in some form of disassembly in the garage.

My familiarity with Traditions kits extends only to what's on their website and studying their online schematics for this rifle.

Any advice, thoughts, pitfalls, etc. on how I can best help him would be greatly appreciated.

Bill

[Yazel.xring]

Hey Bill,

While I’ve not built the Kentucky I have built their St Louis Hawken. The only issue I ran into was the trigger guard. The castings don’t match up right with their inlets on the stock. Traditions recommends adjusting the inlet and not bending the guard because it can break. I did a bit of both and got it working.

The wood isn’t much to write home about and shows imperfections easily, take care when filing and sanding to keep an even surface or it’ll show.

Other than that, the parts are cheap so do your best to be careful with them, but overall my “Hawken” is a fine rifle and shoots dead on.

[Bill-52]

Ethan,

Thanks very much for your comments.  Those are exactly the types of things I was hoping to learn.

Best, Bill

[moleeyes36]

Bill,

I've built and repaired several of those rifles for people.  The inletting is not overly accurate and some work will be required there to make it fit correctly.  Also, the brass is very hard and will crack easily.  Be especially careful when installing the trigger guard rear screw or the guard will break right at the screw hole as there is very little brass around it.  I've see several with that problem, and new trigger guards for them are pricey.  When done, they have a very heavy trigger pull that can only be lightened slightly with the adjustment screw that is inside the lock and pushes against the tumbler.  But a caution there, because it is easy to get the screw turned too far and the sear will not hold securely in the full cock position.  A very unsafe situation.  However, most I've seen are pretty good shooters.

Don Richards

[Bill-52]

Thanks, Don, very helpful information and warnings.  Bill

[porchdog48]

Where in Florida maybe someone that lives close to him on this forum that could give him some help.

[Paul from KY]

I agree with the comments that others have made.  The best thing about the kit is the barrel.  Although it's Spanish made, these guns are capable of surprisingly good accuracy.  The wood is beech, and it has a two piece stock with the funky brass spacer thingy.  I spliced one of those stocks together into a one piece stock, but it wasn't easy, and the barrel pin holes had to be re-drilled. The forearm is way oversized, and you can plane a lot of material off to lighten the rifle up.

 As others have said, don't try to bend the brass trigger guard to make it fit the inlets, it will snap in two... I found that out the hard way.  The percussion lock is usable, but it doesn't have a bridle to keep everything aligned.  IIRC, L&R makes a good quality drop in replacement lock.

[Clint]

I am in Connecticut and the temps are starting to drop. I would pack a few tools and go visit your uncle for a week or two. Take some sun screen too.

[longcruise]

I have one of these kits that I'm going to put together for a granddaughter.  It's actually a very old CVA kit in 45 caliber.  Appreciate the warnings on the brass hardness.  Maybe a good idea to give them a good heating up before starting??

[moleeyes36]

I have one of these kits that I'm going to put together for a granddaughter.  It's actually a very old CVA kit in 45 caliber.  Appreciate the warnings on the brass hardness.  Maybe a good idea to give them a good heating up before starting??

Mike,

I think the trigger guard and butt plate are possibly bronze rather than brass.  I'll leave it to some of the guys here that are better versed on metallurgy to say if you can improve the situation with heating the parts.  I had a butt plate I got from Track once that was very hard; and when i tried to heat it, the sucker cracked all over.  The hard butt plate is only a problem because of the additional effort in filing it.  However, you have to be really careful with that thin trigger guard.

Don Richards

[taco650]

I've built this same kit a few years back.  The other's comments about the trigger being heavy and not really fixable are correct.  I made the two-piece stock into a one piece by putting in a cherry spacer where the brass one went and epoxying both halves together.  My biggest gripe of all with it is the short length of pull.  I'm of average height and the stock was so short my cheek took a beating every time I fired it.  To correct this, I made a filler piece for the butt and cobbled it onto the rifle.  It's not pretty AT ALL but saves my face from being beaten up.  It's a good shooter but I wish I'd saved up for a better flintlock kit like Kibler, Chambers or even TOW.