Hawken

Traditions Hawken Vs. Woodswalk | Muzzle Loaders in the field

Traditions Hawken Vs. Woodswalk | Muzzle Loaders in the field

We're on one of the NMLRA "Woods walks" at the Walter Cline Range in Friendship, Indiana this week testing out our Traditions St. Louis Hawken just like the Mountain Men of the 1840s would have.

How to make a "Hawken Era" Hunting Pouch | Craftsman's Corner

How to make a "Hawken Era" Hunting Pouch | Craftsman's Corner

In this Craftsman’s Corner feature, we’re going to go through the process of making this “Hawken Era” Leather pouch from Madison Grant’s “The Kentucky Rifle Hunting Pouch”

The Hawken Halfstock How-To Part 1 | Muzzle Blasts Excerpt

The Hawken Halfstock How-To Part 1 | Muzzle Blasts Excerpt

“More complex than our flint longrifle parts kits, a Hawken rifle is not recommended as a first gun-making project unless you have machinist’s skills, or an experienced mentor to guide your work.” (Catalog # 18, Track of the Wolf, Inc.)

Let's Build a Traditions St. Louis Hawken Part 9 Final Assembly

Let's Build a Traditions St. Louis Hawken Part 9 Final Assembly

We’re finally ready to do our final assembly on this Traditions St. Louis Hawken Kit. We’ve got all of our parts treated, our stock is ready to go, and it’s time to see what it looks like all together!

Let's Build a Traditions St. Louis Hawken Part 8: Staining, Oiling and Finishing the Stock

Let's Build a Traditions St. Louis Hawken Part 8: Staining, Oiling and Finishing the Stock

With our hardware finished, we’re ready to move onto finishing out stock. In the previous parts of this series, we’ve done a lot to this stock to make it fit and feel right, but the stain and oiling is going to be the most dramatic change, so buckle up and let’s get to it.

Let's Build a Traditions St. Louis Hawken Part 7: Bluing your Barrel

Let's Build a Traditions St. Louis Hawken Part 7: Bluing your Barrel

Next on our list here is bluing the barrel, barrel rib, tang, and any other “white” iron pieces like screwheads. First though we are going to soak a cotton ball in some rubbing alcohol and wipe down all the pieces we want to blue. This is going to clean off any dust or dirt from the shop, but also remove any skin oils or other oils that may be on the parts to give us our best shot at an even blued finish.

Let's Build a Traditions St. Louis Hawken Part 6: Preparing your Stock for Stain

Let's Build a Traditions St. Louis Hawken Part 6: Preparing your Stock for Stain

When it comes to your stock finish, a lot of the process comes down to personal choice. For my kit, I’m going to do a little sanding, some whiskering, some scraping, and some burnishing. To start though, we’re going to get a nice even surface on the stock with some sandpaper.

Let's Build a Traditions St. Louis Hawken Part 2 | The tools you'll need

Let's Build a Traditions St. Louis Hawken  Part 2 | The tools you'll need

In this video, we walk you through all the tools you’ll need to build this kit. This video was made after the kit was finished so we could accurately show you all the tools used. The basic list provided by Traditions is enough to get started, but we found there are some more tools that can really help the building process of one of these kits.

Let's Build a Traditions St. Louis Hawken

Let's Build a Traditions St. Louis Hawken

In this series, Muzzle Blasts Field Agent Ethan cracks open a Traditions St. Louis Hawken Kit and builds it. These kits are a simple and affordable way to get started in muzzleloading, and kits are bigger than ever with COVID 19 keeping many at home.

Hickok45 shares his thoughts on the Thompson Center Hawken Rifle

Watch this video from 2019 to fan favorite Hickok45 burn some powder with a T/C Hawken muzzleloading rifle. While modern firearms make up most of Hickok’s channel, it’s great to see him share muzzleloaders with his fans.

A RARE FIND! Don't miss your chance to own an original Barsotti lithograph print!

A rare find! A small number of original, colored lithographs of John Barsotti’s famous oil painting titled, Mountain Men and Hawken Rifles, have been discovered by researcher Tom Schiffer and Hawken enthusiast Bob Woodfill. Don’t miss your chance to own one of this rare prints!