fixed breech Hawken?

[Boompa]

  I've always associated the Hawken rifle with the hooked breech. I recently saw a really nice looking full stock Hawken where the builder used a fixed breech and pinned the barrel lugs as with any ML. 
Did the original full stock guns use the fixed or hook breech?  Or do we really know?

[sz]

Many if now most surviving original Hawkens have hooked breaches, but not all.

[Bob Roller]

Many if now most surviving original Hawkens have hooked breaches, but not all.

There is a full stock percussion Hawken in  Baird's first book with a fixed breech. Bill Large made a lot of them and referred to them a "solid patent breech.

Bob Roller

[Don Stith]

Most of the full stock Hawken rifles I have seen were fixed breech, both J&S and S Hawken
 The Smithsonian and School of the Ozarks guns are the exception.  They are also extremely late pieces circa 1855 or so. Unfortunately a lot of people only know a "Hawken" as a half stock plains rifle.

[Boompa]

  I've built / owned a couple of half stock Hawkens but my next one will be a full stock. I prefer the look of the full stock and I'll likely use a fixed breech. For me the hook breech is like a patch box, it has some benefit but I seldom utilize them.

[Bob Roller]

  I've built / owned a couple of half stock Hawkens but my next one will be a full stock. I prefer the look of the full stock and I'll likely use a fixed breech. For me the hook breech is like a patch box, it has some benefit but I seldom utilize them.

Notice the difference in hook breech fits. The American frontier guns was good but not outstanding.The British long range rifles were so close the dividing line between the standing breech and the breech plug is sometimes hard to see. IF there is any gap in these breech/tang fits accuracy will be a dream to hope for,especially if the gun is equipped with a tang sight.

Bob Roller

[Don Stith]

Yanking a barrel out of a full stock ala hooked breech, is the fastest way I know to break  a stock.  Durability was a neccessity for a rifle  made for use on the frontier

[rich pierce]

Don, that makes perfect sense.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

...not to mention bending a 5" + long tang.  You'll never get it to fit your stock again.

[Herb]

The fixed patent breech is discussed in Gun Building in  aka california eddillion's post on October 07 2013, subject "Patent Breech for Hawken Full Stock".