Guns Of The Mountain Men

[Jim Watson]

And I didn't even notice the rear sight, it looked right this way. Ill tap it out, thanks!

I've seen sights that got turned around on purpose. I think as the owner got presbyoptic.

 

[ThomasT]

I've seen sights that got turned around on purpose. I think as the owner got presbyoptic.

Yep I have seen that fix recommended before. But Mn Fats said he was going to turn the sight around and I bet he did. I have tapped a sight in backards before so I understand how it happens. Some will talk down adjustable sights on BP rifles and some of the adjustable sights are big honkin' suckers. like those on Traditions guns and T/C rifles. the one on the Renegade I just redid is a perfect example. I am giving some thought to dovetailing the barrel and putting on a more traditional sight. But if you want an adjustable sight on your BP rifle that looks close to the traditional fixed sight the Lyman is about the best on the market.

Hey Deltaboy I see you are from Johnson County too. I live just down the road from fire station #1 in Burleson.

 

[Mn Fats]

I've seen sights that got turned around on purpose. I think as the owner got presbyoptic.

Just the way it's set forward on the top left pic and the "bowl" shape when looking down the barrel appeared right to me. I have it reversed (correct) now

 

[ThomasT]

I guess we were posting at the same time. On my GP rifle (factory built) I removed the front sight and thinned it down to .080 and like it a great deal better. I think it was Loyalist Dave that has spoken about doing that or just replacing them with a silver blade from TOW. I thinned mine down right after I got the rifle way back around 1995. I started to get the kit but the finished rifle was only 30-40 dollars more. And IIRC it cost me $250 or just a little less from Natchez Shooters Supply. The prices asked for some of the guns and kits now shocks me.

 

[Mn Fats]

Yep I have seen that fix recommended before. But Mn Fats said he was going to turn the sight around and I bet he did.

Yes sir, I did.
The roundish octagonal shape in back is due to a blur and not to the fact I draw filed the warning/manufacturers label out. Apologies for the dark pics.

Id like to take the "wings" off the sights. I'll do that when I decide to strip and brown them. The black doesn't pair with the brown, as dark as it is.

 

[ThomasT]

Here is what I found today and posted in another forum about the cost of the Hawken compared to the other rifles available way back then.

"Another early reference appears in a list of goods taken west by French Canadian trader and fur trapper Etienne Provost in 1829: “2 rifles, Hawkins ($25.00 each).” Those are just two examples (both notations appear in the book Supply and Demand: The Ledgers and Gear of the Western Fur Trade by Olsen and McCloskey). Other rifles were not generally named to this level of detail, but Hawken rifles (and some pistols) always seem to be mentioned by name. In other words, if it wasn’t a Hawken, it was just another rifle".

"For comparison, the price of a “trade rifle” (a rifle made for the fur trade, to be sold or traded to trappers, red or white) as made by Henry, Leman, Tryon or others could be purchased for around $12. At more than twice that amount, Hawken rifles were truly expensive guns".

In the link I posted in the first post Leman rifles were shown to be priced around $7-8 not $12 like in quote above. Back then $4 was a lot of money.

Using an online inflation calculator a $25 Hawken in 2018 would cost $808.00 and an $8.00 Trade Rifle would cost $258.00. Whats funny is that these prices are sort of in line with what a good Hawken copy and a Traditions Hawken or similar rifle cost today. The cheaper guns are just as servicable and chosen based on the affordable price. Just like the choices shooters made way back then when buying a rifle.

As per Solomon, nothing new under the sun, right?

The Hawken rifle were apparently more commonly seen after the mountain man period. To my way of thinking they were like owning a real Roy Weatherby built rifle. Not everyone could afford one. I can't and just have to be happy with an off the rack Remington 700.