My Kentucky Long Rifle Build

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druryj

In Remembrance / Dec 27 2021
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What color are you gonna cerakote all the metal parts? :D

Looks good man, I wish I had the skill and patience for stuff like this.

I hope I do. My Kentucky long rifle build has been put in temporary stop mode as I am babysitting my 2 year old Grandson today and this evening.

I am now busy building Mr Potato Heads instead of a rifle.

To be continued...


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okierider

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I hope I do. My Kentucky long rifle build has been put in temporary stop mode as I am babysitting my 2 year old Grandson today and this evening.

I am now busy building Mr Potato Heads instead of a rifle.

To be continued...


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Well at least both builds done properly and with enough love and dedication are going to pay off in the long run!! Best part of my week is when I have my grand babies!!:cool:
 

druryj

In Remembrance / Dec 27 2021
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Well at least both builds done properly and with enough love and dedication are going to pay off in the long run!! Best part of my week is when I have my grand babies!!:cool:

I hope my Kentucky Rifle comes out better than my Mr Potato Head did. My grandson Jase says we should name this potato head guy “Chip”.
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druryj

In Remembrance / Dec 27 2021
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Back on my Kentucky Rifle project.

Today, I’m working on dry fitting the barrel and trigger assembly to the stock so that everything lines up and installs flush and functions. The tang screw holds the breech end of the rifle barrel through the stock and into the trigger assembly.

Crap. It doesn’t quite line up. The tang screw is off a tiny bit when I try to get it screwed in the trigger assembly. I think I need to take a little more wood out of the top of the stock where the metal tab sits down in the inlet. I think I can remove a small bit to make the barrel fit, and thus the tang screw will fit properly. But then, I’ll have a bit of a high spot on the stock where it meets the breech end of the barrel. A little judicious cutting/chiseling/sanding should be all I need to do to get everything flush and lined up.

My other choice is to set the trigger assembly back in the stock a little further. But on thinking that through, that may negatively affect the geometry of how the actual trigger interacts with the lockwork and the sear. Better to drop the barrel down a smidgeon at the breech end and then fit the wood to the metal, methinks.

I’ll get some pics up on this matter shortly.

(Edited to insert a few pics:)

Got the rear part of stock mated to the brass; took a lot of elbow grease! Whew. Doing everything by hand here, took it to 320 grit. Still have the fore end of the two-piece stock to do.

What a difference between the rear stock at 320 grit and the front part which is untouched yet. Lot of brass polishing to be done now on the butt plate and toe plate; plus the brass nose cap once I fit that to the muzzle end of the stock. There’s a lot of excess wood there where the nose cap goes on. A lot. (Where’s that 60 grip sandpaper now?)

Need to recharge the elbows and get some grease back in them and maybe tackle that part manana. Time to eat and watch idiot box now.
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druryj

In Remembrance / Dec 27 2021
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Oh yeah, I solved my issue with the barrel, tang screw, and trigger. :cool: Cut a tiny bit out where the rear tang sits in the inlet on the stock, mated everything up, put the screw in through the trigger assembly to check the fit, and sanded the top of the stock where it joins the barrel tang flush.

That part had me a bit worried. I mean, it's kind of important that the trigger will engage the sear correctly, and the way it was...it wouldn't, because the tang screw that holds the barrel to the rear of the stock didn't fit in the hole in the trigger assembly quite right. It's hard to explain, but I saw in at least one review/YouTube thing I looked at that on these kit rifles that told me this issue was not unique to my particular build.

That is one area that has to be fit just right or rifle no go boom. I am now satisfied that the action is mated correctly to the barrel. It should be mentioned in the instructions, but it's not. They leave it to you to figure out. :shocked: Part of the fun! I'm pretty sure it's gonna go boom just fine. :thumb:
 

druryj

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Today, I completely dry assembled the rifle, (minus the sights, tenons and tenon pins). Everything fits! I still have to finish fitting the fore end to the brass toe cap and install the barrel tenons and sights. Then I have to finish the brass end caps on the ramrod and the ram rod itself.

The sights and tenons are going to have to be filed/fitted to the barrel. Ya’ll can imagine how that goes. Lightly file and then drag across some Emory paper then check. File, drag, check, file, drag, check...and repeat until it fits!

Then it’s going to be a final inspection and touch up on any brass or fittings before I go to work with the finish on the barrel and the stain of the stock.

I think I’ll have this thing done in about 1-3 more weeks, allowing time to do the work on the barrel and several coats of stain/finish on the wood.

This is a fun project. Should have got this kit earlier in the winter for those long cold days.


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druryj

In Remembrance / Dec 27 2021
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FWIW, you can set them on the barrel and run a sharp pencil around each end where they meet the barrel to get a general idea of where and how much to remove.

Looking good! :drunk2:

Good idea! I have fitted sights before and made the mistake if taking too much off. Oh well, we learn from our mistakes. Sometimes.
 

druryj

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Going back to what I what I was trying to explain in post #26: The barrel tang has to sit down in the stock correctly. (Duh). The lock plate, which has the sear and tumbler on the back side, is tripped by the trigger, which is held in at the bottom of the stock by the tang screw, which passes through the tang on the barrel.

Pics may be more helpful to understand the relationship of the parts. Hopefully, you can see how I was able to make it work by setting the barrel tang a tiny bit deeper in the top of the stock, thus allowing the tang screw to tilt ever so slightly forward to go through and properly engage the threads in the trigger plate. I then lightly sanded down the top of the stock to align it with the tang of the barrel. We are talking very small amounts of wood that need to be removed where the tang sits. I mean; I just sort of scraped it a bit with a sharp carving blade, then checked. Scraped and checked, scraped and checked etc...until it all fit exactly as it should. Part of the challenge is also not screwing up the interaction of the hammer and the nipple, which you could easily do if you take too much off. I didn't. I will be able to show that relationship better, how the hammer will fall on the cap which is on the nipple and thus ignite the powder and launch a .50 caliber ball at high speed out of the big hole on the muzzle end once I put it all together when finished. It is going to work!
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