Hawken Advice

gunsaholic said:
I bought a very nice Great Plains with peep sight off of the EE less than a year ago for I think $450.00.

Hawkens made by Investarms are well built guns. They make rifles for Lyman and Cabelas as well as a few others. You will generally find an Investarms branded gun cheaper than the Lyman.
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I have one of the Investarms Hawkens and it's a fairly well made rifle. It's more suited to patched round ball as it has 1-60" twist approx.
Didn't know that going in and figured it out after much shooting.
 
I have had many over the years, my first was safari arms hawken 1/48 twist good starter quality, I have had many Thompson Centre rifles good quality /for price then I have had Browning mountain rifles better quality shot great /no parts support. Parker Hale musketoon ,volunteer, whit worth great quality good shooters. Then i wanted to get into the custom rifles , sharron,Freisen, sitting fox, they are harder to find and priced 1400.00 and up You have to decide what you are going to use it for. Then pick what you like and play with it. shooters choice has a few used muzzleloaders as well as Epps and I am sure a few people will chime in with their offerings... Once you buy on you will be hooked.
 
sean69 said:
Build ONE!! :)

Get a copy of the plan before hand - https://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/PartDetail.aspx/822/1/PLAN-HAWKEN?PageSize=100

A couple of excellent books to get you started:

https://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/PartDetail.aspx/821/2/BOOK-RAL

https://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/PartDetail.aspx/821/1/BOOK-GGC

Things to think about if you are looking at a kit. That $400USD "extra fancy" maple stock may not be as fancy as you have in your head... I recently bought a slab of curly maple for about $400 CAD that is enough material for at least 4 long rifles, 6 hawken ...

If you put a parts list together yourself you might not be much further ahead than the kit. But a lot of that stuff you can make or source domestically (stock for example) - also Rice barrels come with a fitted breech plug, so that's a big job you don't have to worry about.

Here's some build pics of my Jaeger 'inspired' rifle - either get you excited about your own build or scare you away completely.
(I hope you like filing, grinding and polishing ... cause there is a lot of it!!)


Some early progress. That is some of the curly maple I bought - it's 100% tight curl end to end ... which you don't see a lot in kit guns.
jager-10-14-18-001.jpg


The list I made for the finishing bits... still working on that.
jager-10-14-18-004.jpg


Making my own node cap.
jager-10-14-18-003.jpg


In hindsight, I probably would have been better off buying one, it was a lot of work and not a great deal of fun. (brass is expensive!!)
jager-10-14-18-007.jpg


But it turned out pretty good in the end.
jager-10-14-18-006.jpg


An R.E Davis double set trigger. Can't tell you how much I am impressed with the quality. This showed up as a rough casting, it has been filed, polished and flame blued at this point.
jager-10-14-18-005.jpg


An early test fit, temporary pins holding in the trigger guard.
jager-10-14-18-008.jpg


The lock is also an R.E. Davis lock, it also shows up as a rough casting that needs to be filed & polished, but it was already set up and tuned. This also got flame blued.
jager-10-14-18-010.jpg


Same lock.
jager-10-14-18-011.jpg



The other nice thing about building your own is that if you don't like the results, either sell it ~or~ scrap the stock and start again! Parts are still recoverable :)

(and if you make your own gun, you get a gold star on your man card)
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Wow... just wow man

I have used my hands to make a living since I left highschool early about 18 years ago.... and what you're doing there is mighty impressive!

I think I'll end up buying a T/C though :D
 
cdnrokon said:
I have had many over the years, my first was safari arms hawken 1/48 twist good starter quality, I have had many Thompson Centre rifles good quality /for price then I have had Browning mountain rifles better quality shot great /no parts support. Parker Hale musketoon ,volunteer, whit worth great quality good shooters. Then i wanted to get into the custom rifles , sharron,Freisen, sitting fox, they are harder to find and priced 1400.00 and up You have to decide what you are going to use it for. Then pick what you like and play with it. shooters choice has a few used muzzleloaders as well as Epps and I am sure a few people will chime in with their offerings... Once you buy on you will be hooked.
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Can't wait man! Think it'll be a T/C
 
ChromeArty said:
Can't wait man! Think it'll be a T/C
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Hawkens are like CZ handguns, once you have had one you won't be without one.

1/48 is a good compromise for RB and Conicals. If you want to concentrate on RB 1/60 and a longer bbl is the better choice.

M
 
gnmontey said:
Hawkens are like CZ handguns, once you have had one you won't be without one.

1/48 is a good compromise for RB and Conicals. If you want to concentrate on RB 1/60 and a longer bbl is the better choice.

M
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I've had a CZ:

Pre B
Shadow Sp01
A nice stainless one with rosewood grips
And a Shadow 2 lol!

But I got conpletely out of the restricted game.

The Hawken will mostly be a toy for when I'm out campin or bushcraftin. May decide to take a deer with it... but I have a .270 and a Hoyt Defiant 34 for that kinda thing :)
 
Back about 30 years ago (maybe more) you could be a kit to turn a Volkswagen Bug into a Rolls Royce. It had the grill, a hood ornament and couple other bits and pieces and if you squinted from a couple hundred yards away it kinda sorta looked like a Rolls.

Most "Hawken" rifles are like that if they are made by one of the BP mfg's.

If you want something with "Hawken" in the name then a Thompson Center, CVA, Investarms etc shoots fairly well and comes at a decent price point.

If you want a Plains Rifle that more closely resembles something made by one the Hawken boys then a Lyman GPR is decent.

