post hawkin here

Hey Herb, tell Randy if he don't have time to shoot that F/S Hawken ta send it over here and I'll shoot it for 'em. :grin: Got any more pictures of your Bridger?
Don

 

[hobbles]

Mornin fw
Here's my 50 cal T/C[url] http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v323/hobbles/dropem-2.jpg[/url]

 

[Herb]

I also have an early TC Hawken like these, like Sean's and Hobbles and Stonebridge and Walks Alone. FW's is good and I think Quigley's Lyman is a good rifle. I worked my TC over, will get a photo of what it looks like now and how I changed it. Tanstaafl, you look like you are back then! Nice rifle and photo, you alone in that valley with a beaver stream. Sully, I like the color of your rifle. Cooner54, very nice rifle. I like the lines and color. Both big rifles! Re these TC's, I've been beat in shooting matches by them- come to think of it, I've been beat by most rifles....I enjoy seeing all your rifles. Hope I haven't missed any of you.

 

[TANSTAAFL]

HA, as the pic was taken about 25 years ago, I am now long in the tooth, grey bearded and thinned out on top. :rotf:

We had a great group (Yellowstone Mountain Men) of people with some good doens there in Cody Wyoming at the time.

 

[reddogge]

Another Ithaca Hawken I built in 1978 when I was young and dumb. I'd do some things different on it now.

 

[faw3]

I knew someone else had to have a Ithaca , kind of wish mine wasn't so dark but I'm not about to change it, anybody got a Santa Fe and a Navy Arms to post?? Im reading old Muz Blast, back in the late 60s and 70s a lot of Hawkin stuff.. A guy in Alaska dropped a moose with one shot at 223 yards! Placed 41 in Boon and Crocketts, 66 1/2 spread. 200grs of 2f, 56 ball! and it goes on to say you should try to keep your shots at 150. Seems to have been a lot of Hawkins in Alaska, a man name of Bill Fuller has a few and built a few also dropped a bear hanging around his shop with a org 53 cal again 200grs went right thru with a 2" hole. Again put yours on up here, Id like to see the other 2 factory rifles Navy and Santa Fe so we can see whats the same and not, but everyone feel free to jump in. See I never knew the Ithaca came as a kit , thought all are shop made (so much hand fitting around the tang ect. :hatsoff: Fred

 

Nice loking rifle! As you said, you would do some things diferrently today. (Are there any one of us who would'nt were we be able to go back in time?) The only flaw I could see in your picture was the rear end of the lock appeared to stick out from the mortise. But, considering you're not a professional gunmaker, all things said, you did one hell of a job on that Hawken replica!!

 

[reddogge]

I never noticed that but went down to the safe and yes it does but only a hair. It had very strong sunlight on it which accentuated it though so I never picked it up in natural light.

A little tidbit, I bought the kit directly from Ithaca Gun in Sept. 1977 for $213.77. I was an ersatz dealer (archery) of sorts and used that as a vehicle to buy the kit. Also bought one of the very first Jennings compound bows but regrettfully sold it 20 years ago. That would have been a collectors item now.

 

[TANSTAAFL]

Looks good to me, you should see my first flinter, more mistakes than there were parts in it.

 

[TANSTAAFL]

Swiftwater Bill Fuller was a friend of mine, might say for Alaska, we were also neighbors, as we only lived about 12 miles apart down on the Kenai.

 

[Herb]

The photo of this Bridger doesn't show much, but I've got 3 or 4 more that I have good photos of. They are similar. In building one, here is what one set of parts looked like. .54 Douglas 1x44 barrel, parts about 20 years old. I put them together for Ron, a friend.

Here is the result on the left, with my first Hawken on the right. It has a .54 Green River barrel, Ron Long lefthand lock, West Virginia walnut I carved from the stick. Both 32" barrels. Neill Field's rifle shop in the background. (Yes, he really does build his guns there).

Ron wanted his lock and barrel engraved after the manner of Lee Robertson, who did good engraving. He killed a mule deer with this last fall, I think his 18th with a ML.

