A good beginning kit?

[sleek]

I want to introduce my 14 year old son to the world of black powder. What would be a good kit and Guage to get him? I'd like him to build one himself.

[Eric Krewson]

At that level a Traditions kit would be my choice. Just a little fitting to put it together then metal and wood finishing.  These are good shooting accurate rifles. Looks like they all come in 50 cal which is no problem, just load it with less powder for a youngster. Be sure to get percussion for a youngster to start out on, perhaps flint later.

It appears that most places are sold out of the kits, Here is a place that has a few.

This model looks nice, you may find it cheaper if you look, straight from Traditions they are vastly overpriced.

https://www.muzzle-loaders.com/traditions-frontier-rifle-kit-krc52608.html

[Eric Krewson]

Someone wrote this out about the different levels of difficulty in assembling the kits that were available, I saved it to post when someone needed info on the various kits.

I hope you understand these "kits" offered by Track of the Wolf, Pecatonica River, Jim Chambers, Muzzleloader Builders Supply, etc are far from a easily built "kit". In fact, they could be more properly called a "box of rough parts".
Absolutely nothing will fit.
 
The only things that come close to being finished parts are the lock and the trigger. Even these parts require locating, drilling and threading the holes for the screws that hold the parts to the stock.
 
The barrel is not finished. It is rifled but the sight dovetails are not cut and on many of them the breechplug is not installed. This applies to the trigger guard, butt plate, side plate too. These are just rough, unfinished castings.
 
All of the parts will need to be inletted into the wooden stock. This applies to the barrel, lock, trigger guard, butt plate, side plate and ramrod thimbles.
Speaking of the stock, even it is just a moderately close roughed out blank which will require a LOT of wood removal to be close to the real longrifles.
 
Knowledge of metal and wood work is a definite requirement. 
 
Plan on spending a minimum of 120 hours of your time to finish your gun. Actually, for a first build, a number like 180 hours would be closer if you want your gun to be something you can be proud of.

Kibler kits are a big step up from a parts kit, all the wood shaping is done but the inlets are a little undersized so you have to fit the parts. The metal is rough castings so you have to do the finish work. All the holes are drilled for barrel lugs but you do have to install and drill the lugs for the barrel and lug holes for the trigger guard. The barrel will need to be draw filed and have the sights installed in the precut dovetails. Your finished gun will be very period correct.
 
I'm not telling you all of this to discourage you. I just don't want to see anyone go into this with the idea that the gun will be ready for assembly.
 
Speaking of ready for assembly, Traditions, Lyman and Pedersoli offer kits that are easy to assemble and finish.
These are basically the same guns these companies sell but the parts don't have their finish sanding and finishing done.
 
These "Big Factory Kits" are indeed, true "kits" with all of the threaded holes located and finished.
They require something like 15-30 hours of your time to finish depending on whether you wish to make modifications like reshaping the stock or installing inlays or wire inlays.

[sleek]

Thank you very much Eric. I have much to consider i see.

[gifford]

Have you found a Black Powder club in your area. They are usually a good source of parts, accoutrements, and advice. Eric did a great job explaining the various kits, I didn't know that when I got a Chambers' kit it was a heck of a lot unfinished parts and shaped stock. It will make a fine rifle but holey catz was it a lot of work and frustration.

Not to discourage you from getting a kit, the black powder clubs usually have trade fairs periodically and can be a fine source of minimally used smoke  poles. I've bought several percussion rifles for less than a kit would go for. All good shooters, too.

[Hawkdancer]

Is Thompson-Center still selling kits?  My .50 caliber Hawken is a kit Gun, but it was already assembled when I bought it.  All I did was the final sanding and finishing.  It shoots pretty good.
Hawkdancer

[Eric Krewson]

When Smith and Wesson bought TC they quit making any side lock muzzle loaders including kits. They also quit honoring the lifetime warranty that TC previously had.

Last year I put together a TC Hawken kit that my dad had in his closet since 1984. I removed a lot of wood, reshaped the cheekpiece, lock mortis and used my current gun building skills to reshape the stock to make a really nice gun.





My gun is a .50, all of my deer rifles are .54, I found a Green Mountain drop-in 15/16" barrel in .54 for TCs the other day. Green Mountain quit making drop-ins a few years ago so these barrels sell for a premium. I had a wild hair and ordered one, it cost almost as much as my gun is worth but I wanted one, end of story. The Gun Works Emporium is the only place I could find that still had some of these barrels in stock. They come with sights and everything in place to start shooting, even a ramrod.