S. Hawken rifle - revisited

[Liver eatin’ Johnson]

The spacing of the barrel keys is interesting in that the forward key is very near the entry thimble ( the back wedge is missing )

The escutcheons are 2.2" long and .53" tall.

 

[Liver eatin’ Johnson]

I was a little reluctant to pull the lock off because of the numerous cracks but the bolt holding it in was so loose I decided it wouldn't hurt to just take a peek... :winking: This is where things began to get quite interesting... :hmm:

notice this interesting fly setup with the hammer in the half cock notch? There is a very thin metal plate sandwiched between the bridle and the tumbler which acts as the fly ?!

I didn't get a photo of the full cock position but the "fly plate" rotates independently and helps the sear jump the halfcock notch. I have not seen this in a lock before - how about you?

 

[rusty]

Outstanding pictures..Thanks for the effort..rusty

 

[peter]

good job LEJ, Your my hero. Now, how did it feel to hold that piece of history? How did it feel on your shoulder? What was the balance like?

 

[Liver eatin’ Johnson]

I just wish we could all have been there... It was a little muzzle heavy but the butt plate fit so well and with that much drop at the heel being perfect for me I could have held it all day - as I said earlier, the guns has no more wood on it than necessary. ( maybe more wood might have kept it from cracking so much but who knows, I'm only 1/3 that age and I'm pretty well cracked myself :: )

 

[Liver eatin’ Johnson]

Thinking of that "flyplate", there appears to be a fly under it in the enlarged photo - perhaps the plate helps hold it in place? :hmm:

 

[musketman]

LEJ:

Did you by chance, pull the set triggers and photo them?

Just wondering how they were made as compared to a modern trigger assembly...

 

[musketman]

There is a lot of metal there on the flats for it being rebored to a .60 caliber, wonder what caliber it was when it left the Hawken factory?

Perhaps it was shot out, and in the process of being rebored they got as far as drilling out the old worn-out rifling, then came the Civil War and it was put on the back shelf for the duration...

The barrel was never finished because breech-loading cartridge guns became the norm and the ol' S. Hawken was never completed... :thumbsup:

It could have happened that way, why not...

Or, maybe someone wanted a home-made smoothbore (like T/C's .56 caliber smoothbore) and drilled the barrel themselves...

 

[Liver eatin’ Johnson]

Musketman,

I thought about it but didn't dare to under the circumstances - the stock condition was such that further dissasembly could result in more damage to the dry cracked stock. I ran a rod with an oily patch down the bore and it felt like the inside of a rusty water pipe... :shake:

 

[Jay Gardner]

Unbelievable stuff, LEJ. Just spectacular. Beyond that I am speechless, well almost.

I had to remind myself that these were just tools 165 years ago. I am sure that the owners took care of them and performed basic maintenance, but like any tool subjected to hard work there is natural wear and tear. I just figure that when a repair was necessary it was performed as effeciently and economically as possible and then it was back out to the mountians and work.

How would you like to be able to go back in time and tell one of these old trappers to take care of that Hawken because some day it would be worth upwards of $15,000? I bet he would have shot you. We think of these things as collectors items and they thought of them as a tool of the trade.

LEJ, any idea where the gun came from? Who donated it and where they got it? It might be kind of interesting to work back from the present. On the other hand you certainly have done a lot of work for us already. Thank you again for sharing.

 

[musketman]

Did you happen to notice what size percussion cap the Hawken takes?

#11, Musket, best guess?

[/quote]

 

[Donny]

Just a thought, I agree the patchbox was not installed by a Hawken. They have better workmanship, and would not have let a gun go out without scraping the cavity smooth, the cavity is showing how the holes were roughed out with the drillbit??? :winking: Don

 

[Liver eatin’ Johnson]

MM - The nipple was badly deformed but I would say it took what we call a #11 originally.

Donny - without knowing how many hands this rifle went through, it is only my guess that the patch box was quite recently done - the holes look more like it was done with a router and the brass screws would seem to be out of period also. Note the latch where pencil lines mark the center and a hex nut can be seen under the fastener.

On a seperate note - the trigger guard and triggers looked blued to me as some here have sugested.

Also the barrel rib was hollow, being soldered on like a bouble barreled shotgun rib. One of the thimbles was missing and there was a tear in the metal where it had been so the metal was actually shaped and quite thin compared to the solid under ribs we see today.

 

LEJ,

Did you happen to peer down the bore with a light to see if it had been free bored for some distance? Maybe there were some rifling vestiges left down the bore.

 

[Liver eatin’ Johnson]

Anvil,

No, I didn't have a borelight but from the feel of the oiled patch on my fiberglass ramrod and using the probe from the end of the calipers to a depth of 6" trying to feel any grooves, it was smooth bore down to the breech and as I said, very rough