Investarms hawken questions

[Speedgoat44]

Greetings! My new-to-me Investarms hawken has a couple of bugs I'd like to get figured out. First, the hammer sits in it a little cockeyed and comes at the nipple from the barrel side. Could've been dropped at some point? Is this fixable or could I find a replacement hammer (it's a lefty)? Also, there are two screws on the tang - would one of these be peep sight worthy? The gun itself says Cabelas, Sidney Nebraska, so it's probably an earlier model. That store is a few hours from where I grew up and it was sweeeet back in the day. Any thoughts?

 

[Tasbay]

If the hammer fits over the cap when fitted and fires it, I wouldn`t do anything.

 

[necchi]

, the hammer sits in it a little cockeyed,,, Is this fixable

Yes, minor hammer fit issues are pretty easy to fix, no need to buy a new one.

Also, there are two screws on the tang - would one of these be peep sight worthy?

Yes, that's usually why the extra tapped hole is/was added.
Second had guns can have a few issues, but it's all thing's that many others here have already dealt with and there's ton's of info shared here to help correct any troubles.
Go shoot it some, if there is a specific problem that presents, com'on back here, or look/ask in the "Gun Builders" section.
There's plenty of folks here that will help.

 

[Speedgoat44]

Thanks - I appreciate it. It definitely has some bugs and is a little rougher than I'd like, but I wanted a knock-around gun that i could play with so I think it'll ultimately be fine. The hammer will likely fire a cap, but it's far from square on the nipple. The cleanout screw on the breech plug is also pretty mangled. Is there a replacement for this or should I look at a replacement breech plug down the road? It's clear this gun sat around for awhile. It's not awful though, at least I don't think??? Maybe I should be on the gunbuilders forum with these questions? Thanks again!

 

[Grenadier1758]

@Speedgoat44, simple things first.

1. The "clean out" screw is really a plug that caps the drilling of the flash channel. Since the plug was there and it could be removed it was given a task to be removed during cleaning. That's not necessary as the removal of the nipple is every bit as effective a clean out means. That screw is relatively soft, so the slot is easy to mangle. Dress it up to smooth it out and treat it as if it never existed. That screw does not exist on many breeches. T/C redesigned their breech to remove their "clean out" screw as it cost them many breech plugs as part of their warranty.

2. In these lower cost rifles, spending a lot of manufacturing time to line the hammer up to perfectly center the hammer on the nipple cone is not cost effective. The hammer can be heated and bent to align the nose of the hammer to the nipple cone. A new hammer is not necessarily the cure for the alignment issue. Alignment of the hammer was a common step in the completion of many kit builds.

 

[ohio ramrod]

While some people bend hammers cold. I prefer to heat them and use a box end wrench to bend them rather than hitting them with a hammer.

 

[necchi]

See, folks are already offering ideas for a fix. But, without a proper review of a specific issue, it becomes random.
Could be it was dropped and bent,
Could be someone tried using a musket nipple and caps and tweaked the hammer to fit that set-up,
Could be the previous owner was a gorilla, and decided all the screws on the rifle need to be "REALLY Tight, Because it's a Gun" and the lock is bent/out of place in the mortise,
Could be,,,
So as issues arrive that have or make problems,, when something doesn't work, a basic description of it and photo's help a lot!
Here's a hint that can help right away, second hand guns usually need to have the lock and triggers removed for basic cleaning AND lubrication.
Getting all the old dried oils and gunk off, with a few drops of fresh oil on the moving parts goes a long ways to getting a rifle to work as it should.