Author Topic: A walnut and brass .50 Hawken caplock  (Read 5813 times)

Offline Herb

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A walnut and brass .50 Hawken caplock
« on: August 01, 2015, 06:52:59 AM »
I had a .50 GRRW barrel and a walnut plank and some odds and ends of Hawken parts so I put them together.  The barrel was picked up off the shop floor at GRRW by a friend in about 1978.  The flats had been milled uneven on four sides, so it was a reject and Doc White gave it to him.  He gave it to me last year.   I filed the flats on the thickest sides of the barrel down some to mostly equalize the diameters across the flats.  Then I rebuilt some Cherry Corner triggers and worked over a Hawken lock of unknown ancestory, probably a Davis.  I got the brass trigger guard and buttplate from Track a few years back and they are still available.  I riveted the underrib on with copper rivets soldered into the barrel and then peened over.  Made brass escutcheons, but used steel keys and entry pipe and brass nose cap.  Today I went out to do the sighting in and load development.

Thirty-two inch barrel, about one inch across the flats, 13.5 inch length of pull.

I heat blued the lock plate and trigger plate but blued the barrel with Brownell's Oxpho blue.

Stained the stock with Laurel Mountain Forge Nut Brown and finished with Chambers Traditional Oil Stock Finish.  This was 8 years old and so I thinned it and wiped it right off with paper towels, about six coats.



I shot my proof targets at 50 yards from rest, 92 degrees but calm.  Made weight-corrected measures from brass cartridge cases.  The patching is JoAnn's linen, .012 but crushes to .007.  This loaded easily.  I don't know what caused those two wild shots, but the patches may have holed.  I could not find all of them.  This rifle may be used for deer hunting this fall by its new owner.

I have now built about 16 Hawkens, if I remember them all.  Eight were parts sets such as Track's Bridger and Carson Hawkens and one fullstock and a Don Stith fullstock.  But eight I sawed out with handsaws. Four or five of these were walnut and one was left-handed.  I wish I did not have to do this again, it is a lot of work and difficult to get right.  JoeS wrote in "My Hawken Build So Far" on 6/21/2015 "I think next time I would start off with a blank."  I highly  advise against this.  It is just too hard to get the lines right.  I made mistakes on my last three, including the Bridger Hawken and this one.   I could have built three Hawkens from correct parts and an inletted stock in the time it took me to do this one.
« Last Edit: March 08, 2020, 08:17:17 AM by Herb »
Herb

Offline Joe S.

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Re: A walnut and brass .50 Hawken caplock
« Reply #1 on: August 01, 2015, 01:07:45 PM »
I like it,your chasing your tail in my opinion trying to achieve perfection with these hawken rifles.After looking at many photos of originals and good reproductions you can see differences in every one of them.Do your best to get the lines as close as you can and take a stab at trying to get period in time down to get your furniture right and its all good.As craftsman we are our worst critics.Herb you did good with this build .I'm still plugging along with my hawken,been pretty busy with work lately and haven't had muchtime to work on her but I hope mine looks as good as your builds as well as the rest of the guys who taken a  liking to hawken rifles

Offline Bob Roller

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Re: A walnut and brass .50 Hawken caplock
« Reply #2 on: August 01, 2015, 03:05:12 PM »
I like it,your chasing your tail in my opinion trying to achieve perfection with these hawken rifles.After looking at many photos of originals and good reproductions you can see differences in every one of them.Do your best to get the lines as close as you can and take a stab at trying to get period in time down to get your furniture right and its all good.As craftsman we are our worst critics.Herb you did good with this build .I'm still plugging along with my hawken,been pretty busy with work lately and haven't had muchtime to work on her but I hope mine looks as good as your builds as well as the rest of the guys who taken a  liking to hawken rifles

It is a good looking rifle but brass is not my choice for anything. Smells awful when worked and
iron (steel) or silver is much better looking IMHO. There never has been a "perfect" Hawken or
any other rifle. Even the presentation types are flawed because the people that made them are.
Some better than others but NONE perfect.

Bob Roller

Offline mountainman70

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Re: A walnut and brass .50 Hawken caplock
« Reply #3 on: August 01, 2015, 03:51:22 PM »
Right fine lookin to me,too.I rekkin Herb has about as good a hand on Hawkin building as anyone else I have seen.Brass ok,walnut wood is wearing me out in my breathing.Aint doin but 1 more SMR under way.Best regards,Dave :D

Offline gunmaker

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Re: A walnut and brass .50 Hawken caplock
« Reply #4 on: August 01, 2015, 06:40:22 PM »
Nice piece of work, the deer will be impressed......Tom

Whaleman

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Re: A walnut and brass .50 Hawken caplock
« Reply #5 on: August 01, 2015, 07:21:30 PM »
Herb, I see you install your keys from the left side in. I see it both ways. I assume you believe left side in is correct. Thanks, Dan

Offline FDR

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Re: A walnut and brass .50 Hawken caplock
« Reply #6 on: August 01, 2015, 07:33:21 PM »
Nice gun! Sam would be proud.

Offline Herb

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Re: A walnut and brass .50 Hawken caplock
« Reply #7 on: August 01, 2015, 10:16:32 PM »
Dan, I like left.  Jim Gordon's book "Great Gunmakers for the Early West, Volume III" has photos of 35 Hawkens.  On some it is hard to tell, but I think 19 of them have the key heads on the left and 10 on the right.  Some heads are so small it is hard to tell, and some fullstocks don't appear to have heads on the keys.  Of the "squirrel" rifles, four were left entry and one right.  The Bridger Hawken is left entry, but its near twin, the Kit Carson rifle, has the heads on the right.  I do not know if all keys were pinned, and if not, the key can be put in from either side.  The brass-mounted Hawken in Gordon's book has the key heads on the right and a brass pineapple patch box and a spurred trigger guard.

I figured out my wild shot with the 80 grain charge.  My cardboard-backed target buckled in the wind and tipped toward me just at my fifth shot, so that high shot would probably have been in the main group on the right.  I walked up and straightened it and then shot a sixth shot, which was in the group.
« Last Edit: August 01, 2015, 10:19:53 PM by Herb »
Herb

Whaleman

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Re: A walnut and brass .50 Hawken caplock
« Reply #8 on: August 02, 2015, 04:55:40 AM »
Herb, Thank you, mine will be left in. The gun is nice and I personally like the contrast of the brass and the steel. Quick question for you or anybody who knows. On my Hawken I would like to have the lock,trigger guard and butt plate color ncase hardenened. I can not do this. Who is the best to send to? Thanks Dan

docone

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Re: A walnut and brass .50 Hawken caplock
« Reply #9 on: August 02, 2015, 05:38:49 AM »
It looks great to me!
A well done job.