Out of curiosity,
Those who are negative on these kits - and for builders in general - did you know what good architecture was the first time you attempted a rifle? Did you know what good metal to wood fit was? How to recognize good wood to start from? How to tune a lock? How to draw file a barrel? What the contraption should look and perform like when done?
What would have been the value of having an example on hand that was much closer to being excellent, sitting right there near your gunstocking bench, egging you on to try to achieve more?
Now, you might have been lucky enough to own a well made antique so you would have a good example right there. But odds are, probably not.
I'm not a particularly experienced builder of longrifles. I am an experienced builder of a whole lot of other things.
Analogy - I am also a traditional bowyer though you would probably not have heard of me as the old forums that had pictures of some of my work are long gone. It has been a while since I've even made one. But when I started, I had a serious leg up on most in that I was a very good archer with recurve, and an equipment expert. People traveled to visit me so I could tune/alter their setups. So when I started making traditional bows (self-wood and wood laminated, not fiberglass), I had a very high standard on how they should perform. The rest was experience and cosmetics. I'd say my later bows were works of art.
I've looked at the work and shot the work of many bowyers. Most are garbage, though they don't know it. That is, they don't know what a good bow should be as they've never handled and in particular, never shot one! They've only seen pretty bows that sort of shoot, so that is their standard. If they knew better, they'd probably make better!
Kibler's kits give a novice gunstocker a chance to see, handle, and shoot a longrifle that is as correct as they are likely to get in their hands, to have by their bench, to goad them on to greater things. You could think of it as a 3D example to go along with the library of fine books the beginning gunstocker also doesn't have.
Those who as adults don't have the inclination to be craftsmen are not going to be swayed to be craftsmen by a fine bolt-together rifle, OR by a plank of wood. They aren't craftsmen.
Those who are craftsmen won't let the apparently nearly pre-finished nature of a project stop them from trying to achieve excellence. They are craftsmen.
Let's see, I have an SMR leaning against the wall in front of me right now. Now on this particular piece of maple, it had stress relieved a bit from when it was machined. The barrel wasn't supported to my satisfaction in the inch before the breech, so I fixed that. The wrist curvature was a bit different than the tang so I reshaped the tang, and finished the inletting. The trigger guard didn't fit the spacing of the recesses closely enough so I reshaped it to fit better and to be pleasing to my eye. The difference appears quite subtle. Then I inlet it for better contact before pinning so it will be quite stable. I altered the curvature of the butt plate slightly, and inlet it down and forwards into the wood so I could get a contoured fit to the stock. That way the screws are not the locators - the wood to metal fit is the locator. It only has one way to go. The screws are just the retention. More work - yes, as it is basically the same as inletting from scratch minus a saw cut. This alters the shape of the buttstock slightly, in a direction I like. The screw holes of course were no longer correct so I plugged them and re-drilled. I'm making my own tapered ramrod from a piece of hickory that doesn't have grain runout. It'll get a variant on the old style oil soaking before finishing. It'll be making a toeplate from mild steel. I even engraved orientation and number on the hidden side of the barrel lugs so if removed they can go back correctly. I might pour a nosecap; I haven't decided yet. I'll probably make a patchbox for it (I'm also a bit of a bench jeweler so a bit of fabrication is no big deal for me). I am making the wood finish from scratch, at least the oil part - starting with refining the raw oil. I'll probably case harden the screws. Etc.
Yes, it was a very nice near bolt together kit. I'm just not quite building it that way. Having such a nice precarve did save me making a big pile of wood chips. But I've already made many big piles of wood chips in my life.
More work than I should be putting into a near prebuld? Who is to say? In the end it is my rifle, unless someone chooses to offer me enough to part with it.
Heck, i didn't even have to rebreech the barrel, unlike the last random barrel I worked on (not from Rice or either Jim).
I for one appreciate the work Jim has done and is doing, and look forward to seeing what he and everyone else does in the future!
What you get out of it is what you put into it. Those who are inclined to be craftsmen and those who are not just don't see things the same way. I have no concerns about turning craftsmen into non-craftsmen by giving them good parts to work with.
No offence intended towards anyone, and likely what I've posted here should be rewritten. But it has been a tiring week so please forgive...
Gerald
