I believe the better Hawken kits have been mentioned. Just to enumerate,
- The Hawken Shop Hawken Kit
- Track of the Wolf Jim Bridger Kit
- Don Stith Hawken Kits
Before I go into detail discussing each of these kits, it's worth mentioning that a Hawken rifle, no matter whose kit it is, is a challenging rifle to build. The fitting of the hooked breech, inletting the long tang, fitting the lock to the snail, and attaching the underrib and ramrod thimbles are not easy operations to do.
The Hawken Shop Hawken Kit
The Hawken Shop in Oak Harbor, WA continues to offer the Hawken kit that Art Ressel developed when he owned the company in St. Louis. Ressel copied actual Hawken parts from rifles in his collection thereby producing one of, if not, the most authentic contemporary Hawken kits. An experienced gun maker with a good knowledge of the characteristics of Hawken rifles can make a beautiful and authentic Hawken rifle from this kit.
Here are a couple of Hawken Shop Hawken rifles. The top one is mine and was likely built by Keith Neubauer for Art Ressel to sell in his store. Neubauer was a professional gunsmith and antique restoration expert in St. Louis. The bottom rifle belongs to a friend and was assembled from a Hawken Shop kit by an unknown gunmaker.
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Another cool aspect of the Hawken Shop rifle is that the breech plug snail can be left as cast to resemble the snail on a few original Hawken rifles (bottom rifle) or can be modified into the typical shaped snail seen on most late S. Hawken rifles (top rifle).
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The Hawken Shop kit comes with a tapered 1⅛" to 1" barrel which reduces weight and helps balance.
The drawback to the Hawken Shop kit is price.
Track of the Wolf Jim Bridger Kit
The Track of the Wolf Jim Bridger Kit can be turned into a finished rifle like
Mulebrain pictured above. This kit basically duplicates the old GRRW late S. Hawken rifles they produced after 1976. We collectors call this the "Bridger" pattern GRRW Hawken.
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It isn't an exact copy of the original Bridger Hawken in the Montana Historical Society, but it is close.
Track's website isn't showing this kit as I write this. I don't know if this is a glitch or if they are having trouble getting component parts for it. I noticed the pre-carve stock is on backorder as well as the Ron Long designed percussion Hawken lock and Long's Hawken triggers from R.E. Davis, now owned by Log Cabin Shop. I've heard from other sources that Log Cabin Shop is having difficulty finding someone to assemble the locks and triggers. Pretty much all the other parts are shown as "In Stock" on Track's website, so until Log Cabin Shop gets the lock business up and running again, this kit may not be an option.
In the 1970s, people seemed to prefer the GRRW Hawken rifles with 1⅛" straight octagon barrels even though they offered a tapered barrel option. That heavy barrel makes a Hawken rifle that weighs around 12 lbs. depending on length. Fortunately, Track offered their kit with a tapered barrel like The Hawken Shop which I highly recommend.
Besides what is hoped is a temporary disruption in parts supply, another issue with this kit is the current
Jim Bridger's Hawken 1-1/8" breech & tang. The original molds were developed by Ron Long in the mid-1970s. Something has happened to change the angle the tang comes off the standing breech. Herb Troester has discussed this issue in some old threads. This image illustrates the difference between the standing breech and tang when Ron Long still owned the business (on the right) and one from Track more recently (on the left).
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Herb found that using the tang as is results in a hump in the stock right behind the breech. His solution is to heat the tang where the arrow points to red hot and bend it to the right relative to the picture above. This cannot be bent cold, but requires glowing red. Herb said he broke the tang off on two standing breeches because he didn't get them hot enough before attempting to bend. The tang may need to be straightened some further down is length to fit the stock's wrist properly, but this can be done cold.
Don Stith Hawken Kits
I saw that Don Stith posted today on another forum. He listed his phone number and invited people to call him, so I assume he's able and willing to conduct some business. Stith has a number of different models of Hawken rifle parts sets. They range from pre-1840 J&S Hawken to late S Hawken to full stock Hawken to Hawken squirrel rifles. Some of Stith's parts are proprietary and can't be sourced from anyone else. Other parts are commercial parts. Unfortunately, among these are the Ron Long/RE Davis/Log Cabin Shop Hawken lock and triggers. Stith also uses the Ron Long designed 1⅛" breech & tang from Track with the issue described above on all his rifles that call for that size breech.
I've got a J&S Hawken parts set from Stith that I haven't built yet. I also have a .40 caliber Hawken squirrel rifle that was built by John Bergmann from Stith's parts that I really like.
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Don't Procrastinate!
Time is not on our side. The suppliers to our hobby are mostly mom & pop businesses. Many were started in the 1970s or earlier by people that are getting old and/or developing health problems. Pete Allen had been supplying a large number of brass and steel castings for all types of component parts from trigger guards to butt plates to breech plugs to lock parts. More than a quarter of the locks listed on RE Davis's old website were made from parts cast by Pete Allen and are no longer available. Pete Allen hasn't run his foundry for a number of years now. The old North Star West closed their business a few years ago ending the legacy of Northwest trade guns started by Curly Gostomski in the 70s. There are other examples.
The options for "the best, most historically correct accurate Hawken" are diminishing.
Navy Arms "1856 Volunteer Rifle" -- Fast-twist with Round Ball Loads
