A nice old Hacker Martin

[Hivernant1962]

I got the opportunity to handle and fire a nice Hacker Martin rifle at work Sunday. .48 caliber, 41.5" barrel.
















Also pictured is a horn he built in 1964 for a friends father. The rifle was not tested for accuracy, however I managed to hit an 11 1/2" x 8" piece of cardboard at 100 yds offhand. Load- .470 rb .015 patch and 60 grs 3fg. It made my day.  p.s. my time stamp is waaay off.

[Hivernant1962]

Could some fix these pictures for me, one time photo bucket works.. next time it does this..

[Hivernant1962]

Thanks, I was a fighting with it whilst you were fixing. 

[Hivernant1962]

Does anyone know where I can find more info on Mr. Martin and his operation?

[Bob Roller]

Major Ned Roberts mentions visited Hacker Martin in his book called
The Muzzleloading Caplock Rifle.I think Martin lived in or near Appomattox
Virginia and there is a fairly detailed write up about him in that book.
It describes making a full stock rifle and other things.
Roberts disavowed having knowledge about round ball flintlock rifles and
the write up on Martin was no doubt out of curiosity.The Major's orientation
was to the upscale percussion match rifles that were prevalent in the American
Northeast.It's a good read from cover to cover.

Bob Roller

[Majorjoel]

In the book "The Muzzleloading Caplock Rifle" by Ned Roberts you will find a section about Ned's visit to Hacker's shop.  Good pictures and information as well. The work of Hacker Martin may not quite be up to todays standards but in a time when there were no parts being made and sold, Mr. Martin was a pioneer in the gap of time between the early gunsmiths and those of today.  His rifles and pistols are highly sought after by collectors and go for pretty big bucks.   Gosh Bob, you got your post in just ahead of me!   

[James Rogers]

Major Ned Roberts mentions visited Hacker Martin in his book called
The Muzzleloading Caplock Rifle.I think Martin lived in or near Appomattox
Virginia

As I sit here having coffee on one end of my 5th grt grandfather's main land patent, just down the road on the other end is the mill seat he established in 1753. It was on this mill seat that Hacker had his operation while in Appomattox.

[Dale Campbell]

There was a fair bit on him in one of the Foxfire books. #5?

[Hivernant1962]

Thanks guys, the rifle was built for a gentleman named W.R. Holt. His son is now the owner. He comes to the range I manage every Sunday like clockwork. I was hesitant about shoot the old gal but he insisted (Due to the collector status), this weekend he's bringing a Royland Southgate. I'm tying to get him to bring in his P.A. Reinhardt target gun for some pictures also. The day we shot the Martin, we also shot an original civil war era Mason musket. In my excitement over the flinter, I neglected to get pictures of it. I hope to remedy that soon.  

[kowalski]

i do not wish to step on toes but i have a couple of corrections since there may still be some people alive who knew him....

1 W.R. Hout was my father although Holt is a common misspelling,
2 dont know if hacker or dad made the powder horn but i do know it has FF in it.i normally shoot with FFF so i can be lazy with priming but i figured a day at the range with the hacker deserved proper procedure.
3 .475 ball with .010 patch but it doesnt make a whole lot of difference.i do want to try .015 patch
i assume the errors were made due to the pure excitement of the moment and after all there is no point in having it if you are not going to shoot it. that is what it was made for.
 

do you have a pic of the left side of the stock near the muzzle?

[Shreckmeister]

Here's a nice pistol by Hacker Martin

[Tim Crosby]

  Hacker had a fellow named Robert Carr or Carter working with him at one time. After Hacker’s death in the early 70’s I went up to his place and Robert was still there. The place looked pretty bad, I never went back. I wonder if he, Robert , ever built any rifles or pistols.   

  Tim C.

[Hivernant1962]

i do not wish to step on toes but i have a couple of corrections since there may still be some people alive who knew him....

1 W.R. Hout was my father although Holt is a common misspelling,
2 dont know if hacker or dad made the powder horn but i do know it has FF in it.i normally shoot with FFF so i can be lazy with priming but i figured a day at the range with the hacker deserved proper procedure.
3 .475 ball with .010 patch but it doesnt make a whole lot of difference.i do want to try .015 patch
i assume the errors were made due to the pure excitement of the moment and after all there is no point in having it if you are not going to shoot it. that is what it was made for.
 

do you have a pic of the left side of the stock near the muzzle?

   No pic of the left near muzzle, about the errors, forgive me as I was drooling, running back and forth being the range nanny. Going to have to start writing stuff down...

[Avlrc]

They are pictures of a Hacker Martin Rifle on Toad Hall Rifleshop website. I think it says it was made for Southgate. I forget if it is for sale or just to view.

[smokinbuck]

You are going to find that the Southgate and Martin rifles are a great deal alike in styl, parts and workmanship. The signature on the Martin that you pictured is the best signature I've seen on a Martin rifle.
Mark

[Bob Roller]

Going back to a time almost vague in memory to a time in Bill Large's shop when he
got delivery on a new Hacker Martin flintlock rifle. It was a long barrel,maybe 48" and
had 6 keys or wedges as some call them along the forearm. Bill had furnished the barrel
and Martin made the rifle.It didn't shoot at all no matter what load was used so Bill
finally took the barrel out of the wood and that long forearm instantly curved to the right.
We were certain the barrel didn't leave Bill's shop with a bend in it and we thought the green
wood used to make the stock was to blame.Bill rebarreled it with a smaller caliber,more ridged barrel
and that seemed to help it. I think the barrel was a 7/8x45 and ended up a 7/8x40 caliber.
There was a powder horn Hacker sent with it that said,"Powder and ball,twins are we,God pity
the foe when we go on a spree". There was another horn he got from Hacker Martin with an obscene inscription
but I don't remember much about it.

Bob Roller