• Friends, our 2nd Amendment rights are always under attack and the NRA has been a constant for decades in helping fight that fight.

    We have partnered with the NRA to offer you a discount on membership and Muzzleloading Forum gets a small percentage too of each membership, so you are supporting both the NRA and us.

    Use this link to sign up please; https://membership.nra.org/recruiters/join/XR045103

Need Help Identifying this J & S Hawken Rifle Kit from the 70's

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Dec 30, 2017
Messages
81
Reaction score
80
I was gifted this kit today by and Ol Buckskinner / Mountain Man. He said he has had it since the 60's / 70's and just never go around to building it. It comes with a L&R lock and a 58cal Sharon barrel. Here is a pic of the instructions which look to be made on a typewriter. Any ideas? Oh, yes the kit came in the hard plastic case. Thanks FVR
IMG_8665.jpg
IMG_8666.jpg
IMG_8667.jpg
 
Barrel markings and stamps will solve the puzzle. Look carefully, they may hiding under some of that surface corrosion.
It is marked SHARON RIFLE BARREL COMPANY .58 on the barrel. I think I read somewhere that this company started making barrels, then started making kits but went out of business within 4 or 5 years.
 
very nice indeed. :thumb: finish it and use it in honor of the man who gave it to you.
Def. Ol Leon got me back into black powder back in 93. He then took me to a bunch of Rendezvous. I had already been building selfbows and back in 2002 or 3, I built a modified GPR from a box of parts I traded a bow for. I went and sold the GPR a few years later. Well long story short, I traded a gent a sinew back pony bow with arrows and quiver. He sent me 7 boxes of gun parts. I made a GRRW Trade rifle and a 40 cal. Bedford which is pictured to the left. Leon was impressed with my work and as we were sitting talking about old times, he pulled this out. There is only one condition, he wants to shoot it after I build it. He is my mentor.
 
He is my mentor.

Yeah, he then gave me a set of tenderloins from the doe he shot this past year for my son to cook up.

Cherish the time you have with him. I lost my friend and mentor years ago. Make him proud of your build and enjoy shooting with him.
 
I was gifted this kit today by and Ol Buckskinner / Mountain Man. He said he has had it since the 60's / 70's and just never go around to building it. It comes with a L&R lock and a 58cal Sharon barrel. Here is a pic of the instructions which look to be made on a typewriter. Any ideas? Oh, yes the kit came in the hard plastic case. Thanks FVR
View attachment 277978View attachment 277979View attachment 277980
Yep. Looks like the .54 cal Sharon Hawken I built in the mid '70s.
A great shooter when finished up right.
Those Sharon Barrels are exceptionally accurate as they were choke bored at the muzzle for a few inches before being rifled.
A hell of a gift.
 
I was gifted this kit today by and Ol Buckskinner / Mountain Man. He said he has had it since the 60's / 70's and just never go around to building it. It comes with a L&R lock and a 58cal Sharon barrel. Here is a pic of the instructions which look to be made on a typewriter. Any ideas? Oh, yes the kit came in the hard plastic case. Thanks FVR
View attachment 277978View attachment 277979View attachment 277980
The L&R lock from that time era was made by the Rice brothers and cousin David in Fairview NC. The trigger shown may have also been made by them. Some or all of the hardware could have been a collaboration with a local gunsmith, Don Brown. And those parts supplied to Sharon. The Sharon barrel was noted for quality.
I had one in .54 cal. Not from the kit but sourced from the suppliers. Picked up the lock and trigger group from the rice. Bros.
You’ve got a gem.
 
Is this a factory nose cap?

Or a homemade of some sort?
Mine has a poured pewter nose cap, and looks like that one is also. The kit came with a bit of pewter to make the cap, it did not otherwise have one. I believe the bar of pewter is on the far right of the OPs photo of the kit.
 

Attachments

  • PXL_20221201_190440101.jpg
    PXL_20221201_190440101.jpg
    5.2 MB
Last edited:
Back
Top