Are all Double wedge Hawken's huge?
Depends.
I have a GRRW Hawken with a 1" x 32" barrel in .50 caliber. It weighs less than 9 lbs. They used an underrib that was thinner than the typical 1/4" rib--more like 0.20". It also has a 3/8" ramrod. That combination makes for a very slim forearm that continues on into the lock area and wrist. Far from a huge Hawken. This is nice rifle to carry around in the Colorado mountains. It's no 6 lb fowler, but it works as a mountain rifle.
On the huge side, I have a .54 caliber, 1-1/8" x 33" barreled GRRW Hawken that was patterned after Bridger's rifle in the Montana Historical Society museum. This rifle weighs over 12 lbs. It's ok for bench shooting and some offhand shooting and also works for hunting from a stand or blind, but I wouldn't want to carry it in the mountains.
On the subject of loads, back in the 70's, some folks liked to load up for big game such as elk and buffalo. In the March 1972 issue of MUZZLEBLASTS, Doc White published an article about Carl Walker working up some hunting loads for elk. He was using a .60 caliber Kentucky rifle he had built with a 1-1/16" Bauska barrel. The published starting load was 140 grs of FFG with a chronograph velocity of 1850 fps. He worked up to 308 grs of FFG for 2250 fps. Carl's conclusion was that any more than 70% of ball weight or 224 grs of FFG at 2222 fps didn't gain enough velocity for the punishment! They preferred heavy rifles for obvious reasons.
The GRRW crew used to make regular buffalo hunts in Nebraska. Doc published an article about one of these hunts in the January-February 1977 issue of MUZZLELOADER magazine. For the hunt they used flintlock full stock Hawken rilfes and a Leman Trade Rifle in .50, .54, and .58 calibers from GRRW. The .50 was loaded with 110 grs, the .54's used 150 grs, and the .58's with about 200 grs of powder. These stout loads called for heavy rifles.
On this hunt, Doc wrote about taking two mature bulls with lung shots. He states that on one bull the "bullet had hit between the ribs and despite a light load of 110 grains of powder under a 180 grain .50 caliber ball, had penetrated through the bull's lungs, torn up some vessels coming from the heart and had exited on the opposite side." He further stated that he "was convinced by this experience that a lung shot from a muzzleloading rifle on an animal as large as a buffalo is a merciful and decent way of killing the animals and cannot be scoffed at."
