Gemmer Muzzle Loading Gun Club

Maybe it’s for the same reason that I was resistant, fear that the kit would be to hard to build. My career involved computer programming, not woodworking, carving, or machinist skills. If you fit into this group of inexperienced muzzleloader lovers, than I may have the answer you have been looking for.

Jim Kibler’s rifle kits. These kits are made using CNC machines that carve the stock very precisely so that assembly is as easy as possible. The lock and some of the other hardware is also made on CNC machines. Plus Jim has recorded YouTube video’s to show you exactly what to do, step by step.

So far Jim has 2 kits to choose from, the Colonial Rifle Kit and the Southern Mountain Rifle Kit. Both are flintlock, no percussion, and only right handed models are currently available. Also, only rifle barrels are available, no smoothbore yet. Jim plans on expanded his offering to left handed models as well as additional styles. If you are looking for a right handed flintlock rifle that is an excellent shooter, than look no further. Jim uses Rice swamp barrels, which are arguably one of the best barrels on the market.

There is no doubt that you can find a cheaper kit, but I doubt you will find a better value kit. My kit was $850, plus $200 for the lock, plus shipping and the chemicals for the stock. It’s not cheap by any means, but if you take your time, and build this high quality kit, you will not be disappointed.

My first kit was a Dimick Rifle Kit that required a high skill level to complete. This kit has a Rice barrel and a L&R percussion lock. The cost of this kit was basically the same as the Kibler kit, but a lot of the hard work was done for me on the Kimber Kit. Fortunately for me I have friends that are highly skilled gun builders. They helped me with cutting the dovetails on the barrel, drilling and tapping all the holes needed, and installing the breach plug to the barrel. I’m very close to finishing that kit, but I still need to make to nose cap by melting tin and pouring it. Again this is something I need help to do, so I’ve benched the gun until I can get the help needed.

Learning how to build these kits has been a wonderful process. I hope that I will be able to continue this for many years. What I really like about the Kibler kit is that an inexperienced builder can assemble the kit without any help. I can focus my skills on engraving, carving, and inletting a piece or two for decoration.

I choose the basic curly maple stock in .54 caliber. I will be using Jim’s chemicals to treat the wood and metal to give the gun the traditional look. Here are pictures as I assembled the kit.

Thank you Jim Kibler for creating a kit for the unskilled builder!

Here are a couple of comments from others much more experienced building a wide variety of kits:

Recently we did a survey of your favorite muzzleloader barrel manufacturers, and here is the results:

1. Green Mountain – 49

2. Rice – 41

3. Colerain – 15

4. Getz – 12

5. Ed Rayl – 6

6. Douglas – 5

7. Bill Large – 4

8. Long Hammock – 3

9. Mark DeHaas – 3

10. Robert Hoyt – 3

11. Charlie Burton at FCI Barrels – 2

12. Orion – 2

13. Moody – 2

14. Bauska – 1

15. Traditions – 1

16. Green River – 1

17. Sharon – 1

18. Zimmerman – 1

19. Jukar – 1

20. Buckeye – 1

21. Numerich – 1

22. H&H – 1

23. Whitacre – 1

24. Montana Rifle Barrel – 1

Thank you to everyone for participating and sharing your opinions. One thing I heard repeatedly was that most of these barrels shot better than they did. That is definitely true for me.

Availability and customer service are also very important and go into the decision as to where to buy. I find it interesting when a custom gun maker chooses to work exclusively with one barrel manufacturer. It’s a good endorsement for that manufacturer.

One thing I learned by asking the question is there is not a shortage of high quality barrels manufacturers on the market.

Many of the barrel manufacturers were custom makers and some of them are no longer making barrels. It’s nice to have so many options in the market and to know that there are a lot of high quality barrels.

I have copied some quotes from experienced builders and their thoughts on barrel manufacturers. Thanks to everyone that provided their feedback!

Jeff Sluder – “At the risk of giving a “non answer answer” I think a lot of that depends on how you define value. With the exception of Buckeye I’ve built rifles using barrels from all of the 5 mentioned. They all shoot good. They all need a little effort from the shooter to determine the patch/ball/powder charge the particular barrel likes the best. I don’t think there is a bad one in the bunch. A lot of it comes down to what barrel profile you want, which one makes a profile that matches it close enough and what is available at the time you need the barrel. Back when I could see, I tied a national record with a Getz barrel, my current target rifle has a Green Mountain barrel and the 2 rifles I built last winter had Colerain barrels. All are shooters. Bottom line I don’t think there would be a mistake with using any of them.”

Frank Starr – “I have used Douglas, Numerich, Green River, Green Mountain, H&H, Hoyt, Whitacre, Getz, Colerain, Rice, and Long. Have had really good ones and some not so. I used to use Getz all the time and had excellent results with them and some of them are still my best shooters. But Getz has become slow since the change. Bobby Hoyt also does really well with specialty twists and sizes. Never really saw what people raved about H&H barrels and I lived really close to their shop. I tried them several times on rifles for friends who wanted them but I was never impressed. I have had a lot of Douglas barrels that out shot many of the higher priced “Custom” ones. Green River barrels were great when you could get them. Now days I mainly use Colerain and Rice and they both do the job very well. Been building since early 70’s, Just my two cents worth!!”

Rich Pierce – “Sharon, GRRW, Getz, Rice, Hoyt, Rayl, Charlie Burton, Bill Large. I’ve had a lot of custom profile barrels made by various makers. If I want something off the shelf I’ll go with Rice first because their finish inside and out is great and they are available. For off the shelf smoothbore barrels it’s Colerain because they have a lot of profiles. Whenever I can get a Getz I do because Don was a friend and John is a friend and the barrels are great. If I can find a GRRW that would work for a build I will get it. They have a slight choke and narrow lands and load beautifully. Oh now I remember Green Mountain as well. Great barrels too. We are lucky to have more great barrels available now than ever before. I never used a Douglas because I prefer tapered or swamped barrels for all my builds and most of theirs were straight.”

J Albert Miles – “I have rifles with Douglas,Large,DeHass,Green Mtn. Colerain , and I’m sure they are more accurate than I am ! , I have 3 N.Lewis rifles , and I’m very positive they are very accurate from what I’ve read about him.”

Wayne McKay – “Rice for longrifles. Whitacre for Civil War stuff, and Colerain for anything else. I should also add Ed Rayl. He makes a fine barrel.”