Pedersoli Rocky Mountian Hawken - Thoughts

[GARD72977]

I have a Jeff Tanner .520 mold . I have a couple hundred balls through it .

[fouronesix]

If the brass nutcracker works well then no problem. FYI, both Lyman and RCBS make or made .520 RB molds that are very good.

[GARD72977]

I have a thick patching that works pretty well. Im thinking of ordering a .519 mold from tanner

[fouronesix]

A slightly smaller ball makes sense if you are wanting to load with thumb pressure only for rendezvous or some competitions. I wouldn't doubt even .516-.518 to allow for that type loading using .012-.015 ticking. But it depends on your particular bore specs.

I worked on mine for accuracy and found the best load: .520 RB with .012 patch, moose milk lube and about 75 gr FF BP. But it does require a medium thump with a short starter- not a hard hit but more than thumb pressure only.

[Dakota's Dad]

That Uberti Santa Fe hawken looks to be a fine rifle. I bet had I stumbled on one, or if I do in the future, I would/will take it home..

[fouronesix]

After Western Arms went out of business, along with the aggravation of the 53 caliber, the going price for them was about $200. I bought 2 for $400 in the mid-80s. Sold both of them to friends for what I paid. Found another one in about 1988-9? for $200 and have kept that one. After taking a good look at the the lock and doing a minimal amount of honing to slick it up, I'd rate the quality as very good to excellent.

Currently I have no idea what the going price is for one- probably depends on the bore condition like all those MLs from that era.

[Marvin S]

There is several pages about them over at contemporary longrifle web site. Its under collecting page five. A nice one brings three to four times what you gave.

[fouronesix]

Thanks for that heads up! I hadn't seen that thread. One or two of the guys did a lot of research that is invaluable.

I got a kick out of reading through it. Seems forums are no different anywhere. With some of the X-spurts nit picking the finer points of the single design decided upon and sold by W.A. .... as if they had seen all the original Hawken rifles which were made through the years of their existence

[johnson1942]

i guess i never been overly traditional since i went through a gun display many years ago up at dead wood s.dak. they had a couple of hundred muzzle loaders their that was left over from the 1800/s boom they had their. i realized then that a lot of them were put together from bits and pieces from other worn out muzzleloaders. nothing you would reconize but some really nice bastard guns. ive done the same ever since. in a way that is traditional. i start with parts, a idea and wood and out comes a gun. they are all diff. look good and shoot good. their is no school their. if i was going for a school type gun i would like a long rifle in the reading design, they flow from any angle. havent hit the lottery yet but if i ever did some reading school design guys would be busy.

[Dakota's Dad]

Thanks for that heads up! I hadn't seen that thread. One or two of the guys did a lot of research that is invaluable.

I got a kick out of reading through it. Seems forums are no different anywhere. With some of the X-spurts nit picking the finer points of the single design decided upon and sold by W.A. .... as if they had seen all the original Hawken rifles which were made through the years of their existence

Yes sir. Another forum I lurk on has some very heated "debates" about these kind of things. I have held/fondled/played with a couple real Hawkens, at the Frasier in Louisville. I guarantee that 99% of people couldn't tell, or wouldn't notice, the differences between those and my GPR.. meanwhile these guys are calling into question each others parentage and lineage over some little thing like the size of the screw head on the toe plate.. It's a lot of what keeps me to a 1-2 post annual post rate. Hundreds to thousands of plains style rifles built in the "Hawken's style" all by hand, and used, abused, repaired, and refurbished for decades.. but they all were "just like this"..

Anyways, got in another dozen shots today with the Rocky Mountain Hawken... lovin' it.

[GARD72977]

I agree about all hype over what is right and what is wrong. Here is where there problem come in. The Rocky mountain Hawken is expensive at a grand. I would struggle paying more that that no matter how nice the gun is (custom or not). These guns are usually not welcome in the click at the Rondys. They will let you participate but if do well it was with a Cap lock not a Flinter. I take nothing for these fine gun. I just don't have the income to pay 2k for a correct gun that has not place in Rondys or competition. I have seen some Hawken competitions online but we don't have them around here.

To be clear I love the Rocky Mountain Hawken and other than the writing on the barrel there is not much I could complain about.

[johnson1942]

to those of us who build muzzleloaders a strick style limits out creative abilities. ive seen hundreds of trade rifles and even those had a lot of modifications by those who used them way back when. i live withing 25 miles of the furtrader museum and they have a large number of trade rifles on display. i have always like the idea of makeing something out of nothing(cast away parts.) i have worked only with native americans since 1990 as a registered nurse. a couple of native friends of mine have said to me, roger you have got to be part native as you can build something out of junk, because that how we are. if you go to the furtrade museum you will see how good the natives were at changeing guns to keep them going and fitting them to their needs. thats my school. muzzle loading is just plain fun and after church to day the weather has finally let me blow some smoke to day.

[Omnivore]

Good stuff here. I'm reminded of how I read a lot about how very few of the original Hawkins had cap boxes and most were in large calibers, and then I find a display of original Hawkins, almost all of which happen to have cap boxes and calibers starting with a 3 or a 4. Yeah, so the one I'm building will be spec'ed to my liking and thus it will be "just like an original".