Tony Hawkins Hawken

[Pukatea Bay Boy]

Kia Ora ( Hello),everyone. This rifle is an New Zealand made .45 Hawken made by a fella called Tony Hawkins. He unfortunately has passed now. He is a legendary person to me. This is the only commercial black powder rifle ever made in my country. They were made in the 1070 1980s .
Its .45 & has a 1:18 twist & comes with it's own mould.
It has a 32 " barrel .
It's a heavy gun but actually comes to the arm pretty nice.
I also am luck enough to have a gun made by Tony that was used by the NZ shooting team in the 1980s
It's a Gibbs style swamped barrel. 45 I'm not to sure on barel length 33" or 34" I'm on a break at work sendng this message.
I'll post it one day as that's a whole different story .
I Love this gun. It shoots sweetly and groups pretty nice.
Have a great day/ evening I guess on the other side of the world.
Kind regards Chris
( ata marie )

 

[The Crisco Kid]

Can you tell us more about the bullet and how it's loaded? It looks pretty interesting. Thanks for posting it.

 

[Pukatea Bay Boy]

Kia Ora Crisco,
Unfortunately I am at mahi ( work) today & I live in the outer sounds 170 miles away so cant post pictures of mould.
Nothing to different really. Just a 3 grove heavy bullet with flat bottom. Loading same as regular riles powdeer & bullet & if you want to get more cosistant groping a patch between them.
No false muzzle or anything that flash.
Shes not pretty, but shes accurate as the person behind the trigger.
The Gibbs style Tony Hawkins ( I'll post that one up one day ) is something else when it comes to acuracy short or long range. Its beast of a rifle that 1

 

[Pukatea Bay Boy]

Kia Ora ( Hello),everyone. This rifle is an New Zealand made .45 Hawken made by a fella called Tony Hawkins. He unfortunately has passed now. He is a legendary person to me. This is the only commercial black powder rifle ever made in my country. They were made in the 1070 1980s .
Its .45 & has a 1:18 twist & comes with it's own mould.
It has a 32 " barrel .
It's a heavy gun but actually comes to the arm pretty nice.
I also am luck enough to have a gun made by Tony that was used by the NZ shooting team in the 1980s
It's a Gibbs style swamped barrel. 45 I'm not to sure on barel length 33" or 34" I'm on a break at work sendng this message.
I'll post it one day as that's a whole different story .
I Love this gun. It shoots sweetly and groups pretty nice.
Have a great day/ evening I guess on the other side of the world.
Kind regards Chris
( ata marie )

My English is terrible made in 1970s 1980s should read.

 

[gunpa]

My English is terrible too, even though it's my native language! But the rifle looks good to me

 

[Phil Coffins]

I told a Kiwi friend that what ever he was saying sometimes didn’t sound like English to me. He said that he speaks English but I spoke American! Divided by a common language.

 

[Tasbay]

Remember standing in a shop in Vermont and the guy serving me couldn`t understand a thing I said so my mate from Vermont who was with me translated, think all I was after was a Coke. Mate also commented once ,I have known you over 10 years and sometimes I don`t have a clue what you are saying. If only he spoke English like the rest of us instead of American.
Tony Hawken's had a reputation for well made muzzleloaders, usually in fairly fast twist rates. Still see the odd one come up for sale here in NZ. They tend to look basic but have good locks and barrels.

 

[Euan]

Remember standing in a shop in Vermont and the guy serving me couldn`t understand a thing I said so my mate from Vermont who was with me translated, think all I was after was a Coke. Mate also commented once ,I have known you over 10 years and sometimes I don`t have a clue what you are saying. If only he spoke English like the rest of us instead of American.
Tony Hawken's had a reputation for well made muzzleloaders, usually in fairly fast twist rates. Still see the odd one come up for sale here in NZ. They tend to look basic but have good locks and barrels.

I was shooting at the Kopara Rondy last weekend, and there wer still two of Tony Hawkins rifles on the line. My one that is in .58 one in 70" twist ? and a fellow shooter had a .45" with one in Forty Twist. Both rifles shootimg patched Roundball. both rifles were still in the money in a lot of the events. they were generally great shooters. Much better than a lot of the rubbish we had to put up with in the 1970s.

 

[Tasbay]

I didn`t realise Kopara was still active, good to hear . Have never shot there but drove out once back in 1997 to buy some FF from a guy living there, after hunting on the coast. Do they still have the cannon pointing along the driveway at you as you enter?.

