Well I have received lots of questions and comments on rifle building after featuring curly maple stocks in the Shop in Durham post. The jist of the questions are centered around the "furniture" on the rifles done in brass. This was not uncommon in the period when they were built and its not a 21st century twist. I like to make my smaller caliper rifles with bright parts like they were done years ago. The heavy gage rifles are another story. If you are wondering about the large caliper rifles, they were built for the man going to the western part of the country and NOT coming back for repairs. I will point out some of the unique building methods the Hawken Brothers used to illustrate.
Now I'd like to show the genuine Hawken rifle as they were built in St Louis. Most obvious is the lack of brass on the rifle and the use of iron in the place where brass was used on the lighter gage rifles.
This is called an iron mounted Hawken rifle. It has some features built in to make it tougher than the Kentucky rifle and considerably easier to clean in the field. As you look at the rifle notice the iron bar down the wrist section is double bolted to the trigger guard. In the original sales brochure it was stated that this could be used to kill a "savage" if lthey rushed you in the battle without regard for the rifle's welfare at risk. This was quite a rifle for its day. The barrel is tapered from the rear to the muzzle to give it better balance when shooting. Generally, they were around 50-54 caliper bores.
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The butt plate was iron and rust protected with acid to stop further rusting. A little fat or "tallow" was used for that maintenance. You might wonder ?? How did they carry this heavy rifle? On a horse most of the time. The Hawken was largelly ignored at the start of the Civil War. If could not be mass produced for the Army of the North or the Confederacy. Its accuracy was far better than the smooth bore rifles used by the infanty soldiers. I have hit the bull at 150 yards and I am not a good shooter.
The Hawken had only iron sights for shooting
Well that's about it on the Hawken rifle folks - you can send questions to me if you want more info
Now I'd like to show the genuine Hawken rifle as they were built in St Louis. Most obvious is the lack of brass on the rifle and the use of iron in the place where brass was used on the lighter gage rifles.
This is called an iron mounted Hawken rifle. It has some features built in to make it tougher than the Kentucky rifle and considerably easier to clean in the field. As you look at the rifle notice the iron bar down the wrist section is double bolted to the trigger guard. In the original sales brochure it was stated that this could be used to kill a "savage" if lthey rushed you in the battle without regard for the rifle's welfare at risk. This was quite a rifle for its day. The barrel is tapered from the rear to the muzzle to give it better balance when shooting. Generally, they were around 50-54 caliper bores.
The butt plate was iron and rust protected with acid to stop further rusting. A little fat or "tallow" was used for that maintenance. You might wonder ?? How did they carry this heavy rifle? On a horse most of the time. The Hawken was largelly ignored at the start of the Civil War. If could not be mass produced for the Army of the North or the Confederacy. Its accuracy was far better than the smooth bore rifles used by the infanty soldiers. I have hit the bull at 150 yards and I am not a good shooter.
The Hawken had only iron sights for shooting
Well that's about it on the Hawken rifle folks - you can send questions to me if you want more info
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