Back in Nov 2021, my father in law gifted me a restoration project that is now almost complete! It was a 1990 or maybe earlier Kentucky Muzzleloader kit - now sold as Traditions. Kits like these have been sold as do-it-yourself kits for a long time - I remember pining over one as a young boy during the 1976 Bicentennial celebration of the founding of the US.

The rifle was in rough shape!

It became a late-COVID project, but then the project paused after I had completed most of the stock restoration and barrel browning. It sat for a couple of years, but when I went back to finish it, I ran into a road block - the dowel I put into the muzzle to hold the barrel whilst I browned it had swollen so much, I couldn't get it out.

I did something that was pretty dumb, I tried to drill it out, and the bit hit the inside of the barrel and dug some small gouges into the rifling. I was sure I had ruined the barrel, so I let the project sit some more.

After shooting an inline muzzleloader quite a bit last year, I decided to revisit the project - either replace the barrel or fix it. After some discussion on a related forum, I gently took a needle file to the gouge burrs and smoothed them out as best I could.

Assembly has happened and we are 90% done! I'll have better pictures when it's fully complete.

This won't be a regular shooter, but it will be nice to be in shooting condition. I fully intend on seeing how it runs!

#muzzleloader #sidelock #KentuckyRifle #shooting #restoration