Grant: that looks like one of my children! On the bottom flat of the barrel, there should be a serial number, and maybe, even a date. If you email me that info, I may be able to tell you how old it is...dtaylorsapergia@gmail.com....and who owned it first. Also, I'm curious to know where you got it??
Hawken, polish the brass?
- Thread starter exophysical
- Start date
- Location
- Ft. Mac. Alberta
That would be the big .62 you were shooting when I met you in '80, I suppose?
Man , that is one impressive rifle!
Cat
Nice to see how one's long lost child has made out in the world!
For those that don't know, Taylor's work is impeccable in both workmanship and authenticity. He is a known authority on the lore and legend of the Hawken Mountain Rifle.
When he inlets a lock or barrel, there is no need to fill in the gaps with Acra-Glas, cause there ain't none!
Too bad he's retired and no longer making rifles; 'ceptin' maybe a little work on the side for his friends .... :>)
For those that don't know, Taylor's work is impeccable in both workmanship and authenticity. He is a known authority on the lore and legend of the Hawken Mountain Rifle.
When he inlets a lock or barrel, there is no need to fill in the gaps with Acra-Glas, cause there ain't none!
Too bad he's retired and no longer making rifles; 'ceptin' maybe a little work on the side for his friends .... :>)
I mean no offence, I'm sure Taylor is a skilled fellow, but stating that there is no need to back fill gaps with agra-glas isn't really saying much of his talents. Any junior apprentice would be able to artfully inlet. The only guns where you could find sloppy (shoddie) workmanship would be mass production type pieces.
Not so. I knew another great ML riflesmith who was showing his precise inletting to a couple of wanna-be's that worked for a business as their 'gunsmiths'. When he removed the unfinished action, tang and barrel from the bare wood, they said - "But you've left no room for the Acra-Glas!"
The parts were so precisely inletted, it required tapping to release them. I call that pretty precise workmanship.
Don't knock a man's work without seeing it first hand - unless you can do better .....
The parts were so precisely inletted, it required tapping to release them. I call that pretty precise workmanship.
Don't knock a man's work without seeing it first hand - unless you can do better .....
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Ah, yes. Now I recall our conversations Sharp's. You seem to misinterpret. I wasn't knocking his skills, nor did I say I was more talented. What I said was that to a craftsman, an artisan, the task of an inlet is about as academic as it comes. It's akin to applauding a cabinetmaker for making a dovetail joint!? Child's play to a Master.
You said it yourself, I'm not classifying Taylor as a 'wanna be'. I see one of his flinters on the EE...he does nice work. I'll also note that he hasn't been verified as the maker, but a father will always recognize his children, so I digress.
You said it yourself, I'm not classifying Taylor as a 'wanna be'. I see one of his flinters on the EE...he does nice work. I'll also note that he hasn't been verified as the maker, but a father will always recognize his children, so I digress.
- Location
- Ft. Mac. Alberta
A true "Hawken" rifle had no brass furniture.
I know Thompson-Center and various Italian makers offer something they call a Hawken, all tarted up with shiny brass gewgaws and such, but a Hawken rifle looks like this -
If anything, to make it look as much as possible like the original rifles the manufacturer was purporting to emulate by applying that name, you should blacken the brass as Hunstman did!
Never seen a brass mounted rifle, but there is a silver and pewter mounted Hawken in the Muzzle loading caplock rifle by ned roberts.
Cat
Taylor:
I believe it may well be one of yours .... I got it a year and a half or two years ago from a friend living in northeastern BC, who had picked it up somewhere (he didn't seem to know much about it) but was selling it because it was just too big for him. The price he was asking seemed to me to be almost ridiculously low, and even though I had "graduated" some years previously to Cowboy Action Shooting and "Victorian-era Military Action Shooting" (for want of a better term) and disposed of all but a few of my muzzle-loaders, I decided I had to have it!
I recently tried to get into the gun safe where it is stored, and couldn't locate the darn keys .... meaning I have to do a major "pick up, put away, and reorganize" in my basement "dungeon" so I can find the darn things and get into the safe to look at it!
As I recall, it has a single name marked on the barrel .... and it may well have been "Sapergia" but it is with some chagrin that I admit I simply can't recall for sure .... does that sound like the way you would have marked such a rifle?
The few photos I have of the rifle were sent by my friend before we made the deal .... in case they assist you in recognizing the piece, here are the other images I have -
The tiger striping is stunning, it flows like water.
You will see brass mounted rifles in Hanson's books on the Plains Rifles and Hawkens - Indian trade rifles. They liked shiny.
whiteinterceptor
CGN Regular
- Location
- Oshawa, Ontario
Everybody has their preference, I have the Hawken style Italian Investarms in .45 and .50 and I bought them from someone that has probably never polished them. Love the patina look to them. I think it gives the rifle a look with more of a story behind it.
Just noticed this, Cat. No, I have only owned this particular rifle for about a year and a half.
I'd never had a rifle of this caliber until getting this one. Probably what I had back then was the .50 cal. Lyman Great Plains rifle I shot for quite a few years. Very similar in configuration (being one of the best commercial-production Hawken replicas) with all browned furniture, but nowhere near as "lovely" as this one.
Can't seem to locate a picture of my Lyman, but this is a photo of one grabbed off the internet, to give an idea of appearance -
- Location
- Ft. Mac. Alberta
Just noticed this, Cat. No, I have only owned this particular rifle for about a year and a half.
I'd never had a rifle of this caliber until getting this one. Probably what I had back then was the .50 cal. Lyman Great Plains rifle I shot for quite a few years. Very similar in configuration (being one of the best commercial-production Hawken replicas) with all browned furniture, but nowhere near as "lovely" as this one.
Can't seem to locate a picture of my Lyman, but this is a photo of one grabbed off the internet, to give an idea of appearance -
/QUOTE]
Sorry Grant, I was actually replying to Talopr Sapergia's post about that big .62 being "one of his children"!
I will never forget that rifle with it's reddish color finish and tight fiddleback stock, let alone how ell Mr. Sapergia shot the danged thing!
Cat
Aahhh ..... makes sense, Cat! (I was doing my semi-alzheimers-sufferer's best to cover for the fact that I couldn't recall meeting you back then! )
I ultimately did regain access to my safe, and determined that this Hawken is not one of Taylor's "children". It is nevertheless a gorgeous piece!
)I ultimately did regain access to my safe, and determined that this Hawken is not one of Taylor's "children". It is nevertheless a gorgeous piece!
- Location
- Ft. Mac. Alberta
It's NOT??!!Aahhh ..... makes sense, Cat! (I was doing my semi-alzheimers-sufferer's best to cover for the fact that I couldn't recall meeting you back then!
I ultimately did regain access to my safe, and determined that this Hawken is not one of Taylor's "children". It is nevertheless a gorgeous piece!
Holy crap , it's a ringer then!!
OOPS! I just notice the inlay on the cheek piece.
Unless it was put there afterwards. it's not the gun I remember, that one didn't have the inlay.
Also ( Taylor himself may be able to verify) the barrel tenons on Taylor's rifle went right to left, and these ones are opposite.
Cat
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