ID Hawken Kit rifle

[Longknife]

Can anyone ID this Hawken Kit rifle by these pictures?

Wide footed underlugs,,,




Square filled machined rib. Barrel is 1-66 with no markings



Cleanout screw for breech plug.




Rear sight, I was surprised it is not a buck horn?



Lock marked C763

[Mtn Meek]

Can you post a picture of the snail on the breech bolster?

From what I see in the pictures you have posted is that you have a custom rifle built with parts from several sources. 

The underlug looks like the ones from Sharon Rifle Barrel Co. 

The underrib is a modern version of a hollow rib.  Art Ressel's The Hawken Shop used to sell one similar. 

Several breeches made in the 1970's had a plugged hole opposite the snail that some mistook as a clean-out screw.  In reality, it was a plug in the hole used to drill the flash channel from the end of the nipple hole to the powder chamber in the breech.  You see this on Cherry Corners, Sharon, and Uberti breech.  A photo of the snail would help determine which it might be.

The rear sight looks home-made.

The lock is a Cherry Corners' lock.  The stamp "C783" is a serial number.  Underneath the mainspring is stamped "CHERRY CORNERS".  I can barely make out the last word by enlarging your photo.

How many grooves/lands in the rifling and what is the twist rate?

[Longknife]

Phill, Here is the snail. The barrel is 1"atf, 36' including breech, 8 lands/grooves and 1-66 twist, .54 cal.

[Mtn Meek]

That' a Cherry Corners breech & tang, and looks like probably Cherry Corners triggers.  So along with the lock, the bulk of the parts came from Cherry Corners, but evidently not all of parts did.

The barrel specs match Douglas barrels, so that would be my guess for it.

You have a custom built Hawken from the 1970's or 80's.

This is the type of rifle that I'm surprised we don't see more of, but maybe because we don't talk about them enough for people like yourself to bring the out for show and tell.

[mountainman70]

Nice looking what I can see.How about a couple full length pics? I agree with Phil, we need to see more of these vintage Hawken builds.Thanks for sharing, Dave

[Longknife]

Heres a couple for ya Mountainman,,,,,

[Longknife]

Phill, Do you know if Sharon used Cherry corners parts? They also rifled their barrels with 8 grooves. I have a Sharon barrel that is stamped very lightly, easy to draw file off, Douglas barrels were stamped deeper and hard to remove, those underlugs are like the Sharon underlugs possibly a Sharon kit?...?...Ed

[rich pierce]

Sharon used their barrels and L&R locks and triggers.  Not sure if their breeches and tangs were their design, but think most small parts were their design.

Do folks here think one could make a good J&S Hawken half stock from a Sharon kit?  Using those parts and that pre-carved stock.

[Hawken2012]

Here is a brand new Sharon Hawken Kit listed on Armslist.  (Not my listing, just happened to come across it.) 

http://www.armslist.com/posts/7790493/maryland-muzzle-loaders-for-sale--black-powder--50-cal---sharon-rifle-kit

[Mtn Meek]

Phill, Do you know if Sharon used Cherry corners parts? They also rifled their barrels with 8 grooves. I have a Sharon barrel that is stamped very lightly, easy to draw file off, Douglas barrels were stamped deeper and hard to remove, those underlugs are like the Sharon underlugs possibly a Sharon kit?...?...Ed

As Rich said, Sharon used their own parts except for the locks and triggers which were from L&R.  The Sharon barrels did have 8 grooves, but they had a slow twist of 1:72.  I believe you said your rifle had a twist of 1:66, that's why I said it might be a Douglas barrel.

Sharon did not use any Cherry Corners parts.  They developed their own breech plug that has a very recognizable snail.

Sharon Breech Plugs


Besides the breech plug, Sharon's entry pipe was unique as Don Stith pointed out on another thread and their underlugs, butt plate on the half stock Hawken, and barrel wedge escutcheons were their own design.

The only parts I see on your rifle that look like they might have come from Sharon are the underlugs and the butt plate.  Sharon's butt plate on their half stock Hawken had a toe that swept way back, probably much further than it should.

One of the things that Art Ressel pointed out in his catalogs about original Hawken rifles is that if one holds the rifle vertical with the barrel perpendicular to the floor and lower the rifle down, the heel of the butt should touch the floor, but the toe should still be a fraction of an inch above the floor.  The Sharon butt plate let the toe touch first.

You have a very nice looking Hawken rifle.

[Don Stith]

Sharon used their barrels and L&R locks and triggers.  Not sure if their breeches and tangs were their design, but think most small parts were their design.

Do folks here think one could make a good J&S Hawken half stock from a Sharon kit?  Using those parts and that pre-carved stock.

Rich,
 there was a lot of variation in architecture for the J&S half stocks
  The butt plate, trigger guard entrythimble and nose cap on the Sharon do not meet any of the J&S variations I have seen

[mountainman70]

Barrel crown looks like several Douglas I have on guns. They didn't always stamp their name on the barrels, especially if the barrel was a Second,usually meaning slight runout in the breech end of barrel. Doesn't hurt the shootin if you index runout to bottom of channel.

I have bought several custom Hawkens in last 12 years that are swell guns and well built. Problem is ,someone always wants em more than I do, and they find new homes. have a good evening .Dave