Rifle WT. for Hunt'n?

[Carl Fowler III]

The older I get...the less weight I want to carry into the woods. I do most of my hunt'n on foot and travel alot when in the woods so I like a light rifle for big game.

Looking at all rifle designs out there made commercialy I find that the hawken seems to weigh more than their counterpart the longrifle. I believe this is mostly due to the use of a swamped barrel reducing the over all weight of the gun, there also seems to be more use of 15/16 barrels over 1 inch tubes.

Is there any hawken rifles made using a swamped barrel to reduce their weight? Seems to me a hawken would be so sweet if it had a thinner swamped barrel made in .45 cal for hunt'n deer and such...anyone know of such an animal? :hmm:

Is it just me liking the lighter weight rifles or are there others lurking in this closet? :shocked2:

 

[longcruise]

I don't mind the weight too much, but I don't carry too terribley heavy a rifle either.

If you really like the Hawken style, you can probably build or have built one that would suit you. The swamped barrel might not be right but a tapered sure would. You can reduce weight in the typical Hawkin/plains rifle configuration by going with maximum caliber size for barrel size. Maybe a .50 cal in a 7/8th"?

I find the GPR in .54 with a 15/16th barrel to be fine for extended carry. This year I was getting over a serious accident and decided to carry a Traditions Deer Hunter in .50 with a 24 inch barrel. Very nice to carry but only PC and HC for the late 20th century. :haha:

 

[Little Wattsy]

"I find the GPR in .54 with a 15/16th barrel to be fine for extended carry."

I have one too and am finishing a build in a .54 with a 15/16ths 32" barrel... Fairly easy to carry..

 

[Carl Fowler III]

"I find the GPR in .54 with a 15/16th barrel to be fine for extended carry."

I have one too and am finishing a build in a .54 with a 15/16ths 32" barrel... Fairly easy to carry..

Wattsy, what does your .54 cal. GPR weigh...also was this a kit gun? :hmm:

 

[cynthialee]

I luged my TC Hawken around the woods last fall on the hunt. It was not too heavy for me.

 

[longcruise]

I luged my TC Hawken around the woods last fall on the hunt. It was not too heavy for me.

My TC hawkin with .50 cal 15/16th barrel seems to me to be heavier than my .54 gpr with a 15/16th. Have never weighed them though. I know that when I put the .45 cal barrel on it with a brass ramrod it gets a lot heavier! Nice for match shooting and ok for short small game treks but maybe more than one wants to carry *over the pass*.

About the only way to reduce the weight of any given rifle is to shorten the barrel and/or increase the caliber size. Course, that's a formula for more recoil as well! :wink:

 

[Vaino]

Built a LHed, half stock Stith Hawken in .54 cal. and the tapered 36" long bbl was 1" at the breech and 7/8" at the muzzle. This Hawken is the customer's favorite elk rifle and carries w/o strain all day long. A straight tapered bbl is the way to go on a Hawken because of the under rib....difficult to do w/ a swamped bbl. This bbl would be my choice for a "walking gun"...my present Hawken .54 cal elk rifle has a 1" straight bbl which is lighter than the usual heavier Hawken bbls, but doesn't compare to the Hawken w/ the tapered 1"-7/8" bbl. Below are 2 pics of the Stith S. Hawken...Frd

 

[hanshi]

I've hunted with everything from an 1841 .54 Ms rifle (heavy) to a tiny .36 flinter to an EV flinter 42" .50. My favorite woods rifle now is an EL flint, .50 x 38" swamped. This little guy is about as light as can be. It's really a hybrid of sorts. EL/York on a smaller scale (12.5" lop). It's a joy to carry. Never had or hunted with a "Hawken" as they just don't appeal to me like longrifles.

 

[longcruise]

Fred, thats a very nice rifle. Too bad you built it backwards! :shocked2:

 

[hanshi]

Fred, thats a very nice rifle. Too bad you built it backwards! :shocked2:

:hmm: ....Didn't you mean "backerds"? :rotf:

 

[sb 54 cal.]

