Book Recommendations

I, and 2 friends, have purchased Hawken rifle kits from Track of the Wolf. I am looking for suggested reading materials to guide us in the proper steps in building them.

Any thoughts?

Welcome to the Forum.

Although the book "The Art of Building the Pennsylvania Longrifle" is obviously about building longrifles there are enough things in common with the later rifles that I would recommend it. Here's a link http://www.trackofthewolf.com/Cate...atId=4&subId=38&styleId=137&partNum=BOOK-ABPL

Hershal House puts out a DVD on building a Hawken. I've never seen it but I have heard from others that it is pretty good. It is available at American Pioneer Video.
http://www.americanpioneervideo.com/bkr.html

Have you built rifles before? Hawkens are among the hardest rifles to build.

Rich,
Would you mind listing some of the possible hurdles one might encounter with a Hawken and how those difficulties differ from Penn/Kentucky style builds?

I'd like to know for my own information but I bet the three Hawken building amigos mentioned above would need to know as well.

Thank you,
Ben

I'm not Rich. He has a valid point. A Hawkin's is a slightly more difficult gun than the average Long rifle. The triggerplate/tang bolt/trigger guard comingulation is the first thing that comes to mind. Ya' need to do some precisoun drilling there. Barrel keys with escutions instead of pins. Attaching an underrib w/thimbles and then there is the deal with the nose cap whether poured or applied. The cresent butt plate on them can give fits too. Not to discourage you but you asked.

I think TOW offers a blueprint for this kit, I hope you sprung the extra $ for one, it will be invaluable.

Which specific kits have you got, that is, Bridger, Kit Carson, full or halfstock, flint or cap. And if flint, what kind of breech plug. I have built half a dozen or more from TOW parts plus another six or more from parts and a stock blank. I'll work at remembering if there are any tutorials or posts on building Hawkens.

I have built pistols, but this is my first rifle.

It is the bridger, half stock, cap. We had TOW mill and mount the sights, and the breech plug. They have a problem with the breech plug being defective, so we have been waiting for our barrels and breech plugs since November. We are not doing anything until we get them, needless to say

First rifle, but I have built pistols. 2 of us are woodworkers by profession and should have everything we need for that part of the project. We are not in a rush to complete them so we will be moving slow and carefully through the whole process. We had hoped to start on them Last January, but TOW has a problem with their supplier of breech plugs, so we are dead in the water.

Yes, we did get the plan/drawing. $6.50 is to cheap to not spend.

I did one of their Bridger's and I didn't have much trouble with it. I took my time and tried to think as far ahead as possible. One other issue is that the hammer to nipple alignment has got to be real close to work. You can bend the hammer some but you need to get all of those relationships thought out right from the start.

The one I did had the inlet pre-cut for the lock and it was posistioned perfectly, but be sure to check and re-check before removing any wood.

On the bright side, you don't need to worry about learning how to carve scrolls and leaves all over the thing like some of the PA rifles!

A cautionary note about Track of the Wolf cast breech plugs. This is from first hand experience with a TOW cast breech for a Thompson Center. File them but don't finish them yet. Plug the nipple hole with a rubber washer and bolt. prop the barrel up and fill with your favorite liquid and look for leaks. (I used water but I didn't mind cleaning up, you could use thin oil like wd-40 if you want.)

I had one from TOW and it was defective. Leaked right out of the side due to a casting flaw. Didn't know until after finishing the barrel. Waited 9 months on them to make it right because they were waiting on the casting company. (They still wouldn't reimburse me for the shipping of the barrel back to them so I am not a big fan of TOW.)

Track wouldn't tell me who they get to cast these parts but it is my OPINION that they are of INFERIOR quality. The parts are supposed to be x-rayed before shipping to TOW but I don't believe they are OR the flaws that would make a breech plug unsafe are too fine for the XRAY equipment being used.

If the same supplier is casting the Hawken and Thompson plugs for track you might be better off finding another supplier or having one machined both for safety and timeliness.

FYI

Bennypapa said:

Rich,
Would you mind listing some of the possible hurdles one might encounter with a Hawken and how those difficulties differ from Penn/Kentucky style builds?

I'd like to know for my own information but I bet the three Hawken building amigos mentioned above would need to know as well.

