I wanna build one

[Tracker0721]

I'm wanting to build a muzzleloader. Should I buy a kit? Or buy the parts from separate places and piece it together? I'll be 100% new to this but I have a friend who is big into the muzzleloading thing. I want to have it a rifle I can use for deer and black bear but not one that will blow a huge in them so I'll need caliber options as well. Are the kits that cabelas/sportsmans warehouse sell good?

[Trapper Rob]

Check with Track Of The Wolf you'll pay a little more but the parts in those will be better quality & you can pick out what kind of wood you want.

[Parnell]

I'd talk to your buddy and get his opinion and judge how much work he/you are going to put in.  Track of the Wolf does have really sweet kits and I imagine my next one will be from there.  Definitely doing another...

[Tracker0721]

I'll build it alone as my buddy is one of those hammer it out and get it done quick. But I'll check out those kits, I don't mind paying a bit more for quality at all. Thanks guys! I'll keep you posted on if I get one!

[JW_Halverson]

Stick with .50, it's common as grass and every load is a custom load, 35 grains for a squirrel in the yard, 100 grains for bull elk!

Two Traditions kits they sell are the Hawken/kinda with fast twist 1:48" and the Pennsylvania/kinda with the slow twist 1:66.  If you are happy with roundball, both will do fine, so long as you do not hot load the Hawken and cause the ball to strip the rifling and throw random shots around.  But you can also load it with conicals if you really wanna hit something with a bigger chunk of lead.  Deer will fall with 65 grains of FFg and a roundball from either one.  Elk will take a bit more killing, but still easily in both gun's department. 

[Eric Krewson]

Here is the reality of "kits";

For those of you considering a kit, here is the reality of what is available.

I hope you understand these "kits" offered by Track of the Wolf, Pecatonica River, Jim Chambers,Muzzleloader Builders Supply, etc are far from a easily built "kit". In fact, they could be more properly called a "box of rough parts kit".
Absolutely nothing will fit.

The only things that come close to being finished parts are the lock and the trigger. Even these parts require locating, drilling and threading the holes for the screws that hold the parts to the stock. The barrel will need to be draw filed smooth before it is browned or blued with the exception of a Rice barrel that is mostly finished.

The barrel is not finished. It is rifled but the sight dovetails are not cut and on many of them the breechplug is not installed. This applies to the trigger guard, butt plate, side plate too. These are just rough, unfinished sand or lost wax castings.

All of the parts will need to be inletted into the wooden stock.  This applies to the barrel, lock, trigger guard, butt plate, side plate and ramrod thimbles.

Speaking of the stock, even it is just a moderately close roughed out blank which will require a LOT of wood removal to be close to the real longrifles. A precarved and inletted stock can be a good thing if all the shaping was done carefully and precisely, which is seldom the case.

Knowledge of metal and wood work is a definite requirement.

Plan on spending a minimum of 120 hours of your time to finish your gun. Actually, for a first build, a number like 180 hours would be closer if you want your gun to be something you can be proud of.

I'm not telling you all of this to discourage you. I just don't want to see anyone go into this with the idea that the gun will be ready for assembly.

Speaking of ready for assembly, Traditions, Lyman and Pedersoli offer kits that are easy to assemble and finish.
These are basically the same guns these companies sell but the parts don't have their finish sanding and finishing done.

These "Big Factory Kits" are indeed, true "kits" with all of the threaded holes located and finished.
They require something like 15-30 hours of your time to finish depending on whether you wish to make modifications like reshaping the stock or installing inlays or wire inlays.


If you want an actual historically accurate rifle or fowler the so called parts kits are the way to go but are pretty involved.

[Gordon]

As someone who has built a TC kit and is now well into a Track of the Wolf "kit" I completely concur with what Eric says. The TOC kits (unlike a factory kit) are hardly kits at all but more like an collection of rough parts. I consider myself pretty handy with tools, but building my TOC flintlock has definitely been a challenge. If you just want to build a gun using mostly the skills you have developed building bows, then a factory kit is just the ticket (I love my hand finished TC Hawken). But if you decide to go with one of the kits that Eric speaks of, then be prepared to dive into a whole new realm of hand-crafting skills (and tools) along with all the newbie mistakes that you will inevitably make with your first attempt. Don't get me wrong, I am completely jazzed with the gun that I am building (now that most of the scary stuff is behind me). But these kits are definitely not for the faint of heart or someone who is in a hurry.

[chamookman]

That's why a Pedersoli kit worked for Me. I lacked the proper tools/gear to do one of the more advanced kits. Bob

[Eric Krewson]

I bought a fantastic flintlock kit the other day for $650 shipped, someone ordered it, kept it a while and realized they were in way over their head and traded it for a few vintage bows. I saw it on the stickbow classified, recognized it for what it was and had a MO in the mail as quick as I could get to the post office.

It was a Track of the Wolf Isaac Hanes kit with all the best upgrades on wood and parts. Track had even cut the dovetails, installed the sights and buttplate so there was another $150 in work done on the kit.

I went to Tracks online order form and punched in these parts less the labor and came up with over $1100.



My point is; study up on what is involved in a parts kit assembly before you plunk down the cash. The initial owner of this kit took a bath because he got wrapped up in the idea of building a kit gun without looking into the details.

If you want to see what is involved building a rifle from a parts kit watch every segment of Mike's videos. He does several things differently than I would but the end result came out just fine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJBNg_NLASA

[Gordon]

Dang Eric, you scored on that one!

[chamookman]

Great find Eric ! Bob