Got m'self a Hawken gun he..he..he!

[Loosenock]

Came across this Uberti Sante Fe Hawken at a pawn shop. Went home and studied up on on line and found that the Uberti is held in high reguards by some. Some say its as close to the orginals and they get. Its a .54 caliber, 32" barrel. According to the date code this one was made in 1984.



Thats about all I know about. Hopefully some of you folks could share some of your knowledge about them and maybe some pet loads. Anything will help and be appreciated.

'Loose

 

[1KPerDay]

Beauty! Congrats.

 

[Cosmoline]

Good catch! To do better you'd have to build from a custom kit I suspect.

 

[Loosenock]

Thanks gents. I read that some of these although they were marked .54 were actually .53. I mic'd my bore top of land to top of land measured .519. So this is a .53 cal. What would be a moderate load? Maybe 60-65 grns of powder under a patched .520 LRB?

'Loose

 

[4v50 Gary]

All my books are packed in boxes right now. I suspect about 60-70 grains FF with a .530 ball and a .010 patch.

Suggest you attend a Rendezvous and hook up with some mountain man club. You'll be making your own horn and sewing your own hunting pouch.

 

[mykeal]

I don't think a .530's going to work - not with a .519 bore (land to land) measurement.

I believe it has an odd number of lands & grooves (7?), so a miked .519 land-to-land is probably somewhat short - it's likely .522-.524 with .530 grooves. A .520 with .010 or .015 should work ok to start, with 60 gr ffg real black.

 

[PapaG]

For a hunting load, choose a round ball that shows lands and grooves from a patch of about .008" thickness (I use indian head linen) and 100 to 125 grains of FFg powder.
I used a .535 ball in my old Hawken (made myself with a douglas barrel) and 120 grains of FFg....looks like you'll need a smaller ball. For targets, try the old method of determining powder amount by holding the ball in the palm of a slightly cupped hand and pouring enough powder over it to just cover the ball. Or, try a powder weight of 1/3 the weight of the ball. All are old and pretty good starting points.
The Muzzle Loading Cap Lock Rifle, by Ned Roberts is a great book to read.

 

[AJumbo]

I built a Hawken from a Track of the Wolf kit, and I'm pretty sure it consisted of Uberti parts. It was a .53, and shot great with .018 ticking and a .520 ball, with charges ranging from 50 to 135 grains. I wish he still had it, because I was ready to make him an offer on it when he told me it was already sold. He liked it and shot it well, but it was too heavy for his tastes; he's left-handed to boot, and the Hawken wasn't.