No doubt they'll be popular. I'd love to have one too.

My point is we could always buy a custom Hawken. A gun built from the Don Stith kit by a gun builder will be as close to a real Hawken as it gets.

Hey Muley,

How's the weather in your neck of the woods, here in Utah it sucks. I have our house up for sale, when sold would like to move back home to Colorado. Keep in touch, we have had some fun on the other website we go to once in a while. This GRRW CA project has kept me busy since Nov of last year, finally everything has been worked out, just approved new barrel stamps this morning.

Fun stuff remembering the past when first getting into this sport and now looking at these modern weapons that shoot black-powder in one form or another. Doc White wants me to try one of his newest in-lines, told I wasn't interested in those guns.

Buck

Hi Buck,

I didn't know you were involved in this? Can I get a discount?

Weather has been cold all winter, but they say for the next 8 days it will be sunny in the 60's. I'm going fishing.

woowoo!! 63* here and sunny! I was shooting in a t shirt today.

so here's a quick update i just finished up ordering the parts for my trapper pistol build the full stock hawken rifle will be a little later on. it will be a full stock percussion .58 cal with a 10' rice 1-20 twist barrel 1" across the flats, curly maple stock grade 5-6 hand rubbed oil finish and we may do some very light scroll work on it if they think it fit's the build. i'm told it will be in the mike nesbit article coming out so that will be very cool can't wait to see the gun and the article !!

Now I'm curious - why a 1:20 in a .58? I would have gone with a 1:70 in both for round balls.

Pistols normally use a fast twist due to the short barrels.

Exactly. A 1-70 twist in the short barrel would barely spin the ball.

I thought he was talking about the twist for his rifle. But now another question. You're telling me that a properly loaded ball (tight patch) won't spin with a short barrel? Unless the ball skips the first 10" - 12" I don't see any difference a fast twist would make. And if the ball does skip it seems a faster twist rate would cause more slipping than a slower one. But with the lighter load used in a pistol this seems impossible. In mind mind a twist rate is a twist rate regardless of barrel length. this sounds like an old wife's tale to me.
Please explain.

I think it's a matter of barrel length and potential velocity. Both the 1:20 twist and the 1:70 twist will spin the ball so long as the patch/ball combination grips the rifling.

A 1:20 twist works in a short pistol barrel with a light powder charge because the velocity is low enough for the rifling to maintain its grip on ball/patch. However, the powder charge normally used in a rifle will cause the ball/patch to strip the rifling in a 1:20 twist barrel.