cabelas 58cal perc hawken

[HighUintas]

Hi all, I'm new here. I've been looking around for a muzzle loader and I would love to get a flinter. The problem is, there's almost no 54cal flinter kits of decent quality in stock for my price range. I would also like to have a percussion rifle though. I would also like to have a 58 cal.

A gentleman has offered to sell me his cabelas investarms 58cal hawken percussion rifle. It looks like it's in pretty good shape, but he couldn't get me any bore pictures. His asking price is $475, so since it is in my budget and almost something I want, I am considering it. The only thing I'm not fond of on this rifle is that it's 29" barrel (I'd rather be at 32" or so) and that the twist is 1:48. I know you can still shoot round ball accurately with this twist rate in 58cal, but I would like to be able to put some really heavy loads in there for extending the range of the 58cal ball. Anyway, those are all dream items, etc, and I'm thinking this might be a really good option for my first ML rather than spending $500 on a traditions mountain rifle flinter kit and then possibly have to get a replacement lock if it doesn't spark well and also have to use conicals to hunt elk in my state.

Is $475 for this rifle a good deal? I'm having a hard time figuring prices for these older investarms, but I would think it would probably sell for around that if listed publicly.

 

[HighUintas]

I would also like to build a rifle! So I was sort of thinking.... maybe I can convert this thing to a flint a some point and or get a barrel blank to practice that portion of a build (later on down the road)

 

[Grimord]

Hi all, I'm new here. I've been looking around for a muzzle loader and I would love to get a flinter. The problem is, there's almost no 54cal flinter kits of decent quality in stock for my price range. I would also like to have a percussion rifle though. I would also like to have a 58 cal.

A gentleman has offered to sell me his cabelas investarms 58cal hawken percussion rifle. It looks like it's in pretty good shape, but he couldn't get me any bore pictures. His asking price is $475, so since it is in my budget and almost something I want, I am considering it. The only thing I'm not fond of on this rifle is that it's 29" barrel (I'd rather be at 32" or so) and that the twist is 1:48. I know you can still shoot round ball accurately with this twist rate in 58cal, but I would like to be able to put some really heavy loads in there for extending the range of the 58cal ball. Anyway, those are all dream items, etc, and I'm thinking this might be a really good option for my first ML rather than spending $500 on a traditions mountain rifle flinter kit and then possibly have to get a replacement lock if it doesn't spark well and also have to use conicals to hunt elk in my state.

Is $475 for this rifle a good deal? I'm having a hard time figuring prices for these older investarms, but I would think it would probably sell for around that if listed publicly.

If I remember right, the investarms .58 has a 15/16" barrel and is chrome lined. Those were good barrels, and easy to clean, but were not recommended for stout conical or round ball loads. You probably would not enjoy the recoil of a stout load of any kind in that light rifle. I had one for a season, it was accurate, but it did not like round ball loads with over 75 grains of 2f. I never, and haven't ever shot a conical bullet in my black powder guns so I can't say how it would shoot with them.

 

[HighUintas]

If I remember right, the investarms .58 has a 15/16" barrel and is chrome lined. Those were good barrels, and easy to clean, but were not recommended for stout conical or round ball loads. You probably would not enjoy the recoil of a stout load of any kind in that light rifle. I had one for a season, it was accurate, but it did not like round ball loads with over 75 grains of 2f. I never, and haven't ever shot a conical bullet in my black powder guns so I can't say how it would shoot with them.

I didn't really have any intention of shooting a conical out of a 58 cal. I've got a repro 1886 45-90 that I shoot 70gr FF with a 405gr bullet, so if I want to shoot a conical I'll just use that. That gun has a crescent buttplate... it has me feeling sore after 20 rounds at the range haha

 

[SDSmlf]

I would like to be able to put some really heavy loads in there for extending the range of the 58cal ball.

First of all, welcome to the forum from North Carolina.

Most that shoot this particular gun in 58 caliber seem to limit their charge to about 80 grains max with a roundball in the 15/16” barrel. If the bore is good, might be a good deal. If the bore isn’t good, no room to rebore to a larger caliber, though if necessary could possibly be relined. Or replace the barrel.

Value to me depends on condition of the bore.

 

[azmntman]

I have the .58 cabelas and love it. I would ask that at least for mine. HARD to find a .58 hawkenish anything. Chrome lined barrels = 5 patch clean up including dry and oil. GET IT. Don't like it? sell and get yer $$ back +

 

[Stony Broke]

I had one of those for years and it never gave me any problems. I would shoot 70 gr, of 3f with a rb and it always shot just fine. Pretty tough rifle !!

