Back in the '70's I bought one of the first production Hawken ML rifles out. I think I had bought it before the movie Jeremiah Johnson was released and after the movie, the black powder craze really took off. This started my research of history.
I went to the Colorado history museum and studied the historic weaponry they had there. It was a fine treat to actually handle and sight down the barrel of the famous Hawken rifle of Mariano Medina.
My first and immediate observation was....my production Hawken does not even come close to looking like an original Hawken mountain rifle. My first and immediate conclusion was.....I have got to get myself one of these.
I bought all top shelf stuff, Bill Large barrel, Long lock and a gorgeous piece of walnut stock blank.
Now the company I was working for at the time would have been much better off just going out and having one of the top gun makers in the country building a custom Hawken rifle for me because my mind was never on work.
After several patient long months of work my Hawken was finished, what a fine piece and how proud I was. The terrible thing was I could not shoot it because of where I was living. You dont go out and shoot a rifle of any kind in your back yard in Denver, police in these parts dont like you doing that.
Now I did have a nice long basement in a very old house. And my young wife went to see her mother a couple of times a week. And it was the time of year where everyone was getting new phone books. The three of these facts gave me a plan. After all, me and the misses have shot air rifles and BB guns down there a couple of times.
It did not take long to gather up suffient number of discarded phone books.
Finally the wife went to see her mother. I grabbed the Hawkens and ran down to the basement. Threw a charge of 80 grains of 2f down the barrel followed by a patched round ball. Put a cap on the nipple and brought the great rifle to my shoulder, set the trigger and touched it off. KAAAAA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!, that had to be louder than the 8-inch deck guns I heard in the Navy. But the noise was the least of my problems.
You can not imagine how much dust settles on joists, heating ducts, piping, wiring and plumbing in an old house. Well all this dust was now loosed back into the air and drifting with the sulfer and saltpeter smoke. This new atmosphere was drifting everywhere.
I walked over to the phone books and looked at the neat hole I put in them and that was about all I could take. I had to get out of there. I went up stairs, cleaned my rifle and put the rifle up and started to watch TV.
The next day my wife was broken hearted at all the dust all over her curtins and furniture. Her further investigation led to the basement and everything we had in the basement had a coating of terrible dust. A dusting such as this does not come natural, she had me in a corner, I had to come clean. And clean I did, for a about two weeks and I dared not to even be caught looking at any of my guns for about twice that long. Still, a good 32 years or better later if she sees me going down to the basement carrying a gun she always gives me the same admonishment "your not going to shoot that in the house are you?
Ever do anything dumb or stupid?
Joe
I went to the Colorado history museum and studied the historic weaponry they had there. It was a fine treat to actually handle and sight down the barrel of the famous Hawken rifle of Mariano Medina.
My first and immediate observation was....my production Hawken does not even come close to looking like an original Hawken mountain rifle. My first and immediate conclusion was.....I have got to get myself one of these.
I bought all top shelf stuff, Bill Large barrel, Long lock and a gorgeous piece of walnut stock blank.
Now the company I was working for at the time would have been much better off just going out and having one of the top gun makers in the country building a custom Hawken rifle for me because my mind was never on work.
After several patient long months of work my Hawken was finished, what a fine piece and how proud I was. The terrible thing was I could not shoot it because of where I was living. You dont go out and shoot a rifle of any kind in your back yard in Denver, police in these parts dont like you doing that.
Now I did have a nice long basement in a very old house. And my young wife went to see her mother a couple of times a week. And it was the time of year where everyone was getting new phone books. The three of these facts gave me a plan. After all, me and the misses have shot air rifles and BB guns down there a couple of times.
It did not take long to gather up suffient number of discarded phone books.
Finally the wife went to see her mother. I grabbed the Hawkens and ran down to the basement. Threw a charge of 80 grains of 2f down the barrel followed by a patched round ball. Put a cap on the nipple and brought the great rifle to my shoulder, set the trigger and touched it off. KAAAAA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!, that had to be louder than the 8-inch deck guns I heard in the Navy. But the noise was the least of my problems.
You can not imagine how much dust settles on joists, heating ducts, piping, wiring and plumbing in an old house. Well all this dust was now loosed back into the air and drifting with the sulfer and saltpeter smoke. This new atmosphere was drifting everywhere.
I walked over to the phone books and looked at the neat hole I put in them and that was about all I could take. I had to get out of there. I went up stairs, cleaned my rifle and put the rifle up and started to watch TV.
The next day my wife was broken hearted at all the dust all over her curtins and furniture. Her further investigation led to the basement and everything we had in the basement had a coating of terrible dust. A dusting such as this does not come natural, she had me in a corner, I had to come clean. And clean I did, for a about two weeks and I dared not to even be caught looking at any of my guns for about twice that long. Still, a good 32 years or better later if she sees me going down to the basement carrying a gun she always gives me the same admonishment "your not going to shoot that in the house are you?
Ever do anything dumb or stupid?
Joe
I guessI'm boring. I've done nothing more stupid than playing with 50+y/o nitroglycerine oozing out of old wax-paper & sawdust sticks of dynamite.... :shocked2: 
