So, I know when you guys talk “rifle builds”, it usually involves a lot of black plastic, black anodized aluminum, “80%” uppers, suppressors, 6.5 something-or-another (Grendel, Creedmoor, etc.) and all of that kind of stuff. Well, this one is going to be a little different than that. You see, I have finally treated myself to a real, genuine Hawken rifle.
Yes, the real Hawken is still being made, by the same company as Samual and Jacob started in St. Louis, Missouri way back in the 1820’s. It has changed hands many times, of course, having been owned and operated by J.P. Gemmer up until WWI, and then various other owners until the 1980’s when one Art Ressel purchased the company. He kept it in St. Louis until the early 21st century, when he sold it and retired. The current owners moved it out of St. Louis, and it now resides, of all places, right here in Oak Harbor, Washington, out in Puget Sound on Whidbey Island. The real Hawken Shop.
While they will certainly sell you a completed rifle, I elected to buy one of their “90% inletted” kits. Mine will have a 34” tapered octagon (1 1/8” at the breach, 1” at the muzzle) barrel in .54 caliber. Deep cut rifling with a 1:48” twist, round ball only. And yes, this was the twist Jacob and Samual settled upon as ideal. It is marketed today as a “compromise” twist, suitable for round ball and conical (like the T/C Maxi Ball). We are told round ball needs a slower twist, like somewhere in the neighborhood of a 1:66” twist, lest too heavy a charge cause the patch to simply strip the rifling, or that it "over-stabilize" the round ball. The kicker, though, is that the rifling in the real Hawken is simply cut too deep to seal a bare bullet - it needs a patch to fill the rifling and seal. And, as deep as it is, even very heavy hunting charges will not cause that patched round ball to strip the rifling.
I went ahead and upgraded the stock from plain maple to a light tiger striped maple. They call it their #4 grade, where standard is #3 and the fanciest, “presentation” grade is their #6. I told them I wanted something distinctive, but not gaudy, something suitable for a hunting rifle that would have been available when the two brothers founded the company. They told me that their #4 is their most popular on a “using” rifle, where anything fancier is more for display rifles.
They should be finished gathering the parts and assembling the kit in a couple of weeks. I’m looking forward to a relaxing winter project in finishing this rifle. It’s going to be kind of big and heavy, at 10 1/2 to 11 pounds, but that’s o.k. That’s just what they are. That should help with recoil a bit, since they tell me a full hunting charge is anywhere from 140 to 160 grains of FFg behind a .530” ball. They also say that zeroed with such a load at 125 yards, which is the range Samual and Jacob always used, that a half charge of 70 to 80 grains will put it dead on at about 75 yards, making for a great, low recoil plinking load.
I’m really looking forward to this. I have both a T/C “Hawken” which is anything but (but did prove to be a fantastic hunting rifle) and a Lyman “Great Plains” rifle that is a much better representation. Both are great rifles, but neither one is a completely accurate representation. This new rifle will be, because, well, it is actually a real Hawken. Just amazing to me that in this day and age they are still being made, and actually still being made on much the same equipment that Samual and Jacob used. It was all moved up here from St. Louis. I think that’s pretty cool. I’ll post pictures when I pick it up, and as I make progress.
Here are a couple of finished rifles from Art Ressel's shop, before he sold it:
