Traditions Frontier kit gun build

Looks like a great kit so far!

The Traditions Frontier .50cal 1:48 Twist


I've always wanted one and Muzzle-loaders.com had one in stock. This is a very well built muzzleloader! A sturdy stock supports the 15/16" - 28" barrel. The stock is beechwood and has a lot of eye candy in it. I think this stock will look very attractive once I finish it.








Surprisingly,  the lock was completely inlet and ready to go! Theres maybe .008" - .010" gap, but this should close up nicely when I apply a water based stain, and leave some room for the finish. I do not like a super tight fitting lock. Every rifle I've owned that was inletted tight, ended up chipping during lock removal.



The Traditions Frontier uses the smaller lock, often found on the Traditions Kentucky Rifle & Pistol.

The main spring found on Traditions muzzleloaders is VERY strong, and will hurt you if you try pulling it out, without the proper tools.


This lock will be pulled apart and polished.


Note: polishing lock parts can remove any factory applied heat treatment, resulting in decreased life of certain parts.




Always test fit your screws! At times, I've found burrs that would have stripped the screw out, had I gone and gorilla tightened through it!


Also note the proper way to install the ramrod retaining spring. This spring can be gently bent, to flatten it out a bit, to lessen the amount of pressure.


NEVER remove the front lock screw while the ramrod is installed! The spring pressure will cause the front lock screw to strip out.





Unlike some model of Traditions kit guns, the Frontier comes with dovetails already cut for both the front and rear sight.

FINALLY  a kit that comes with quality, traditional sights!




A beautiful crown on this Traditions Frontier! The hooked breech set up makes for easy barrel removal for cleaning. The drum takes a 6-1mm nipple.  

The kit comes with one, but I always replace the factory nipple with an upgrade stainless steel nipple.

The 28" barrel with its 1:48 twist has always been a great shooter in my personal rifles.

A blinker combo of 50gr 3fg with an easy loading .015" patch and .490" round ball, is a fun shooting load.

For hunting, 70gr 3fg or 80gr 2fg, with a .018" - .020" patch. These are loads I personally shoot in my traditions sidelocks for deer, bear and elk.



The barrels under rib, did have a slight bend, but after a few light taps with a hammer, the under rib fit nicely.

Unlike the lock, the tang will need some file work with a jeweler's file to remove a small amount of wood, to fit properly. A generous amount of wood flows over the tang, and that will get removed after I bed the tang and barrel.

I use the Original JB Weld for all my bedding jobs.



A few minutes with a sharp chisel and a jeweler's file, and the tang is in place.
Note: kit guns come with extra wood that needs to be filed/sanded to mate closely with the metal.


Before and after. The ramrod spring normally comes with an extreme arch, that causes too much pressure on the ramrod and makes removal very difficult.  I simply use my thumb and gently massage the spring downward,  to open it, and reduce pressure.



Trigger installed perfectly without having to remove any wood.  I may inlet the trigger to sit a little further down, but it functions as it should. We can just see a tiny bit of the trigger assembly sticking out.


If things went well installing the tang, trigger and tang screw, your tang screw should still be in great shape after removing it! Often, if the tang is not aligned properly, the screw does not meet up with the trigger correctly,  and ends up stripping.

If it's hard going in, you're most likely stripping it out.


The Traditions Frontier, comes fully furnished in brass. The brass buttplate is pre-fit and installed at the factory.
In order to install the trigger guard, you'll have to remove some minor casting left over from the mold, and trim the brass shorter with a couple files.

Most remove the wood, but I, find it easier and cleaner, to reshape the brass.

The nose cap has a lot of slag that will be removed with a dremel and sanding drum attachment.

Typical on even a factory built traditions.. the tang sits lower than the barrel and theres often a gap between the barrel and tang as shown. #2 reason why I always take the time to properly fix this, by using a bedding product to adjust the angle of the tang. The bedding also keeps the metal from being pulled into the softer wood, causing the tang screw to constantly loosen up.



Traditions Frontier, lock panel, trigger inlet and tang inletting. The lock panel is perfect, so no work was needed here!





When staining the beechwood stock, on a traditions kit gun, take note of the wood coloring. This stock has some very dark grain on the top, and will require less wood stain than the lighter color wood.

A water bases or alcohol based stain will work best on the softer beechwood, and give it, a more consistent color, throughout the stock.

Looks like a fun project! Question: are the sight dovetails European (metric) or 3/8"?

~Kees~

This Traditions Frontier went together super easy! Almost scary, as some can be a real pain in the rear end and, fight you.

The rear sight I wasn't to happy with, so I put a slight bend it in to put more pressure on the elevation adjuster. After that, the pressure was much better.

Will have to spend some time with some files and shape the stop of the stock where it meets the nose cap, as theres a bit of a V shape going on between the two. The forearm needs excess wood removed as well.
Pretty darn straight forward on this one.

On the inside front, of the trigger guard, I removed some extra material that was getting in the way of the trigger. A few minutes of filing took care of that.

I had to use a safe edge triangle file and slightly open up the dovetails so the barrel tenon and the front/rear sight went in much easier, rather than beating them in.

Patience and understanding is key when building a kit gun.

Adding a faux fiddleback walnut look to the rather plain jane stock.





Results!

Man, you have really been busy. Love that stock.

Slow rust barrel browning.

Jonathan, that rifle turned out gorgeous.
Wish I had the patience to accomplish that.
I may try a pistol kit one day.

That came out, as Mustang65 said, GORGEOUS! I really like the trigger guard. Well, the rest of the gun also, but I tried for the same effect on my Hodgepodge rifle with a Leman trade rifle TG from Track and yours looks much better.

~Kees~

Went to visit Jonathan over the weekend for a car show in Eads Colorado. Took a close up look at that rifle in the outdoors, and it was even more gorgeous than the pics show.