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Kits at cabelas

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Tracker0721:
Thank you for that advice! I was wondering how you check a muzzleloader barrel but that makes sense if the breech plug can come off. The traditions Hawkins I was looking at was from another guy on a hunting site who’s used it for elk hunting but upgraded to a custom. I’m sure he’d let me check it out first, seemed like a nice guy. Do the breech plugs come off easy?

Eric Krewson:
Well no, depending on the type of rifle they go from fairly easy to impossible. I suspect the Traditions breechplug will fall into the impossible category.

 I don't recommend anyone pulling a breechplug to check for fowling in the threads as corrosion in this area is almost never found, even on antique firearms, the threads seal themselves. A properly breeched gun will have the breechplug tightly fitted to the breech face inside the barrel and nothing can get by.

My advice is to drop a bore light into the barrel and take a look, you can see if the bore is shiny or not. Most folk use a cheap fishing bobber light as a bore light, a couple of bucks at Walmart.

On roached out barrels they will be corroded from the breech to the bore and will look like a sewer pipe inside. Like this;

Tracker0721:
I’ll stick to the light and swab. Seems easier. I wonder why the kits got so expensive, I was reading an early 2000s post and they were talking about a high end kit being 500-700 bucks.

amateurhour:
Everything Eric says is 100% correct.

I'm new to it, only been into blackpowder a little over a year but definitely don't use a dremmel. I made that mistake with the blunderbuss!

The thing is though, especially if 100% historical accuracy isn't important, you can have a lot of fun with them. I'm doing a waxed canvas wrap around the wrist of the blunderbuss and got a nice Trigger guard from Jim Kibler to replace the factory brass guard. I'm going to use a piece of metal around the lock to cover up some mistakes in the wood I made and I'm replacing the brass buttplate with a custom leather one.

When it's all said and done it will look closer to a pirate gun (minus having a caplock) but it will be unique.

Tracker0721:
That’ll look pretty cool! I just found a TC Hawkin kit for $200 so hopefully I’ll have that arriving in a week if it turns out to be a complete kit! I like carving, engraving and stock work so maybe muzzleloaders will be my new hobby.

I learned the hard way about putting my chisels down and grabbing the Dremel. Inletting a detachable box mag bottom metal on a savage stock I made and the Dremel caught the edge and took a big chunk out. Ended up covering it with an ebony border and some acra-glass dyed black to match the 2.

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