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Period repair or FrankenHawken

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Loosenock

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Jan 2, 2010
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Colorado
I came across this Uberti SanteFe Hawken rifle in a pawn shop maybe 10 years ago. It was one of the rifles offered in a kit form and the builder sanded way too much wood off of the stock and all in all it was a bad botched job. I still wanted it and after lengthy negotiations it was mine. And I still paid to much for it. But the real sinking heart break came when I got it home and removed the barrel. The stock forearm was split clear through the bottom from the nose cap back to rear barrel wedge. I deemed it unsafe and suspended it from the ceiling joists in my garage. But that didn't keep me from thinking about.

After years of thought I started repairing it by fitting a steel plate over the boss on the stock around the lock. Meticulously hand filing and fitting the plate around the lock took a long time for me. But it paid off. The lock fit snug and level.

frankenhawken%20003_zpseg7xplvk.jpg

I first repaired the forearm by applying several apps of super glue in the split of the stock and held it together by wrapping surgical tubing around it until the glue set and cured.

I then re-assembled the rifle and laced an elk rawhide repair around the barrel and forearm. I reinforced the repair on the ends using buffalo sinew and hide glue.

frankenhawken%20001_zpsdmk5ojgv.jpg

A new ramrod was hand hewn out of hickory using a spoke shave.

frankenhawken%20005_zpsmmmnc7zo.jpg

The rawhide made a tough super and rigid repair.

frankenhawken%20004_zpsn8q4mrfl.jpg

The finished SanteFe Hawken.

frankenhawken%20009_zpsr1soswq0.jpg

Whats your comment or opinion? It is a period repair or a Frankenhawken?

loosenock
 
Really nice job! Actually better than that. I would say A1 expert repair done as it would have been done 150 + years ago.
 
While you could have gotten a stock blank, or fitted a generic stock, or even got the right stock from Dixie Gunworks, you opted for the period type ''black smith's shop'' repair. Good on ya.
 
I employ a couple of finishes to rawhide and sinew to help shed moisture. Both do well but fall short of being totally waterproof. Anyway, at my age any sign of inclement weather you'll find me laying back in a big wall tent spitting at the stove.
 
It's both a Frankenhawken and a Period Repair.

It was functionally "dead" when you acquired it and, through your labors and the application of foreign materials that radically changed its appearance, it returned to life. So much for Frankenstein...

A long time ago I used to regularly visit the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum on the WTA&M campus in Canyon, Texas where they displayed a large collection of period rifles used by buffalo hunters and plainsmen. Most of those rifles had been heavily used and marked with a variety of personalized repairs. Some had stitched rawhide sleeves exactly like what you made. And judging from what I remember seeing, the lock plate work you did looks like what was probably the best quality of frontier shop restoration that would have been available to a period owner of a rifle in need of such repairs. It definitely looks like a gun that might have passed through Old Santa Fe back in the day. I'd love to try to take an antelope or a mule deer with that thing.
 
Loosenock

I like it! Looks period correct for a Hawken and definitely something a frontier gunsmith might have come up with to repair a damaged rifle.

Well done!
 
One can visualize that in the hands of an Indian warrior, frontier scout or mountain man, fur trapper or farmer. Anyone who needed to keep a long arm in service. Good job I'd say.
 
I love the attention you gave to producing a repair that could easily be suitable for the time frame of the originals. To my mind they look like the sort of things that could easily occur on the frontier at the time by a resourceful settler or mountain man.

My one concern is the rawhide wrap around the barrel. That makes it impossible to remove for regular cleaning and to oil the metal under the wrap. I can't help but think that rust is going to form under there.

Mind you rawhide is always going to be somewhat porous. So regular wipe downs with a little Ballistol is going to leach through to the metal. So perhaps my concerns aren't valid.

What do you think?
 
BCRider

More than likely I doubt if this particular rifle will ever see a single drop of rain or flake of snow. I'm nearing 70 and if the weather turns off bad I'll probably be in a large wall tent playing poker with other old duffers like myself.

I've about thought the same thing. When ever I started working with rawhide I was amazed at how long it took to soak before it became pliable enough to work with. Elk takes several hours and buffalo might take a day. After I made the repair to the forearm and I let it cure for a while and then I rubbed in a popular home mixture of stock finish I've been using for years consisting of boiled linseed oil, beeswax and japan drier. The stuff repels water very well. But it is not totally waterproof. I like it because its not glossy. So that helps.

So if the rifle was given a dunking in a creek or stream I doubt a baptizing of water would affect it at all. Colorado is an arid state and I would think water would evaporate off the rawhide rather quickly. The barrel was not browned or blued by the builder. It took a wonderful natural rusting to it and took on a very special character about it. If moisture happened to get under the rawhide through the hole I cut for the sight, I think being to close proximity to the open air would cause it to evaporate rather quickly.

I've seen repairs done to original firearms in museums that are way over a hundred years old and haven't noticed any major damage by the repair.

Make a great topic to think about. The rawhide made a ferociously stout and rigid repair.

Thanks for your question. I hope I answered it ok for you.

'loose
 
A little Ballistol might still be a good idea.

The issue might not be rain but simply condensation when the gun moves from warm to cold and back again. The rawhide, being breathable as you say, will still allow some moisture to migrate through it. Slow to get in but equally slow to get out.

Then there's also the metal to wood contact on the lower side of the barrel.

The good news is that I don't think it'll take a lot of Ballistol on the rawhide and the odd little dribble down the barrel to stock joint to keep it good. You can run in a little around the nipple block where the barrel meets the wood too. That'll neutralize any fouling that gets in there.

All in all I do like the look and feel of your fix. I just wouldn't do it myself. I'd have this "thing" about no longer being able to break the gun down for cleaning or any other work that might be needed.
 
Well done - as others have stated it looks period and is now functional.

Is it a .53 or the latter .54? I have two, on a J. Smith Comm, the other just marked Western Arms, both barrels marked .54 but both with an actual bore of .53. I use .520 patched balls, others prefer .526.

If you want copies of the original two info sheets that came with the rifles PM me your email and I'll send you scans.
 
I shot .520 yesterday. 100 grains of FF. Standing supported rest at about 100 yards.

About a 3 1/2 inch group.

hawkentrail%20005_zpsri5shvsb.jpg

The target is stapled to a very dead tree laying on ground for a couple of decades.

'loose
 
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