Hawken Rifles, What's All The Hoopla?!

I don’t have much experience with todays variety of Hawkins . I hear how much folks like the fit and finish of the Pedersoli attempt. As I have experienced I wouldn’t trade my Sharon for anything offered today. I will gift my Sharon to my son. If Kibler does turn out a Hawken I would probably buy it but that’s the only one.

I have a matched pair of .54 caliber Sharon fullstocks, one is flint and the other is percussion.
They are both either Sharon built or kit guns, the L&R locks and furniture are testimony to that.
They were built in the Sharon heyday as the greenish ting of the stain alludes to- I do not recall the exact name, chromium trioxide or something.
At first I thought they may have been a father/son project but given the build nuances I am pretty sure they were built by the same set of hands, good inletting and overall build quality is very good.
And I think whoever built them kept a strong eye to historical accuracy.
The flint rifle bears fine, detailed architecture reminiscent of an earlier rifle. Just enough to be a rifle but not sacrificing strength.
The percussion rifle is a bit less refined, a little more…..substantial of a build that would lend itself to a more mass produced, utilitarian rifle.
I don’t think either have ever been fired, they bear no witness to the fact and the bores are mirror bright.
One of these days I will pull the barrels and see if there are any markings in the stocks.
They match well to my factory Sharon halfstock .54 and the unbuilt .54 Trade Rifle kit I have (still in the factory box).

That's awesome you have those rifles. As far as I know you have the next best thing to a J &S Hawken bros original! How about posting the pictures for us to see? Thanks for the post. Gil

All this Hawken talk reminded me I have a another &%%@&!!! project to finish. Thought I was done - but no cause this one remains.

Texas Gil said:

That's awesome you have those rifles. As far as I know you have the next best thing to a J &S Hawken bros original! How about posting the pictures for us to see? Thanks for the post. Gil

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Appreciate the compliment. While the Sharon rifles were a reasonable doppelgänger for the real deal at their time in the muzzle loading renaissance there are a handful of contemporary builders who produce incredibly accurate Hawken pattern rifles.
Herb (a member here)
D. Taylor Sapergia
WB Selb
Steve Zihn (I really blew it, I had the opportunity to buy a rifle built by him for a fraction of its worth - I passed on it at the time)
Don Stith (we lost him this summer RIP) put out extremely accurate parts sets- in the hands of a good builder they are spot on.
I know I have missed a bunch.

bptactical said:

Appreciate the compliment. While the Sharon rifles were a reasonable doppelgänger for the real deal at their time in the muzzle loading renaissance there are a handful of contemporary builders who produce incredibly accurate Hawken pattern rifles.
Herb (a member here)
D. Taylor Sapergia
WB Selb
Steve Zihn (I really blew it, I had the opportunity to buy a rifle built by him for a fraction of its worth - I passed on it at the time)
Don Stith (we lost him this summer RIP) put out extremely accurate parts sets- in the hands of a good builder they are spot on.
I know I have missed a bunch.

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That's a good list, but we should add Bob Browner.

Notchy Bob

Add the late Andy Fautheree to that list. Was little known but a master craftsman.

Great thread! A few years after building my first ML back in the 70’s, (50 cal TC Hawken kit), I found this Western Arms, Santa Fe Hawken kit in a small gun shop. It has served me well since using a 52cal PLRB behind 100gr FFG. I eventually replaced the walnut stock with a maple.

wganz said:

There are other characters available by using a different four number code:

€ - 0128
‰ - 0137
Π- 0140
™ - 0153 (a favorite of mine on Twitter for use in "ButtHurt™")
® - 0174
¢ - 0162
£ - 0163
¥ - 0165
§ - 0167
± - 0177
² - 0178 for x²
µ - 0181
¶ - 0182 (another favorite of mine to indicate the end of a screed)
¼ - 0188
½ - 0189
¾ - 0190
¿ - 0191 (another favorite of mine for use in the title of a post for the reader to immediate see that it is a question)

HTH
¶

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When my daily life becomes so boring that studying the movement of garden Snails begins to interest me, then I'll take up the study all of the above keyboard characters.

Coinneach said:

When my daily life becomes so boring that studying the movement of garden Snails begins to interest me, then I'll take up the study all of the above keyboard characters.

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No man, you need this information now!

This one little hack could save you big bucks!
People have made millions!

When I decided I wanted to shoot BP again, I started looking for rifles. This T/C factory Hawken .54 was the first one I found. It looked nice and the price was reasonable, so it rode home with us.
The only features I didn't like are the V notch sites and the the standard "Ya mean ya have to clean these guns?", rusty barrel.
But hey, it purty and it be a Hawken!

She is pretty.

https://www.traditionsfirearms.com/...-cal-Percussion-Select-Hardwoods-Blued-R24008

wganz said:

There are other characters available by using a different four number code:

€ - 0128
‰ - 0137
Π- 0140
™ - 0153 (a favorite of mine on Twitter for use in "ButtHurt™")
® - 0174
¢ - 0162
£ - 0163
¥ - 0165
§ - 0167
± - 0177
² - 0178 for x²
µ - 0181
¶ - 0182 (another favorite of mine to indicate the end of a screed)
¼ - 0188
½ - 0189
¾ - 0190
¿ - 0191 (another favorite of mine for use in the title of a post for the reader to immediate see that it is a question)

HTH
¶

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What's the code for degrees?

Dsw said:

What's the code for degrees?

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ALT 0176 or 248

Not historically correct but I love the look of my Investarms. When people asks what it is, I tell them it’s a Hawken style rifle

Paul Nelson said:

Not historically correct but I love the look of my Investarms. When people asks what it is, I tell them it’s a Hawken style rifle

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Looks fine. whats the diff between GPRs and Investarms if any?

Crooked Creek said:

When I decided I wanted to shoot BP again, I started looking for rifles. This T/C factory Hawken .54 was the first one I found. It looked nice and the price was reasonable, so it rode home with us.
The only features I didn't like are the V notch sites and the the standard "Ya mean ya have to clean these guns?", rusty barrel.
But hey, it purty and it be a Hawken!


View attachment 175969

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That was my very first muzzle loader but in a .50 cal.

Juice Jaws said:

But the Hawken really came out in the last days of the Mountain Man period.

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True. However, many of the pioneers heading westward did their best to get a Hawken rifle.

stephenprops1 said:

True. However, many of the pioneers heading westward did their best to get a Hawken rifle.

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Show me where you read this?

Paul Nelson said:

Not historically correct but I love the look of my Investarms. When people asks what it is, I tell them it’s a Hawken style rifle

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I have two , a capper and a flinter and I think they are a very good rendition of a Hawken style. Sometimes people get caught up in the minutia and can't see the forest for the trees. Some times the details are so small that to the average person there is absolutely No difference. To me unless you are building a Hawken from scrap, hammering out the barrrel etc, there are no "originals" just copies of varying degrees.IMHO