Photos of my Last Kit Carson Build for Kevin to see

[Herb]

Kevin wants to see more photos of this rifle, but his E-mail no longer works.  I expect he will see them here, and you can, too.





The entry pipe and nose cap are held on with screws from the barrel channel, like the original.

The front sight is low due to the KC rear sight, like the original.

TOW's KC rear sight.

I made the escutcheon and reshaped the trigger guard.

[Curmudgeon]

Nice Hawken.  email sent.

Kevin

[Algae]

Nice work! Love the finish!

Al J.

[Scota4570]

Is that heat blue as done with a propane torch?

[Herb]

YES.  The easiest of all the finishing techniques.

[Clark Badgett]

YES.  The easiest of all the finishing techniques.

Is it the barrel you blued with a propane torch or the color casing?

[Herb]

The breech plug and tang are heat blued.  The barrel, underrib and rod pipes are browned with Laurel Mountain Forge Barrel Brown and Degreaser with boiling distilled water poured over them after each of five coats.  This turns the brown to a blue.

[Joe S.]

Nice looking hawken rifle Herb.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Nice Herb!  I especially like the triggers and guard.  The profile is also spot on.  The only criticism, if I may:  the rear of the lock panel is a little too 'crisp' to my eye.  I like a little more roundness to the molding...not so precisely defined..a very credible Hawken.

[Herb]

Thanks, Taylor.  Here are some photos of Kevin handling the Carson rifle in Sante Fe.  I did not "age" this rifle, but the panels won't be so crisp after 170 years like Kit's rifle.














upload images fast

[Curmudgeon]

Here is another close up of the lock panel showing a small section of the panel which may not have gotten exposed to as much wear as the proximal and distal areas.  Maybe this provides some insight into how it originally was done.  Notice the file marks from Sam's handwork on the barrel, hammer and snail.  The barrel was blued.

[Curmudgeon]

bump

[Herb]

He sure got a good fit on that breech plug and tang.  And I have those same file marks ahead of some of my snails, unless I smooth them out. 

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Great photos of a classic Hawken:  I take it back Herb.  You scored well on your interpretation!!  Nice subtle case colours in the Carson rifle, eh?