A couple of firsts

[Jburt9]

Hi all, just wanted to share a few pics of my first rifle from a plank for my 6 y/o’s first long rifle. Since doing a couple of Kibler kits over the past few years he’s been bugging me for a longrifle of his own. We’d get on the web and look at longrifles and the common theme with him was iron mounted guns… He’d always choose an iron mounted gun over brass when given the choice of what looked better to him,  so I knew I was going to have to go that direction with his rifle. Well, I couldn’t find an iron mounted youth kit so I thought what the heck I’ll try to build one from scratch.

I was able to get a shorter plain maple blank from Dunlap, and Jason at Rice had a 32” .32 squirrel profile barrel ready to ship. I had them both sent to David Rase who did an absolutely fantastic job Inletting the barrel. The lock and front sight is from kibler and the rear sight from TOW. Everything else, trigger plate, trigger, barrel tennons, ramrod pipes, and trigger guard I cold formed myself.

I finished with tru oil over Kibler iron nitrate and tannic acid. Metal is rubbed back cold blue.

I realize it isn’t the best looking thing out there but every mistake I made was a great lesson in what not to do (I ended up buying a bandsaw for this project and think I may have been better off without it, most of my problems stemmed from over cutting and not leaving enough meat to work with.)

[Daryl]

Now THAT is very nice indeed. WOW - grade 1 and a long rifle shooter already.  Good stuff.

[carpd]

Very nice rifle and a fortunate young man.

That would be an awesome show and tell item for a 1st grader! (assuming they still do stuff like that?).

[Bob Gerard]

For your son: that makes it a masterpiece in my mind. Well done 😀

[flinchrocket]

You just can’t beat that , I think he has a wonderful taste in longrifles myself. He will cherish that gun forever. You did good pop!!

[flehto]

Very nice work.....your son will have many years of enjoyment. As to the problems w/ the bandsaw....I had problems w/ mine but bought some steel blade guides so no mpre problems..... those plastic guides just didn't work well. Also an accurate layout on the blank is req'd. Prior to the bandsaw I used a Skill Saw which out of necessity left a lot of wood. For blank building a bandsaw is a necessity in my opinion.....Fred

[davec2]

Jburt9,

I wanted to do the same thing for both of my daughters when they were each about your son's age....but life got away from me and I never got it done for either one of them.  I have regretted it ever since.  This little iron mounted rifle will mean more to both you and your son than either of you will realize for years to come.  I hope you both have great fun and make a million loving memories shooting that little rifle on cold fall mornings with the smell of powder lingering in the air and your son smiling up at you after a solid hit on his target...

Great job and all the very best to both of you.

[Jburt9]

Thanks for all the kind words y’all. I didn’t mention it in my first post but I couldn’t have done it without all the priceless information and tutorials on this great forum!!