Has anyone ever put a kit together? Is it fairly idiot proof or would I end up with a pile of sticks and metal? Can you leave the barrel white or should it be blued? How long does it take to piece together(hours)? Tools needed? Any and all input is appreciated. Thanks!

A couple files for shaping, sand paper in an assortment of grit, wood stain, stock finish. Ive done a couple kits and also refinished a few muzzleloaders.
I like to do the stock with a traditional finish such as boiled lin seed oil and hand ruffing 40-50 coats into it. Comes out beautiful and easy to repair when it gets scratched.

All of the kits ive done were easy to put together and my last one took me 4 days. You can do it faster or even string it out longer. The more time you take, the better its going to look.

All of my barrels i left white. Degrease them, use rubber gloves and wipe on a coat of boiled lin seed oil, let it dry for a couple days and it will preserve it and wont rust.

Deer Creek sells some nice kits. The Northwest Rifle is a very nice rifle.

How doese the barrel look after that?

Kits come in all degrees of skill level requirements. The basic rifles such as Lyman, T/C, Traditions, and CVA are basically in the White. They take a little sanding and fitting and finally rusting or bluing the barrel. Take your time, don't hurry your work, and you should be all right. Unless your like me ... all thumbs.

Comes out looking like this:

Can you also rust the barrell, you start this process before you work on the wood. Most of mine I rusted to a deep dark brown finish. It looks more traditional than blueing.

As far as leaving it in the white. I know you can do it, but I'm not sure how. I know you still want to polish the barrel up the same and if you were blusing or rusting. You want the barrell as smoth as possible and it takes a lot to take care of it properly.

Thanks guys.

Ask yourself 4 questions....

How much do I want to spend???

How authentic do I want it to be???

How much time can I invest to build a gun???

How well do you work with your hands???


The most authentic, historically correct long rifles being made are a www.flintlocks.com

I will warn you, prices start around $800...But some master builders use this foundation for long rifles that sell for a few thousand dollars......

The second tier of "kits" come from such places as "Track of the Wolf"
"Pecatonia River", "Tennesse Valley Manufacturing" and others...
These are nice "kits", but use cheaper components...Depending on options and barrel brand chosen, you should be able to put together a decent rifle for around $600...Much depends on the quality of wood used and the barrel...

The third is what most folks put together, kits like Lyman, T/C, Traditions etc, that can be ordered from Bass Pro and Cabelas....

Time needed??? My first build took me 2 years and about 200 hours....It wasn't a kit, they didn't have authentic kits back in the '80s....But it's one of a kind and it's an authentic long rifle from the 1770 era....

Good Luck...

So you can finish both the stock and the barrel with linseed oil? I have been thinking about re-doing a Renegade. If I do I might brown the parts. Not sure.

I'm not sure about linseed oil on the barrell. On the stock you'll want to stain it first and then finish it. I usually hand rub on Tru Oil, but I have seen people using spray urathanes etc.

I'm not sure how to finish bare metal to a white finish, although the lock on my fusil is white and I use beeswax to help keep the rust off, although it does rust from time to time.