When I was 12 my Mom bought me a .45 caliber muzzleloader kit from a hardware store for Christmas. I spent the next several months fitting the barrel and lock to the stock then browning the barrel and finishing the stock. I went on to use that rifle to take many deer over the years during Mississippi's primitive weapons deer season. That muzzleloader is now retired and hangs over the doorway to my man-cave, just below my Caribou shoulder mount.
I had the best Mom ever.