Traditions Hawken Muzzleloader kit do's and don'ts
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- čas přidán 15. 07. 2024
- This is a kit that I recently put together. Like I said, not a bad build, just a few things you need to be careful of. Don't screw the lock plate screws in too tight, and make sure your barrel has enough room to fit in the stock snug, but without scratching anything. Fun gun to build, we will be posting videos of shooting it soon!
The screws that hold your ram rod thimble in place can be shortened with a dremel and stone so that you can tighten them fully so that your thimble stay in place and the screws do not interfere with the ram rod when storing it in place under the barrel.
I have 3 Traditions kits, 2 pistols and one rifle, 1 cva pistol kit, a navy arms zouave and a TC Hawken. I always loosen the lock screws on all my Blackpowder guns before removing or installing the barrel. You did a nice job and as you said the imperfection s add patina. I'm fitting my Hawken with a grade 3 curly maple full stock poor boy style. One of the best rewards it building what you shoot.
Built the same rifle by CVA (Ardesa) about 28 years ago. I found that having the lock almost loose going in, I didn't knock any wood coming out. Found out the hard way. WRT the trigger assembly catching the sear, the arm(?) can be GENTLY bent to the correct position. It's designed that way as it's not hardened. This is by far my most accurate muzzle loader but an agonizingly heavy beast to haul around with the 1" barrel. I should have taken more time to finish it up nicely. You did a stellar job with yours and am impressed. Good winter project for me now.
Understand why you all caps GENTLY 🤦🏻♂️
You rock dude you're just getting your experience in
its the same as an AR. every kit is an experience unto itself.
Nice job! I built a T/C hawkens in 1972
Thanks friend just got mine last year . My best friend bought one off his neighbor . Gave to me as a gift. . Love it . But really want to convert the nipple to shot gun primer . Learning .
Please tell
You're going to have to do some grinding and shortening. Use your trigger set screw and get it where you want it then use a file to grind off the top of back trigger so it barely touches the stirrup of the lock and the triggers fit flush in the stock. You're gonna have to work with it. The screws that hold the thimbles can be ground down so that the thimbles can be tightened down well to the barrel rib. They need to be. You're gonna loose a thimble if you dont. Barrel and wood looks great. Not familiar with traditions but sometimes thr old CVA kits were pretty rough inside the barrel and had to be slicked down some with some 400 grit wrapped around a dowel. Otherwise they didnt load all that well. If you can get to it easy enough I'd look down that rifling and see if there are any burs. It'll shoot a ball with a plastic patch well enough but cloth patches wont do well if the barrels rough.
I recently finished my Hawken rifle and have trouble setting the triggers, I will try your solution with loosening the trigger guard
You tighten the thimbles then use a round file to cut the screws down so the ramrod will go in without any trouble. Had the same issue with the Lyman prairie rifle
I had to order the underbarrel rib and thimbles for a project barrel. You install the thimble snug the use a file to smooth out the screws on back side of underbarrel rib. Then the rib will fit flush and everything is nice and tight.
Great video. I am thinking about getting into blackpowder and was window shopping online. I saw this firearm and liked what I read but it didn't tell me that this was a "build". It appeared as though you buy the already assembled firearm. Lol, I would have been in for a real surprise if I had ordered it. Thanks very much for a very honest and informative video.
You can also order a "built" rifle. Just have to look in the right catalog
@@mikegrossberg8624
Thank you Mike. Yes, since that post I have acquired a BP rifle and a BP pistol. Both were already built. I think I will attempt a build during the winter. Thank you very much for reaching out, much appreciated. 👍🏼
I have the same rifle prebuilt. I could not see the savings VS work performed for a kit gun. It was just not worth my time. The gun is excellent though. I have not had any issues. One thing that I saw different is the sights. My sights were metal. I bought the rifle in January 22, so maybe Traditions realized the plastic sights sucked and changed it. Great video.
Very cool!
tightened the thimbles, then file the screws smooth with a rat tail file, to allow the ram rod to slide freely.
bluejay47471 thanks for the pointer. Never even thought to file them down.
bluejay47471 finally got a chance to file those screws down. Thimbles are tight and the ram rod slides freely, thanks for the advice!
Yes I am going to try to assemble a CVS Kentucky rifle kit that has been in the basement for years! Watching the videos - as Mary Poppins said "Well begun is half done!".
Good thing is the scratches shouldn’t show too much when the barrel is on. I have an armisport 1862 Richmond and it’s got those on the lock plate side.
I'm about to start this project but I was shocked when you said they have plastic sights. All that effort to make it authentic and they throw a pair of craplastic sights in the box. What options do you have for a more traditional system and how much more modification will it require?
Hopefully you get a chance to make that shooting video soon. It's been a while!
I've got the Hawkins just exactly like that one
You can buy steel adjustable sights that are simular to the ones shown if you are interested
Robert Miller I actually used this for deer muzzleloader season, and while adjusting the rear sight, it broke. Definitely a downside
@@blackswampoutdoors4850 Did you replace it with a steel sight? If so which one? I'd prefer to just put a steel one on from the start
Wow..Beautiful gun
You're supposed tobtiggten the ferrule screws with lock-tote and file off the protruding screw that appears inside the fertile itself so it DOESN'T make contact with the ramrod!
