I have a recently purchased new, Woodsman .50 cal percussion rifle. Have fired approximately 40 rds so far with no problems at all. Wipe between shots etc. It cut patches at first but 0000 steel wool took care of that. In my reading I see that many folks look down on the Traditions rifles in general. Can you list the most common problems with these rifles, things to watch out for etc. Might save me some headaches down the road. Really enjoy this forum. Have learned a lot. Thanks in advance.
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Traditions Rifles-Woodsman Percussion
- Thread starter wm300
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You have a percussion lock rifle. While the mainspring might be a little weak, it should serve well enough to reliably fire a lot of caps.
Let em look down. While they are, you will be hitting what you aim at. I bought one last fall and have been shooting the heck out of it. While the jury is still out on long term durability, I have had no problems with mine and have not had a single misfire or hang fire using #11s and t-7 2f. I did a bit of research before buying and found few complaints about them other than that they are not 'real Hawkens'. Well, my Marlin aint a Winchester and my hunting is not bothered by that. And it has been surprisingly accurate w everything I have put through it. That includes .490 prb's w .010 and .015 patches, Hornady PA Conicals and Hornady 385 Great Plains bullets. All have easily grouped around 1 1/2" or slightly less at 45 yards for me w 70 grains. The PA's were the most accurate so far, but all are hunt worthy. Deep snow has kept me from stretching out the distance. The 0000 wool is a good way to go and you can make a small cone of some 400 and 600 wet/dry and use your thumb w it to polish the sharp corners on the crown. I got that advice here from others and it really helped. The crown was doing most of the patch tearing w my rifle. I bought the .010 pre-lubed patches to make it easier for my 13 year grandson to load and I see no real difference in accuracy. I also like how light it is compared to my TC 'Hawken' but that may be where the durability issues kick in. We will find out. I swipe between shots as well. Others don't, but clean is my hunting mode so that's why I do it. So far, mine has been problem free. Hope yours is too. Good luck and enjoy. SW
I’m really liking this rifle-handles well with the shorter 28” barrel. I filled the patchbox with lead fishing weights-overall weight is just over 8 lbs. When I smoothed the bore with steel wool I also thumb polished the crown and did notice a tiny burr which is gone now- no more cut patches. I started out with an .018 patch but it’s difficult to load. Patches were well lubed. Moved down to a .015 patch and loading is much easier now and accuracy picked up as well. It is shooting between 1.5 to 2 inches at 60 yards. Thats about as good as I can do with my +60 yr eyes. As mentioned in some other posts it is a bit of a cheek slapper because you really have to get down against the stock to get the sights lined up. A piece of soft leather as a cheek rest helps a lot. Overall been well pleased , hope the long term durability is good , time will tell.
Percussion. Never had an issue. Fantastic rifles.
rafterob
62 Cal.
I have had a Hawken Woodsman for 15 years now. It is well built and durable.
Mine is not a Perc. but a rock sparker .50 n its shoots very well using prb's n conicals n a word most frown on using small projectiles
64Springer
75 Cal.
Traditions rifles are overpriced junk that aren't even fit for Noobs who don't want to spend a lot of money and should only be used as boat oars.
Yeah! That's B.S.
Love me some Kentuckyish rifles.
Yeah! That's B.S.
Love me some Kentuckyish rifles.
Well I have one that is about 4 months old, very accurate rifle, but today it had a problem. I have maybe40 shots thru this gun so far (.50 cal patched balls, 75-80 hrs FFg ). So today I load my first round , raise the rifle cocktail hammer, set the rear trigger and touch off the shot, just like it is supposed to. I load my second round raise the rifle and cock the hammer and it goes off, I hadn’t set the rear trigger or touched the trigger. Uhm! Round went down range so no safety issue. But now the hammer will not cock and stay back. I brought it home , when I removed the lock see nothing obviously wrong, holding the lock in my hand and pulling the hammer it sets like it is supposed to, the triggers seem to set normal. But when I put the lock back in the gun and try to cock the gun I get the same thing. I cannot see anything wrong? Monday I will try and get a hold of Traditions.
When you reinstall the trigger, put a small washer or two under the rear screw to raise the trigger up and not be in so deep. Many traditions inlet the trigger to deep and this happens. If that is not it, someone else will have to help with other ideas....
How does the trigger assembly come out? There are 2 woos screws that I took out can I just pull the trigger assembly straight out ? Or something else?
Shoot ! You had me hoping you really hated yours and we could work some deals. I have a few boat oars that we could barter. One per rifle sounds fair. C'mon man ! SW
I have a Traditions Crockett .32 cal and the only thing wrong for me is the tiny ball loading. Since I got it the arthritis has become the little ball antagonist. Shoots good when it finally gets loaded.
If it's Rh then on left side there are 2 machine screws that screwed into the lock plate. Now if the perc. model is like the rock sparker when you pull the lock your ramrod may slip n fall. The front lock plate screw goes through the ramrod holder under the barrel
hanshi
Cannon
I've owned two Traditions rifles, a .50 DeerHunter and a Crockett .32. I'd be hard pressed to come up with anything to criticize about them. I killed deer for twenty or so years with the .50 and squirrels galore with the super accurate Crockett.
I have one that I picked up lightly used back in the early 90's, it's the one that got me started with muzzle-loading and Rendezvous... Shot many thousand balls through it and never had any issues other than had to pull the trigger assembly and clean it when the set trigger wouldn't... Mine has a 1:66 barrel so nothing but round balls through it, but it's a tack driver at 50 yds... Aging eyes can't see a lot further than that...
Got the trigger group out couldn’t find anything wrong , will call traditions on monday
Trigger is pulling up into the sear. Grind a little off the set trigger bar and you'll be set. A little at a time. Snug the tang screw up.
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Do you possibly have a picture of the trigger assembly showing the “bat”
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