tracks inletted tenn mountain stock

[tothepoint]

has anybody built the Tenn's mountain rifle with the pre-inlet stock that track is clearance out 7/8 bbl channel with sm siler lock ? seems i have to do a lot of coning to the breech and this is all new to me I'm REALY GREEN.

[Dave B]

Welcome to the Forum!  This is a great place to pick up information about this kind of stuff. I have not built their Tenn. Kit yet but I have build several rifles using their pre-carved stocks and all were well done. I was able to build the projects with out any surprises. The ones I worked with had the channels cut with a  shaper blade so there was a fair bit of clean up at the breach for their Hawken stocks. The Tulle I put together was much closer to where it needed to be and a lot less messing around. They claim a 90% pre inlet and thats about right. I actually like not having the lock pre inlet making getting things lined up easier to my thinking. If you have not tackled this kind of thing before you should get your self some books to help you on your way. Better yet if you have one of the members close to you to talk over what you have going on is even better. I have several books that have been a great help in building rifles my favorite two are Recreating the American longrifle  published by Shumway and The Gunsmith of Grenville Co. by Peter Alexander.  Several folks have DVD's out with instruction on kit building. American Pioneer Video has several.
Good luck with your project and keep your chisels razor sharp.

[Acer Saccharum]

Also there's Chuck Dixon's book on 'How To' , available from Dixon's Muzzleloading shop.


A great thing a new builder can do is to bring their project to Dixon's fair, or Log Cabin shop, and show their workpiece to an experienced builder.


One of the best ways to describe your project on the forum is by use of photos. Written words are tricky, and a photo clears up so much mis-understanding.


Tom

[PPatch]

Welcome to the forum!

Dave B is correct about The Gunsmith of Grenville Co. being a good book on building but it is geared more to beginning from scratch than doing a pre-carve. Be aware that the steps in making a pre-carve into a gun are initially somewhat different than when beginning with a blank.

With a pre-carve there is still quite a bit of woodworking to do if that was your question. You will need some reference material (books) and to do some research before getting into it however. If there is any way to handle or at least view some originals then do so, nothing like that to know what one feels and looks like in the real world, photos can only get you so far.

Again, welcome, and remember to enjoy making your first rifle! Take your time, understand each step before doing it and soon you will have a shooter.

dave

[Don Getz]

To............there is nothing wrong with using a pre carved stock with the barrel inlet and the butt shaped, assuming it is fairly
well done.   I think Bob Lepley does some stocks for Track (he also does Chambers kit stocks).  but, they can be no better than
the pattern which Track supplied to him.  You mentioned something about "coning" at the breech, not sure what you mean
by that...........Don

[Tim Ault]

I did my first rifle from a pre carved and pre inlet stock last winter as I just dont have the room or equipment to do it from a blank . That one was inlet for everything barrel ,tang ,lock trigger bar ect.  I have to say  it made me better at solving problems though ! most of the inlets were off in one way or another, My flash hole ended up being further forward than I wanted it to be ,had to add material to the tang length and width to get it to fill the factory inlet and a few other problems , It surely wasnt what I expected but as I stated a good learning experience on how the parts are all related to each other by location  . On my second one it will be another pre carved with the barrel channel done and the RR groove and hole  but thats it Ill do the rest myself  and thats what I would recommend If anyone goes the precarved  route that some of us have to use .

Tim

[Okefinokee Outlaw]

I'm currently building my first mostly-preinletted kit.  By referring to the already mentioned books, and purchasing available DVD's, it's coming out very well.  My only gripe is that some of the pre-inletting was a bit overdone, and I have to fill in a couple of small gaps.

[blaksmth]

The only thing I don't like about a pre carved inletted stock is that I like to drill all the holes while the stock and fore arm is still square it seems to me that it is easier to get things lined up in my milling vice , just my opinion though

[G Jantz]

Welcome to the forum TOTHE POINT,
One newbee to another, the 2 how books mentioned already are GREAT learning tools as well as the forum itself. I am knee deep into my first build and credit this forum and all the members for my education. I did not chose a pre-carved stock as there are non out there for my choice. Although I looked very hard at Chambers, TOW, and Knob mountain, and from my research all would be a good starting point.
Good luck on the adventure, I am having a great time with mine.
Greg

[tothepoint]

WOW! thank's for all the welcome and advice. from every one. i truly appreciated all the replies i try to get some pic's on as soon as i get time. Hopefully this week end i will get time for the project...  thank you all. Mike

[B.Habermehl]

I highly recommend that you order your stock with no lock inlet. Surprisingly it takes me just as much time to fit a lock to a preinlet mortise as it takes my to do one from scratch. This will allow you to avoid the lock mortise/ breech inlet problems that often arise with precarves.  BJH.       By the way about 25 years ago my first muzzleloader was built on one of tracks Tennessee stocks.

[Cynewulf]

Here is a simple rifle I built using Track's Walnut Tenn inletted precarve with 7/8 barrel. It has a GM 42" .45 cal barrel which is coned. I had a small Siler and barrel on hand so I built this. The lock inlet was misplaced, so I had to cut the barrel channel back about 3/4 inch so the vent would be correct. It is heavy, but its been a good deer rifle for me. I know the lock pannels are to long for this small lock, but I keep putting off reshaping them.


FK

[Dennis Glazener]

Surprisingly it takes me just as much time to fit a lock to a preinlet mortise as it takes my to do one from scratch

Amen to that! Just so new builders understand why BJ says that (and I agree) here's why. All the pre-inlet mortises that I have had occasion to use required approximately 1/32" (sometimes more) of stock to be removed all around the perimeter of the mortise and trying to cut that small amount evenly all around the mortise is a pain for me. You can't see under the lock plate to be able to center it up over the existing mortise where you can scribe a line around the plate. If you don't scribe the line its guess work on how much to remove and easy to leave gaps! Also the problem's mentioned in proper alignment for flash hole, front lock bolt clearance, tail alignment etc.
Just a royal pain!
Dennis

[Cynewulf]

I would agree. Most of the ones I done have been non-inletted precarves. However, if you can get a good buy on something, then perhaps the extra effort can justify the savings. I think what happened to mine is that it had been returned for the very reason I mentioned. I've also inletted a larger or different lock into an already inlet mortise. I builta Jacob Dubbs smooth rifle from the Mold and Gun Shop kit and it was inletted for a large Siler. Nothing wrong with a large Siler except I thought the rifle would look better with an English style round faced lock, so I put in n L&R Queen Anne

FK

[gunmaker]

I put one together few yr. ago, the 15/16" bbl. one with Durs-Egg lock. It came out O.K. Everything did line up on it as I remember.  Tom

[davebozell]

Another thing to remember is that the inletted barrel may also have to be moved back.  You will want to pay special attention to the lock and touch hole locations before finishing any inlets.  On my first rifle, I followed Buchle's advice and finished the barrel location and breech plug inletting first.  When I moved on to the lock mortise, I found I could not get the lock in the correct location.  I had to move the barrel back about 3/8", which really messed up my tapered breech plug mortise.  The precarve doesn't give you the flexibility to move things around like working from a blank.