Author Topic: New Hawken Build  (Read 26342 times)

nosrettap1958

  • Guest
Re: New Hawken Build
« Reply #75 on: July 23, 2017, 07:20:36 AM »
I sure would like to see a few pics of your Hawken after you get it.

Offline Rolf

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1764
  • There's more than one way to skin a cat.
Re: New Hawken Build
« Reply #76 on: July 23, 2017, 12:55:13 PM »
Either way that's what I want. I'm tired of shooting RH guns. I'm not going to build it to satisfy the next owner.
I agree With all of my heart.  The Lock on the wrong side for lefthanders is awkard when it comes to priming for a quick shot. But the big problem is the cheek piece on the wrong side and castoff instead of cast on. I 'd never make a rigth hand rifle for myself.

Pistols I can live With the Lock on the wrong side. The rest of the Stock shape is identical for rigth hand and lefthand Versions.

Best regards
Rolf

Offline Joe S.

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1990
  • the other Joe S.
Re: New Hawken Build
« Reply #77 on: July 23, 2017, 02:52:34 PM »
I say its your rifle and build it your way.I'm left handed my self and can and do use right handed rifles.Used plenty of right handed modern rifles,never needed/a second shot so reloading was never an issue.Rolf brings up the best point and that's the cheek and cast off.When I finally decided to build my own rifle I made the decision to build it for me,left handed.

nosrettap1958

  • Guest
Re: New Hawken Build
« Reply #78 on: July 23, 2017, 06:38:49 PM »
Like some judge is going to say, "Its a left handed Hawken can't use it. Hawken rifles were all built for right handers." 

WHAT!!!!!  ???

 

Offline Don Stith

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2815
Re: New Hawken Build
« Reply #79 on: July 23, 2017, 08:08:28 PM »
Somewhere I have a picture of an origial left hand Hawken that a member used to shoot at the Gemmer Club in St Louis back in the 1960 era

Offline Joe S.

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1990
  • the other Joe S.
Re: New Hawken Build
« Reply #80 on: July 23, 2017, 08:27:01 PM »
You mean to tell me there where left hand impaired folk way back then and somebody would actually build them a gun with the lock on the wrong side too.Perhaps with all the scientific research they will find a cure soon :o

Offline Bob Roller

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 9687
Re: New Hawken Build
« Reply #81 on: July 23, 2017, 08:41:26 PM »
Pete - should be just fine, however, much depends on the powder charges you will be using, whether or not the hooked butt plate is going to be hard on the body. The heavier the better if using heavier charges for say, elk or moose.

1" seems to me to be quite small for anything larger than a .54.  what will it weigh?   I did not see a weight suggested, but 36" of barrel should help that out a bit.

The last rifle I built was  in 2008. It was a "work in progress" when I got it.
It was a GM barrel,58 caliber and 1" across the flats. I shot it with 80 grains of
GOEX 3fg and a tight loaded .575 ball with striped pillow cloth patch and I got
good results at 260 yards shooting offhand at clay discs the shotgunners left around
after their Tuesday shoot.50 yards from a rest was a one ragged hole group.
I styled it after a Swiss "Stutzer" from 1805 cutting the barrel to 36" from 40"
Butt plate was almost flat and all steel trim and a Ketland lock that I made from
parts I had in a desk drawer for about 35 years.

Bob Roller

nosrettap1958

  • Guest
Re: New Hawken Build
« Reply #82 on: July 23, 2017, 09:18:35 PM »
No way Joe, that lefty is non PC and will get tossed in a heartbeat.  :) ;)

I thought I heard it all, but you never know.

Offline Bob Roller

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 9687
Re: New Hawken Build
« Reply #83 on: July 24, 2017, 03:39:18 PM »
You mean to tell me there where left hand impaired folk way back then and somebody would actually build them a gun with the lock on the wrong side too.Perhaps with all the scientific research they will find a cure soon :o

Don't worry about PC or anything else. Build what ever you are capable of and enjoy the end result.
I remember a controversy about left hand rifles and while they are not common they did exist.
Don Stith's statement tells me at least ONE was made and might not have been recorded in the Hawken
Shop list of work or showed up on a work order if such a thing was used then.
The "Impairment" is with those that get their shirts in a knot over NOTHING.

