A Custom .50 Based On a St. Louis Hawken

[Herb]

Here are four of my last 5 Hawkens I built, the new one at the bottom.  Top, a .58 flint with a 1x36" barrel, weight 9 lbs 7 oz, with a .58 cleaning jag, a .40 jag, a ball puller and a patch puller in the patch box.  Less the last three, 9 lbs 6 oz.  Second, a .54 with 1x32 barrel, weight 9 lbs 7 oz.  Third, a .40 with a 7/8x31" barrel built to trade for No.2, weight 8 pounds.  Bottom, a .50 with a 7/8x30" barrel and a Hawken Pistol Lock, weight 7 pounds 6 oz.  For a young woman who wanted the patch box and engraving.  13.5" LOP.  The bottom two (.40 and .50), have a Hawken Squirrel Rifle "solid patent breech".  This is a 15/16" plug fitted to a 7/8" barrel and filed down to 7/8".

I built No. 2 for Ron, and when he could no longer handle the weight or recoil,  built No. 3 for him and traded.  The last three were from blanks.

The .50 cap box has a .50 cleaning jag and ball puller in it.

I had to bend that pistol lock hammer a lot to get it to hit the cap.

[greybeard]

Verry verry nice indeed!!!
Bob Reader

[Herb]

When I build a rifle for someone, I test it to be sure it works well, and to find powder, charge and patch combinations that work well.  I furnish the targets and loading data with the rifle, along with a list of the parts, and an "operator's manual".  Here are my first shots with this rifle.  The Goex 3F loads holed the patches, but the Goex 2F patches, the same ".020" Ox Yoke, which really mikes .019, were good.  Rachel wanted her rifle engraved like Ron's (the .54 Hawken above), so this shows the detail.

[Curtis]

Nice work Herb!  The engraving on the barrel is quite interesting.

Curtis

[Herb]

Thanks, Curtis!  I hesitated to do that, but Ron wanted it on that .54 Hawken.  Then I thought that if an old trapper could carve up his Hawken stock with a knife, or put brass tacks all over it, or even cut notches in the barrel for enemies killed (Tom Tobin- 12 notches!), Ron could have engraving on his barrel.  I think the pattern is called "Shoshone snake slithering through the prairie grass".  The lock engraving is patterned after original Hawkens.  When Rachel saw that, she wanted it on her rifle, the one shown here.  I see you are in Eldon, Mo.  I bet I hitchhiked through that town a lot in 1954-55 when I was at Ft. Leonard Wood and would go up to NE Iowa on a 3-day pass.

[Herb]

Because of the holed patches, I pulled the breech plug to polish the bore some, using   Remington Bore cleaneer and  JB Bore cleaner.  Also polished the crown of the muzzle with some emory cloth.  Then I shot 80 grains of Goex 2F, that worked well in another rifle I built.  That 42" barrel gave about 1630 fps with this load, this is a 30" barrel. The first shot here seated the breech and probably is a flier.

[Curtis]

I reckon you probably did hitch through Eldon, it would have been right on your path home!  That last group is looking a lot better.  It should be a great shooter.

Curtis

[Herb]

Rachel completed her first year of dental school in Phoenix (her family has at least a half-dozen dentists) and is home for the summer.  We will go shooting soon and she can learn what I know.  She got all the accouterments with this rifle, including a custom powder horn, Goex 3F, caps, balls, patches, range rod, cleaning patches, etc.

[rich pierce]

Great to see young folks taking up shooting black powder!

[Old Ford2]

Herb,
You must be some proud!
Old Ford

[SR James]

Beautiful rifles, Herb.
Hey Curtis, I grew up in Eldon!

[BONES]

Love the engravine.  I got a couple of videos and it looked easy.  Also got Shipper's book.  I tried it.  As Charlie Brown said "AARG!"

[Curtis]

SR James,

I am an Eldon area transplant, I live a few miles out in the country in the Saline Valley area.  I rode my motorcycle through here about fifteen years ago and was taken by the countryside, a few years later started looking for land and settled on a 40 acre tract.

Curtis