Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders Track of the Wolf kit?

Anyone built one? They sure are beautiful!

I working on a kit at this time but not a TOW, which model are you looking at?

ya , more then a few .
what questions did you have ?

Not, the OP, but I'm actually looking at a TOW Hawken pistol, before I tackle one of the Hawken rifles. I gather they are not easy for beginners to do, so it will take a lot of patience.

Is there a good set of instructions, that suggests the best order to get the parts fitted?

I was just curious as to how much work was involved. it appears to be past me at this point. I am interested int he Southern Mountain Rifle, that kind of thing.

Well let me put it this way
If you look at around a at the prices those of us charge for the work we do , you will most times find that pistols run relatively close to the cost of rifles .
The reason for this is that a pistol takes just as much work as a rifle does .
Your still inletting Tang, lock , side plate , trigger and barrel , even though the barrel channel is smaller .
Your still doing under lug , keys , , nose caps ,Drilling, threading ��.
But the real clincher is that the pistol stock is harder to hold and support while working on it .
Myself , I would rather build a rifle then build a pistol .
I just don�t find them as easy to do and do right .

When it comes to choosing a Long gun for a first time build .
Myself I would say the easiest to do , would be one of the simple trade guns like a North west gun or an early English trade gun .
Most of the reason for this is that the inletting and shaping on such pieces is normally very basic .
The butt plates are simple plates , side plates and trigger guards don�t have to be inlet . Your also not concerned with patch boxes, carvings and the finer shaping of the mortises and forestock.

Also trade guns like the North west gun were also originally produced in both cap and flint so that opens your options some .
As such your only concerned with learning the very basics which apply also to rifles .
Now while some may not want a smoothbore, recently many of the barrel companies have started producing rifled barrels in the same profile as the smooth bore barrels . So you can have the option of interchangeable barrels and interchangeable locks on a simply platform .

I would also recommend that if your thinking of going the pre-carved , parts assembly rout . Look around some before you buy .
IF your looking at what ToW sells , take a look at Pecatonica River . Dicks costs are normally less for the very same product and you get better stock prices while at the same time getting alot better wood for the money , IMO .

Also I would recommend this .
Spend alittle money and get you one of the building books prior to ordering and assembly .
This allows you to decide �IF� you think you can do the needed work .
You will need the book as you build and it will help you continually if you decide to continue building other guns .

If you decide you can do whats needed , its also going to save you more then the cost of the book .
It will lead you through the processes of inletting , doing dove tails , setting sights , fitting breech plugs and doing drillings . All these things companies like ToW charge you for . a lot of times when you get the piece , you still have to do a lot of these work anyway as none of it is complete .

Take inletting . Have Tow or who ever , inlet the barrel and cut the RR channel . Even fitting the breech plug is a good idea for the first timer .
But paying their inlet fee isn�t going to give you a fully inlet butt plate , trigger , trigger guard , lock ��. What you actually paid them to do was nothing more then remove / hog out the wood from under the part . Which often times still needs more wood removed . It also leaves you to do the finer work that will show.
Paying for drilling , is a waste of your money. Your still going to have to drill and tap things like the trigger and the lock . Pins for the barrel and trigger guard.

Now for some ,paying the cost of having the sights dovetailed or even the underlugs placed can be a good option .
But its also means that those pieces, then have to be inlet to those defined locationsin the stock "not part of the inletting fee "
. Where if you do the work , you define where things go .so even when you pay for that , it really comes down to a give and take . all to often what someone thinks as a time and experience saver , ends up being really a time and experience spender .

Im not trying to discourage you in all this . . What im trying to do is lay alttle bit out there for you to grasp so you realize there is a lot more to building one of these parts assemblies vs. building say a Lyman or traditions piece .
Realizing these things prior will keep you from spending 4-500 on parts not to mention another 100 or so spent on things that you still end up doing anyway . then still ending up sending everything to someone like me to finish . Which in turn adds to the cost .

All of what captchee says above is good advice. My only Flintlock is an A. Verner kit I bought from Pecatonica river. Had a friend put it together. I paid more $$$ for a better grade of wood. Pecatonica sells nice stuff.. TOW is good as well,..not to take anything away from TOW.






Turned out nice, although the LOP turned out a little short for me. But that's the price you pay for a stock that's already cut out.


That's the Exact same thing I thought back in 2002.! Still have a nice box of parts on the top shelf in the closet...

Weren't any instructions when I ordered my kit, just a nice blueprint. Parts were nice and of High Quality.

As far as instructions,..you [b][color:#3333FF]need a copy of this book..![/color][/b] No pictures, but all hand-drawn illustrations. Very nice book that lays it All out...

It's doable if you're mechanically inclined, but I just haven't taken the time needed to complete it.

It takes a LOT of time to do it correctly. You'll get real familiar with palm chisels.....

Thanks for the info, I'll make a note to buy that book if I buy the kit.