Okay on your rod guides you can tighten those up really tight take a round file and file those down very lightly and you won't have any problems with those rod for yourwhat you need to do don't worry about those scratches around that around your percussion nipple area because that's always going to get scratched when you have to disassemble and reassembleso that's a given their because I own a 50 caliber hawken I own a 50 caliber Kentucky long rifle 45 caliber Kentucky a long rifle so whatever you're going to do minimal so you got the whole gun done all you have to do is tighten those a rod guides really nice and tight take a round file metal file you knowfile those screws down in that down to the minimum where your ain't going to have the rod that's all you have to do and done with it
Add small washers to the thimble screw that'll cure that problem and you can tighten them up and the backside of the lock mechanism you need to use lipstick or some kind of marking paint and you're Locking System should drop in easy and where the paint or lipstick shows up at you need to trim and that'll solve your triggers from not being Titan completely just letting you know from experience
Tighten your thimble screws all the way into your brass thimbles then take a metal "rat-tail" file and file the excess of the screws off that are protruding into the inside of the thimble... Ditch the cheap plastic sights and get some metal ones from Track of the Wolf. As far as the trigger goes - eventually you could probably bend the trigger plate to fit proper - but don't do that until you check with a qualified gunsmith that know about these offshore muzzle'loaders... Welcome to the world of making smoke...
file couple threads off the rod guide screws
I am currently working on one of these. Just test fit all components prior to finishing metal and wood, and discovered the hammer does not impact the nipple squarely. Any ideas for how to remedy this?
Will Parsons my didn’t either. I called the company and they wouldn’t replace for free. They said as long as it will hit the primer it will be fine. They also said you could try heating and bending it, but I didn’t want to tamper with it any more than what I needed to.
You might need to some wood from barrel channel to move rear of the barrel under the hammer more. With OUT more detail, the fix is just a guess.
Dixie gun works has a good one
I had to clean my Barrel on mine inside and out cuz the person that had it before that let it sit around and it rusted so I had to clean it all up get all the wrecked out and off of it
What year is that one was made
How come you did not make a video shooting it?
CageKicker I haven’t had the chance to yet. Hoping my schedule will slow down this winter and I’ll be able to start some more videos up
On the old hawken 50 Cal was the barrel manufactured in Spain?
I believe they were made here in the US. Maybe they made later models in Spain?
Just wondering if I could use a 45 cal bullet in my 50 cal Hawkens? Thanks for any information!
That isn’t advisable, why would you do that anyway?
sure but just add more patches
master of pupets
My Traditions Hawken came with a browned barrel. Can i remove that and blue it?
I’m not sure, I’ve never heard of that before! Does it seem like a type of finish on the barrel?
Great Video. Where did you get the mat underneath the rifle? 😁
The ram is hard to pull out
I don't think I have issues with mine. Are there any scrape marks on your rod?
All of the things you had (Issues) with , are fixable with file, sand paper and some thought. Such ram rod thimbles, take a file and file screws off after they are have tightened down the ram rod thimbles so they will not scratch the ram rod. The funiture needs to be fitted to the wood stock by filling and sanding. if that was a project in school to be graded on you would have gotten a D- for your grade. back of trigger guard need fitting to wood stock. IF you keep working on what you call issues and fix them you would have learned a good lesson.
david minshew you would’ve gotten a D- in English. No need to bash on someone. Lessons are learned from issues. I did take this back apart and redo all of the ISSUES that I hadn’t properly went through before. Thanks for repeating what others have said in the comments 👍
@@blackswampoutdoors4850 😂😂😂
Plastic sights? Wow, that company has really gone downhill.....
good afternoon please i helped i am fa of your channel and hunting conscious but i don't have a shotgun like this i have a very dangerous handmade shotgun i will leave my email if i can answer me a hug.
Most of your problems are coming from the fact that you did not fit the parts. This is not a plug and play gun.
It needs work, filing sanding and so on.
I can see you did not sand the stock, even if you said you did
The wood is not flush with the brass on the back, nor is the muzzle pice flush with the stock.
The trigger assembly is not let into the stock either.
Did you hack the kit together over a weekend ?
These builds take time.
Better buy an assembled piece if you have not the time to do it right.
He spent a "long time" sanding the stock! 15 or 20 minutes!
well if he was going for the ..its good enough he nailed it
For sanding the stock, one needs to start off with, like, 80 grit sandpaper, and progress to finer and finer grits, down to, at least, 600 grit, for a DECENT finish. One can go even FINER, using grades of emory paper, wet/dry, depending on how fine one wishes to have the finish.
It WILL take time
Find an old Tc Hawkins rifle
country life whys that?
@@blackswampoutdoors4850 They're nicer and a bit better built. Can't comment on accuracy between the two though, I shoot the same with them both.
Junk
This guy's not to bright. He doesn't realize to sand the screws down to perfect fit
I was 20 when I built this rifle, never had done anything like this prior, especially filing screws down to fit flush. But thanks for the input and advice it must make you feel good to encourage and help others that haven't had the prior experience.