Starting a Traditions Hawken build kit in 50 Cal Percussion

[Audie1966]

I just launched a new project. This is the Traditions St Louis Hawken in 50 calibre with the barrel in the white. I did some basic fitting this morning and find that this is a rough cut blank. That makes it a more interesting task. I had to heat the trigger guard and reshape it to make it short enough to fit in the stock cutouts. It also required some of the extra casting to be removed to fit the cutouts. The barrel wedge guide is extremely oversized and will be worked down to fit in the dove tail. I will NOT be using those horrid plastic sights. I have a set of Lyman Hunting sights that require me to cut a dove tail for the rear sight. I am considering finding a metal piece, or brass to mount to the barrel in the precut screw hole and then cut the dove tail into that. This would raise the rear sight in relation to the front. Cutting into the barrel is a no turning back game. That will be the most trying part of this project. Also I am looking for suggestions on barrel and stock finishes. I am considering going olde school as I did many years ago on a CVA Kentucky pistol. I soaked tobacco and made a stock stain and did a rough rust finish on the barrel. It looks rustic as all get out. I want to keep this rifle as olde school as I can but not go the tobacco route again. Any thoughts?

 

[centershot]

Forty-something years ago I built several of the T/C kits, two Hawkens and a Reegade as I recall......mebbe two or three Renegades.....memory fails me. Anyway, I used the Birchwood Casey Plum brown on the steel parts that needed finishing, couldn't ave been any easier. The stocks were walnut, so once done with final sanding, I started rubbing in boiled linseed oil. Lemme tell ya', it takes a LOT of coats of oil to fill the pores and produce a nice smooth finish, but it was worth it! I spent many hours watching TV while rubbing oil into those stocks, and I'm glad I dd it that way. You can use a commercial filler to fill the pores, it's much quicker, I can't say that my way is better or worse. The stocks came out smooth ad had that soft "oil-finished" look.

If you have a maple stock, or other "light" colored wood, you might want to stain it, maybe not. It's YOUR rifle, mak it look like YOU want it to! I have a T/C .50 Renegade that I had bored to .58 smooth (24 gauge). That is now my small game gun. After season closes, I'll strip the gun down to component parts and re-work the stock to fit me better. I'm thinking of staining it with Black Cherry stain and finishing it with matte finish polyurethane. Maybe brown the metal, maybe not, haven't decided. Hey, take that kit and have fun with it! Make the gun reflect your taste and enjoy every minute you get to spend working on it! Once it's done......well, you'll have to start over on another one!

 

[Audie1966]

Forty-something years ago I built several of the T/C kits, two Hawkens and a Reegade as I recall......mebbe two or three Renegades.....memory fails me. Anyway, I used the Birchwood Casey Plum brown on the steel parts that needed finishing, couldn't ave been any easier. The stocks were walnut, so once done with final sanding, I started rubbing in boiled linseed oil. Lemme tell ya', it takes a LOT of coats of oil to fill the pores and produce a nice smooth finish, but it was worth it! I spent many hours watching TV while rubbing oil into those stocks, and I'm glad I dd it that way. You can use a commercial filler to fill the pores, it's much quicker, I can't say that my way is better or worse. The stocks came out smooth ad had that soft "oil-finished" look.

If you have a maple stock, or other "light" colored wood, you might want to stain it, maybe not. It's YOUR rifle, mak it look like YOU want it to! I have a T/C .50 Renegade that I had bored to .58 smooth (24 gauge). That is now my small game gun. After season closes, I'll strip the gun down to component parts and re-work the stock to fit me better. I'm thinking of staining it with Black Cherry stain and finishing it with matte finish polyurethane. Maybe brown the metal, maybe not, haven't decided. Hey, take that kit and have fun with it! Make the gun reflect your taste and enjoy every minute you get to spend working on it! Once it's done......well, you'll have to start over on another one!

Boiled linseed oil has always been my choice of finish. I even use it on guitars. All of my other stocks are done this way. The barrel will be the defining factor. As for the brass, I am trying to decide if I want to antique it or polish it.

 

[ohio ramrod]

For the barrel I would brown it . Plug the bore and soak it in coke a cola for 24 hours. A piece of pvc tubing and a two liter bottle works nicely. For the stock I like tung oil but boiled linseed oil will work.