Hawken Home Guard

Would a Hawken rifle be good for a Confederate Home Guard impression, also, is it possible to make a Hawken look more like a target rifle?
The biggest problem you'd have with a Hawken is they are pretty short. For reenacting purposes any kind of infantry impression for safety reasons for the most part requires a 3 band rifle. At the time many guys especially in the south carried their personal guns off to war with them but acquired the proper weapon as soon as they could. Length being a problem and ammo. They tried to get everybody in a company on the same ammo, preferably .58 with some sticking with .69. I believe Hawkens are .50 and some of the other hunting type rifles are all over the board in caliber size. Was and would be a nightmare trying to supply everybody, even in a home guard or reserve situation.
 
Would a Hawken rifle be good for a Confederate Home Guard impression, also, is it possible to make a Hawken look more like a target rifle?
The Hawken was a product of the west, the chances of one in the hands of someone outside Missouri... The use of a Hawken is often seen by many as a cop out and often lumped in with dismounted Cav, Zouve Rifles and animal parts hanging off hats as identifiers as FARBerific impressions.

If you want CS Home Guard get a double barrel shotgun.
 
The biggest problem you'd have with a Hawken is they are pretty short. For reenacting purposes any kind of infantry impression for safety reasons for the most part requires a 3 band rifle. At the time many guys especially in the south carried their personal guns off to war with them but acquired the proper weapon as soon as they could. Length being a problem and ammo. They tried to get everybody in a company on the same ammo, preferably .58 with some sticking with .69. I believe Hawkens are .50 and some of the other hunting type rifles are all over the board in caliber size. Was and would be a nightmare trying to supply everybody, even in a home guard or reserve situation.

We're doing skirmish between confederate deserters and Hone Guard/ Town posse and I'm home guard and and trying to decide between enfield or hawken. I'm guessing enfield would be better.
 
The Hawken was a product of the west, the chances of one in the hands of someone outside Missouri... The use of a Hawken is often seen by many as a cop out and often lumped in with dismounted Cav, Zouve Rifles and animal parts hanging off hats as identifiers as FARBerific impressions.

If you want CS Home Guard get a double barrel shotgun.
Has anyone ever produced a reproduction conversion rifle? I can't remember ever seeing one and that what be a great choice for early war for either side or CS home guard impression
 
Hawken rifles were long and heavy. They were meant for the mountains and plains of the west and were adequate for killing buffalo and grizzlies. I've built 4 of them. My own J & S Hawken is .54 cal. and has a 37" barrel. It weights over 11 lbs. and has double set triggers and I made most parts from scratch -- it was not a "kit." I was able to make templates of an original in the possession of a friend of mine in Tuccson in the 1970s. Mine is a half stock but Hawken rifles were also made with full stocks as these were less expensive to make (wood being cheaper than the metal under-rib and thimbles of steel). They were the Weatherby's of the era and cost twice as much as most percussion rifles at that time (basically the 1840's and 1850's). Some were carried across the plains by men bound for Oregon and California but they are rare today (and were then) and are associated with the "mountain men." It's doubtful that militiamen of that time period would have carried Hawken rifles because of their high cost. No midwestern farmer or small businessman could afford or needed this powerful expensive rifle and you'll look for a long time to find any museum that has one. They are extremely rare today. There is a private collection in Santa Fe of Hawken rifles that belongs to one individual.

The only museum I know of that displays a Hawken is the LDS Museum of Church History and Art in Salt Lake City. That Hawken is a full stock, weighs 12 lbs, is .66 caliber, and was purchased by John Brown, a scout and hunter, on Mar. 24, 1845 in St. Louis. Brown carried the Hawken across the plains 13 times between 1846 and 1869 as a guide for Mormon wagon trains. He reportedly killed a buffalo at 200 yards with his Hawken but he also accidentally shot a horse with it.
 
Hawken rifles were noted for long range accuracy (just how long range is subjective and probably judged to be about 200 yards). They had 7 groove slow twist rifling in a soft iron barrel. Slow twist rifling will throw a ball accurately whether a light or heavy powder charge is used. Minnie ball rifles of the Civil War have wide shallow groove rifling. Original P.53 Enfields for instance have 3 wide shallow groove rifling.

Accuracy of an original Hawken for 50 yards with 5 shots was 7/8" group fired from a .50 caliber S. Hawken with a 35" barrel. It reportedly had an almost flat trajectory for 150 yards. A normal powder charge was from 75 grains to 100 grains. Doubling the powder charge doesn't cause severe recoil because of the heavy weight of the rifle itself -- most weighing 11 pounds. A normal charge for the time period was reportedly 3 grains of powder for each 7 grains of ball weight.

By 1842, there were ten other gunsmiths building rifles in St. Louis besides the Hawken brothers shop.
 
Would a Hawken rifle be good for a Confederate Home Guard impression, also, is it possible to make a Hawken look more like a target rifle?
Has anyone ever produced a reproduction conversion rifle? I can't remember ever seeing one and that what be a great choice for early war for either side or CS home guard impression

Read this thread started by Southern Artificer, who made a 33" barreled Holly Springs Armory style Country Rifle
https://civilwartalk.com/threads/bayonet-on-sporting-rifle-build.126350/#post-1371655
 
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We're doing skirmish between confederate deserters and Hone Guard/ Town posse and I'm home guard and and trying to decide between enfield or hawken. I'm guessing enfield would be better.

Tell us more about that.
 
Tell us more about that.

In coffee county Georgia right after the war there were a group of deserters who acted as almost vigilantes against the home guard who in the last months of the war had gone a little power crazy. This created a Wild West type episode in coffee county as these two factions skirmished and fought each other for the good part of a year
 
In coffee county Georgia right after the war there were a group of deserters who acted as almost vigilantes against the home guard who in the last months of the war had gone a little power crazy. This created a Wild West type episode in coffee county as these two factions skirmished and fought each other for the good part of a year

Sounds like a variation of COUNTRY OF JONES. Specifically, how do you folks plan to portray these confrontations as reenactments? (which is a really interesting event, BTW).
 
Sounds like a variation of COUNTRY OF JONES. Specifically, how do you folks plan to portray these confrontations as reenactments? (which is a really interesting event, BTW).

The plan is that we as the home guard find the deserters camp and ambush it, it descends from there into sort of a western shootout. I think this part is just is a tactical for us guys but we'll have camps and such open for visitors
 
The plan is that we as the home guard find the deserters camp and ambush it, it descends from there into sort of a western shootout. I think this part is just is a tactical for us guys but we'll have camps and such open for visitors

Bet it'll beat the "stand in two lines/burn powder for the tourists" events, hands down. Is there a website up with the details you can share for folks here?
 
Bet it'll beat the "stand in two lines/burn powder for the tourists" events, hands down. Is there a website up with the details you can share for folks here?

Not yet, a buddy of mine just started it and he's been pushing us to start a home guard impression and this is debut event for that, I'll post pictures and video if I get any
 
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