Hawken Light plains rifle/squirrel rifle build

[borderdogs]

Hi Guys,
I just started a new rifle a Hawken squirrel rifle in .54 i got the parts from Don Stith and he calls a rifle like that a light plains rifle. This one will be a full stock with a tapered barrel 1" to 7/8" De Haas barrel. The breech was already fitted to the barrel which was nice (I don't like that job....to be honest). I just fitted the tang to the breech. Don's a great guy to deal with and he is very free with information and questions. I was looking for a .45 or preferably a .50 but he only had a .54 which will work fine. There isnt much meat on this barrel so not sure about dovetailing the the lugs and sights. On the flintlock Hawken I finished I did the dovetails on a mill by milling a slot .060" deep. I then filed the angle and drifted them in place. With this barrel I don't think I will want to mill that much out for the lugs and sights not sure about that yet. The next thing is to draw file the barrel and polish the snail, etc. I will post some pictures shortly. This rifle will be for me this time.

I still owe the forum some pictures of the Hawken flint I built and gave to my friend and neighbor Jim Young for his 80th birthday. I made a lot of mistakes on it but after fixing them and finally finishing the rifle, test firing it, sighting it in, then giving it to Jim on his birthday I feel pretty good about the rifle and how it finished. Jim and I went shooting a few weeks ago and we had a blast (pun intended) and it turns out he was a pretty good shot with it. He went shooting with some friends of his in VT over the weekend those guys were shooting caplocks and he had the only flintlock. In a friendly match he won their match at 25, 50, and 75 yards only coming in second at 100 to a fellow shooting a reproduction of an 1863 Springfield. He said it was a lot of fun. That makes me happy.
More to come shortly.
Rob

[rich pierce]

Nice that you got a Dehaas barrel. Don is indeed generous with his knowledge and help. Looking forward to seeing this come together.

[redheart]

At least with the .54 you'll be well equipped for when you run into a bigger than average squirrel.

[Daryl]

A .54 will kill a squirrel, if you hit it right. You may not find all of it, but it will kill it.

[B.Barker]

I usually only go .030" deep on my dovetails for lugs. I also use a cold chisel to lift a little up and make the angle for the dovetail.

[AsMs]

You have plenty of barrel there to do that dovetail.

[borderdogs]

Hi Guys,
This a picture of my friend Dr Jim Young getting his new rifle on his 80th birthday. This rifle was the first long rifle I built in nearly 40 years and it was a learning experience building it but a good one. Jim is an interesting and humble man and probably one of the smartest people I have known. He has a Jeffersonian approach to his interests from self teaching himself to play the coronet, French horn, and a few other instruments, playing in two orchestras, a band, and a Civil War marching band
to restoring old organs and buying organs that were going to be scrapped to restore and donate to organizations that are in need of them. He has rebuild old (1940's & 50's era farm trucks, studied old English and read medieval plays, along with doing very thorough reasearch on the history of NH and Ontario early settlement, native eastern tribes, and colonial era wars. In addition he is a student/buff of the Civil war. He is a good friend and a great neighbor  and someone I respect very much.

[borderdogs]

As I mentioned my current build is a Hawken light plains rifle from Don Stith parts set. I have fitted the tang to the hooked breech and started insetting the tang and will start draw filing the barrel. Here are a few pictures of the parts, breech, stock and snail, etc.
 














The last photo is of the trigger guard which Don said is a copy of an original guard off a Hawken squirrel rifle. He said that the Hawken squirrels use a short trigger bar and the guard is pinned in place rather than a threaded stud at the front that is threaded into a hole ahead of the front trigger. I am not sure how I will do this at the moment I have a Bob Roller trigger I recently got that I am planing on using in this build and the photo of the lock and trigger is a photo of it. The lock is and L & R uncut for the snail. The stock is mortised for a generic lock and there is plenty of wood to use a similar Davis lock which is slightly smaller. The picture of the tang/snail shows the parts fitted with no movement. I used a black Sharpie to indicate the areas that needed attention and the black hasnt been cleaned off yet. The earlier picture shows how the tang first fit on the hook prior to fitting.

As for calling this a "squirrel" with a .54 caliber barrel? Who knows how big those stinkin squirrels could be!.....
Rob

[borderdogs]

Here is a picture of the tang which I havent shaped yet actually it follows the shape of the stock pretty well as recieved.