Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders Ok, let’s see your custom "Hawken"

His isn't a very"Custom" Hawkin,and certainly isn't in the clas of ones shwnn . Some may get a chuckle out of it.

The stock shown is one I made for a TC Hawkin that the original had split back at the tang. Plus I need a recoil pad due to bad shoulder that I later had replaced with a plastic/metal one.It probably took me 200-250 hours to do it Hardest parts were drilling the hole for the ramrod and getting the slot in the right place in the forearm.

First hunt I took it on, I had it in scabbard on my mule, butt facing forward. First morning out, we had left camp in the dark and got to the hunting area before first light.I stepped off and went to tie the mule up to an aspen tree about 5-6 inches in diameter. For some unknown reason,she jumped forward, putting the aspen between her and the scabbard, cracking the stock just to the left of the tang.I had no spare rifle and that pretty much ended my hunting that ML season.I never put a scabbard on with butt forward after that.

That winter, when I finally got over being upset about it, I pulled it out of the safe, spread the crack open as far as I could, and injected Accuglas into it with a syringe. Then I drilled three 1/4 inch holes down thru the stock and drove 1/4 " walnut dowels into them with glue. It worked and I never had the gumption to make another stock for it .That was over thirty years ago before inlines came into being and I m am on the third barrel with it after wearing out the first two