Do it Yourself: Re: [DIY] Black powder rifle

27 November 2012

Re: [DIY] Black powder rifle

Try to narrow it down a little. Black powder covers a wide
range of time and technology. Is he interested in flintlock
(like a brown bess or other revolutionary war era firearms)?
Or percussion cap, which is more like a hawkins rifle (hunter
trapper 1840 time period), civil war era rifle, etc.

It will be more expensive than purchasing one already completed,
if for no other reason than probably needing more tools.
The kit may be lower price than a finished firearm, but the
lower the price, the more fit and finish work that is needed. How
rough are the kit parts, needing file, buffer, and other polishing, etc.
I've also seen high end kits are are more expensive finished firearms.

For a good starter for gunsmithing specific tools:
http://www.brownells.com
although granted they focus more on modern firearms.

What is your hubby's skill level with tools? The project will
involve some metal and wood working aspects.
The most likely challenging part of building a rifle from
kit is needing to surface treat the barrel. Brownells does
have a variety of metal finishing kits with the different
chemicals needed for this.
What is the goal? to have fun putting it together? To have a wall hanger
or other display item, to shoot blackpowder, or black powder hunting?
Does he have any previous experience or interest in firearms?

Meat smoker. I've been pretty happy with something like:
http://www.cabelas.com/product/Masterbuilt-30-Electric-Smoker-with-Meat-Probe/1316456.uts?Ntk=AllProducts&searchPath=%2Fcatalog%2Fsearch.cmd%3Fform_state%3DsearchForm%26N%3D0%26fsch%3Dtrue%26Ntk%3DAllProducts%26Ntt%3Dsmoker%2Belectric%26WTz_l%3DHeader%253BSearch-All%2BProducts&Ntt=smoker+electric&WTz_l=Header%3BSearch-All+Products

The digital temp setting is nice for novices, to not need to fuss as
much with temperature settings by opening/closing vents. With that
size smoking a 12-14 pound turkey is possible (just did that for
thanksgiving), though more often we are smoking chicken or sausage.
Its also possible with this unit to capture/direct the smoke into
a cold smoke box (cheese and nuts).

There are some smokers that take wood chip pucks. Its nice to auto
feed the wood chips in, but then you are tied to that format of
chips, while most places will sell loose chips/chunks.

I hope that gives you a little more information to start research.

dave

On 11/26/2012 08:51 AM, wduke2@aol.com wrote:
>
>
> I know this is a long shot, but my hubby wants a black powder rifle
> kit. Has anyone ever made one before and how hard is it? Would it be
> just as cost effective to buy one already made? He is a sales/engineer
> kind of guy and this came up out of the blue. We have been married for
> 43 years and this is the first time I have ever heard this long held
> desire to have one. LOL He also announced he wants a meat smoker. Do
> I really know this guy at all? What is the best kind?
> Joan Ostler
>

--
Dave Uebele (daveu@sptddog.com)