Here is one of our current projects that Shane’s working on in the shop, and will be available upon completion. This is one of Kiblers Southern Mountain Rifle kits that’s stocked in an absolutely beautiful piece of figured curly Ash. A customer brought this kit in to sell so Shane decided to assemble the kit and customize it, as he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to build a rifle with that ash stock. After meticulously assembling the kit, Shane began the work to customize it.
Some of the custom features include a shortened buttplate heel and a shortened toe. The toe of the buttplate was shortened about 1/4″ and rolled under the toe of the stock with a slight inward curve, just as you see on a well worn original rifle. The pair of these shortened up help the rifle shoulder a bit faster and cleaner if you’re used to an early flat buttplate on your rifles. Shane also shortened the rear set trigger just a hair to give a bit more room for a larger trigger finger during operation. The iron mounts have been adorned with decorative file work and all hand polished, which will result in a nice contrast once they are aged. A grease hole has been added to the stock and dressed up with some incised carving and chip carving that tastefully accentuates the stock from tip to toe. The cheek piece has also been adorned up with some decorative moldings and the stock was finished off with a hand engraved silver inlay.
This rifle will be finished in a traditional 18th Century manner; the stock will be stained with aqua fortis and a hand rubbed oil finish will be applied to the stock. All of the iron mounts will receive a custom “Grey” aged patina, and the rifle will finish out with a classy and elegant aged look. This will be a nice little rifle for hunting and shooting as the balance feels good and the weight is really nice at 6 lbs 2 oz with its 44” long .45 caliber bore.
If you have an interest in acquiring this piece upon its completion, please feel free to reach out.