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

Beautiful rifles. If there was ever a handsomer half-stock than the Hawken I don't know what it would be.

 

[faw3]

I was born in Fairbanks in 50, but left for Japan 6 months later(dad was Air Force) I've been wanting to go back for 50 yrs , about 2 yrs from now I'll be free to do that. In these MBs they call him Mr Alaskan Muzzle loader, he had a hand full of S Hawkens,one is a full stock and his shooting range tells it all that boiler plate with the big holes punched thru. Reddogge do you know when Ithaca shut down, I thought Navy was makeing these by then. Anyone know how I can get the big $3 print from yrs ago Mountain men and Hawkens. Cant tell a lot about it in these old MBs. Fred :hatsoff: Russ T I dont know whay it is but just holding the Ithaca feels different than any of my other rifles over the yrs , I thought someone had messed up the front sight till a hour ago it is copper based!

 

[faw3]

Just wondering, how much time did you put into your Blue ribbon Hawken? It looks like a lot of days and nights went into that one, dont think it could of come out any better no matter what you did. :bow: I wonder if the org Hawks ever looked so good. Fred :hatsoff:

 

Just wondering, how much time did you put into your Blue ribbon Hawken? It looks like a lot of days and nights went into that one, dont think it could of come out any better no matter what you did. :bow: I wonder if the org Hawks ever looked so good. Fred :hatsoff:

Now Fred, I appreciate the sentiment, but I ain't no Sam or Jake. Those old boys WERE Masters. :thumbsup: I have been blessed to have been able to handle several original S. Hawken rifles and study the tiny details that are missed when looking at black and white pictures in a book. Anyways, it takes me a long time to make one of these rifles on account of my Bi-focals. I gotta take them off for close work then I lose track of where I laid them and.... well, you get the picture. I used to build a Hawken from a board to shooting at the range in a couple of weeks. Now it takes about a couple months. I enjoy every minute of it though. I am pleased to see there is still a lot of interest in Hawken rifles. I share you all's enthusiasm. And, as stated above, I don't believe there has ever been a handsomer halfstock rifle ever built than the Hawkens.
Don

 

[Herb]

Thanks, Russ. I also like the lines of the Hawken more all the time. It is graceful. Reddogge, you have a nice rifle. The brown in kinda reddish. What did you brown it with?

 

[faw3]

I was just wondering. I've read as much as 500 hours, right or not I can see you love your work. I've had a lot of MLs but all are factory made but none have come up to the way the Ithaca was put together ,evrything fits up tight and smooth like you hope a new Ferrarri (?) would. I do know how it is to set your glass's down and cant find them 3 feet away. Just maybe when my kid hits 18 and moves on I'll try and see what kind of mess I can make out of putting parts and wood together , seeing some of these .... Fred :hatsoff:

 

[TANSTAAFL]

Fuller used to say the devil in a Hawken, was the subtlety of the gun, which proved to be very subtle when one tried to duplicate it. In his later years, Bill's failing eyesight forced him into making plain Jane guns along the lines of the Leman trade rifles.

 

[reddogge]

Reddogge, you have a nice rifle. The brown in kinda reddish. What did you brown it with?

Thanks Herb, The gun is sitting in very strong sunlight and looks darker in hand. If memory serves me (1978 remember), I used Tru-Brown from Waukon Bay. I didn't let it get too corroded so it has that smoother look. I've used it on other projects and it looks completely different depending on how many coats and how long you left it on before carding. I always used a humidity box though.

 

[waturz]

I've got a Santa Fe Hawken and will attempt to take some pictures this evening. Except for mine having a color cased lock and lighter wood, it appears to be exactly like Reddog's Ithaca.

I rebrowned mine as it had a poor browning job done in the past. Also, the crown on mine was razor sharp. I asked my gunsmith to cone the crown and now its set to be a good shooter. I'll get pictures as soon as possible. Thanks!