Building a Hawken pistol, advice needed

[Bri in Chi]

I am just starting to build a Hawken half-stock percussion pistol from TOW parts. I have built a few MLs in the past, even a wheel lock. But, I have a lot of questions about the details of the Hawken construction that aren't clear in the TOW plan. I want to do as authentic a job as possible. For instance: How were the under-rib and ramrod pipe fastened to the barrel? Solder? If so, how did they do it?
Is there a decent source of published information about building this particular gun? I have the Baird book, but it is pretty vague about construction.
Is it OK to pick the brains of the forumites here?
Brian

 

[Le Grand]

Brian, Can you find out how the ribs on Hawken rifles were attached? It is likely the pistol were made the same way. Le Grand

 

[Harddog]

I believe the underribs on original Hawkens were rivited to the barrel. An alternative would be to use small screws. You can countersink the screw holes so the head of the screw is flush with the underrib. The ramrod pipes are soldered to the underrib.

Randy Hedden

 

[Bri in Chi]

Does anyone know for sure how the originals were done?

 

Brian, I pulled a ramrod on one original Hawken. It was riveted in four places along the length. It was a 1840's Hawken. Wayne Robideaux did a six page blueprint and had them for sale years ago of the Hawken rifle in the Nebraska Historical Society Museum. That particular rifle had one screw up front and soldered the whole length of the rib. This rifle seems to be a Hawken of the 1850's period. Possibly the underrib attachment changed throughout the Hawken years just as many other details did. That is only an educated guess on my part.