A@H MOUNTAIN RIFLE

[lonewolf5347]

I would like to here some reviews on the A@H mountain rifle 1 in 60 twist RB barrel 50 cal. flinter?

 

[musketman]

It's not too shabby looking, fine wood and browned steel...
Since I never owned one, all I can offer is their published hype...
http://www.austinhalleck.com/owner_mr.html

 

[Ohio Joe]

Like "musketman", I've never had one... It looks like a nice rifle but I don't really care for a wedged barrel, especially a single wedge. I like my barrels pinned. I also perfer a 1 in 70 twist, and a 1 in 72 custom twist from, Ed Rayl... I'm sure it's a good rifle, but if your going to shell out the bucks for one I think I'd go to, Track Of The Wolf, and get the parts to build a custom one... As I said... It's a nice looking rifle, but I really don't see anything spectacular in the neighborhood of extras on it.

 

I can't review it, only go by appearance, etc. Overall it is a nice looking rifle, and the cal. choice/twist is just fine. I've used 60" twists from .36 to .69, as as long as it's a well-cut set of riflings, it wil in all probability, shoot just fine.
: While I now prefer flint ignition, the nice looking lock appears to me, to be out of place with the rest of the design. That said, to my eye, it has a Tenn.-style butt with a standard late percussion forewood, complete with single wedge.
: I think it would feel nice in the hand, but have never liked sharp tangs on the butt-plate, preferring shotgun butt shape, at least as wide and flat as possible. The narrow sharp tangs are generally slow to get placed properly - on the arm, and I'm a shoulder shooter. The lower tang and possibly the upper would dig into flesh & I'm just a skinny 200lb. 6'er. Well, sort of skinny.
: Aside from the above, it is a nice looking rifle for a production rifle, but I would prefer to see full wood on it. I do believe I prefer the 'Picture" appearance to the Lyman GPR.
: Went to the site, had a closer look and have decided I like it more and more now. The cap looks just fine, and the short-throw flint lock is becoming better looking. Funny how that happens some times. Both ways. The butt plate also is less sharp than first impressions left with me.
Daryl

 

[Deadeye]

I don't care for those buttplates, never understood why Hawken used them on their rifles and now forever to make a PC Hawken you have to put that buttplate on it. Course if you run out of ammo you can always spear your game with that plate. :curse:

 

[dodgecity]

I have one in .50 cal. It's actually a 1/66 twist. Mine is the standard grade, but it's still stocked with a really nice piece of wood. Accuracy with a round ball is excellent. I am just now beginning to do some shooting with it now that the weather has moderated and the time has changed to allow me more daylight after work. As a result, I haven't had the opportunity yet to try a variety of charges or patch/ball combinations. Over the next month, however, the A&H and I will be spending a lot of time at the range. The lock seems well designed and shows good quality, and the frizzen produces plenty of spark. The trigger, likewise, seems to be of good quality. Initial charges of 70 gr. FF with a .490 ball produce extremely good accuracy at 100 yards. I did do some work on the sights. Out of the box, the front sight was poorly fitted, with a gap between the bottom of the sight and the barrel. It was necessary to reset the blade in the sight base and clean up the dovetail in order to get the proper heighth on the sight. I am also not a big fan of buckhorn sights, but after deepening and opening up the rear sight knotch, the result is a pretty good hunting sight combination. The browning on the barrel of my rifle, while deep enough, has a "splotchy" look to it, but it doesn't really hurt the overall appearance of the rifle. I am accustomed to carrying a .62 cal. Tulle, and so, to me, this is a fairly heavy rifle, but, it handles well, and I expect it to be a good dependable working rifle for hunting.

 

[Stumpkiller]

I don't care for those buttplates, never understood why Hawken used them on their rifles and now forever to make a PC Hawken you have to put that buttplate on it. Course if you run out of ammo you can always spear your game with that plate. :curse:

You get used to 'em. My Daddy's .22LR, the gun I learned to shoot with, has a curved plate like that, as is the one on my Lehigh. Just have to remember to mount it from a slight incoming angle and not wear a shirt or coat with a breast pocket on your shooting side. Back before duplicating stock machines and one-size fits all rifles the stockmaker would add cast to get that wicked looking buttplate out to your shoulder and off your collar bone. It actually snugs the rifle in very consistantly, so if the drop and LOP is right for you it makes for a very fast snap shot (and I don't mean a picture).

Keeps the gun from walking away when you lean it up against a tree, too.

 

Back in the mid to late 70's, bro and I did a lot of long range shooting with our round ball guns. I was shooting a Bauska barel at that time, in .50 and bro was shooting a fiddle-back maple .62 Hawken. That stock had 8 lines per inch, frm the butt plate to babbit forend cap.
: For that long shooting shooting, with iron sights that aren't adjustable (no extra leaves as in English sights) we found the full buckhorn almost touching at the top worked very well for that use. Just out of pure luck, the notch above the bottom "V", where the horns almost touch, turned out to be perfect zero's on the 300 meter target.(328yds.about)
: Now, I prefer the wide shallow V as found on the Englsih express sights. I've seen so many descriptions of that sight being a close range sight it makes me sick. Have none of htsoe writers ever used one? It's the most accurate OPEN sight to 300 yds. you can find. The ball of the front bead immediately settles in the bottom, with lots of light, and open area for seeing what you're shooting at. Guys- you really should try it. I have the same style sight on several of my modern rifles as well as the .69 was so equipped. I would lay odd's I souldn't be able to shot into 1 1/2" at 100yds. with open sights on the .375 Big Bore 94, or the .69 whithout that style. It's so good, that after shoting mine, brother puts them on all of his guns now- except the Bess & .20 bore Hollis original.
Daryl

 

[Deadeye]

I have several in light calibers and they work OK there but most Hawkens were in heavy calibers, they're made to fit just where your arm joins your torso, not a good place for my .75cal. Hawken. I have the Hawken book and have seen lots of pics of original Hawkens. They all have had hooked buttplates. Has anyone ever seen an authentic Hawken with
any other buttplate?

 

[Ohio Joe]

The next trip I make to the "Fur Trade Museum", in Chadron, Nebraska, I'll look at their original Hawken's to see if all butt-plates are the same... I believe they also have a, "Dimick" over there as well, but I'll look. We have a spring meeting coming up in late April, so I'll try to remember to do this. I do have some pictures in, "Hanson,s" books that show Hawken rifles and the butt-plates are hooked but it does not appear as much as on the A&H... Also, the A&H does not seem to have as long a sweep as the Hawkens, and the angle at which it is attached to the stock looks more user friendly then the A&H... Everyone is different shapes and sizes, so the butt-plate may be comfortable to some while not to others...

 

I haven't seen any Hawkens with shotgun butts, but there were lots of English rifles with the Purdy style stocks on them used in the States, as well as by visiting Englishmen on hunting trips. There have to be some of them in collections, somewhere. In the Hostory of American Rifles, there is a .75 1/2 stocked rifle, bar lock n English style, but made in the States. The odd Mariland gunsmith also made English style pistols, and might have made plains rifles as well?????
Daryl

 

[Deadeye]

Thanks, guys, I love my .75 hawken but sure don't like that buttplate. I'm just about finished with an Issac Haines rifle, great buttplate, wide almost flat.