Barrel Length

[smoke]

Hi: Going to get a fullstock hawken flintlock from track. What is the best barrel length and why? Dan [.54 cal.]

[rich pierce]

36" would be my choice.  Longer gets real heavy without a horse.  Shorter looks stubby.

[doug]

      42" tapered and swamped if you can find one, would be my choice.  Looks nice and gets rid of weight.  Failing that it would be 42" swamped.

cheers Doug

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I agree with Rich regarding the length.  Consider a tapered barrel too for much improved balance and handling.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Doug, he's building a Hawken rifle.  I think 42" is too long, and swamped in inappropriate.  Ask Harnic about .50 cal 1" x 42" Hawken barrels.

[stuart cee dub]

for what it is worth ....I have used .54 cal ,1'' across the flats ,32'' long .Balance worked out great and it was not to heavy and did not look stubby .

[J.D.]

A friend once had a  psuedo half-stock Hawken with about a 38 inch long, 54 cal barrel, 1" at the breech tapered to something like 3/4" at the muzzle that handled like a dream.

IMHO, a 1" barrel with such a radical taper looked kinda weird, to my eye, in a relatively short length, but it was well balanced and felt light in the hand. Shot good too.

God bless

[smoke]

 Thank You all. It will be a 36". Better balance and lighter weight sounds good to me as i don't have a horse and do live in the Rockies where flat lands are hard to find. Dan

[rsells]

I would recommend a length of 34 to 38 inches in length depending upon the caliber rifle you build with a 1 inch across the flats barrel.  In a .54 I would use a 36 to 38 inch.  The Cody museum has a great looking full stock plain maple caplock version on display.  You can pull it up from their data base and look at the details.  I can't remember what the web page is, but it has been published in ALR a couple of times in the past.  I took a bunch of photographs of Hawken rifles at the museum, and the full stock really stuck in my mind.  Might spark some ideas for you.
                                                                                            Roger Sells

[Mike Brooks]

I had one back in the dark ages. 1" X 38" X .50. Very comfortable.

[T*O*F]

Doug, he's building a Hawken rifle.

Yeah, but it's a fullstock flint hawken and I think 36" would look kinda funky.  I'd get a 42" swamped and shorten a bit at each end to 38"

[Chuck Burrows]

Doug, he's building a Hawken rifle.  I think 42" is too long, and swamped in inappropriate.  Ask Harnic about .50 cal 1" x 42" Hawken barrels.

Not necessarily - 42" is long for later rifles, but not necessarily for earlier ones such as the one built for Gen'l Ashley and there are several swamped barrels on original Hawkens including half stocks albeit tapered barrels are by far the most common - straight barrels are in fact seldom seen.........the full-stock John Brown Hawken built in the 1835-45 period has a heavy .66 caliber barrel and OAL is 56.5" giving it a barrel length of 38-40" long....

A couple of examples of known swamped barrel Hawkens: the 1850's full-stock Kennett Hawken at the School of Ozarks has a swamped 38" barrel and the 1836 uber fancy half-stocked Atchison Hawken at the BBHC (but not in their online collection) has a 37.5" swamped barrel.

IMO - most of the current ideas regarding what a Hawken should look like are based on the later 1840's and 1850's rifles of which in comparison there are many extant and not on the few earlier guns of which even the earliest are at most likely of the circa 1835-40 date. Compare to the orders for other western rifles of the period and in most cases they were made with 40-44" barrels so such longer barrels are well within the purvue of the times......

Yeah, but it's a fullstock flint hawken and I think 36" would look kinda funky

The full-stock Dunham rifle discussed in Baird has a 36.5" barrel and IMO is one of the nicest looking full-stock Hawkens still extant - but perosnally I do like the looks of those longer.......actually cutting back a 42" swamped C weight in .54 caliber to 38" would make a nice piece and would be "PC" since the Hawkens are noted to have done just this by serious students of the genre....

[Dphariss]

Hi: Going to get a fullstock hawken flintlock from track. What is the best barrel length and why? Dan [.54 cal.]

36-38 would be typical I suppose.
This is a 38" 1" 54 caliber

A friend has a 32" 1 1/8" identical to this except barrel length and width that was 54 and I just replaced the barrel with a 58 GM. Its a pretty darned nice hunting rifle at this length.

This is a 34" IIRC


I would look into Don Stiths stuff too. Most the TOW Hawken stuff is a little "off" IMO.

Dan

[eseabee1]

I have one being built right now the barrel is 54cal tapered octagon 38'' got to check everything out the barrel has a nice weight to it

[Sean]

Doug, he's building a Hawken rifle.  I think 42" is too long, and swamped in inappropriate.

I recently handled an original J&S Hawken with a 38" barrel that had been bobbed off at the breech at least.  Its currently 1.2" at the breech tapering to a bit over 0.8 and flaring back to over an inch at the muzzle.  For barrel length, there are several known J&S Hawkens in the 39-43" range.

Sean