Hawken Rifles

[Kent Shootwell]

The classic Hawken rifle may of been rare in the mountains but it would akin to the guy in high school with a Shelby cobra, it would be an enviable thing to have!

[Reverend P. Babcock Chase]

Howdy all and Tsalagidave,

I can assure you that Don Kammerer was responsible to the design of the CVA Mountain Rifle . I worked at CVA and was responsible for getting his prototype into production initially in Spain and shortly later made (mostly) in the states using spanish parts and American maple stocks. These guns had a uniquely manufactured barrel blank that produced surprising accuracy for the reasonable cost.

I doubt that Don did any work for T/C, but I can't say for certain that he didn't.

I also have one of his German styled long rifles in 54 cal. It is a showpiece.

Rev. Chase

[Tsalagidave]

Howdy all and Tsalagidave,

I can assure you that Don Kammerer was responsible to the design of the CVA Mountain Rifle . I worked at CVA and was responsible for getting his prototype into production initially in Spain and shortly later made (mostly) in the states using spanish parts and American maple stocks. These guns had a uniquely manufactured barrel blank that produced surprising accuracy for the reasonable cost.

I doubt that Don did any work for T/C, but I can't say for certain that he didn't.

I also have one of his German styled long rifles in 54 cal. It is a showpiece.

Thanks for the insight Rev. Chase.  I'm glad to know you and would love to hear more about your era of ML gun production.  It was inexpensive muzzleloaders that got me started in this hobby as well.

-Dave

Rev. Chase

[Dave T]

I got a chance to shoot Dave's Don Kammerer Hawken and was very impressed.  It was quite heavy in the hand but became lighter in feel once it was shouldered.  One of the loads I tried was 120g under a 54 cal round ball.  It was a delight to shoot with little felt recoil compared to what I was expecting.  Really and excellent rifle.

Dave

[Gabriel Law]

I am enjoying this thread on Hawken rifles.  I've had an on-again, off-again love affair with creating this particular rifle for about 50 years, and have purchased every piece of literature I could find on it, including Bob Woodfill's new book -= a good investment.
Like a lot of you, I started out too with a T/C "Hawken" rifle, mine a flint .50 cal, and I shot, hunted and enjoyed the rifle for many years.  But as my experience and knowledge grew, I became disatisfied with the "cookie-cutter" factory rifle and wanted a more authentic rifle.  So I began making muzzleloading rifles in a time when the Hawken was all the rage, and everyone, it seemed, wanted one.   I built about a dozen for friends and in the late 70's was hired by a local gunsmith to create Hawken rifles in his shop.  Over the next three years, we turned out around 180 Hawken rifles until finally, interest in it diminished to the point where I was laid off and the Hawken manufacture ceased.  Since then, I have from time to time had requests for Hawken rifles and so have built a number.  I even was able to keep one for myself, and it is my go to rifle for easy shooting accuracy, especially at longer ranges.  Mine is a .62 cal and weighs over 11 pounds.  It is quite true that during the first and second quarters of the 19th century, there were many gunsmiths cranking out plains rifles from the city of St. Louis, and the Hawken bros were just two of them.  Even so, there was something special about the Hawken rifle that endeared it to the hearts of men of adventure, comparative wealth, and prestige, many of their names already appearing in posts above.  And so the love affair continues to this day.
I'm going to try to post a picture of two rifles that I have built in the last ten years...hope I'm successful.

[Baltimore Ed]

Enjoyable thread. My first ever shooting experiences were with ml cap guns, a .45 Kentucky that I built from parts, second was a quasi Hawken, .58 cal 1 1/8 inch across the flats, also from parts. After a few years it was rebuilt into an underhammer. I shot monthly with a group called the Swamp Fox Muzzleloaders in Maysville, NC. Had a Remington 1858 repro and Ruger Old Army. Fun shooting. Killed a number of whitetails too during the short BP season, initially it was only 3 days but eventually became a week. Twice killed a pair from the same stand, once on a late morning and another time in the evening. Only killed one 8 pointer.

[greyhawk]

Interesting thread
On a trip in 2012 I spent some time drooling in the Museum of the Fur Trade in Chadron Nebraska - rows of original mountain man guns with their specs and ancestry .
Its a common enough misconception among a lot of BP shooters that the hawken (whatever that really is) was the weapon of choice for the mountain trappers .

If you took and put any of the modern day replica hawkens I ever saw up among those big ole guns - you woulda heard this whisper "git outa here kid - take that rabbit gun   back home and let us adults deal with the bears and such"

My impression from that trip - its a flintlock - big heavy duty military style lock - barrel is at least 36 - 38 inch but not the 42inch plus of the eastern rifles - half or full stock - 58 to 62 calibre in the main (saw a couple 54's ) - gotta weigh at least ten pound from the look of them 

I'm not a historian but what I saw made sense to me.