For those same reasons and more I'd suggest a kit from Matt & Toni at TVM. They don't use pre-carved stocks so the drop at the comb and heel plus the length of pull can be whatever you ask for at no extra cost. They also fully inlet the barrels, triggers, and locks with the lock bolt already located and drilled. There is still plenty of work to do, for sure, but more is already done than from most other suppliers. Take a look at www.avsia.com/tvm/. Shoot sharp, Mike

Well, Colin, building a functional rifle is not hard, at all. IMHO, building a functional rifle with artistry of line and form can be a real challenge.

Renting a coupla DVDs is less expensive that buying them. Smartflix rents DVDs on gunbuilding, blacksmithing, and all sorts of primitive skills for $10 per vid, per week.

http://smartflix.com/store/cat...75/Kits-Scratchbuilt

The one on building a Chambers Kit rifle is pretty good, but it leaves out a few things.

Turpin's vids are pretty good, as are the House vids. The House boys build from scratch, as does Mark Silver, but once the stock is rough shaped, the process is the same for kit guns. Haven't seen Millers vids, but he makes a decent gun, so they should be pretty good.

I wouldn't worry about learning to build guns at your age. Wallace Gusler, Jerry Huddleston, and other well known makers started at about your age, when there were few, to no, good parts to buy. They made their parts by hand, using old books for illustrations.

You have the advantage of lots of information available that only became available in the last few years ago.

I'm sure that others will chime in to offer help and encouragement in your build.

Turpin has a good vid on building pistols too. You can use cheap hardwood to practice with, then buy better wood for the finished piece.

It helps to know what you're building is supposed to look like, so I suggest looking through the various photos on these web pages.

http://www.americanhistoricser...s.com/html/home.html

http://americanlongrifles.org/...index.php?board=21.0

And though most of the items illustrated on this page are reproductions, there is a LOT of good stuff to uses as inspiration.

http://contemporarymakers.blogspot.com/

Bookie recently did a build along/tutorial on building a smoothbore that you might like to check out. Good stuff there.

God bless

This message has been edited. Last edited by: J.D.,

thankyou for all of your suggestions