My Hawken picture heavy

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hawg

hawg

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13 years ago I made a deal with a guy to build me a rifle. I used an Investarms Hawken for 30 years but it just wasn't a Hawken. I secured a set of blueprints from an original and this is what he came up with.

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It's a .54 caliber 1:66 twist. My only regret is I didn't go with a .58. The barrel was a NOS Douglas made for a CVA Mountain Rifle. He cut off the drum breech and installed a slanted snail breech. with a doll head tang. It measures 31 inches which is a little short for a Hawken. I was going to go with a 36 inch Green Mountain but he made me a deal on the Douglas I couldn't pass up. I figured I could always swap it out later but it shoots so good I decided to leave it. The trigger guard, butt plate, toe plate, ramrod thimbles, barrel keys and escutcheons are all hand made. The barrel keys are pinned. The lock is a Chambers. The triggers are from an original English rifle and they are nice. The nose cap is a Ted Cash. The rear sight is a full buckhorn. The front sight is a Hawken blade. The stock is figured maple and has the correct contours of an original Hawken. It even has a slight cast off which fits me perfectly. It's not a perfect copy of an original but it's close enough for me.
 
ECVMatt said:
WOW, that is beautiful! Keep us posted after you shoot it.
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It was built 13 years ago. It's been shot a lot and killed several deer. I haven't been able to hunt in several years but I'm proud to say the last time I went I killed a doe with a measured 65 yard behind the ear head shot. Yeah, I know my truck is a catchall.

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Got it! Just getting home from work and scanned the top! It is good to see it making meat.
 
hawg said:
It was built 13 years ago. It's been shot a lot and killed several deer. I haven't been able to hunt in several years but I'm proud to say the last time I went I killed a doe with a measured 65 yard behind the ear head shot. Yeah, I know my truck is a catchall.

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Never hurts to have an extra radiator in the trunk......:D
 
hawg said:
13 years ago I made a deal with a guy to build me a rifle. I used an Investarms Hawken for 30 years but it just wasn't a Hawken. I secured a set of blueprints from an original and this is what he came up with.

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It's a .54 caliber 1:66 twist. My only regret is I didn't go with a .58. The barrel was a NOS Douglas made for a CVA Mountain Rifle. He cut off the drum breech and installed a slanted snail breech. with a doll head tang. It measures 31 inches which is a little short for a Hawken. I was going to go with a 36 inch Green Mountain but he made me a deal on the Douglas I couldn't pass up. I figured I could always swap it out later but it shoots so good I decided to leave it. The trigger guard, butt plate, toe plate, ramrod thimbles, barrel keys and escutcheons are all hand made. The barrel keys are pinned. The lock is a Chambers. The triggers are from an original English rifle and they are nice. The nose cap is a Ted Cash. The rear sight is a full buckhorn. The front sight is a Hawken blade. The stock is figured maple and has the correct contours of an original Hawken. It even has a slight cast off which fits me perfectly. It's not a perfect copy of an original but it's close enough for me.
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Once again, you did good. Yes, .58" would have taken a bit of weight off it, and packed a little more punch, but I think .54" will do. Cast off is smart. My Jeager has it, and when you throw it up to your shoulder, the sights are already lined up. 31" is a good barrel length, that's what the Jeager measures, and I would not change it. As far as a perfect copy, I doubt that all the Hawken rifles were exact duplicates of each other. I think it's a "perfect copy", perhaps not of any one specific rifle, but it's pretty darn perfect.

Now, that plain light colored ram-rod has me thinking...I think it might look better with some "decoration". I did these with a propane torch. I like the look. Others...maybe not. Anyhow, you done good. You done DANG good. DSC07574.JPG
 
Ugly Sauce said:
Once again, you did good. Yes, .58" would have taken a bit of weight off it, and packed a little more punch, but I think .54" will do. Cast off is smart. My Jeager has it, and when you throw it up to your shoulder, the sights are already lined up. 31" is a good barrel length, that's what the Jeager measures, and I would not change it. As far as a perfect copy, I doubt that all the Hawken rifles were exact duplicates of each other. I think it's a "perfect copy", perhaps not of any one specific rifle, but it's pretty darn perfect.

Now, that plain light colored ram-rod has me thinking...I think it might look better with some "decoration". I did these with a propane torch. I like the look. Others...maybe not. Anyhow, you done good. You done DANG good.View attachment 1092095
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Most Hawken barrels ranged from 30-40 inches but most were in the 33-36 inch range so I'm not too bad on that. The majority of them had tapered barrels with thick breeches. IIRC they were 1 1/4 at the breech tapering down to 1 1/8 at the muzzle. Some did have straight 1 inch barrels. So I'm good there too. As for the ramrod the one he sent looked better but it got broken during shipping. I made that one but never put any kind of finish on it. I lost my round tuit and never got another one.:D
 
Thanks guys. I'm glad y'all like it, it means a lot to me and yes I am proud of it. Ugly Sauce I'd love to have a long rifle and I debated it when I decided to get one built. I've always had a thing for Hawken rifles tho.
 
The internal debate is no joke! While you were debating .54" or .58", I was deciding on .58" or .62". Having .58's already, and being a big fan, part of me wanted to go with .58", and I almost did. But in the end I went with .62" mainly because bigger hole in the barrel, lighter barrel. !! Thought it was a good way to save a little weight. The funny thing is that with a denim patch she'll shoot .575" balls "okay".
 
I really like it. And the 31" barrel looks right with the forearm length. I would leave it just the way it is. If you read some in the Lyman BP book and look at the energy figures they give the .54 beats the .58 in energy. Mainly because the .54 gives a little more speed for the same barrel length. I don't think many animals are going to walk away after being hit with either one of them.

Ugly Sauce I like your stripey ram rods but what I really like are your sling swivels. I want to buy or make some just like that for my rifles. I have one of the slip on slings but really don't like it. Did you make those or buy them? And if you bought them where did you get them at?
 
ThomasT said:
I really like it. And the 31" barrel looks right with the forearm length. I would leave it just the way it is. If you read some in the Lyman BP book and look at the energy figures they give the .54 beats the .58 in energy. Mainly because the .54 gives a little more speed for the same barrel length. I don't think many animals are going to walk away after being hit with either one of them.
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I think I killed 9 deer with it. All of them went down on the spot. A few struggled to get back up a few times but none of them made it.
 
ThomasT said:
I really like it. And the 31" barrel looks right with the forearm length. I would leave it just the way it is. If you read some in the Lyman BP book and look at the energy figures they give the .54 beats the .58 in energy. Mainly because the .54 gives a little more speed for the same barrel length. I don't think many animals are going to walk away after being hit with either one of them.

Ugly Sauce I like your stripey ram rods but what I really like are your sling swivels. I want to buy or make some just like that for my rifles. I have one of the slip on slings but really don't like it. Did you make those or buy them? And if you bought them where did you get them at?
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That forward sling swivel was built into the rifle, it requires a lug on the barrel to anchor to. Same as the forward sling swivel on a Brown Bess, and many other muskets of the time. On the butt of my Jeager there's just a raised "button" which attaches to a slot in the leather of the sling.
 
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