Jim Kibler kits

[Marcruger]

I agree.  A great color for that rifle.  It looks super.  :-)  Great Nate and Jim.

Nate, who made the banded horn?  Looks like one of Ron's.  Great package. 

Best wishes,   Marc

[Keb]

Good shootin.

[frogwalking]

Nate,

This may be a little off topic, but....I noticed your very nice target says .010 undersize ball, ,01 thick patch, and it looks like 5 shots in one hole.  This combination should be very easy to start down the barrel.  I know the folks in "the old days" could not have reasonably used the very tight patch/ball combinations common today.  Do you normally shoot such a comfortable load with similar results?

Thanks,

Frog

[Nate McKenzie]

Yes. I like to test fire and sight in very close to center before I deliver a rifle. It also tests for function.  I almost always use a .010 under bore size ball,  .010 oxyoke prelubed patch, and mild charge with similar results. It is easy to load and will out shoot my 69yr. old eyes.

[Keithbatt]

I received my kit yesterday.  I am very happy with the product as delivered.  Its super nice, super clean in every way.  Wood is beautiful with a lot of curl all the way from end to end (I paid for the upgrade, and to my eye, was well worth it).  The quality of the castings is superb, and it arrived in perfect shape, even though the shipping crate had been through some minor trauma thanks to USPS.  without a doubt, the thoughtful packaging and use of priority mail accounted for the safe arrival in California.

Thanks!

Keith

[Doc]

Someone mentioned converting the crate to a carrying case.  Do you think the rifle with barrel would fit back into the case?

Waiting like a kid waits on Christmas 

Doc

[Bob Roller]

Someone mentioned converting the crate to a carrying case.  Do you think the rifle with barrel would fit back into the case?

Waiting like a kid waits on Christmas 

Doc

Is the finished gun any longer with the barrel in place in the stock???

Bob Roller

[N. Fraley]

Nate,

Many thanks for posting the photos of your finished JK kit in .36 caliber. I actually thought the color came out pretty good in those photos.

What method did you use to stain the wood? My kit is just waiting in its wooden crate for me to have some time to work on it soon, and when I finally do, I'd really like to achieve a similar color to what you have.
Thanks

[Jim Kibler]

Someone mentioned converting the crate to a carrying case.  Do you think the rifle with barrel would fit back into the case?

Waiting like a kid waits on Christmas 

Doc

Doc,

With a tad bit of work, you could convert the box to a carrying case.  We have a handful of "old" boxes left.  After these are gone, they'll even be nicer.  I could definitely see converting these. 

Thanks,
Jim

[Nate McKenzie]

N Fraley: One coat of LMF Honey Maple- let dry. Three coats of LMF Walnut- let dry. Two or three coats of LMF sealer. Dry 24hrs between coats. Rub with Rustoleum satin black rubbing most off. Let try for three days. Add coats of Chambers oil finish till it suits you.

[N. Fraley]

Thanks for sharing how you got that great color on your rifle, Nate. It sure is a beauty!

[lentuk]

A new guy question, I see these kits are available with a walnut stock, I love walnut and I am assuming Jim would not offer this kit with walnut if it was not period correct but I have not seen an original longrifle with a walnut stock.
Please enlighten the new guy.

[Dennis Glazener]

Jim used a John Whitson NC rifle as inspiration for his kit. I am pretty sure many Whitson rifles had walnut stocks. I own a walnut stocked Mathew Gillespie rifle and have seen far more southern mountain rifles with walnut stocks than with maple. So I would not hesitate ordering one in walnut. Just look in the ALR library at the originals in walnut.

Dennis

[Robert Wolfe]

Walnut is certainly correct. I ordered mine that way!

[Jim Kibler]

Thanks for the replies about Walnut.  For whatever reason, I really like the looks of walnut for this gun.  Just seems to fit it well.  I have some real nice tight grained wood with nice color.  Hopefully I'll be getting more as well.

Jim

[Bill Ladd]

Walnut - That's what I ordered.

[silly goose]

C'mon, I want to see some walnut! 

