Contemporary Hawken Rifles??

[nosrettap1958]

What ever happened to Sharon and Ozark Mountain? Those were some excellent rifles. And would you have to buy a pure custom built Hawken today to match them for quality?

[oldarcher]

Sharon is long out of business, 1982?? or somewhere near then. I really don't know about Ozark Mtn.
Sharon built some rifles and sold kits and you certainly would have to purchase a custom rifle to come anywhere near the quality of Sharon. There are some really great custom builders today that build some superb products but the cost is high, but then again you get what you pay for.

[Hungry Horse]

 The Sharons were shooters, but as has been stated, the rear entry pipe was the invention of a mental midget. The Ron Long locks on the early Sharons weren't the best either. I seem to recall internal parts kits being marketed to repair these locks.

                   Hungry Horse

[Bob Roller]

Hungry Horse,
Like so many others,foundries at that time were not really up to the job of
making lock parts other than hammers and plates for cap locks. Ron Long
and L&R had a lot of problems because of it and maybe Siler as well.Russ
Hamm certainly did. To make any pruduct,a knoeldge of the product is a
useful thing but the existing foundries of that time were no interested in
anything resembling quaility control.

Bob Roller

[oldarcher]

Hungry Horse, I believe that you are correct, an "update kit" was marketed for the Sharon locks but I don't remember if it was for Long locks or not...it seems like it was for L & R? I have had occasion to "rebuild" a Sharon kit Hawken. I bought one poorly assembled at a gun show in the early 90's for $60. The entry pipe along with the stock went in the trash and I restocked it with the other original furniture. It was a great shooter and I wish I still had it..
Bob has a good point. just because a part is from a well known old builder does not make it good. You really have to be careful about what you buy when you buy old parts. I always search for Large, Sharon, Green River, and H & H barrels, ( there are some other good barrels also), but my preference in locks is limited to Roller, Schillinger, Robbins and maybe a real clean Cherry Corners. Other than these I would really be careful.
Just my 2 cents....

[Majorjoel]

I have a percussion lock made by Ron Long on the Hawken rifle that I built from a parts set that had been in a friends shop since the 1970's. I have never found a finer working lock than this one! Very smoooooooth and functions like a fine swiss watch.        

[Majorjoel]

       

[oldarcher]

Majorjoel,
I think that you should shoot whatever you are happy with! I would like to see a few more pics of your Hawken.
Thx
Tom

[Dan'l 1946]

  I have one of these locks on a Sharon fullstock Hawken. It really is a fast and smooth lock, easily on a par with my Schillinger lock.
                                                             Dan

[Majorjoel]

Majorjoel,
I think that you should shoot whatever you are happy with! I would like to see a few more pics of your Hawken.
Thx
Tom

   I have always shot the guns that make me happy! This Hawken copy has been an amazing experience for me from finding the box of parts covered in years of dust and grime to the shooting range where it has put me in the winners circle. There still is some mystery as to the maker of the 36" barrel that is a straight sided 1 1\8" across the flats and 54 caliber. My friend who sold the set to me thought it was a Bill Large barrel. There are no marks on it to prove this. No matter, it sure is a shooter!      

[oldarcher]

Great looking Hawken! Thanks for posting the pics. I am sure that rescuing the parts box and building a great Looking/shooting rifle was very rewarding. I search for old parts all of the time, especially the great old barrels like Large, GRRW, Sharon, H & H and a few others, in addition I always look for old locks like Rollers, Schillingers (s?) Cherry Corners and Long. I get great satisfaction from finding these wonderful old orphan parts and building really interesting rifles. I put parts to use that otherwise would be lost and forgotton.
Best of luck with your rifle.
Tom

[PPatch]

That is one handsome shooting iron Joel.

dave

[nosrettap1958]

I remember visiting the Ozark shop in Branson many years ago and fondeling their guns....I had a friend who ordered a rifle from them and it was a real nice piece, shot real well....We eventualy went our seperate ways, he got married and then the kids came along so he stopped shootiong BP. I think he still has it, he still lives in the area, maybe I'll give him a call....Ed

Ed, did you ever give your friend a call about his Ozark Hawken?

I don't think I've ever seen an Ozark Mountain Hawken, but weren't they noted for some other rifle?

[D Scott St Louis]

    Hefner, I don't remember your first name but I remember working on your gun . I believe  we had had a bedding problem on one of them . We couldn't get it out of the wood . We froze it in my freezer for a couple of days and it didn't help at all.