[newshooter504]

Making your own muzzle loader seems easy enough. All you really need is a stock and a barrel. Those seem easy enough to get.

[4v50 Gary]

Dixie Gun Works' catalog put it nicely. You can buy $500 worth of parts and make a $500 gun or you can take those same parts and make a $5,000 gun. It all depends on your skill. My suggestion? Go for it! We all have to start someplace and your skill might carry you far and you'll never know until you start.

[Chawbaccer]

I suggest you start out with one of the easy kits for your first attempt.
Cains- http://www.cainsoutdoor.com/cart/asp/item_index.asp
Log Cabin Shop- http://www.logcabinonline.com/intro.html

[Oldnamvet]

I started with a T/C 12 gauge New Englander. It was very relaxing working the stock by hand and rubbing in a zillion coats of finish. You end up with something uniquely yours. Not to mention it is fun to hear the boom and see all the white smoke. A better stress reliever than all the pills combined.

[Steam dragon]

I started with a T/C 12 gauge New Englander. It was very relaxing working the stock by hand and rubbing in a zillion coats of finish. You end up with something uniquely yours. Not to mention it is fun to hear the boom and see all the white smoke. A better stress reliever than all the pills combined.
Standard recipe for old liseed oil finish.
once a day for a week, once a week for a month, once a month for year, once a year for ever.

So my gramps taught my, anyway...

[4v50 Gary]

Olde tymers used aqua-fortis. That's nitric acid with iron nails dissolved in them. It was applied (think rubber gloves and brush in a well ventilated area) onto the wood and then heated to give the wood its color. Afterwards, pure beeswax was rubbed on for the finish.

[Niner]

Making your own can be fun, but a great deal of skill can be required if you start out with gathering parts. Why not start with a simple kit gun. I'm making one now. It's a pretty easy one. It's a Lyman Great Plains Rifle. What you see in the pictures is not finished yet. I have to put the sights on and put a finish over the stain.

[lycanthrope]

Making your own can be fun, but a great deal of skill can be required if you start out with gathering parts. Why not start with a simple kit gun. I'm making one now. It's a pretty easy one. It's a Lyman Great Plains Rifle. What you see in the pictures is not finished yet. I have to put the sights on and put a finish over the stain.


That's well on it's way to being a nice looking rifle.

[NukemJim]

You can buy $500 worth of parts and make a $500 gun or you can take those same parts and make a $5,000 gun. It all depends on your skill.
Or you can be as mechanicly inept and void of skill as myself you can buy $500 worth of parts and make a $50 gun :(

NukemJim

[4v50 Gary]

Jim - I fall into that category. We all start somewhere. My uncle goes to blackpowder classes with me and he's trained as a cabinet maker. Real good with the hands since he has years of experience and is naturally gifted. Me, I'm a paper pusher and I've worked on modern guns but until I played with blackpowder, didn't pick up chisels, scrapers, spokeshaves or any other of those fancy woodworking tools. Now I'm at a point where I'm OK but I'm still the "idiot apprentice nephew" (as I call myself) in the shadow of my uncle the craftsfman. I've been taking classes at Bowling Green & Conner Prairie to learn more from the masters.