Just how quickly does a Kibler kit go together

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

Yes.  I would imagine the thinness would make it delicate to handle when the barrel is separated from the stock.  But from what I gather on these forums - that will end up being a great advantage when the gun is complete (provided you don't ham-fist it and break the stock.)
 

[Tim]

May I ask how comfortable the mountain rifle butt plate feels against the shoulder versus the feel of the colonial rifles butt plate? Seems as though the colonial rifle would be a lot more comfortable.

[Mike Brooks]

May I ask how comfortable the mountain rifle butt plate feels against the shoulder versus the feel of the colonial rifles butt plate? Seems as though the colonial rifle would be a lot more comfortable.

They are fine, of course it depends on caliber  but the Mt. rifle is .45 and smaller, so no big deal.

[Eric Krewson]

You don't put a hooked buttplate on your shoulder, it will eat you up. It goes between the top of you bicep and your shoulder, very comfortable.

[Tim]

I’m glad to hear it’s comfortable to shoot. I have a CVA .45 caliber inline that I hunt with and it has a recoil pad on the butt stock. This site is a wealth of information and I am glad I found it.
Guess there nothing left to do but make up my mind on what wood I want and send in the deposit.

[Dennis Glazener]

Not much time today but I drilled and tapped the two tang bolts, then spotted the 4 cross pin holes. Total time 32 Min.
Dennis

[Dennis Glazener]

Just drilled the 4 cross pin holes, dressed down tenons to clear rr, then fit lock total 96 Minutes. Will drill/tap lock bolts later.

*Added*
Just drilled and tapped the lock bolt,dressed down lock washer to fit inlet, final fit of set trigger/lock. Total 65 minutes
Dennis

[Dennis Glazener]

Just (9/7/18) ground casting gates off BP, rough filed and fitted Butt Plate on stock total 48 Minutes.
Dennis

[Dennis Glazener]

9/8/18 Filed casting gates off TG and fit to stock. Ground tabs off thimbles and fit to stock. Will drill cross pins later. Total for above 1 hr 15 minutes.
Dennis

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

Wow Dennis, this is great!  So far you've got 7 hours, 20 minutes into it.  And it sounds like you are only pinning the thimbles and you're about to in-the-white condition.

[Dennis Glazener]

Wow Dennis, this is great!  So far you've got 7 hours, 20 minutes into it.  And it sounds like you are only pinning the thimbles and you're about to in-the-white condition.

Yes you are right maybe 30 minutes to cut the cross pins to length then drilling the 5 holes then drive the pins in. I am holding off until I make sure the trigger plate is bottoming out in its mottled. The front of the plate is a little proud of stock and I need to pull the trigger assembly out before I pin the TG in place. Probably won't get to it until tomorrow.
Dennis

[moleeyes36]

a caution-I put together one of these excellent southern rifle kits. the stock is wonderfully thin and fragile-be careful fitting and handling it.

Hearing this makes me second guess putting my name on the waiting list for one of the mountain rifle kits. I do however like the way they look. How comfortable is the curve of the butt plate against your shoulder when You shoot it?

The butt plate doesn’t rest against your shoulder in that style of rifle.  It rests in the pocket between your shoulder and bicep.

[HenryB]

I bought a Colonial from Jim and Katherine at the CLA show, Aug. 17, in Lexington while on a 4-day vacation adventure. I've always wanted to learn to make a rifle. Never did it before. I've built custom Harleys and worked briefly in a cabinet shop but, I had no real idea of what is involved. The Colonial was exactly the style (area and era) that I wanted to emulate. SO, I had to jump in right then and there. (It also helped that Jim had lterally dozens of non-commissioned sales reps all over the place.) My mean wife made me do it.

I got it home Sunday evening, opened it up, and started assessing needs. That mean wife of mine told me that I needed a workbench, too. So, she forced me to buy one. I found a 46" rolling tool chest with wooden top at Harbor Fright that is a good height for me (6'5") and I can move it around. Bought some very old chisels (better steel) and at the flea market and sharpened them. Watched all of Jim's videos ahead and made a list of tools that I subsequently ordered. I bought Rifles of Colonial America, Vol. 2. and studied it well. I wore out my Youtube and my Google - had to order new replacements. I'm hooked.

I still work a job full time+ and have chores at home. I just finished the initial assembly Saturday. I draw filed the barrel while waiting on something, so I'm a little ahead. I've not kept track of my hours - I'm working salary. :-)

I'm going to start cleaning up the wood and furniture in the evenings this week. I bought a piece of maple at the local store and started practicing carving. Some old (better steel) gouges are on their way.

SO, starting when I got it home, I have three weeks in it at the point of assembly plus draw filling.

[Eric Krewson]

I planned to carve my second gun which was a fowler, I practiced, studied all the reference material I could find and practiced some more. Comparing my practice carving to the very few guns we see her with really bad carving and seeing that mine was not much better I opted for a plain fowler with no carving.

