Chambers English Fowler - barrel channel question

[Brdhntr]

Howdy,

I am beginning work on a Chambers English Fowler. I am fitting the breech of the barrel up against the stock. It appears that the channel is too shallow because the breech is about a quarter of an inch above the stock. See the picture below. Is this normal? Do I need to begin removing wood from the channel to lower the barrel so that the top of the barrel is aligned with the top of the stock?

 


Thanks for your help!

[JLayne]

I haven’t built one of their Fowler kits, but I have built a couple of their rifle kits and they required inletting to get the barrel to fully seat in the channel. This is not a defect, but by design as the inlets in the kit are not fully complete so that the assembler does the final fitting of the parts.

Jay

[smart dog]

Hi,
Yes, the breech has to go deeper.  Is there a flat filed on the barrel where the lock goes?  These tutorials should help you.  They are in our "Tutorial" section under "Miscellaneous Tutorials".  While they are not about building a Chambers kit, they cover a lot of detail about making an English fowler.

https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=52635.0
https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=52636.0
https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=52637.0
https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=52638.0
https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=52639.0
https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=52640.0
https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=52642.0
https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=52643.0

dave

[2 shots]

 as im guessing  Chambers does not make the stocks, i would call Jim or Barbie and ask before any wood work.

[Brdhntr]

Thanks guys! There is not a flat on the barrel; it is a round tube. I have an email to Barbie, but I think Jay is correct in that I need to inlet the barrel. It just seems that there is a lot of wood to remove to get that barrel down to flush with the wood. Also, thanks for the tutorials. Awesome stuff.

Thank you again,

Ben

[JLayne]

For what it’s worth, it took me several hours over the course of 2-3 days of slow inletting using inletting black to get the barrel fully seated on my Chambers York County rifle kits. That’s not a knock on Chambers kits. Unlike the Kibler kits, they are not designed to come together without some substantial final fitting/inletting on the assembler’s part. Think of it as a “middle ground” in terms of difficulty/work required between assembling a Kibler kit and building a gun from a blank.

Also, when I built my first one, I bought the assembly video Chambers offered for sale which was very helpful as a first-timer.

Good luck.

Jay

[2 shots]

 ? where will dropping the barrel put the touch hole in relation to the pan on the pre inlet lock. maybe make sure that will work before removing wood. the stock could be inlet wrong. it happens.

[Brdhntr]

Thanks! I successfully inlet the barrel, and it appears to be correctly placed. I appreciate everyone's input.
My experience was similar to what Jay describes—lots of inlet black and slow inletting. I am pleased with the results. Not at all like Kibler's great kits, but it is rewarding to build from a less refined kit. Unless I screw it up!

Ben