Bob Roller

Offline Mike Brooks

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 13415
    • Mike Brooks Gunmaker
Re: New Hawken Build
« Reply #84 on: July 24, 2017, 11:16:45 PM »
I shoot right handed. I have shot left handed guns a bunch, even guns with locks on BOTH sides. Never found a problem with any of them. Ever try and sell a left handed gun  for what the same thing  a right handed version would sell for? Now that's where you'll run into trouble...I found out years ago most lefties are broke...... :P
NEW WEBSITE! www.mikebrooksflintlocks.com
Say, any of you boys smithies? Or, if not smithies per se, were you otherwise trained in the metallurgic arts before straitened circumstances forced you into a life of aimless wanderin'?

Offline Joe S.

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1990
  • the other Joe S.
Re: New Hawken Build
« Reply #85 on: July 25, 2017, 02:00:47 AM »
It would be real interesting to see a original left handed Hawken come up for sale.I wonder if it would sell for less than its right handed counterpart.

Offline Bob Roller

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 9687
Re: New Hawken Build
« Reply #86 on: July 25, 2017, 03:16:16 PM »
It would be real interesting to see a original left handed Hawken come up for sale.I wonder if it would sell for less than its right handed counterpart.

Bound to be worth less if it's a lefty. ;D

Bob Roller

Offline BigAl52

  • Starting Member
  • *
  • Posts: 21
Re: New Hawken Build
« Reply #87 on: August 01, 2017, 06:38:38 AM »



Heres a lefty for you guys. GRRW 54 caliber. No its not an original but its a lefty and one heck of a shooting one at that. Al

Offline Bob Roller

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 9687
Re: New Hawken Build
« Reply #88 on: August 01, 2017, 04:45:08 PM »



Heres a lefty for you guys. GRRW 54 caliber. No its not an original but its a lefty and one heck of a shooting one at that. Al

Looks good and if it shoots as well as it looks then who is to say NAY??
It satisfies a need for someone who wanted it.

Bob Roller

Offline Darkhorse

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1665
Re: New Hawken Build
« Reply #89 on: August 05, 2017, 02:07:59 AM »
I have 3 LH **** guns and 2 LH Flintlocks. I recently sold an older LH Flint and got all my money back. The buyer wanted a LH Flintlock and didn't blink at the price. But I don't care one Iota about the resell value of any of my guns. I wanted them for me, not for my wife to resell. And they have all served me well. My wife is welcome to get what she can out of my stuff when I'm gone, I certainly won't worry about it, besides that money has been well spent for a long time now.
I recently discovered my youngest grandson is a natural lefthander and the flintlocks just fascinate him. So when I pass I'll be dropping my LH guns by his place on the way out.
American horses of Arabian descent.

Offline Clark Badgett

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2257
  • Oklahoma
Re: New Hawken Build
« Reply #90 on: August 05, 2017, 03:14:37 AM »
Somewhere I have a picture of an origial left hand Hawken that a member used to shoot at the Gemmer Club in St Louis back in the 1960 era

If you find it, I'm sure that there are many that would love to see it.
Psalms 144

Offline mountainman70

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2465
  • USAF vet 1971-1972 malmstrom afb,montana
Re: New Hawken Build
« Reply #91 on: August 20, 2017, 12:07:14 AM »
I am sure those on here that attended the CLA show at Lexington Ky noticed at least 2,and I believe three LEFT HANDED  original flintlock long guns in several styles. Wish now I had taken pics,but the locks were available back in the day. have a goodun,y'all !! Dave 8)

JB2

  • Guest
Re: New Hawken Build
« Reply #92 on: August 21, 2017, 07:38:58 AM »
yes, the locks were available.  I think most double guns had at least one LH lock ;D

Someone on here pointed that out to me a few years ago. 


Offline Don Steele

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 689
Re: New Hawken Build
« Reply #93 on: August 21, 2017, 02:06:21 PM »
BEST comment yet:
Either way that's what I want. I'm tired of shooting RH guns. I'm not going to build it to satisfy the next owner.

Glad to see your going to get what you want, and ENJOY it.
To Mike's comment, and with all due respect...sometimes the only thing harder to find than a left-hand flintlock shooter...is a left-hand flintlock that meets his needs/wants, that FITS, and that is sufficiently well built to be proud of.

 

Look at the world with a smilin' eye and laugh at the devil as his train rolls by...(Alison Krauss)