Hawken build

H

Hawg

New member
I'm having a fairly accurate Hawken being built off of blueprints. It's not going to be perfect down to every last detail but will be closer to an original Hawken than any production gun. Thought y'all might like to see what's been done so far.

This is the grade 3 curly maple stock blank cut to shape and outlined.
Hawken.jpg


Getting closer to final shape.
Hawken1.jpg


Barrel has been inletted. Trigger guard, butt plate and lock assembly are all hand made. Barrel is 1 inch across the flats, .54 with no taper. Most Hawkens had a tapered barrel but some did have straight barrels so I'm still ok as far as originality goes.
Hawken2.jpg


Breechplug and tang have been inletted. It has the correct slanted breech and hourglass tang. The stock also has the correct taper.
Hawken3.jpg
 
Excellent and looking forward to it's progress. I can see some very nice tiger striping .... :)


Be Safe !!!!
 
Thanks for this thread. This will be an interesting project. Who's doing the work, and who supplied the components?

I may not be able to stand the result.....where are my meds when I need them?
 
Thanks for this thread. This will be an interesting project. Who's doing the work, and who supplied the components?
Click to expand...

Fella by the name of Mike Lange in Indiana. He used the trigger assembly off an antique English rifle. He did extend the trigger bar to accept the Hawken guard tho. The stock came from Dunlap and the barrel he's using is a NOS CVA mountain rifle that's been modified to accept a snail breech. Everything else including the lock Mike made himself, well except for the hammer, breechplug and tang and I don't know from whence they came. Mike usually doesn't build historically accurate rifles but this project intrigues him so he's going above and beyond what I originally planned for him to do. He mostly builds guns that look the part but have modern lockwork off CVA's Investarms, TC's, etc. He's reasonable on his prices too. You can see some of his work at Muzzleloading Life http://kabooom.proboards.com/index.cgi He goes by Mongrel.
 
The second rifle I built was a relatively authentic Hawken.I have the blueprints of an original,as I recall I think it is Mariano Medina's rifle.

I highly recommend John Baird's book,""Hawken Rifles,the Mountain Man's Choice"

I had mine for sale at a gun show once.A few folks walking by turned,and looked funny,likeNo,is that original?Then they drooled a bit,and asked who the maker was.I said"Yer lookin at him" and they'd leave.Don't know what that means.

For what it is worth,I cast my forend tip in place ,out of babbit around a ramrod pipe.It worked out good.

I don't think you can get a Ron Long lock anymore,but mine has a Ron Long lock and doubleset,Sharon bbl,Griffin hook breech,curly maple.It shoots good.

These days,it is not for sale.The gentleman who was the proprietor of Cache La Poudre Rifleworks,"Broken Butt",passed away.He was a fine man,I bought all my parts from him,and,its a piece of my history now.Worth more than money.
 
Ramrod hole is drilled and cheekpiece and sideplate panel roughed out. The panel has been stretched and pointed somewhat from the original inked-in lines on the blank, more in keeping with correct Hawken styling. The ends will have still more point to them, without there actually being an angle rasped and sanded into the wood, but this is the rough shaping with a lot of wood still to be removed.

The line of the cheekpiece, if extended through the wrist, would continue along the upper curve of the sideplate panel which is a small detail of correct Hawken architecture.

006-20-1.jpg
 
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