.45 Hawken or Pedersoli Tryon Creedmore?

[Juerg]

Juerg from Switzerland
A friend of my brought me to a group who loves muzzleloader. In the army I used to shoot with full automatic guns (CH-Sturmgewehr). At that time I didn’t like to shoot. Now, I like how to load and all the things around. In particular all the adjusting with the bullets and powder.
In the next few days I’m going to buy a rifle. Either a Hawken or a Pedersoli Tryon Creedmore. For granted it is a .45 and has diopter an tunnel front sight.
If you have something to say, please tell me.

 

[Zonie]

Welcome to the Forum!!
I own a .45 cal. Pedersoli Tryon (not the Creedmore model) and mounted a tubular Lyman front sight (with interchangable blade inserts) and a Pedersoli "Long range" diopter rear sight (the gun was pre drilled and tapped for this).
My gun has the 1 inch octagon barrel which makes it a little too heavy for hunting but for target work it is hard to beat.
Perhaps they use different "set triggers" now but the set triggers on my gun are what is called "single set" type. This means you cannot fire the gun without first cocking or "setting" the rear "trigger". Simply put, you ONLY have the option of a "hair trigger" which requires less than 0.1kg (3.5 ounces) pull to fire the gun.
Several years ago this model won the World BlackPowder Championship (in two different years) which speaks of its superb quality.
I personally like the "back action" lock (where the lockplate, spring etc is behind the trigger) just because it is different from all of the rest of the rifles and it fits in the historical timeframe (1835-1875) when long range muzzleloading target shooting was a very popular sport worldwide.

EDITED: Now that I've checked out the Tryon CREEDMORE I must point out that my comments above are for a SLOW twist gun that shoots round balls. (Pedersoli still makes this round ball twist (1/48) gun and offers it for a far cheaper price (Dixie price = $525 US) than the Creedmore (Dixie price =$795 US). The Creedmore model has a "fast" 1/21 rifleing twist that is designed to shoot special conical bullets. These bullets are not commercially available so you will need to also have the bullet mold and sizing die to make your own. If that is what you want to do, then great. I'm sure it will shoot very accuratly HOWEVER, if you want to be able to shoot simple round balls which are easy to buy (in the US) and just as easy to cast with some low cost molds (like LEEs) and just as accurate to 100 meters I would go with a slow twist round ball Tryon or a Hawken.
If you plan any Reenactments of the Great Plains Era (I've heard this is becoming popular in Europe) then the Round Ball gun (usually in .50 or .54 caliber) is the only way to go.

 

[Juerg]

@'zonie
I mentioned that I want to buy a Tryon Creedmore. I friend of my told me the same as you did. The Creedmore is made for 100m and therefore it needs conical bullets. This isn’t what I’m looking for. I simply want use round balls. So I’ll probably go for an ordinary Tryon or a Hawken.
“Any Reenactments of the Great Plains” Please explain, I don’t understand this expression.

http://www.egun.de/market/item.php?id=59476

What do you think of the Hawken shown in the URL above. It’s an ordinary .45 with rear diopter.

 

[RJR]

Looks like a stock standard Lyman Trade Rifle with a tang sight to me. My guess is 28" barrel, 1 in 48 twist, coil main spring lock, probably made by Investarms. They are usually a good production rifle, not a tack driver, but fun to shoot. Take care, Rick.

 

[Zonie]

The gun in the URL looks like the Hawken make by Investarms (Italy). They make a good gun but(in my opnion) its quality is not as good as Pedersoli quality. For this reason I would suggest that if you can find a Pedersoli Tryon with a slow rate of twist (1 turn per 1.207 meters to 1 turn per 2.4 meters) you should go for the Tryon.

I note that the Hawken in the photo has the Diopter sight. If you find a Tryon rifle suited for Round Ball it may not have this but it is drilled and threaded for mounting a Pedersoli diopter rear sight so you could order one and install it yourself.

Reenacting in this country is where a group of people go camping for a weekend or more. They wear old style clothes, carry old style weapons (like knifes), shoot old style competition matches with old style guns, cook in pots and pans over open fires and sleep in old style or indian style tents.

Because styles and guns changed a lot some of these people like to dress like the people of 1750-1755 (French and Indian War), some like 1776-1781 (Revolutionary War), some dress like the "Mountain Man Fur Trappers" did during the "Great Plains Era" . The Great Plains in the USA is the area west of the Mississippi River and in the 1816-1850 time frame the only white men there were the fur trappers known as Mountain Men. They are the men who made the Hawken Rifle as well known as it is.

Some reenactors just want to be close to dressing exactly right. Some are so exact that the smallest item which is not "period correct" is a big issue.
All of them however are there to have fun and enjoy each others company.
I had heard that this sort of thing was becoming popular in Germany and thought the Swiss might also do these things. That is why I said if you want to reenact the Great Plains Era you should carry a gun which shoots round balls only.
I hope I have helped you.

 

[tg]

It looks like a nice gun but if you are interested in something that could be considered a "replica" of a 19th cent. Hawken it is not even close, if historical accuracy is not a factor in your choice of a gun then this is not an issue.