If it was a flinter I would be in love! :haha:

 

[Carl Fowler III]

Built a LHed, half stock Stith Hawken in .54 cal. and the tapered 36" long bbl was 1" at the breech and 7/8" at the muzzle. This Hawken is the customer's favorite elk rifle and carries w/o strain all day long. A straight tapered bbl is the way to go on a Hawken because of the under rib....difficult to do w/ a swamped bbl. This bbl would be my choice for a "walking gun"...my present Hawken .54 cal elk rifle has a 1" straight bbl which is lighter than the usual heavier Hawken bbls, but doesn't compare to the Hawken w/ the tapered 1"-7/8" bbl. Below are 2 pics of the Stith S. Hawken...Frd

Man that gun looks so fine it makes me want to start shoot'n lefty! :bow:

 

[Carl Fowler III]

I luged my TC Hawken around the woods last fall on the hunt. It was not too heavy for me.

Cynthialee, I have the T/C Renegade I carry and it weighs in at 7.8 pounds...not so bad, but still would like something like 6.5 to 7.0 pounds for hump'n them steeper hills! I also carry my gun in my hands at all times, never use a sling till game is down. :v

 

[George T.]

You have every right to be proud of that rifle! Geo. T.

 

[don hepler]

TC Seneca in 45 is the smallest "Hawken Style" rifle that I have ever seen. Something scaled down for youth, might be what you're after.

The rifle "hanshi" describes, looked nice. He posted photos a couple weeks ago, if I remember correctly.

My 50 cal. "late Va.", with swamped barrel is about 6 lbs. And very well balanced.

 

[BrownBear]

My GRRW 58 cal Hawken is pretty close to right on for config, compared to factory rifles today. It has a 36" barrel tapered from 1 1/8" to 1" at the muzzle. It's a joy to look at and even better to shoot. And it tips the scale right at 12.5#. Lug it over hill and dale in your hand rather than a saddle scabbard, and it talks back.

Much as I like it, I end up carrying either a TC Big Boar 58 or an Investarms 58 which is an older gun that resembles the Lyman GPR. Either tips the scale at around 8#.

As a younger guy I didn't care much about weight, but when I turned the 50-year corner a 10# limit started looking pretty good. Having turned the 60-year corner now, I'm lots more appreciative of 8# guns.

 

[Vaino]

Bought a Browning Mountain Rifle in .50 cal. although I wanted a .54 {wasn't available in the discontinuance sale}.This rifle in .50 cal. was way to heavy for the "firepower" and so built a .54 Hawken for elk hunting and gave the BMR to my son. He soon realized, as I had, that besides being too heavy and w/ poor balance, it didn't fit well...was kinda "clumsy" and never "endeared" itself to either me or my son.

Many "old time" Hawken rifles were carried by the horse...so these very heavy rifles weren't a burden on the "mountain men", but it's puzzling to me.... why such a heavy rifle? Perhaps their addt'l value was the fact that they could be used as a "club"? Of course the weak spot of these rifles was still the stock...so why such heavy bbls? Was it that periodically they could be "freshened"or rerifled and still maintain a "safe" wall thickness?

These are questions that won't be answered in any determinate way for obvious reasons....Fred

 

[BrownBear]

I've read so many accounts of barrel "bursts" back then, I've always figured the extra steel was perceived as a countermeasure. "Tough guns for tough jobs" would have been as effective a marketing pitch back then as it is today.

 

[Carl Fowler III]

I've read so many accounts of barrel "bursts" back then, I've always figured the extra steel was perceived as a countermeasure. "Tough guns for tough jobs" would have been as effective a marketing pitch back then as it is today.

I do see your point, but the tapered barrel would seem to give you this safety factor at the breech and lighter weight thru the tapered end...the best of both worlds? :v

 

[BrownBear]

I've read so many accounts of barrel "bursts" back then, I've always figured the extra steel was perceived as a countermeasure. "Tough guns for tough jobs" would have been as effective a marketing pitch back then as it is today.

I do see your point, but the tapered barrel would seem to give you this safety factor at the breech and lighter weight thru the tapered end...the best of both worlds? :v

My GRRW Hawken has a tapered barrel (36" long 58 cal at 1 1/8" x 1") as does a used custom I picked up (24" long 58 cal at 1 1/8" x 15/16"). The effect on handling is amazing. The GRRW doesn't hold and shoot much different than my 50 cal Lyman GPR (32" and 15/16" straight), while the shorter custom feels almost like an upland bird gun when you swing it. Somewhere in the mix is my Investarms 58 cal "plains rifle" with its 28" straight 15/16" barrel. Balance wise, the latter probably suits me best, though there's not a maker today that I know of who'll turn out a 15/16" 58 cal barrel. Then there's the TC Big Boar 58 with a 1" straight barrel 28" long, IIRC. It feels "heavy" at the muzzle next to that Investarms.