Hawken, good and bad brands?

bearhunter said:
When going after Moose and maybe Bears, you should be using a Maxi Ball, rather than a round ball.

I've taken Deer, Black Bear cleanly with patched round balls in both 50 and 54 cal. When I do my part an put the ball where it needs to go, there is little if any difference between the two.

Same goes for Maxi Balls with either 50 or 54 cal, on Moose. The biggest thing with Maxi Balls is to make sure they fit your bore properly. They utilize lubrication grooves and aren't paper patched (for those that don't know the difference)

I've had both Thompson and Lyman rifles. I kept the Lyman and sold the Thompson.

The only reason I kept the Lyman which is 50 cal is because I had all of the molds and other kit for it at the time and it actually shot more consistently accurate groups than the Thompson.

I suspect that both the Thompson and Lyman were built in Italy by the same manufacturer for the US companies. The parts interchanged without fitting.

I liked them both. They are also very strong, much stronger than the Spanish variants.
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My plan is to make my own bullets, although I’ll buy some at first. I took a black bear with a Lee real 54 bullet 20 years ago. Dropped him hard, but they didn’t group well out of the mk85 Knight. 390 buffalo bullets used to drop deer in their tracks, I loved how easily the minie style loaded.
 
stovepipe699 said:
That’s a work of art Sean, what make? Beautiful, but I would be scared to scratch it hunting.
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Just saw the "what make part" .. sorry, "my make" I made that :)

Ohio-No3-003.jpg
 
54 TC Renegade would be your best bet, or the Investarms equivalent. The T/C Renegade loves the maxis. You can still find the moulds and cast your own which is another extension of the shooting hobby. The 54 will kill anything in North America.... Another good one would be the White mountain Carbine made also by T/C ...a little harder to find in 54 cal but common in 50cal. All depends in your style of hunting.
 
cdnrokon said:
54 TC Renegade would be your best bet, or the Investarms equivalent. The T/C Renegade loves the maxis. You can still find the moulds and cast your own which is another extension of the shooting hobby. The 54 will kill anything in North America.... Another good one would be the White mountain Carbine made also by T/C ...a little harder to find in 54 cal but common in 50cal. All depends in your style of hunting.
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It sounds like they would suit my needs well.
 
Fairly common complaint seems to be that stock fit on a Renegade leaves a bit to be desired. It may look like a plain jane version of a TC Hawken but t'ain't neccesarily so.

If you're considering a Renegade, try shouldering it.
 
I've had approximately a dozen BP rifles, the one that has its forever home with me is my Lyman Deerstalker .50, accurate, easy-handling and overall just fun to shoot.
Every time I see one come up for sale on the EE they are under-priced because of the small market for them.
 
TANK1867 said:
I've had approximately a dozen BP rifles, the one that has its forever home with me is my Lyman Deerstalker .50, accurate, easy-handling and overall just fun to shoot.
Every time I see one come up for sale on the EE they are under-priced because of the small market for them.
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They would probably be a good fit too. I like the looks of the Trade rifle, just a bit more barrel and bit more old fashioned looking. The GPR is beautiful. I would really badly like to shoulder and handle the Deerstalker, Trade, and Great Plains rifles. Half an hour of ogling and handling them and I’d pick my favourite.
 
My hunting partner and I had originally gone out shopping for the Lyman Trade rifles but as usual LeBarons had none in stock so we bought the Deerstalkers.
Free advice haha, put up a WTB ad on the EE for a reasonably priced Deerstalker, buy one for a fair price (Black Powder people seem to be reasonable) try it and worse case scenario if you don't like it resell it for the same good price you paid for it.
As an example in the last couple of years I've seen two up for sale at $300-350 in mint condition, I PMed both sellers giving my opinion that these are $500+ rifles, they both responded that they agree with me but the market won't bear that price.
 
I bought a used Safari Arms Hawken made by Investarms 2 years ago to start in black powder competition. The factory adjustable rear sight was very sloppy. I tighten it up with very small pieces of shimstock.
It now shoots the .50 cal balls with nothing but patch, spit, and black powder, exactly where I point it.
I very much like it.
 
m1978 said:
darn, too good to be true. be nice to find one without the idiotic crescent buttplate
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Few people know that the idiotic crescent buttplate is meant to "shoulder" on the upper bicep. Of course not all modern reproductions have the correct cast off to shoot in this manner.
Having chronic neck pain, the upper bicep shooting method suits me well.
 
Boolitcaster said:
Few people know that the idiotic crescent buttplate is meant to "shoulder" on the upper bicep. Of course not all modern reproductions have the correct cast off to shoot in this manner.
Having chronic neck pain, the upper bicep shooting method suits me well.
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The cast is actually there for the fit of the gun and should be tweaked to the way the shooter mounts the gun, nothing to do with the butt plate shape - you still see it in custom made shotguns. Too bad really, even a slight 1/8" cast make a huge difference !
 
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