Hatfield Rifle

[lakota]

I found a Hatfield Rifle today that is supposed to be New and unfired at a very good price from what I have been reading here. It is a .50 and has brass hardware. The wood is gorgeous and it shows no signs of being fired. The only markings are "HATFIELD" on the lock, and "HATFIELD" and ".50" on the top barrel flat. The problem is it is percussion.

Have I been reading the old threads here right? Can it be converted to flint by simply replacing the drum with a vent liner and dropping in a lock for a Pedersoli Frontier Rifle? No need for a different breech plug?

If this is the case I am going to rush back out tommorow and make a deal!

Thanks,
Scott.

 

[mloader40]

Flintlocks ETC in Mass . has the vent liner and replacement flintlocks for the Hatfield, call Richard Beauchamp 413-698-3822, M-F 11-5. I bought the set for my Hatfield years ago. The older rifles have a somewhat shiney plum brown smooth finish on the barrel, if it is one of these snatch it up fast.
PP.S. You witt have to releive the wood at the lock for the cock where it will hit the lock plate.
BPWRL

 

[lakota]

Thanks for the info. Are these rifles good shooters? And is this conversion one that can go back and fourth from percussion to flint?

I also forgot to mention that "WARRENTED" was marked on the lock below "HATFIELD"

 

[Toomuch_36]

Thanks for the info. Are these rifles good shooters? And is this conversion one that can go back and fourth from percussion to flint?

I also forgot to mention that "WARRENTED" was marked on the lock below "HATFIELD"

The Hatfield rifles are usually very good shooters. As for swapping back and forth from flint to percussion and back again, I would caution against it as the more times you swap between the liner and the drum the more you risk damaging the threads. And fireing the rifle in either configureation with damaged threads could be very hazardous (especially for the shooter standing to the right of you).

Toomuch
............
Shoot Flint

 

[cowpoke1955]

Congrats on your find :thumbsup: .

 

[akbrownbear]

A Hatfield for a good deal? I would run to get it, regardless if it is percussion or flint. It's a shame they went under a few years back. A buddy of mine has one in .45 caliber, and although I don't care for that caliber, the gun itself is outstanding. I was going to order me one in .32 for squirrels and found out they were out of business.

 

[Rebel]

The Pedersoli Blue Ridge/Frontier rifle is the same gun. You can still get them.

 

[J.D.]

The Pedersoli Blue Ridge/Frontier rifle is the same gun.

And with the same design flaws.

What do you consider a good price for a Hatfield?

If its more than a new or used Petersoli, spend a little more and buy a much better gun.

Hatfield made these guns in western MO, so quite a few people in the area bought these guns. After the first run, more people cussed them than praised them.

The early production models should have a 3 or 4 digit serial number. This was eliminated on later models as a labor saving divice.

Quality on later models of Hatfields is pretty sporatic. Some of them were very good, others would not fire reliably, and still others could not achieve acceptable accuracy.

If it's cheap enough, and you don't mind tinkering with it to make it work properly, go for it.
J.D.

 

[8905c]

Scott -
This rifle sounds identical to mine. My rifle was a Christmas gift from my wife several years ago. The rifle looks great. Initially, I had problems with the percussion lock. I returned the gun to MSM, where my wife purchased it. Repairs were made to the lock and the rifle was returned to me. Secondly, I was unable to get the rifle to group. After trying every patch/ball/powder combination known to man, over a period of a couple of years, I had a BP riflesmith/builder replace the barrel on the gun with a GM barrel. Since then, the rifle has performed fine. I have taken several deer with it, and it has performed well at several informal matches. Overall, since the rifle was a gift from my wife, I am glad that I stayed with it and had the repairs made. The gunsmith that replaced the barrel felt that the "reamer ran out at the muzzle" on the original barrel. I am not suggesting that you should pass on this rifle, just be prepared to do some modifications on the gun if you decide to get it. They are good looking rifles and I have had several offers to sell my Hatfield, but at this time, I am happy with it.
Good luck in whatever decision you make.
8905c

 

[Mike Brooks]

I've had alot of people bring those things to me to fix them. The complaints were: They won't shoot a group after they get warm, the breech plug leaks when they are being cleaned, The lock (flint) won't work, They are ugly.
Basically there barrel attachment method sucks and so do their locks.
They can all be fixed, but you still have a Hatfield rifle after you've spent a bunch of money straightening out all the problems. I don't work on them anymore.
I remember back in the early 80's Hatfield was set up at the Prairie Du Chien Rendezvous with a great display of rifles from their "custom" shop. These rifles were spectacular. Slimmed down properly and carved and engraved by people who knew what a flint rifle should look like. That was the only time I ever seen anything out of the "custom" shop.

