Ted, you sound like so many of my friends that have or made really nice but heavy Hawken rifles. They hunt once with them and they the rifle sits and comes out only for show or target range work. In my other life, I carry 11 lb Ballards or Sharps rifles for hunting, over mountains, and across Africa and the western plains. They are great guns but the weight becomes noticeable. I'm not a wimp per se, I cut, split, haul and stack enough firewood to heat this house all winter hear in Iowa, but I'm no superman, so I don't like the heavy gun if I don't need it.
I built a Plains rifle from a Deer Cr. kit for my wife. It is a .50 cal with a decent length of barrel and yet it weighs only 8 lbs if that. I load it down for her at the range and load it up for hunting. She used to kill the $#*! out of deer with it before she quit the business. That's when I realize I could have a Hawken that wasn't a boat anchor.
I suppose the original rifles were so heavy to handle the heavy charges in the old-time steel or iron barrels but I wonder if that was really necessary. Of course they were manly men that I will ever be.
Brant Selb is going to build a Hawken on a 1" to 7/8" tapered barrel that he recently acquired. That might be just about ideal but such barrels are hard to find and may require long waits from custom barrel makers.
One interesting trick I never thought of is to use a wood rib. The recently posted photos of the cherry-wood ribbed Plains rifle is an interesting option I had never thought of. But I'll be using steel on this one.
I am definitely enjoying building this rifle. I apologize for all the pesky questions I ask, but I do appreciate the answers everyone provides.
Now it is off the shop - more work on the tang - now glued to the plug with gap=filling super glue. And maybe inlet the barrel and tang combination while I'm at it.