[Dennis Glazener]

Yesterday afternoon and this afternoon I spent 2 hrs and 20 min. I finished fitting/drilling/pinning the thimbles/pinning the tip on the rr (rr does need to be sanded/scrapped down to fit the rr hole, its a little tight now). Then I had to grind some off the bottom of the sear bar in order to get clearance between trigger bars and the lock sear bar. Then I could not get the set trigger to trip the lock and after spending time trying to find where wood might have been binding lock/trigger and not finding any I took the triggers apart and polished all bearing points, put it back together and now it will trip the lock on the second or third attempt. To trip the lock manually takes more pressure than it should so I was going to take the lock apart to see what is causing the increased resistance. I can't remove the sear screw so I have it soaking in penetrating oil. **Note I furnished this lock, not from Jim Kibler, it was  taken apart a good while back, filed/polished etc and put back together. It has been in a box under my desk for probably close to a year so who knows what I will find when I finally get it apart**. I am positive its the lock, the trigger is operating as it should. The lock requires too much pressure to release the full cock position.

Yesterday and today adds 2 hrs 20 minutes to the 7 hr 20 Min total. Total now is 9 hrs 40 Min it took me to get to where I am now. So it took me about 9 hrs Max to get the rifle together in the white. The sanding and finish work has not been done but the rifle could now be shot

[Iktomi]

I have maybe 10 hours getting the gun ready for assembly. Another 5-6 hours cleaning up and polishing the brass, and a good number of hours ahead polishing the lock.  I am going to inlay a hunter's star over the cheek, and I may add a toe plate as this gun is intended for hunting and a little extra protection wouldn't bother me. I'm not in any hurry, I enjoy my shop time in my free hours so I waste alot of time just to stay out there longer

[marshall0351]

Just did my first rifle build from a Kibler Colonial kit. My instructor was Dan Fruth, this was a week long course at Colonial Homestead Artisan Guild in Millersburg Ohio. This kit can literally be assembled in a day,now having said that you must understand some things. The barrel although beautiful as is, is covered from breech to muzzle with machining marks, and I don't mean some here, some there. I mean from one end to the other, solid, every sixteenth of an inch, all sides. I brought this rifle home unfinished after a 40+ hr week of work and still need to finish draw filling 1 1/2 flats (and I'm leaving the 3 flats on bottom untouched). I have over 6 hrs (more like a full day) just in the buttplate, and it still has small but noticeable pitts, that if I wanted totally removed I would need more time, the trigger guard has about a full day into its cleanup. Sanding, raising the grain, and sanding more, staining, and 1 coat of oil finish on the stock has about a day. I could go on. Again understand that during this course Dan taught me how to build, not just assemble this rifle, but build every rifle I will build from here out. How to measure, cut, file, and polish my pins, (and there's a few). How to inlet, blackening, setting, chiseling, scrapping, identifying the parting line, saving the parting line, keeping the line crisp, adding draft to pieces to be inletted, I could go on and on. I could have just assembled this rifle, threw on a finish that was good enough for the job done and been done with it. But instead I learned how to build this rifle well enough that it could be handed down through my family, and it will look like a decent rifle by those that look at it. It all comes down to what you want to achieve as a finished product, it can be as fine as you like, or as rough as you like, and this Kibler kit is beautiful in the rough, but once you start cleaning it up, and removing the rough, and bringing it to a finish level is amazing. couldn't be happier. I plan on making a separate post with pics soon, hope this help anyone who reads it.

[flehto]

W/ the accent on speed of completion, the resale market will be over crowded w/ Kibler completed kits?.....Fred

[bama]

These rifles are well engineered by Jim and go together without much work on the wood inlets but there is still some wood that has to be removed. Knowing what wood and how much wood is the secret to assembling these kits and doing a good job. The way I look at Jim's kits he is providing you a great blank canvas but you still have to do the assembly. How great your canvas is depends on how well you do the assembly.

You really don't get a full appreciation for the work Jim has done on the SMR until you have an opportunity to hold an original Whitson. J. Whitson made really fine relatively small rifles and Jim copied the architecture, butt plate, trigger guard and triggers of the originals to a very high degree of accuracy.  His colonial kit is just as well done as the SMR. There are so many different things that you can do to this kit to make it your own that you should never get tired of building this kit.

As far as how long does it take, it takes as long as it takes to do a good workmanlike job. That varies by the individual. Just remember that rifle building is not a horse race and the winner is not always the always the one that finishes first.

It should take no more than 20 hours for even a beginner to assemble these kits in the white, which would be a functioning firearm for hunting. It will take at least that much time to do the finish work and probably another 10 to 20 hours of finish drying time depending on what finish you use.

Good luck and as others have said, enjoy the experience, do not rush it.

[Jim Kibler]

Well said, Jim.  The time for assembly greatly depends on an individuals skill / ability and how finely they choose to finish it.  You can see the time it takes for basic assembly in my videos.  The times mentioned for filing a guard and buttplate are certainly on the high side.  I probably only have an hour or so in each when I put one together and I have a reputation of being pretty fussy.  So, there's a range to consider.

Barrels have an as milled finish.  We have requested this from Jason at Rice barrels.  His typical process is to finish belt sand the flats, but this process is less controllable and tolerances are harder to keep.  We think it's best to supply a milled product and then the customer can follow with draw filing.  Though it might seem intimidating, draw filing is pretty quick and easy.  I suspect I only have about a half hour or so in filing the top five flats.  Check out our youtube videos for real time assembly.

All the best,
Jim