I have an unfired 54 Cal Hawken rifle made by Uberti under the name of Western Arms Corp. Santa Fe NM. It is a Jedediah Smith Commemorative edition numbered rifle (#301 of 1000). I purchased this rifle in 1981 in Alamogordo, NM. The story I was told at the time was that Western Arms had been involved in a copyright battle with Winchester (Winchester Western) and lost, and all guns had to be sold by a certain date or be destroyed. It is a beautiful rifle and appears to be very well made. If I recall, it has an 8 groove barrel, with lands twice as wide as grooves. It has a 1 in 66 pitch. Supposedly, rather than copy the old Army .54 with its inherent inaccuracy due to shallow grooves, the builders duplicated the average .53" base of the Hawken brothers for this period. Any other info out there? Is there any market for these?
Leadballz
Leadballz