 

[varsity07840]

About 5 years ago I saw a commemorative Remington 1816 flint rifle on auction. I still had a 1995 issue of Black Powder Hunting that gave the rifle a nice review. The pictures showed a very pretty rifle that happened to be selling for over $1,800.00 back in the '90s. Well, I bought it new in the box with the papers for $1,100.00 and figured I had really scored. I thought about flipping it and making some money. After all, it must be a collector's item by now. When I opened the box I saw a Hatfield. Not a bad looking rifle
mind you, but not what the Remington ads or the write up led one to believe. It had false barrel pins and inlays, with the typical Hatfield barrel screws thru the thimbles and bottom of the forestock. The inletting around the tang was horrible. The wood was nice as was the furniture.
Bottom line, not worth $1,100.00 let alone $1,800.00!! I sent it to TOTW on consignment and Dave told me that indeed they were made by Hatfield, the deal being made because a guy at Reminton was a relative of the owner at Hatfield.
I was lucky and broke even on it. TOTW even made a few bucks on it. There's one on Gunbroker now with a buy price of $2,999.00!!

 

[Padraic]

The one I have sounds just like the one you are thinking about getting,and I love it.Maybe I just got lucky but mine looks great and shoots great. I have had no problems with it.

 

[lakota]

Well, I went back out and gave the shop some money to hold the gun. Went over it real well and ran a patch through the bore and it came out very dusty. It appears that this rifle may have sat in a closet somewhere. The lock feel very solid when it is worked and the bore was shiny with sharp rifling other than the dust.
I will pick it up in a week or so.
Hopefully she aint a dud.

Thanks to all
Scott.

 

[J.D.]

Let us know how it works out.
J.D.

 

[Okwaho]

The early production models should have a 3 or 4 digit serial number. This was eliminated on later models as a labor saving divice.


J.D.

J.D., I have a Hatfield I bought my wife at a gun show some 20 or so years ago in unfired condition.it's in flint,.45 cal with a 367 serial number.Can you put a date on it.We had some lock problems which I got corrected and it hasn't been fired in about 15 years.My youngest will be shooting it this spring.
Thanks
Tom Patton

 

[J.D.]

I don't remember when the Hatfield first went into production, but it was probably the early 1980's.

It didn't take long for quality to suffer as cost cutting efforts began only a few years into production. Locks and barrels were procured from the cheapest source possible by sometime in the late 80's to early 90's, and some of those locks and barrels were real cheap. I heard that many of those cheap locks and barrels came from Italy.

It didn't take long for the word to get out that quality went down hill, as did sales.

I'm not sure how long Ted Hatfield was in business making his rifles, but it couldn't have been much longer than 10 years. The company went through several reorganizations and finally ended up being acquired by Petersoli.

At some point L&R provided locks for some rifles, but I don't know how long L&R locks were used, or in which run.

I seem to remember that Missouri River Rifle Works, one of the reorganitions of Hatfield might have used L&R locks, but I'm not 100% sure about that.

This is all from memory, so it may not be all that accurate, but it should be reasonably close.

If your gun has the three digit serial number, it should be a good one.
J.D.

 

[xxgrampa]

greetings all,

have read that hatfield parts are interchangeable with pedersoli. the hatfields i have, have l&r locks and s.a.e. threads..

thought the pedersolies have metric threads???

..ttfn..grampa..

 

[Okwaho]

J.D.,thanks for the info.I recall the Missouri Rifle Works when I was trying to get the lock working but I don't recall who finally got it fixed.I was set up at a local gun show in the 80's when a man came in with the gun in it's original cloth cover.The top flat of the barrel was signed HATFIELD 45 cal and on the side flat near the breech 367. It was unfired and in fact the frizzen had not been was struck.I asked if it was for sale and he said yes,for $300.00. I hesitated and he came down to $275.00,I hesitated again and he came down to $250.00. I was afraid to go any lower because there were two other potential buyers in the wings so I bought it for $250.00 and gave it along with some silver to my wife for Valentines Day.She loved it and now I will likely pass it along to my youngest son.
Tom Patton

 

[J.D.]

I'm not a Hatfield expert, by any stretch of the imagination. I do, however, remember how popular those rifles were in MO, until qualty suffered.

Everyone appeared to be rooting for a down home MO boy, and a lot of people bought his rifles.

I thought they were ugly then, and still do, even though I own a frontier in 32, bought pretty inexpensively.

Since Petersoli acquired the rights to the Hatfield rifle, they obviously changed to metric threads. I honestly don't know how well Petersoli parts will interchange with the old Hatfields.

Okwaho,
At that price you practically stole it, even for that time.

I'm sure that your son will love learing to shoot that old rifle. He may even learn to outshoot the old man. :haha:
J.D.

 

[Okwaho]

You're right J.D.I did steal that gun BUT I don't have to teach my youngest boy how to shoot.he's the one that got us into reenacting in 1984 when he joined the old 63rd Tennessee CSA at the tender age of 13.He now does Federal Infantry, WWII Wehrmacht Eastern front, and occasionally 18th century French Milice.His live firing is mostly with a Mauser,Moise Nagant,and an 1861 Springfield rifled musket.We have been a reenacting family {my oldest son and daughter in law do Mohawk with me although he sometimes does WWII Russian Partisan}since 1984.My wife wasn't much into reenacting although she supported us and was good for one night in a wall tent at a local event.She never objected to my out of town reenactments {Civil War then}since I was with the boys.Incidentally I'm sure my youngest can out shoot me now since I'm a dedicated plinker who hasn't fired a live round in about 15 years.
Tom Patton
:v :bow: