First build!

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I just completed my first BP kit build.
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It's a Traditions Kentucky pistol kit. not super pricey. It took probably 20 hours to build. Most of that time was spent sanding the stock and applying the finish. I removed quite a bit of wood since I wanted the stock to be slim and old-timey. Now that I have written this, I see that the bulge forward of the the lock should be sanded down more to a gentle rise towards the lock work. There was some time spent on fitting parts, but not as much as you might expect. The trigger guard and the nosepiece area were the only parts that needed work to look correct.
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This is how it looked assembled with out staining. I had applied a couple coats of boiled linseed oil/terp mix. The color wasn't what I wanted, so I sanded it down again and found some pine tar way out in the boonies of Petaluma.

Then the stock was stained with pine tar (thanks CD!). I applied the pine tar mixture and heated it to soak into the wood with a heat gun.
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The color when wet.
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and after being wiped down.
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As I hand rubbed the finish I slowly took away a good amount of color, but revealed the grain in the wood. I like the darkened pores which remained. Overall I like the color, but may tinker with some over staining with a very thin wash of burnt sienna oil color to deepen the color a bit. Then many coats of either BLO or "Formby's Tung oil finish". Right now the finish is all Formby's, about 6 coats, rubbed down with very fine steel wool in between. It's ok, but I'm going to get a can of straight Tung oil and see what that looks like. Maybe I won't have to do the overstain with oil paint.

As you can see, the rose and "vase" have bloomed somewhat...
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Now to the range..

I was reminded somewhat of shooting my first AR build, in that there were some challenges getting it fire the first time. As the old saying is paraphrased, there are some things you can't learn any other way. One of them is make sure the barrel is clear before loading your muzzleloader. No, not barrel obstructions, but the vent which allows the percussion cap/frizzen charge to ignite the main charge of BP. It turned out that I had "seasoned" the barrel with some fat and it had congealed at the breech plugging the vent hole. I learned how to deactivate a BP charge, by removing the screw in the cleaning port and pouring in some water. I also experienced pulling a ball out of the barrel for the first time. Rites of passage. After cleaning out the barrel with hot water, I ran a patch through the barrel, THINKING it was dry. It was not.

After loading up excitedly and hoping for the satisfying BANG! I was disappointed by another misfire. Caused by: Water left in the barrel after cleaning...ugh. I went through the deactivation/ball pulling process again. making sure that the barrel was dry. So sure that I lodged a paper towel deep in the barrel. Fortunately I had used a jag to push in the paper towel, but the jag unscrewed from my cleaning rod. With lot of patience and a shotgun cleaning rod I was able to slowly extract the jag/paper towel by delicately engaging the female 5/16x27 threaded end with the 10/32 male threads of the jag. Note to self: buy a patch removal jag!

After making sure that sucker was dry! I finally loaded up, and BANG!

A reflection on history ensues. In the course of the hour, or was that hours, spent fixing these misfires; it's little wonder that primitive firearms resemble clubs or pikes. I did shudder a bit at the thought of having to fight for my life while having a BP misfire experience. Without a doubt, all of the reading I have been doing about the American Civil war of late provided inspiration for that shudder.

This is at 7 yards. I have some adjustments to make on the sights to get it in the middle, but overall I'm happy with the accuracy of the pistol AND my shooting.
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I'll have this beauty with me at the LGCCA meetup on Saturday. I'm a bit sad I'm not in Houston, Though...
Bleeding Heart Liberal with Second Amendment Benefits.
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Re: First build!

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Marlene wrote:Nice!

Aren't you supposed to be making progress on another project?
Yeeesss. we need to talk about that...

I figured getting this stock finished and sanded would be a good warm up for the main event. Shaping, sanding and finishing the 90% inletted Argie mauser stock to look like it is 100 years old...

:beer2:
Bleeding Heart Liberal with Second Amendment Benefits.
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