This rifle will be raffled off by the guys at Martin's Station beginning in a couple of months. I'll let ALR know more about it later. It will likely be at the Knoxville show in April.
We used 131 and 125 in Rifles of Colonial America for most of the shaping and other details. RCA 131 is of course the Adam Haymaker rifle, likely made by AH in Winchester, VA in about 1770. RCA 125, a smooth rifle also likely made in the 1770's, was probably made in what is now SWVA/EastTN based on the placement of the rear barrel pin, which is just in front of the rear thimble. The cheek carving is from Simon Lauck (see Gunsmiths of Virginia, page 85, likely 1790's, but…). So it has a VA flavor to it!
Two things were done to make it appear more like the originals. The barrel was shortened about 1/8” to remove the modern crown, and the muzzle was coned with a Joe Wood tool, which became the new crown. Then the rifling was flared out like a lot of the old rifles. Also, one of Barbie's carbon steel Black(?)Lightening touchhole liners was used.
It weighs 9lb 3oz. That's in a 54 caliber. A 50 would weigh about 1/2 lb more. The trigger pull is 13 7/8” and the balance point is about 25 1/2” from the butt. Perhaps a little long and heavy for the little people. I'm 5'5”, 140lbs (and 73 years old, which does make a difference!). My personal iron/walnut rifle, made around a 50 caliber, C-weight, Rice Reading barrel, comes in at about 13”, 23 1/2”, and 8lb even.
Although the kit stock looks very skinny in the photos, there's still a lot of wood there. What Kibler has done is make the stock somewhat skinny where originals are shinny and somewhat plump where the old rifles vary. You can't just assemble it, sand it, and finish it (if period correctness is a requirement). It needs some shaping (and some carving, in my opinion). Not as much as other kits, of course, but still some shaping is required (for PC). This plumpness allows the stock to be modified to suit your needs. For instance, the stock has a lot of curve in the toe and the buttpiece is quite tall. We shortened the buttpiece to 4 7/8”, the same as RCA 131, which also made the toe straighter. The comb was very fat and blunt compared to both RCA 125 and 131. We took about 1/8” off the top of the wrist to make it similar to those rifles. And the rear thimble was filed up similar to RCA 125.
This would be a great kit for one of those Kit Building classes I see advertised. You would learn to prepare parts for inleting and how to finish the inlet. The inleting and assembly then would go so fast that you would have plenty of time in a week class to learn proper shaping, and perhaps even some simple carving (such as the toe and ramrod moldings, which even the plainest colonial period rifles seem to have). And of course, filing, finishing and perhaps modifying the metal parts.
Oh yeah, for those who must know, I have about 120 hours in it. If I hadn't of shortened the buttpiece and nosepiece, it still would have taken me 8 or 10 hours to just assemble the kit. But I'm slow!
Andy
baby name gene