 

[Pukatea Bay Boy]

Just come in for my weeks shift. Thank you to all for your posts.
Wonderful to hear that Tony's legacy lives on here & oversees.
Heres a few more pictures of my .45 , its had a stock repair where a tang sights broken off in the past.
The stock is made from Totara a hard wood ,but after drying dosnt take kindly to drilling. Can split.
To all those Tony Hawkins owners out there . You have a fine iron made by a fine man.
Ata Marie everyone.
Kind regards Chris.

 

[Pukatea Bay Boy]

I was shooting at the Kopara Rondy last weekend, and there wer still two of Tony Hawkins rifles on the line. My one that is in .58 one in 70" twist ? and a fellow shooter had a .45" with one in Forty Twist. Both rifles shootimg patched Roundball. both rifles were still in the money in a lot of the events. they were generally great shooters. Much better than a lot of the rubbish we had to put up with in the 1970s.

Morena ( morning) Euan, I don't supose you could send a picture of your rifle? I'd be really interested to see it.
Kind regards Chris
Nga mihi

 

[Euan]

Morena ( morning) Euan, I don't supose you could send a picture of your rifle? I'd be really interested to see it.
Kind regards Chris
From mihi

G'day Chris, I only have a couple of pics of this rifle on this lap top gadget thing. So hope it gives you an idea of what she is like. I need to get more photos.
Cheers Euan

 

[Notchy Bob]

Chris,

Thanks for showing and telling us about your rifle! The rifle pictured by @Euan in post #12 looks very similar in design, but appears to be .58 caliber!

Mr. Hawkins' rifles look plain but serviceable... My favorite kind of gun. I'm sure it is a lot of fun to shoot.

I visited New Zealand for about a month in 1985 and traveled from one end of the country to the other. It is an extraordinary place, and the people we met were universally helpful and hospitable.

Best regards,

Notchy Bob

 

[Flintandsteel]

The strange part for me, is the rear sight. Looks just like a front sight. Seems like it would be hard to get a good sight picture.

 

[Pukatea Bay Boy]

Morena &Ata Marie Euan,
Thank you VERY MUCH for putting your Tony Hawkins up on picture. You did really well Matua
Aw flooded me with pride to see it.realy enjoy hearing your storie about how well they were shooting ( & the shooters) let's not forget that point.
You know Ewan when Tony was making these he wernt alowd to make bigger than .45 for local NZ market.
That was the gun law back then.
All the .58s & even some larger guns he made were all exported.
( well.... I do know that some bigger barrels were stamped. 45 & what do you know.... the bore is bigger???) Haha. But not many of those were made . More for folks Tony know well.
Theres a lot of. 45s here & .36s as a result of that .
The law changed to .50 but I've never come across a.50.
They l be out there anyone in NZ got 1?
Thanks again Euan. For putting the pictures up. Really appreciate your time and effort there.& good shooting matey.Ma te Wa.
(Al th best) Chris

 

[Pukatea Bay Boy]

Chris,

Thanks for showing and telling us about your rifle! The rifle pictured by @Euan in post #12 looks very similar in design, but appears to be .58 caliber!

Mr. Hawkins' rifles look plain but serviceable... My favorite kind of gun. I'm sure it is a lot of fun to shoot.

I visited New Zealand for about a month in 1985 and traveled from one end of the country to the other. It is an extraordinary place, and the people we met were universally helpful and hospitable.

Best regards,

Notchy Bob

Morena You are 100% correct. Euans gun is .58
Thanks for your message.
I'm glad you had a good time in my country.
I traveling when I was younger & equally had a wonderful time in the USA.
& met such lovely folks aswell.
Theres a lot of good people out there
Have a awesome day Notcy Bob.

 

[Pukatea Bay Boy]

The strange part for me, is the rear sight. Looks just like a front sight. Seems like it would be hard to get a good sight picture.

Kia Ora Flint & stell.
The sights are iron. Tap sights.( if that's the right term?)
They work ok.
Front sight is pretty different than back sight. Being a V & front sight is a post & bead.
I'm back at Tuamarina today for mahi ( work) I could send you close pictures when I go back home if you wish?
Nga mihi Chris

 

[Flintandsteel]

I would like to see them.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Pukatea Bay Boy]

Sure thing, I'm at work for 5 days when I go home I'll take pictures of front & back sights

I would like to see them.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Euan]

I didn`t realise Kopara was still active, good to hear . Have never shot there but drove out once back in 1997 to buy some FF from a guy living there, after hunting on the coast. Do they still have the cannon pointing along the driveway at you as you enter?.

Tasbay, Yep cannon still there.