Finished the Hawken up

[frontier gander]

Just finished this off for an online buddy that bought the project off me and then I finished it to his liking.

Started off life as a 50cal CVA Hawken but the barrel was water rusted of all things

I polished all the lock parts and trigger parts that touched/rubbed against each other and that really made a huge difference in how clean the trigger breaks.

Reshaped the stock a bit in the wrist area as you can see, 4 coats LMF nut brown, followed by 2 coats LMF walnut, low gloss tung oil, buffed with 0000 steel wool and then 2 coats of Johnson paste wax. Brass was antiqued with perma blue gun paste and then brass black.

Factory rear sight so he can easily adjust POI but I did install a new german silver front blade sight. Super super happy with this sight set up.

Now getting to the real goodies, I had fit and installed a new deer creek .58cal 32" 1:66 twist barrel and bedded the tang, trigger plate and a small forward section of the stock to make sure theres no side to side play under recoil or in foul weather.

The rifle just came out perfect, I wish I had done mine this way but you know what that means for me now... REFINISH!

I'll get some more pictures of it on the range when I can make it out. For now, this will do.

[ken]

That looks pretty good , Hope it shoots as well as it looks. What did you do to breech area to get better fit and what did you use for a breech plug?  ken

[frontier gander]

deer creek has everything installed, no work needed the breech. I did have to relocate the tenon though.

Acraglas under the tang, trigger plate and section of the barrel up front. This stuff is awesome and keeps the metal from pulling into the wood under heavy recoil.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Is that under-rib short of the nose piece?

[frontier gander]

yep. I use a shorter version to keep the weight off the nose of the barrel.

[Candle Snuffer]

Nice looking rifle.  Rifles like these have introduced many a new members into our muzzle loading ranks over the years, and have sparked an interest for many to pursue other styles and makes of traditional muzzle loaders.  Good job.

[Kenny]

I really like the rifle, finish is very nice but that under rib just looks wrong being short like that. IMO

[hanshi]

You have a handsome rifle.  I don't think the short under rib looks bad at all; just different and there's nothing wrong with that.

[Topknot]

Cool looking ball gun. What does she weigh?

                                           topknot

[frontier gander]

8lbs 9oz

The shorter rib does look different but its all from a hunters/target stand point, You don't want to be any more heavier up front than it has to be. Going out here in a bit to shoot it for the first time.

[Topknot]

Let us know how well she does.

                        topknot

[frontier gander]

90gr Schuetzen with a .562" round ball didn't shoot that great with this powder but at least it reacts the same way my other twin of this rifle does! Huge comfort once I switched to a much tighter .575" ball with a .015" patch. Only 2 shots as I am out of the .575's now.

50 yards

[Candle Snuffer]

Can't argue the last two shots!  She's marking good!