sprucing up an Investarms Hawken stock

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

I've got a couple Investarm Hawken style guns and am considering taking some sandpaper to the stocks and giving them an "old timey" treatment.

One thing I can thing should be done would be to taper the forearm into the barrel. Of course I would extend this taper out to the nose cap. What are those caps made of? Aluminum? It's the black kind.

Anyone have pictures of guns they worked on?

 

[kodiakmarine]

If these guns have adjustable rear sights, you could replace them with primitive sights. The Hawken Shop sell them for $12.00. Another thing is to remove the modern blacking, and replace it with browning or rust bluing. Those two things will give your rifles a much more traditional look. Good luck. - John

 

[Stringbean]

by investarms do you mean Lyman? If so than my great plains hawken nose cap is made from cast iron. I removed the bluing and rust browned it and the rest if the iron on the gun.
String

 

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

No. By Investarms I mean Lyman Deerstalkers or the Cabela's equivalent of that.

 

[smilovich]

One option is to pour a pewter nose cap. It's not hard and would look sharp. Brass caps from Lyman Trade Rifles will also fit if you want to go that direction. They are not too hard to find. PM me if you need one. Per BigDad.54 replacing the sights with primative ones front and rear is a good idea. The Gun Works also sells them. With a little work these rifles can look really nice.

 

[cowboysteve]

If it's an Investarms for Cabela's, take a magnet and make sure all parts are steel before you consider browning it. I refinished a Cabela's "Trade Rifle" I picked up, and had to order a replacement steel ramrod rib from Lyman. The blackened one it came stock with was made of aluminum. Good luck on the project!

 

[William O.]

by investarms do you mean Lyman? If so than my great plains hawken nose cap is made from cast iron. I removed the bluing and rust browned it and the rest if the iron on the gun. String

Investarms is the manufacturer for both Lyman and Cabelas "Hawken" line of rifles and pistols. I think the Lyman Trade rifle and the Cabelas Hawken are nearly the same rifle with some minor differences IIRC.

 

[chazz1975]

I used several coats of Birchwood Casey "brass black" on all the brass parts of my T/C hawken, which is a nearly identical rifle. I also stripped the god-awful high gloss finish off and used a few coats of minwax dark walnut stain rubbing it down with steel wool between coats and then using 3 coats of a dull varnish again rubbing with steel wool in between coats. My rifle has a nice, warm, antiqued look to it now that i just enjoy staring at.

 

[sb 54 cal.]

I have a deer stalker or use to be. Sanded stock and refinished it. Put on a brass butt plate found a old steel trigger guard and a pewter nose cap also put a rice barrel on it. You can change however you want. I will try to take a pic and post it later.
Pappy

 

[pondoro]

My daughter got a $90 CVA with an ugly picture of a deer dot peened into the lock plate and a blued brass nose cap. I browned the barrel, poured a pewter nose cap and draw filed the lock plate smooth. Before I browned the barrel I plugged a plethora of screw holes with screws, then cut and filed them flush.

Long term plan is a fixed traditional rear sight but currently it sports a modern aperture sight from my junk box in the remaining two holes in the barrel. My daughter can out shoot me with the aperture sight and she likes that. When she was in her teens she shot competitive small bore and could always out shoot me. So this takes her back to those happy (for her) times.

 

[sb 54 cal.]

Here is the pic of my use to be lyman deer stalker
this is a .54 smooth bore rice barrel but I interchange with the .50 cal. 24 inch orignal barrel.
Pappy