Kibler ITW ?

[Lslite]

As best I can tell from his website,'in the white' option for one of his kits is $700 extra.Am I correct ?

[Scota4570]

call them.

[DrLaw45]

Yes, completely put together. You have to finish the barrel, other metal, and stock. $700.00 extra for that.

But why do that? Build it yourself. I'm not a pro, but I built a great gun from the kit.

The Doc is out now. 

[Stumpfre]

All
I had a colonial built in white and all assembled and all metal parts were polished and the barrel was draw filed too.

[Sequatchie Rifle]

You can easily put these kits together in a day. All the work is done for you except draw filing the barrel and cleaning up the metal which only takes a few hours. You can sand and stain the stock in an hour. The metal or brass parts clean up quickly.

[P.Bigham]

Good option for some that lack the time or skill but would like to put their own finish on one.

[Metequa]

Not too much trouble to assemble the kit, but if your not comfortable then having them put it all together is a nice option to have.

[oldhunter1954]

The kibler Colonial in 54 cal was my very first build. He has videos of each part that needs to be done to finish the gun. His work is amazing. if you have basic skils with hand tools you can finish a Kibler kit.


all pictures in one frame online

[Bob Roller]

The kit guns from whoever have made it possible for those who don't have an equipped shop,a lot of skill and little experience these various kits are A BIG HELP. Study them and the placement and function of various parts and you will see it is not a high tech rifle and will help slow down the pace of life as it involves guns.One of my German friends told me years ago he liked to shoot his muzzle loaders on a range owned by what was then West Germany.He compared the light "crack" of the flint lock to the ferocious sound of an MG42 spewing 1500 shots a minute!.
Get the kit you want and study as long as needed before taking up the tools to start the finishing of this American marvel.
Bob Roller

[DavidC]

The kits are great when you want a quick build to get straight to practicing carving and other decorative elements. I'm personally still a bit scared of carving into a stock when I've already spent over 100 hours on the project. A kibler kit can drop that time to a weekend, a week or two of carving drawing, and then as long as you want to carve and decorate.

Even if you just finish the kit plainly it still feels more original and 'real' than a pedersoli off the shelf.

Bob, you're becoming a real philosopher with age.

[Frozen Run]

The kits are great when you want a quick build to get straight to practicing carving and other decorative elements.

He sells practice kits. I don't think botching up a perfectly good gun is a good place to learn decorative carving.

[Stoner creek]

You can take your ITW kit to a class that Mike Brooks is teaching in July of next year at Friendship and get hands on attention from a master. I believe that cost is going to be in the neighborhood of $500.00. Heck of a deal for 5 days of expert training. I’ll be coordinating for the class so you can shoot me a personal message.

[Scota4570]

The kits are great when you want a quick build to get straight to practicing carving and other decorative elements.

He sells practice kits. I don't think botching up a perfectly good gun is a good place to learn decorative carving.

That is what I did.  Holding the casting of the carving helps.  I did half a dozen of Jim's example carving as practice.  The home center has 1x6 maple to practice with.  After my confidence grew I did the rifle, and later another.  Both came out well. 

The key to early carving efforts for me was to do simple but do it right.  Complex and shoddy is not so good for my eyes.  My first effort was an Armstrong.  It is OK but definitely has an "apprentice" look about it. 

[flinchrocket]

I think it would be more important to put a forestock moulding, lower butt moulding and lock moulding on before any other carving. After that, any other carving will be similar to do.

[bob in the woods]

As someone who started this flintlock shooting and building journey some 40 years ago, here is my perspective. First, I live in Canada and do not have access to a whole lot of original rifles. I shot in a lot of matches, but back even 30 or 20 years ago the guns being used weren't really copies of anything you'd call an original school. Lots of Hawkens, and Pedersoli long rifles, CVA etc etc.
Books are great to learn from, but the Chambers or Kibler kits give you a nice starting point ie what the rifle or gun is supposed to look like. Great to learn from.