Muzzleloader Build

[Capt. Fred]

I know it's not quite fishing related but it's winter and I figured you guys might like watching a real slow motion build of a Hawken style muzzleloader.

This is from a collection of parts I ordered from a company called Track of The Wolf. The hardware on the rifle is the traditional steel and the stock is a nice grade of striped maple.

The parts come pretty rough and they need to be worked to get them ready to use. They all need to be draw filed and then sanded smooth. They are made from wax castings so they all have pretty bad acne when you get them.

Before:





Here's the barrel, tang, (which you epoxy on for this part of the process) and buttplate after filing and sanding.





I'll post up more as I keep going.

[bluffman2]

looks like its gonna look very old fashioned

[w5it]

I did one simular to that many moons ago. I cheated and used a sander built like a bandsaw for much of the rough sanding. (A few stages with finer grit belts)

I "Browned" mine much like they were finished way back when.

Sucker shot well too!

[welder]

This will be cool to watch.

[Prodigal Son]

My friend that hunts with me shoots a Hawkens style smoke pole. That sucker is big and heavy and looks like it attracts rust like a shipwreck or something, but regardless, he shoots better with its iron sights than I tend to shoot my 'new fangled' inline with a scope...

Very cool to see one built.

[Capt. Fred]

I'll keep this updated as I poke along. This particular rifle is styled after the one that Jim Bridger carried. 54 cal., 36 inch barrel, 1 1/8 inch across the flats, 36 inches long. Yup it will be heavy!

The eastern style rifles tended to be a bit lighter. All the trappers out west carried everything on a horse so they were more concerened about it being tough. I suppose it would of made a good club if necessary. It has a long tang that is through bolted which made for a real strong wrist on the gun.

[Capt. Fred]

OK, so all of the furniture and the barrel have been draw filed and then sanded down to a 220 grit level of finish. This will be just about right for the rust browning process I think I'm going to use fo the metal work on the gun. I'm still waiting on the stock so this will be it for a while.

[Capt. Fred]

OK, my stock for this rifle is still on backorder and may be for some time. I wanted to do a full stock version of this Hawken style rifle so I went ahead and ordered up a set of parts for one of those.

This is a Don Stith kit and is considered one of the most accurate representations of the original full stock Hawkens.

Pretty much the same process but I've actually got a stock for this one.

I'll post up more pics as I make some progress.

[Capt. Fred]

I managed to get the breech, tang, butt and toe plate let into the stock and held on with temporary screws this weekend. I'm having trouble getting the geometry of the entry thimble to work out so I'm waiting for a reply from the supplier to find out why that isn't working but I should be able to inlet this week at some point. So far so good (knock on wood).

[Capt. Fred]

OK I've inlet the lock into the stock, inlet the trigger assembly, and installed the barrel staples and wedges.




This is the escutcheon plate and bolt that hold the lock in place.



My biggest screwup so far is that I didn't bend the trigger plate fully to shape before I started inletting it. When I started cutting down I realized it still needed some bending and guess what? When you bend something it gets shorter so I've got a 1/32" gap at the front of the plate on the underside of the rifle. I may make make a filler piece or may leave it. We'll see.

I've started the shaping of the stock. There is anywhere from 1/16" to 1/8" plus of extra wood everywhere on the stock. Takes a boatload of shaping and sanding to get it down to where it should be.