[Ridge]

I have a walnut 45 caliber on order. I've been spending my wait time researching wood and metal finishing. I'm getting excited about this project. The pics are only adding to that!
 My poor fiancé will be very thankful when I'm done!  Lol

[Doc]

I have a walnut 45 caliber on order. I've been spending my wait time researching wood and metal finishing. I'm getting excited about this project. The pics are only adding to that!
 My poor fiancé will be very thankful when I'm done!  Lol

 

Ummmm, you do realize that you will NEVER be done 

 Doc

[JTR]

Jim used a John Whitson NC rifle as inspiration for his kit. I am pretty sure many Whitson rifles had walnut stocks. I own a walnut stocked Mathew Gillespie rifle and have seen far more southern mountain rifles with walnut stocks than with maple. So I would not hesitate ordering one in walnut. Just look in the ALR library at the originals in walnut.

Dennis

My most likely made by John Whitson rifle, that looks just like Jims rifles, has a walnut stock.

John

[galudwig]

Jim used a John Whitson NC rifle as inspiration for his kit. I am pretty sure many Whitson rifles had walnut stocks. I own a walnut stocked Mathew Gillespie rifle and have seen far more southern mountain rifles with walnut stocks than with maple. So I would not hesitate ordering one in walnut. Just look in the ALR library at the originals in walnut.

Dennis

My most likely made by John Whitson rifle, that looks just like Jims rifles, has a walnut stock.

John

To borrow a quote from another message board I follow; "without pictures, it never happened!"   

I'd sure be interested in seeing some pictures of another original Whitson as would others following this thread!  Thanks!

[Mike Brooks]

Jim used a John Whitson NC rifle as inspiration for his kit. I am pretty sure many Whitson rifles had walnut stocks. I own a walnut stocked Mathew Gillespie rifle and have seen far more southern mountain rifles with walnut stocks than with maple. So I would not hesitate ordering one in walnut. Just look in the ALR library at the originals in walnut.

Dennis

My most likely made by John Whitson rifle, that looks just like Jims rifles, has a walnut stock.

John

To borrow a quote from another message board I follow; "without pictures, it never happened!"   

I'd sure be interested in seeing some pictures of another original Whitson as would others following this thread!  Thanks!

Buy "North Carolina Schools of Longrifles 1750-1850" by William Ivey. There are a couple of Whitson's in there plus probably a hundred others all in full color. Heck, you might even learn something.

[galudwig]

Jim used a John Whitson NC rifle as inspiration for his kit. I am pretty sure many Whitson rifles had walnut stocks. I own a walnut stocked Mathew Gillespie rifle and have seen far more southern mountain rifles with walnut stocks than with maple. So I would not hesitate ordering one in walnut. Just look in the ALR library at the originals in walnut.

Dennis

My most likely made by John Whitson rifle, that looks just like Jims rifles, has a walnut stock.

John

To borrow a quote from another message board I follow; "without pictures, it never happened!"   

I'd sure be interested in seeing some pictures of another original Whitson as would others following this thread!  Thanks!

Buy "North Carolina Schools of Longrifles 1750-1850" by William Ivey. There are a couple of Whitson's in there plus probably a hundred others all in full color. Heck, you might even learn something.

Thanks Mike,

I'm familiar the Whitson rifles in Mr' Ivey's book as well as those in Jerry Noble's.  I'm always looking for an opportunity to see pictures of additional examples of a makers work though.  Besides, Jim said it was Joseph's rifle that was the inspiration for his project.  George was the other Whitson mentioned in Ivey's book.  I'm kinda' curious who John is? 

It just goes to show that there was never much money to be made in gunbuilding.  Both Joseph and George Whitson went into dentistry after building guns for awhile... 

[Mike Brooks]

I "assume" Kibler's gun was copied from a Joseph Whitson Jr. gun pictured on page 276 in Ivey's book. If not it's pretty durned close.

[Bill Ladd]

This thread contains pictures of the Whitson rifle he used for inspiration:

http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=37648.0