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Fffg black powder is all I had to use, starting with a .45 caliber flintlock longrifle (5 years), then a .50 caliber flintlock longrifle (4 years), and finally a .62 caliber flintlock longrifle (1 year). All three barrels had a 1:48" rate of twist. My optimum load for the .45 caliber & .50...

Back in the day I was completely self taught. Nobody ever told me that fffg Goex black powder wasn't supposed to be used in .50 caliber & .62 caliber longrifles. Because fffg black powder was all I had to use when both of those custom rifles showed up in the mail, I just used it. 70 grains in...

I had a .62 caliber, iron-mounted, Lancasterish flintlock longrifle. The concept for which started out as a fullstock Hawken rifle. Of course, no such thing as a fullstock flintlock Hawken rifle has ever turned up. So that .62 caliber flint longrifle was just a fantasy rifle. But, it shot...

The Colt M1860 .44 caliber cap & ball revolver. Like Notchy Bob said, it points better than anything else, except the 1851 Colt Navy. If it was the immediate post-Civil War West, and the funds were available, I would have two braces of the 1860 Army revolvers hanging in custom saddle holsters...

I guess the better question would be how many Jaeger Battalions were amongst the Hessians hired by the British to fight in North America? And, what happened to any captured rifles? Could the above-mentioned rifle be a re-stock of a damaged captured battle rifle?

Just out of curiosity, what happened to the weapons that the Hessian troops were armed with that were captured in battle? We're any of those Jaeger rifles?

I appreciate both of your answers. I am not looking to restore such a cut-down musket, but instead just spend what it takes to make a safe, dependable, everyday shooter out of one. Probably, just send Bobby Hoyt the shortened barrel, and have him put a .58 caliber liner in it with 0.012" deep...

I have my eyes on several extensively modified Springfield, percussion, Civil War era .58 caliber rifles that at some point in their working lives have had the original barrel shortened to roughly 24" long. Forestock also shortened so as to provide only a forearm, with most of the fore-barrel...

I appreciate & respect your feelings. I myself have another take on flintlock and percussion weapons of our country's history. I feel that there enough nice to pristine specimens of virtually all the common weapons like the Harper's Ferry rifled musket in museums and serious collectors...

Is it in shooting condition?

Semisane's rifle reminds me of the first, and only, original S. Hawken rifle that I have held in both hands. As a pre-teen, I lusted for a Hawken rifle in the worst way. By 14 I had purchased the Roubidoux blueprints for building a Hawken rifle from scratch. Then, I entered the Army in 1976, and...

He also somewhat showed, and verbally described a lot of gunk in the bottom of the nipple seat. When removing a nipple that has corroded into place, you can't always assume that you will be able to shoot the dry ball out with a few grains of powder. OTOH, the grease gun, and hydraulics, almost...

This is a great price for a reasonably light Hawken in .50 caliber. The real key is how well done the snail drum breech plug is, the tang, and the cheek piece. There are some other things not so correct, but for an early attempt at a Hawken, this was a very good piece of workmanship. All the...

Just curious, is there enough steel in the waist for Bobby Hoyt to take the barrel out to a .62 caliber? Or, his favorite, a .60 caliber?

I stand corrected. Where in Italy did Val Forgett have his reproduction black powder firearms made? I can recall seeing pictures of what looked just like the eventual Thompson/Center Hawken rifle before 1970 in Gun Digest, and other publications.

Investarms was making a "Hawken" rifle for Navy Arms, Sile, and others before Thompson /Center introduced their Hawken rifle. Thompson/Center's claim was that their guns were American made, and supposedly of better quality than an Italian rifle. We now know that claim is untrue because those...

I'm too old now to carry a real copy of a Hawken like this one hunting, but I can still appreciate the craftsmanship that Mr. Papesh put into this gun. Somebody is going to be REAL HAPPY when they buy it. Good luck with the sale.

When I was a teenager I witnessed a man shoot 7 consecutive trap thrown clay targets in a row with an original .32 caliber flintlock squirrel rifle, missing the 8th, and breaking the next three before stopping. The trap thrower was on the ground, and was constantly moved behind the shooter's...

A year or so ago I went looking for the minimum requirements for muzzleloading smoothbores vis-a-vis turkeys in a bunch of different states that I thought that I might one day get to hunt in. Like I posted above, some states were very clear & concise about what was legal for hunting turkey...