Company History

Why Jim started Kibler's, how the shop works, and where we’ve been. 88 entries from across the knowledge base.

Are these historically accurate?
Did Jim have custom rifle building experience before starting the kit business?
Did order volume increase during the coronavirus period?
Did the Foxfire Series books influence Jim's interest in gun making?
Does Jim have an engineering background?
Does Kibler's attend the Dixon's Gunmakers Fair?
Does Kibler's make a Fowler kit?
How did his grandparents' old CVA rifle kit influence Jim?
How did Jim meet Katherine?
How did Jim's dad's half-stock Ohio rifle influence him?
How did the kit business get started?
How long does it take to develop a new kit?
How long has Kibler's been offering flintlock rifle kits?
How old was Jim when he got interested in building long rifles?
Is Kibler's considering hiring a dedicated gunsmith?
Is Kibler's planning a Brown Bess musket kit?
Is Kibler's planning to host an open house or customer appreciation day?
Is Kibler's planning to make a Hawken kit?
Is Kibler's planning to release a pistol kit?
What drew Jim to flintlocks?
What is a card scraper and where does it come from?
What is the historical basis of the Appalachian Barn Gun?
What is the historical basis of the J.K. Hawken Rifle?
What is the historical basis of the Southern Mountain Rifle?
What is the historical basis of the Woodsrunner Rifle?
What really caused Jim's black eye in that video?
What sparked Jim's early interest in long rifles?
Where are your kits made?
Which builders did Jim study in the Foxfire books?
Who designs Kibler's kits?
Who is Lorie and what does she do at Kibler's?
Who is Marshall and what does he do at Kibler's?
Who is Mason and what does he do at Kibler's?
Why did Kibler's bring barrel work in-house?
Will future kits be closer copies of original historical rifles?
Will Kibler's release a condensed basic tool list?
Appeal of flintlocks as artistic and functional
Did all rifles from the Hawken era use a hook breech system?
Did an original Hawken rifle inspire the design of Kibler's Hawken kit?
Did original longrifles always have a brass plate on the end of the patch box lid?
Does Kibler's attend gun shows like the CLA?
Does Kibler's manufacture fully finished, ready-to-shoot rifles instead of kits?
Does making the tumbler on the new bar feeder machine change the finish quality?
Employee Lorie handles office and some shop work
Family interest in antiques sparked interest
Hawken: What are the design choices behind the kit?
Hershel House and Jim Chambers as influences
How did Jim Kibler learn to engrave?
How does Kibler's decide which new rifle styles to offer?
How does Kibler's design a rifle based on a rare original like the Brown Bess?
How does Kibler's Mazak CNC machine work?
How historically accurate is Kibler's rifle design compared to original longrifles?
How long does it take to machine a nose cap on the Mazak CNC?
Is sandpaper historically accurate for building a flintlock rifle?
Jim has said a Hawken kit may happen
Jim has said a pistol kit is planned
Jim has said future kits may closely copy original guns
Kit development timeline
Meeting Katherine
New employee Marshall running the lathe
New employee Mason
Scrapers before sandpaper
Stock wood: How do I harvest wood for stock blanks?
Was Kibler's designing a Hawken kit as of August 2024?
Were Kibler's parts always machined, or were they cast at one point?
Were original Hawken lock parts case hardened?
Were original longrifles with carving and engraving typically decorated by the customer at home?
What CNC machines does Kibler's use and why does it use a range of different ones?
What is Jim Kibler's background before starting Kibler's Longrifles?
What is the Fowler kit based on historically?
What is the process Kibler's uses to turn a maple log into a dried stock blank?
What is the Woodsrunner rifle based on?
What kinds of problems existed in the muzzleloading kit market before Kibler's started?
What original guns inspired the design of the Fowler kit?
What original rifle is the Woodsrunner kit based on?
What period and style is the Colonial kit based on?
What time period and style is the Hawken kit based on?
What wood did original Hawken rifles typically use, and how were they finished?
Where does the name Woodsrunner come from?
Why are Kibler's rifles sold as kits instead of fully assembled?
Why are some export or trade grade fowler buttplates thicker at the toe?
Why did Kibler's start buying and cutting its own curly maple logs instead of only buying pre-cut lumber?
Why did Kibler's use the Hawken name for its mountain rifle kit if it isn't a direct copy of any single original Hawken?
Why do you only make for muzzle loaders? Is this process precise enough to make barrels for centre-fires or rim-fires?
Why does developing a new rifle kit take so long?
Why does the Southern Mountain Rifle use iron or steel hardware instead of brass?
Why were English fowling pieces so common in colonial America?
Woodsrunner, historical influence

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