Thank you,
Ben

Click to expand...

OK, let's get started on my difficulties building Hawkens from scratch (3x) and from a precarve (1x). These are memories of building in the 1980's; haven't built one since then.

1) The barrel has a hooked breech that has to be well fitted, cleaned up nicely but still snick into place tightly and not rattle. You'll have to then solder or epoxy it to make it rigid to inlet it. Harder than a flint breech by far.

2) The long tang is a beast to inlet. It must be taken straight down, not down and back, because it swells at the rear screw some. The profile must match the stock perfectly before you start. If you have to mess around and re-bend it mid inlet, now it may be too short or too long for the inlet you started. If you end up taking wood off the wrist, the wrist will become thin vertically and that's not right for a Hawken. The wrist shaping is very important but relies entirely on the shapes and profiles of the tang and trigger you bought. More on the trigger below.

3) The barrel is fastened by keys- harder than pins, and the keys will have escutcheons. Getting keys to inlet cleanly and hold tight in your underlugs and stand up to regular removal is hard compared to pins.

4) The barrel will need a rib and you'll have to solder or drill and tap it. If you solder it, get ready for over-shooting with the solder and cleaning it up so you can brown or blue the barrel. If drilling and tapping blind holes and using machine screws, don't break your taps off or drill into the bore. I'd rather just build a fullstock.

5) Next the lock plate must be cut out so it closely matches the snail on the breech and inlet nicely and be tight. That's harder than it seems.

6) Now your double set trickers have a long, long bar on them and this too must perfectly match the curvature of the underside of the stock. If you bend the bar in the center section where the trickers are, the internals need fiddling to work right. The DSTs have to be set up to work set and unset.

7) Drilling the tang bolts to be perpendicular to the tang and tap well into the tricker plate is tricky. There's no room for wobble and any sloppiness sticks out like a sore thumb.

8) Now you have to inlet a steel buttplate with a lot of curvature and the modern castings are harder than titanium it seems. There's no give so the inlet has to be perfect. Can't gently peen it down like a brass buttplate.

9) The shaping is everything on a Hawken but it's subtle too. No carving, moldings, anything to take the eye away from imperfections in shaping. There's no place to hide. Get it right or it looks bad.

10) I was hoping for a top 10 but ran out at 9, lol.

We were notified in November that there was a metalurgy problem with the breech plugs and that they were unsafe. They said the plugs would be recast, machined, and sent out in 3 to 6 weeks. Then it was after the holidays. the latest is they will send them as soon as they get them. What I have received looks good, but I am very frustrated with them having our money and not delivering the product. I also asked about the supplier and was not told who that was. Not exactly a good way to run a company.

I recently ordered a saw from one of the big lumber stores. They called me every week to let me know the status of my order. That is the type of service that brings me back to a company.

Thank you for the input. I'm always open to advice.

The stocks you get will be correctly inletted for all the parts, so the rifle is not difficult to build. There are a couple of items that may be difficult, but there are probably a couple of dozen people on this forum who have built Hawkens from such kits, so ask and you will get the benefit of a lot of experience. One item is the length of pull. The stock shows in the catalog as being cut for the butt plate. The length of pull may be 14 1/4 inches or so, and if that is too long you can cut the stock shorter. If you should want to do that, just ask and someone will give you the benefit of their experience. The JBR lockplate is not cut for the snail (the rounded part of the breech plug), so there is another place you can get advice. Then there is the underrib, to be soldered or screwed on. I can help out with the drilling of holes for the screws, and others can help if you want to solder.

The hooked breech plug and tang are available from www.muzzleloaderbuilderssupply.com, in Aberdeen, Idaho. Look up their web site, and see that item 22445, right hand hooked breech plug and tang for a 1 1/8" barrel, 3/4 x 16, slant face, is shown as "add to cart". $44.95. They do not have the volume of business that Track has, so this is older stock. Call Ryan if you want and discuss your need of breech plugs. They also have a Davis Hawken lock, cut for snail, item 29944, at $95. If your locks the JBR, are not cut for the snail, this would save you a lot of work. I have done business with MLB, and they are very good. Ryan is a machinist, and he can help with these breech plugs if you want.