 

[skwerleater]

I had one for 30 yrs. Great rifle!!! I shot some heavy loads in it when I first got it. We were putting from 90 to 110 grains in it back then. Me and a couple friends were able to shoot a few cantaloupes at around 100 yards from a prone position. I lowered it to 80 grains and that worked fine. Great hunting rifle.

 

[HighUintas]

He said he didn't think it had a chrome bore, but he said it's bright and shiny with no pitting or corrosion (what he can see without a bore scope).

Doing some searching, it sounds like some guys have shot 120gr FF out of it no problem and Investarms manual says max load is 110gr. I'm not sure I'd want to use more than 120gr bp per shot on this guy if I'm shooting it reguarly.... that's either a lot of $$ or labor!

 

[mooman76]

I have one. I bought it used 30 years ago and it was in great shape then and still is now. Has both a 50 and 58 barrel. Mine has something like a 1-60 twist. I ran it up to about 110 gr but my hunting loads were 70 gr for a minie and 80 gr for RB. Shot under 4" at100y so good enough for minute of deer or moose if that may be. It's one of my favorites.

 

[Africa58double]

I operate my .58 with a 2f Charge of 75 grains. Pretty Mild , yet a 280gr 8BHN water quenched shoots 2” groups for me in my Double barrel… and around 4” at 80yards. Plenty for any whitetail in the woods I hunt.
Knowing some hunt at open areas of 140-180 yard shots… I can understand the need for a flatter trajectory. Yet 130gr should give a good kick, and Not Much fun to go shoot a lot.

The Real 445 gr Bullet I use also Gets 75gr of 2F and is plenty for Thumping larger and tougher game… Just gotta get close

 

[SDSmlf]

You may want to go through old posts by forum member Brownbear for information on 58 caliber guns, particularly those made by Investarm and/or sold by Cabelas. He lived in Alaska and loved his 58 muzzleloaders, and had about 15k posts before he passed away two and a half years ago. I did a search with 58 as the topic and Brownbear as the author and got 10 pages back. I would not argue with any of his opinions or pointers about 58 caliber muzzleloaders. You can take them to the bank.

 

[HighUintas]

Yea 445gr bullet and 75gr ought to thump pretty well!

My favorite rifle hunting area for elk is wayyyy up in the uintas where the trees thin out and sometimes the the closest shot opportunity is 150-200. So that's why I was hoping to possibly squeeze out a little more range. I realize that 200yd for a round ball on a traditional sight is really pushing it. That would be a max distance shot with my 1886 and buckhorn sight, at the moment.

 

[Africa58double]

I’ll increase charge eventually … Yet With my Double (I know/yet it shoots very accurately!) I have a peep sight and a 3 leaf Express I can see clearly above it. I’m fairly certain I can get 125 yards or so.

If far range like 180-200 yards is the norm.., I’d look at a .54 for better trajectory.

Yet I’d rather lob a .58 at 150yards personally

 

[mooman76]

Do a search of Idahoron. He's done some amazing long shots on game with MLs.

 

[SPQR70AD]

He said he didn't think it had a chrome bore, but he said it's bright and shiny with no pitting or corrosion (what he can see without a bore scope).

Doing some searching, it sounds like some guys have shot 120gr FF out of it no problem and Investarms manual says max load is 110gr. I'm not sure I'd want to use more than 120gr bp per shot on this guy if I'm shooting it reguarly.... that's either a lot of $$ or labor!

I have the same rifle and mine has a chrome bore. it is funny to hear guys say if the barrel flats are not one inch and are 15/16" you cant shoot heavy loads. just think that means only 1/32" more metal on each flat. how in gods name could that make the one inch barrel so much stronger?

 

[TreeMan]

That’s a fine looking rifle.

 

[deerstalkert]

buy it. if you don't like it sell it to me.

 

[HighUintas]

Ha yea I would like to have it too! I'm just in a quandary on whether or not I should save those funds for building a plains/hawken type rifle that would likely end up taking me a year or more to complete plus the time it'd take to fund the rest of it. Money is tight.

I think I need a 58 to play with while I design what I want to build.

 

[Sixgun_Symphony]

A .58 caliber patched ball is very good for killing elk, moose, and bison with hunting loads of BP.

If the bore is good, then you will want to buy that rifle. As for shooting, the crescent butt is meant to be used on the upper arm, above the bicep. Move your elbow up or down to get your cheek weld on the buttstock.
DO NOT set a crescent butt into your shoulder like a modern rifle butt.