Advice on Tennessee for noob

[Jtcarm]

Looking for suggestions on a Tennessee kit for a first-timer.  Prefer to stay under $500.

Is it less-expensive or better to buy parts individually.

I have a well-equipped shop and some experience in stock-inletting. Built a Beals revolver kit from Dixie before, so i'm not totally without experience.

Thanks!

[Longknife]

http://www.tennesseevalleymanufacturing.com/catalog.php?category=tpbriflekit

[wetzel]

There is an extra charge for a complete set so depending on where you go it would probably be cheaper to get it in parts, though that link longknife posted is a pretty good deal.

[smylee grouch]

There are several parts on the southern style guns that the maker can fabricate himself and save a few bucks such as toe plate,side plate, thimbles,sights and butt plates. Good experience too.

[A.Merrill]

    Try Sitting Fox.com, they have a Poor Boy ( Barn gun) for around $400.00 or $450.00. I have never order anything from them but have heard good things about them.    AL

[Lucky R A]

     Pick your own parts, but get a quality barrel, lock and triggers.  Many of the parts you can fabricated especially for a southern gun.  Do a little looking around at some local sawmills if available, and you should be able to turn up a nice piece of kiln dried wood at a great savings.  Buy a good basic book on building ( Dixons etc.) and have at it.  You should easily be able to build a gun for under $500. and have enough $$ left over to take the wife out to supper. 

[JDK]

I don't believe you can go wrong with either TVM or Sitting Fox's Poor Boy but I would ask either to substitute the siler for an English style lock i.e. Bayles, Manton, Late Ketland, etc.  TVM will do it for a $15 upcharge....not sure about Sitting Fox.  The English locks are more appropriate to style and just look better with the architecture, imho.

J.D. Kerstetter

[Gunn]

    Try Sitting Fox.com, they have a Poor Boy ( Barn gun) for around $400.00 or $450.00. I have never order anything from them but have heard good things about them.    AL

   

I have ordered several from Ray.  In fact I just ordered another.  I feel his items are of good quality.  Ray is also easy to talk to.  Gunn

[G-Man]

It depends on how much you want inlet.  The trade off in having less inlet, vs, more on the kit, is that the less the kit is inlet for to start the more flexibility you have to build the gun the way you want. 

If you are a stickler for having the right style parts and overall look to the gun and feel comfortable tackling inletting a lock, triggers and hardware you may prefer to go with a pre-carved stock in a good pattern - for example, Knob Mountain has some good Tennessee styles - with the barrel inlet and ramrod hole drilled, and select the barrel, lock and hardware you want. 

If you want one with more of the parts inlet, Pecatonica also provides a good kit - you can ask them to leave off inletting any of the parts if you want to substitute.  Tip Curtis also makes a nice looking Tennessee rifle kit with good parts.

Good luck

Guy