My Lyman Great Plains 50 cal percussion "Hawken"

[dogtag]

bought it around fifteen years ago (maybe more) from Midsouth
for $250. Today at Midsouth it's $848.99.
Love that rifle, extremely accurate - more accurate than I am.
Took it on Rendezvous where I hit everything I aimed at
including large gong at 150 yards (70 gns Goex 2f).
They were fun days.

[Major Tom]

I built a 45 cal. Hawken percussion kit years ago. Lots of work, ie: draw filing the barrel flats smooth, polishing rough brass pieces, sanding/shaping the stock and of course bluing the metal steel parts. First time out, the stock cracked at the wrist after about 10 rounds. Factory sent me a new finished stock.

[Johnny P]

Bought one of the TC Hawkens when they first came out. It was in .50 caliber and first tried the Maxi-Ball, which was way to hard to load for club shoots. Went to the patched round ball which was much easier to load and shot better. Then ordered a "drop in" Sharon Rifle Barrel Co. .45 cal. barrel. Shot extremely well, so ordered one of the Sharon Hawkin kits in .54 caliber. The ramrod thimbles and under rib had to be soldered to the barrel which proved to be a pain. Just about the time you got one on the other came loose while soldering the other. Finally silver soldered the rib and soft soldered the thimbles. Barrel, buttplate, and small parts were then browned. The front end cap on the stock had to be poured on, but didn't prove too much of a problem. When finished was a bit disappointed with the accuracy, but switched from .530 to .535 round balls and it was a tack driver. We lost the lease on our range, and it now hangs on the wall.

[dogtag]

I used to use a lead 490 round ball with a pillow ticking patch
but when one time I ran low on lead I used range lead (dug from berm) with a 22 cal patch
worked fine until I got more lead.
Now it's on the wall rack with its 71 Mauser pal.

[remus]

Wife bought me a TC .54 cal Hawkin kit back in the late 80's. Shot it a little back then and put it aside as I was shooting serious HP. About three years ago I started shooting BP funs again. Still have the rifle along with a bunch of other MZ guns and shoot it with some frequency. I love the Black powder scene.

[dogtag]

I never understood why guys wanted to use smokeless loads in their BP cartridge guns.
Easier cleaning I suppose. Took the fun out of it.

[Darreld Walton]

Bought one of the TC Hawkens when they first came out. It was in .50 caliber and first tried the Maxi-Ball, which was way to hard to load for club shoots. Went to the patched round ball which was much easier to load and shot better. Then ordered a "drop in" Sharon Rifle Barrel Co. .45 cal. barrel. Shot extremely well, so ordered one of the Sharon Hawkin kits in .54 caliber. The ramrod thimbles and under rib had to be soldered to the barrel which proved to be a pain. Just about the time you got one on the other came loose while soldering the other. Finally silver soldered the rib and soft soldered the thimbles. Barrel, buttplate, and small parts were then browned. The front end cap on the stock had to be poured on, but didn't prove too much of a problem. When finished was a bit disappointed with the accuracy, but switched from .530 to .535 round balls and it was a tack driver. We lost the lease on our range, and it now hangs on the wall.

Back in te 70's, I was working part time at Morris Sporting Goods, down on the 200 block of Central Ave. in Great Falls, on my off-duty time. The owner got in touch with Sharon, and we started carrying their rifles, and kits. The boss sold me a "Trade Rifle" .50 cal kit, to see how it was to finish up. Geeze, Louise, I loved that rifle! Of course, being a broke-ass USAF A1C with two kids, and being married to Peg Bundy, I ended up letting it go, thinking that I'd get another later on..... Then, Sharon Inc. went bust, and they were no more. Not sure where I'd get a barrel today of the same quality.

[AZshooter]

I built a "grapefruit plinker" with a .54 cal.flint Lyman Deerstalker and upgraded sights. It was good for 100% grapefruit kills at 100 yards. Later I put the sights on a .54 cal flint Trade Rifle, but shortly thereafter Dad sold the grapefruit ranch & moved to Florida. It still is impressive plinking 100 yard frozen water balloons.