J & S Hawken barrel tennons

[RAT]

This question is pretty specific... but feel free to wander... I learn either way.

For those few that have had the opportunity to examine original full stock J & S Hawken... or even Sam Hawken  rifles... Do the barrel lugs pass completely through the stock at the upper forearm? In other words are the slots in the wood blind, or are they open into the ramrod groove?

I tend to be a believer that almost all original longrifles of any type have slots completely through the forestock. I've only had the opportunity to examine a few originals, and all were made this way. The only J & S Hawken rifle I examined was a half stock. There are a lot of modern makers that are obsessed with using blind slots.

[Craig Wilcox]

Bob, I really don't know the answer to your question.  I had at first thought that you were speaking of the wedges themselves, rather than the lugs.
All the lug inlets I have seen go through to the ramrod hole.  It is difficult to keep the stock slim unless the ramrod hole is drilled close to the barrel.  Sometimes there just isn't room to make blind holes for he lugs.  We make all sorts of compromises to get the forward lock bolt through - just barely enough room in the majority, and whittled down bolts in others.
Also, it is a bit easier to chisel the hole all the way through.  Any bottom clearance would be measured in thousandths.
Hope this helps you some.

[okawbow]

I’ve always made the inlet for the pin or wedge lug all the way into the ramrod groove or hole. Usually don’t have enough room otherwise.

[RAT]

I've also made the inlet all the way through. All the pictures I've seen have been done that way... except one... in Rifles of Colonial America. But I don't have any photos of an original full stock Hawken that show the ramrod groove with the ramrod removed.

Regarding the front lock bolt... never seen a forward lock bolt on a J & S Hawken rifle.