[Jeff Higgins]

Thank you so much, John, that is all tremendously helpful advice.

This "kit" is unlike any other I have ever built, including a Thompson Center "Hawken" (we all know it's nothing like a Hawken, but a fine rifle nonetheless), a Dixie Tennessee Mountain Rifle, Dixie 10 gauge double shotgun, and Lyman Great Plains Rifle (a much better "Hawken" than the T/C example) and Great Plains pistol. Each and every one of these kits were far, far more complete with regards to inletting - they essentially required none whatsoever. Their metal parts were also finished to a much higher level, where these are just rough castings. Some very rough.

I'm having very mixed feelings about all of this. I could have purchased all five of those other kits for what I paid for this one. I think calling it a "kit", as a matter of fact, is borderline dishonest. They go so far as to say it can be "assembled" using common hand tools. No way in hell. I will need a full set of inletting tools (on order from Midway), a drill press, and the word "weld" even appears in the instructions. It's no more than a box of rough, unfinished parts. They will eventually "assemble" into a rifle, but there is going to be an awful lot of handwork on each and every individual part before they are ready for "assembly".

This is simply one step away from scratch building. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about that per se. Had I known that going in, I probably would have ordered it anyway. I might have balked a bit at the price, but I would have talked myself into it. It is, after all, the only "real" Hawken available today. I do, however, think they take advantage of that, along with stating that it is an "expert level kit", allowing them to sell a substantially sub-standard level of completeness for much more than everyone else could get away with.

I did manage to fit the butt and toe plates today. The butt plate required a substantial amount of filing just to clean up its mating surfaces enough to be smooth enough to start fitting to the stock. While it doesn't show in the photos, the butt stock itself was not machined to contour all the way across its full width. Only about 1/4" was machined to contour down each side, with about a 1/2" tall ridge left down the center that had to be removed before the butt plate could be fitted. Then, once removed, it was discovered that the contours of the butt plate and butt stock in no way even began to match. There was a good 1/8" gap in about the center of the arc. Probably would have "fit" better if they had just sawed the butt off square.

So, yeah, stuff like that. I'm kind of looking forward to, and am certainly up for the challenge, but I have to wonder how many buy this "kit", open the box, and realize there is no way in hell they can build this rifle. I bet it's actually most. I just wish they were a little more up front about it.