If you want something that actually looks like it could have come out of the Hawken shop then the Pedersoli Missouri or Rocky Mountain Hawken is what you are after, albeit at minimally double the price of other offerings.
 
gnmontey said:
Easy for you to say, you have all the talent and tools:rolleyes:

M
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I didn't have ANY tools when I started this a few years back :)

Surprisingly, while lots of expensive tools make life easier, you really only need a minimum of hand tools to do something like this.... Really when I started I wanted a Pedersoli Jaeger, but didn't want to wait a year for it to get imported and it was really $$$$ - I thought to myself "why can't I do this? they used to make them using a wet beaver and sharp rock some 300 years ago... why not?"
 
ChromeArty said:
Wow... just wow man

I have used my hands to make a living since I left highschool early about 18 years ago.... and what you're doing there is mighty impressive!

I think I'll end up buying a T/C though :D
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Each to his own :)

Probably never make a living off these (I am a programmer/developer) too much time, not enough market ... I'd have to sell that for like $5k to pay for my time. :(

Lots of T/Cs in the BP exchange, just keep trolling it ... that or auctions.
 
chasseur said:
There s a pedersoli Hawken for sale on the EE for a few bucks more than you eould pay for a Thompson I would buy that one
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I don't know. In another thread that's running, guys are saying that, for traditional style muzzleloaders, anything past $350.00 for a Thompson Centre or Lyman etc. don't sell. That's quite a bit less than the $1000.00 asking price for the Pedersoli if those that are giving values are correct. Not talking about the quality of the guns, just the prices.
 
I would agree that you can generally find a nice Hawken in the $350 ballpark. The caveat is that you will want to look it over well and know what you are seeing.
Bought a Renegade that looked very good but was fired and never cleaned so the bore was a sewer pipe. Had to find a replacement.

The GF shoots a Pedersoli with a minor loose spot in the barrel she got for $75 after selling the replacement barrel that came with it.

Just have to wait for the right deal.
 
There is a big hole in the mid range market. A plethora of lower priced rifles at the lower price scale, then the Pedersoli at the other end of the price scale.
Not many decent rifles priced at just around 1000 dollars or thereabouts. Just the used Hawken rifle market. I am very glad to own a used but not abused JMBR. Because I think myself the Pedersoli is a tad bit overpriced for what it is. My two bits only.
 
Okay... so this was meant to be!

Last weekend my gal and I were camping in a remote area on a lake called Little Horseshoe behind Powell River BC. An older couple pulled up on a slick brand new quad and started fishing the lake (I happened to be fishing at that moment as well), we got talking, and as things go, the gals started talking and the gent and I started talking. Within moments the conversation between us turns to guns and casting and all that good stuff. He mentions he owns a certain number of rifles... I go "wow... that's a healthy number... I'm looking for only one at this time... a Hawken"

He responds "I got one... she's unfired, got it in a trade... you can have it for a hundred and fifty bucks"

"Sold"

Anyway, I get over to their place today (maybe a 3 minute drive from my house). He has it out of the safe... there is a safe kiss (nooo biggy) but then we notice a crack in the stock. He says "damn! Well I wouldn't buy this thing"

I respond with "well... would $80 be too low?"

"Nah, you can have it fir that"

"Deal"

I'm not 3 houses away when his wife calls and asks if I've left

"Yes ma'am, but only just"

"Come back for a second please"

"Okay, be right there"

I pull in the driveway and she stuffs the $80 in my hand ans says "it's not right the stock was cracked, you take your money and that rifle and go on" she refused to hear any different.

Goes without saying that there will be something special for them on their doorstep sooner than later!

There are still amazing people out there, sometimes we forget that when we are surrounded by negatively minded folk... but wow, that was an amazing thing they did for me... and it happened to not come at a better time, my family had just had a very rough day.


Thank you all who commented, but mostly thank you Carl and Shirley!
 
ChromeArty said:
Okay... so this was meant to be!

Last weekend my gal and I were camping in a remote area on a lake called Little Horseshoe behind Powell River BC. An older couple pulled up on a slick brand new quad and started fishing the lake (I happened to be fishing at that moment as well), we got talking, and as things go, the gals started talking and the gent and I started talking. Within moments the conversation between us turns to guns and casting and all that good stuff. He mentions he owns a certain number of rifles... I go "wow... that's a healthy number... I'm looking for only one at this time... a Hawken"

He responds "I got one... she's unfired, got it in a trade... you can have it for a hundred and fifty bucks"

"Sold"

Anyway, I get over to their place today (maybe a 3 minute drive from my house). He has it out of the safe... there is a safe kiss (nooo biggy) but then we notice a crack in the stock. He says "damn! Well I wouldn't buy this thing"

I respond with "well... would $80 be too low?"

"Nah, you can have it fir that"

"Deal"

I'm not 3 houses away when his wife calls and asks if I've left

"Yes ma'am, but only just"

"Come back for a second please"

"Okay, be right there"

I pull in the driveway and she stuffs the $80 in my hand ans says "it's not right the stock was cracked, you take your money and that rifle and go on" she refused to hear any different.

Goes without saying that there will be something special for them on their doorstep sooner than later!

There are still amazing people out there, sometimes we forget that when we are surrounded by negatively minded folk... but wow, that was an amazing thing they did for me... and it happened to not come at a better time, my family had just had a very rough day.


Thank you all who commented, but mostly thank you Carl and Shirley!
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Lots of stocks are cracked and repaired , and you would never know. Its usualy pretty easy if it's in the wrist to drill and peg it.
 
Nice!

Throw up some pictures of the crack if you want some ideas for fixing. I seem to be doing 2 or 3 a year lately and am sure I'm not the only one. Prairie dry air is cruel to wood.
 
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