JeffG
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Welcome to the rabbit hole!!
Bessie plays in the snow.
- Thread starter Ugly Sauce
- Start date
Congrats on the Bess!
Good morning all....The Kibler kits are very nice and with minimal abilities one can end up with a very nice gun. I purchased the Southern mountain Rifle kit when he first released them. It was a very easy assembly and finishing job. I have experience from scratch builds to a few different kits. Kibler kits rate up there with the best. I have also assembled Chambers' kits which take a bit more learning and work but teach you more than an simple assembly project. Your choice of course is reflected in your bank account, available time, tools-work space, and your level of desire to learn and/or do the work. Depending on your skills (Developed or natural), all of these "kits" will yield a desirable gun or a Frankenstein.
After shoulder surgery, the Kibler SMR did not fit me any longer. I sold it for a bit more $ than for what I had purchased it. I learned from it. I shot many squirrels and other with it. Enjoyed the heck out of it. Then sold it.
I believe many people are buying and assembling them to gain experience to jump to the next level of building a muzzleloader. Others are enjoying the assembly as a hobby. Yet others just want a decent gun for the allotted money/value that it represents.
BTW....I still currently have my chambers guns because they fit....because I was able to "Fit" them to me as I built/assembled them.
Enjoy the journey.
Happy trails,
Dan
Good morning all....The Kibler kits are very nice and with minimal abilities one can end up with a very nice gun. I purchased the Southern mountain Rifle kit when he first released them. It was a very easy assembly and finishing job. I have experience from scratch builds to a few different kits. Kibler kits rate up there with the best. I have also assembled Chambers' kits which take a bit more learning and work but teach you more than an simple assembly project. Your choice of course is reflected in your bank account, available time, tools-work space, and your level of desire to learn and/or do the work. Depending on your skills (Developed or natural), all of these "kits" will yield a desirable gun or a Frankenstein.
After shoulder surgery, the Kibler SMR did not fit me any longer. I sold it for a bit more $ than for what I had purchased it. I learned from it. I shot many squirrels and other with it. Enjoyed the heck out of it. Then sold it.
I believe many people are buying and assembling them to gain experience to jump to the next level of building a muzzleloader. Others are enjoying the assembly as a hobby. Yet others just want a decent gun for the allotted money/value that it represents.
BTW....I still currently have my chambers guns because they fit....because I was able to "Fit" them to me as I built/assembled them.
Enjoy the journey.
Happy trails,
Dan
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Ugly Sauce
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A guess? Ha, it is written in STONE!And I would hazard a guess that Bessie, no matter what her cost at birth, is pretty priceless, too.
Risky buisness
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Hey Ugly Sauce, I've read quite a number of your posts relating to a bear, of whom you didn't wish to be associated,and a set of tests to come up with some ' bear be gone ' that would give some piece of mind. Not trying to be up in your business, but perhaps a coupla a .62 dia bbls would be interesting.
woodnbow
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Dunno if you’ve noticed but @Ugly Sauce likes guns that are a bit fringe, for lack of a better term. I wouldn’t be surprised to find that his daily driver is a 1966 International Scout. Not to put words in his mouth, I’m guessing that double is a touch to vanilla. Maybe if it was a flintlock with 20” barrels? (Hmmm… I’d be tempted by something like that!)
Risky buisness
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Uhhh.....me too actually. I must admit I feel pretty bad about talking about ' cap guns' in a serious application.
.38 Special
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I know there are professional builders who sometimes use Kibler kits as a base. Those guns, heavily modified and "artsied up", seem to go for three to four thousand dollars.
I'm also aware of several fellows who just enjoy putting the kits together and improving their skill, and finance it by selling the finished kits, usually for just a few hundred dollars about the kit price. (A lot of the ones I've looked at were poorly done and worth, in my eyes, quite a bit less than the kits themselves, but they all seem to sell.)
Almost all of them are Colonials, with a few SMRs. I gather that the Woodsrunners are so easy that folks who want one are generally unwilling to pay anything for assembly.
As for people just deciding they don't want them anymore, I see one every once in a while, but it seems that most folks are pretty attached to their rifles. I suspect that, especially because they are "homemade", people consider them heirlooms, and are far more likely to give an unwanted or unused rifle to a family member or friend, rather than sell it to some stranger. (I like my SMR a great deal, but I love my Colonial. There's no way I would sell either, but I was happy to give the SMR to my son...)
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Ugly Sauce
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Oh yeah, another one of my dream-guns, especially with the left barrel sleeved to .58" rifled, and the right barrel left smooth.
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Ugly Sauce
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Well...my summer daily driver is a 1973 VW Bug. Is that close enough??
I had a 1962 Scout, that is one vehicle I'd really love to have again. No, I love doubles, not too vanilla. Sometimes when I'm feeling "modern" I take my Granddad's double hammer 12gauge shell gun. Loaded only with BP of course, but lots of it. (it's pre-1914) For bear-be-gone I keep her loaded with a ball in each barrel. During spring turkey season, if I go up North, the it's a ball in the left barrel, and shot in the right.
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Ugly Sauce
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Hey, cartridge guns in a serious application, what fun is that? Do you want to live forever?
