poured pewter nose cap on a Hawken 1/2 stock?

[Boompa]

  Any suggestions for the look of a poured cap for a Hawken?  Every Hawken I've seen pretty much has the same style of nose cap but I thought as long as I'm using poured pewter, I may alter the shape just a bit. The picture below of a poured cap on a Sharps rifle is not appropriate for a Hawken but is an example of how a nose cap can be poured.

[oldtravler61]

Very interesting! Like it

[Mtn Meek]

  Any suggestions for the look of a poured cap for a Hawken?  Every Hawken I've seen pretty much has the same style of nose cap but I thought as long as I'm using poured pewter, I may alter the shape just a bit. The picture below of a poured cap on a Sharps rifle is not appropriate for a Hawken but is an example of how a nose cap can be poured.

If you’re building a classic half stock Mountain rifle, people have pretty specific ideas about how it should look.  The cast steel nose cap is one of those.

If you’re wanting to be a little more imaginative about the style of rifle you’re building, then that opens up all kinds of opportunities.  J&S Hawken built a lot of rifles that don’t fit the classic Mountain rifle pattern.  Some of these were small caliber sporting arms for the local market and some are larger caliber, but defy classification.  You see more pewter nose caps on these than on the classic Mountain rifle.

Below is a scan from Baird’s second book, Fifteen Years In The Hawken Lode, showing two of these rifles, each with a slightly different nose cap.  The opposite page in the book has a drawing of a third rifle with similar characteristics.



If you have copies of Baird’s two books, thumb through them, and you will notice several rifles with what appear to be pewter nose caps.

This is not a Hawken rifle, but I offer it as another option for you.  This nose cap is on a GRRW Leman Kentucky half stock rifle.




Phil

[Ky-Flinter]

Not a Hawken, but here's one I poured on a half-stock.  Do a Search on the words "poured pewter" and you'll see a bunch.



-Ron

[Bob Roller]

  Any suggestions for the look of a poured cap for a Hawken?  Every Hawken I've seen pretty much has the same style of nose cap but I thought as long as I'm using poured pewter, I may alter the shape just a bit. The picture below of a poured cap on a Sharps rifle is not appropriate for a Hawken but is an example of how a nose cap can be poured.

If you’re building a classic half stock Mountain rifle, people have pretty specific ideas about how it should look.  The cast steel nose cap is one of those.

If you’re wanting to be a little more imaginative about the style of rifle you’re building, then that opens up all kinds of opportunities.  J&S Hawken built a lot of rifles that don’t fit the classic Mountain rifle pattern.  Some of these were small caliber sporting arms for the local market and some are larger caliber, but defy classification.  You see more pewter nose caps on these than on the classic Mountain rifle.

Below is a scan from Baird’s second book, Fifteen Years In The Hawken Lode, showing two of these rifles, each with a slightly different nose cap.  The opposite page in the book has a drawing of a third rifle with similar characteristics.



If you have copies of Baird’s two books, thumb through them, and you will notice several rifles with what appear to be pewter nose caps.

This is not a Hawken rifle, but I offer it as another option for you.  This nose cap is on a GRRW Leman Kentucky half stock rifle.




Phil

This proves what I have said in the past about Hawken rifles and that is "There isn't one that's alike much less two". They were hand made. Many years ago,collectors of Colt pistols learned not to say "Colt never did this or that or something else". I saw one in a local collection with an EIGHT inch barrel,not the usual 7.5 and a nickel plated cylinder plus a factory letter to back it up.
Hand made muzzle loaders can have a wide variety of things happen to them over the last 160+ years including a pot metal forearm cap.

Bob Roller

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Back in the last century, I worked for a great gunsmith whose name is Robinson - making Hawken rifles for him.  We made 176 IIRC, and all of the half stocked rifles had poured nose caps.  I used high speed babbit material for the nose caps which is a material one has a hard time marking with a fingernail.  It is a fairly easy and fool proof method to create a tough nose cap, though at the time, I didn't know that it wasn't exactly historically correct.  The picture above is one of those, as is the following image.  I wouldn't hesitate to make another one.  The cast steel commercial offerings available always require work to make them work.

[wetzel]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I had a specific question about what type of high speed Babbitt material D. Taylor used. I see that there are multiple types or grades available. The grades have different amounts of materials and this affects melting and pouring temperatures. I would like to try this on a forend. Thanks.

[Panzerschwein]

From my readings, some Hawkens had silver plated nosecaps.

[heinz]

I would suggest you purchase some "real" pewter.  This is a tin, antimony and copper alloy and can have a little (less than 10%) lead in it to lower the melting point.  It will work fine for nose caps without the lead.  This is an authentic period material that was used for table ware.  It is fairly hard and reasonably scratch resistant.  You can find it on-line.  I buy it for pouring bolsters on knife handles.

[wetzel]

Thank you.

[smylee grouch]

Poured nose caps are of moderate difficulty to do. When done right they look neat to some people. I don't like the shinny glitz look of pewter so on a few that I have done I mixed in some silver solder to the pour mix and changed the color to one of less  of a chrome look. Every one has their own idea of what looks right or good.

[Daryl]

Indeed, SmyleeG - I like this one.

[Robin Henderson]

Poured this one on the one I did a year or so ago.

[Jeff Murray]

Most of the half stock Hawken rifles in the Buffalo Bill Museum collection have a "mild" half moon style taper filed into the front edge of the nose cap.  I don't have a good picture to post.

[RAT]

Poured pewter forend cap on the "ETC" J & S Hawken rifle at the MT Historical Society.

[RAT]

Here's another photo... this time from inside...