Hawken Expert Bob Woodfill Details the Hawken Shop Hawken Muzzleloader Kit | Advanced Hawken Rifle

Jul 21

Bob Woodfill is a longtime friend of mine, when he wrote his book "The Hawken Rifle; Its Evolution from 1822-1870" I saw Bob's scholarly side and his willingness to share his research. In 2021 Bob became fascinated with doing whatever he could to spread his love of the Hawken rifle with muzzleloading enthusiasts everywhere. The success of his book brought Hawken fans of all kinds to his doorstep and he wanted to do more to give back.

Today we're talking with Hawken Expert, Bob Woodfill about his thoughts on the "Hawken Shop's" Sam Hawken Muzzleloader kit. Hawken shop kits are the only that I know of that are made directly from original Hawken parts. This process makes them extremely historically accurate for the most descerning Hawken enthusiast.

The Hawken Shop Sam Hawken kit

Hawken Shop Sam Hawken Kit Details

Length: 50” or 52” depending on chosen barrel.

Barrel: 34” or 36” in length, Barrels are made by Rice Barrel

Tapering from breech to muzzle 1-1/8”- 1”

1x48” twist

Drop: 2-7/8”

Pull: 14”

Weight: 10 3/4 lbs.

Caliber: .54

Furniture: Steel
Stock: Maple

Hawken Shop Sam Hawken Kit Description

Sourced from the Hawken Shop Webpage

Our rifles are hand fit and not the product of mass machining. They retain the human element making each one unique unto itself. If you choose to build a rifle yourself you will find a Hawken Shop kit is more time consuming than a CNC kit. You will also discover it puts you, the builder in touch with your gun. The major machining steps have been done. The barrel is breeched, the dove tails for the sights are cut and the trigger group and the lock are assembled.
What is left for you to do is to create a rifle that is distinctly yours. Building your own Hawken rifle is special, it becomes as individual as you, the builder. Once you have the parts married to the wood to your satisfaction the real connection begins. It is your personal attention that now goes into the final shaping of your Hawken rifle. It’s your hand that guides the file perfecting those final touches.
A Hawken Shop kit is certainly not for everyone. It will require some time and patience. It is a kit that is for the discriminating shooter who wants to create a rifle that they can take pride in having built themselves. A rifle they can have personal connection to. A Hawken Shop rifle can be a source of enjoyment for you that will extend for generations to come. You can create a family heirloom and be part of preserving a little piece of American history as you do.

The kit includes all the screws and bolts that you need to build the rifle next are the two very important parts and they're in orange bubble wrap. The first one here is the lock. The lock is an exact copy of a Gibbons lock and comes fully assembled. With this lock, you've got authenticity but you've got it all done for you. The next piece is a set of double set trigger, all the springs are in and all the holes are drilled and everything is ready to go. All you do is just insert these triggers into the semi-inlet stock.

The stock is an exact copy of an original Sam Hawken rifle that Art Russell owned. Art had it copied on a panograph and this is an exact copy in shape, inlet and position.

This particular semet is a grade 2 Maple which Bob believes would be very characteristic of original rifles. The Hawken shop does offer higher grade wood for stocks, higher grade means more curl in the wood, but many of the surviving Hawken rifles are not fancy. The semi-inlet stock has all the inletting roughed in with a router. Some minor fitting will need to be done to complete the kit, but the main hard layout work is complete.

The Hawken Shop procures their barrels from Rice. The have an appropriate 1 1/8” to 1” taper, with a 54 caliber bore in 34 or 36” lengths. Barrels in Hawken Shop kits come with the bolster already mounted and indexed with the barrel, making for easier assembly and less of the worrying that can come with breeching a barrel. The barrel comes with the dovetails cut for the barrel keys, dovetails cut for the sights, and is already drilled and tapped for the barrel under-rib.

The Hawken Shop kits, according to Bob, are the premiere Hawken kit available today. No other kit can match it’s authenticity and build quality. The kits are American made and it shows in the quality.

I’m happy to share that Bob has loaned me this rifle to shoot and test on the range. Be on the look out for those videos soon.

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