I'm wanting to venture out a bit.... I'm thinking about either buying a sidelock (? correct terminology) or even possibly building one. Basspro has a traditions St. Louis Hawken kit for $220 with the 28 inch barrel, 1:48 twist, 50 caliber. My 11 year old son is currently not real interested in hunting but I thought it might be fun to have him help me put it together, stain it, blue it etc. Maybe this would spark his interest in hunting. If not, I would still have a gun that he and I built together that I could hunt with. Let me know if any of you have had experience with this kit and if you think it would be a good project for us. I'll worry about loads etc. once I cross this bridge. Thanks, Greg

It sounds like a great project you and your son could do together. While it might not make him want to hunt... I am sure after it is all pretty, he will want to see how it shoots.

Yep, kinda thought it might at least spark the shooting interest in him. Hopefully I can harvest a deer with it and maybe that would spark his interest. If he's not into it, he's not. I understand that, and although I don't like it (lol), I respect it. We can at least spend some time on the kit as well as shooting it afterwards.

Dont be suprised either if in a few years he does like hunting.. im currently in theLOW 20's ( still a young'n)and from about age 3-10 i thought hunting was great... and then from about 11-13/14 or soo i kind of lost interest andfrom thenon i was all about hunting again.... while i think that this gun thing sounds like an awesome idea for thetwo of you.. beyond that dont force the issue too much. it might steer him in theother direction????? just my thoughts.

Hunting is something ive never lost interest in. In fact, now that ive gotten older, i kind of prefer going by myself so i dont have to listen to my dad and brothers whining

Got to admit though, The last "hike" i took them on was tough, but the view we had in that valley was amazing.

And for the kit, Ive seen quite a bit of posts on other forums about this one and they all love them. They are supposed to be accurate shooters and enjoyable to put together.

The only knock I've seen on the St Louis Hawken is it's got plastic sights, but you can get other sights from Dixie.

I had one on backorder from BassPro and intended to order a buckhornrear sight and blade front for it, but I changed my mind and switched the order to the Kentucky rifle kit instead. Not because I think the Kentucky rifle is better than the Hawken, at all, but I'd made the Kentucky rifle kit from CVA many years ago and it got stolen. I really liked that one, It was 2nd most accurate ball shooter I've ever owned - only the old 50's vintage Turner Kirkland .40 cal squirrel rifle was better -and I decided at long last it was time to replace it.

By the way, when I called this morning, they told me the St Louis Hawkenis finally in stock againand ready to ship.