Making a long gun ... ?

[RobD]

A kit muzzleloader long gun, like a kit model plane, is an assembly, not a build.  This is not a bad thing, it is what it is.  Not everyone has the skills, and/or tools, and/or time for such a venture.   I'll add - there appear to be "levels" of kits, some are literally screwdriver built, others require varied levels of skill, tools and time.

To build (or "make") a long gun depends on one's definition of those words, particularly the word "make".  In terms of a long gun build, will all the components be created from sourced raw materials?  Where does one draw the line at "raw materials"?  Will it still be a "made muzzleloader" if one purchases one or more pre-made: barrel, lock, double set trigger, castings for butt plate and trigger guard and nose?  If one has a plank of wood for the gun stock, will the completed stock be an equally "made" stock no matter if a CNC machine was used or manual chisels, rasps, and drill?  Are there levels or categories of "made" guns?   

What is considered to "make a muzzleloader"?

[Ohio Joe]

I think we'd find very few in this day and age that does what the feller in the following video does.

[Bigsmoke]

Ol' Wallace Gusslar (SP?) looks a tad bit older today than the did then.
I remember back in the 70's our muzzleloading club used to get that film from the library and show it for the public to view.
It is amazing that a fellow so young was so accomplished.
Anyway, that is a great video and well worth watching.  I still shudder just a little bit when he attacks a piece of prize maple with a tomahawk, though.

[Ohio Joe]

I still shudder just a little bit when he attacks a piece of prize maple with a tomahawk

Yes indeed. He goes (went) right after that maple stock - didn't he.   

I think the guy is amazing!!! 

[Winter Hawk]

A lot of the original gun makers bought the locks, barrels etc. from jobbers, then assembled them into the final product.  I have no problem saying someone "made" a rifle from a kit.  If you say a person didn't make a gun if they didn't make each and every part, why then I guess folks like the Hawkens brothers or any of the other old time gun producers didn't make the rifles they sold.

~Kees~

[Ohio Joe]

By the definition of "build" it's pretty broad.  Example; If I were to build, or have someone build me a house, I would have to purchase, pre-cut lumber, wall studs / 2x's / sheeting / roofing, and so forth.....  With or without a blueprint - I've never seen a deed that asked the date of when your house was assemble / but rather; what year it was built.....

So in this view; when I make a stock from, walnut or maple, trigger plate, trigger, front & rear sights, side plate, toe plate, barrel under-lugs, barrel pins, buy a lock, buttplate, nose cap, trigger guard, ramrod pipes, make or buy a flash hole liner,,, then put all this together - have I built a muzzle loading firearm, or assembled one? I'll leave that to history to decide...

 

[RobD]

an investarms "screwdriver" trad muzzleloader kit literally can be assembled and ready to load and fire with a screwdriver and nought else. 

on the other end of the spectrum is fully handmade flintlock long gun (from raw components) in the colonial williamsburg gun shop.

bookending the above is all that's between, and there's a lot to that.

clearly there are degrees of both "assembly" and "build".  i don't doubt that most gunmakers of the 18th century bought their locks and barrels, at the least.

does any of this matter?  only to the owner, if at all.