I have 100% faith that my flintlocks and cap-locks are 100% reliable. Yes you only get one shot...but if I don't make it good, then I get what I deserve. Risky buisness
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Always thought I should have at least 2 shots, where I hunted, problem bar's were ' relocated '.
Ok. I built a 1806 harpers ferry .54 flint pistol, wretched thing only weighed + - 9 lbs.
If I could have found a double 50 or 54 flintgun, oh boy. But....nope, so there I was, my gear damn near out weighed me, but....2 shots.
Ok. I built a 1806 harpers ferry .54 flint pistol, wretched thing only weighed + - 9 lbs.
If I could have found a double 50 or 54 flintgun, oh boy. But....nope, so there I was, my gear damn near out weighed me, but....2 shots.
armoredman
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That baby needs some TLC from a good mechanic, and will make a great hunting truck!
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Ugly Sauce
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Wow, that was about the last year of them I think. Sadly, even the rigs that have been sitting in a field for 20-30 years are considered by their owners to be gold, because they are old. Crazy prices for vehicles like that that used to go for $100 bucks. For sure, that one would be worth bringing it back to life. Those Scout II's are neat, I kind of like the older ones, up to about '65-'66, or there about.
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Ugly Sauce
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Well, I keep a big knife strapped to my right leg, below the knee. That's my second shot. The Grizzly recovery area where I hunt (GMU113, Harvey Creek Grizzly Recovery Area/Washington State) is where they drop off relocated problem bears. Or that's how they originally "seeded" it, don't know if they dump the bad bears there anymore. They tagged and collared a real monster just over the border near Nordman Idaho. Used to be an article and pics on line, don't know if there still is. That's probably been a few years ago, everytime I get to thinking something was a "couple years ago", turns out it was like six seven or ten. !!!! Time flies, whether you are having fun or not.
hawg
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So now you're going to take on a ticked off grizzly that has four sets of these with a knife?
Jackrabbit1957
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Love the old air cooled VWs! I have 72 bug I use for heading out to hike or hunt. Still need to reset the rear spring plates to get the ride height fixed. You can't get a more simple car than an old Beetle.Well...my summer daily driver is a 1973 VW Bug. Is that close enough??
No, I love doubles, not too vanilla. Sometimes when I'm feeling "modern" I take my Granddad's double hammer 12gauge shell gun. Loaded only with BP of course, but lots of it. (it's pre-1914) For bear-be-gone I keep her loaded with a ball in each barrel. During spring turkey season, if I go up North, the it's a ball in the left barrel, and shot in the right.
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Ugly Sauce
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Truth. But they ain't for everyone. Not many can relate to no ABS, cup holders, AC, etc. anymore. Or changing oil frequently, adjusting valves and points. Yep, got to have bug in your blood to appreciate them.
I have two, one I'm not finished with. It's going to be an off-road bug, not a Baja, but aggressive tires and plenty of ground clearance. My black-bug is a street Bug, lowered in the front, she don't go on the dirt. But with the engine I have in it, she sure do run. (for a Bug) I spared no expense on that engine.
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Ugly Sauce
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Yep, never surrender. "Here lies Ugly, he didn't give up".
And what the hell, do you want to live forever?
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hawg
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No, not anymore.
woodnbow
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My wife had one when we met, a 61 I think… I liked the concept but at 6’2” and 200# it just wasn’t a great fit. She’s more than a foot shorter and a hundred pounds lighter and loved the bug. Her second car was a Beetle too. I still like the concept, can’t pass one by without checking it out.
Jackrabbit1957
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I know we're getting sidetracked here a little, looks like a Super Beetle, if so keep an eye on the inner part of the lower control arms in the front end, it's a weak spot. How much did you soup up the motor?
hawg
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I had two Beetles. A 69 I took the body off of and made a mud buggy out of it and a 72 Super Beetle I made a Baja buggy out of.
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Ugly Sauce
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Hey, we milked Bessie's three shot group dry...so we can take the side-tracks. Don't know if the mods like that or not...? I don't care. Maybe the thread will get locked up and go to thread jail. !! Yes, both my Bugs are Super. My front end is tight, I have the shock towers braced and everything. Corners like a Porsche. The motor was built for torque, longevity and reliability, more so than for HP. So, it's 1776cc, mild "RV" cam, triple balanced and the best heads money can buy. I had a Weber carb on it, but went back to a stock carb. The Webbers are a bit hard to get the flat spot out of, and it wedges the air-screw up against the fan shroud, really hard to get at. Didn't hurt low end torque, (using the stock carb) but it just, does not wind up as fast. Much easier to tune. If I had it to do over, I'd go with the twin stock carbs, I think that's the best set up for a strong running engine. Just a little soupy, it will go up hills where a stock engine will have to downshift.
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Ugly Sauce
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You got Harley oil and Bug oil in your blood??? We ARE twin brothers, from other fathers and mothers. !!!
I sure don't want to die in a hospice bed, or laying on the ground "playing dead" while Grizz eats me. I do want to go down fighting. Don't have a death-wish, but I'm ready to go when the time comes.
