After watching The Revenant, I kind of would like to build a Hawken rifle. Can anyone recommend a solid kit? Anyone have experience with the Traditions offering?

If you want the rifle to be historically correct, go with something besides the Traditions!
Check out the Lyman Great Plains Rifle.

Or, Track of the Wolf sells kits, among other places.

Hello Alpha815. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. If you want the MOST authentic replica of the Hawken, Mountain Man style long rifle, you want the Lyman Great Plains Rifle kit!!! Considered by many in the Rendezvous circles as the best NON CUSTOM option, it has double set triggers, two barrel keys. It can be had with a 1/66 round ball twist barrel, a 1/32 twist for conicals and the Lee Real bullet, and they make a shorter version called the Great Plains Hunter with a 28 inch barrel. It can be had in both flintlock and percussion ignition, .50 and .54 caliber, in both ready to shoot and kit format. I have built three of them and they are all terrific guns. I used the GPR in 1/66 RB as a competition rifle in the 80's and a .54 caliber GPH for hunting purposes. All models are available in left hand format as well. I never felt the need for the shorter carbine length (28 inch) barreled options as I was trying to hunt as authentically as I could when using the GPR/GPH, and the long rifle just appeals to me. ymmv.

Go to MidSouthShootersSupply.com for the best prices I have seen on them.

Thanks guys. This is the kind of info I'm looking for. I'm a newb when it comes to muzzle loaders. But looking for a quality piece to try my hand at.  Will scratch the Traditions off my list and check out the above mentioned.

Mid south shooters is where I bought mine as well. Need to get back to it!  I upgraded to an L&R lock on mine, and it requires a bit more in letting.

Just a couple of small corrections here. The twist in the Great Plains Rifle is 1:60. The Great Plains Hunter has the 1:32 twist but is not a shorter barrel; they're both 32" (the difference between the GPR and GPH is the twist rate). Lyman does make a muzzleloader with a 28" barrel, the Trade Rifle. But that's a completely different gun, it's not a short version of the GPR.

Lyman did make another rifle years ago with a 28" barrel, it was called the Plains Rifle. It was the predecessor of the rifles Lyman makes today and went out of production a few decades ago.

alpha, since you're new to muzzleloaders I'll also mention that the GPR's slower 1:60 twist has deeper grooves, which is typically what you want for shooting patched roundballs. And the faster 1:32 twist of the GPH has shallow grooves, better for conical bullets.

Don't remember a Hawken in that movie.  GPR is good for budget copy, but look here:
https://www.thehawkenshop.com/

You are correct about the current state of offerings from Lyman. 40 years ago things were a little different. As I have not really looked at Lyman's offerings of late, I was working from an albeit foggy memory. In any case, they are the best reasonably priced muzzle-loaders with a high degree of authenticity in my humble opinion.

Another vote against Tradition.   Go with the Lyman Great Plains kit.

We had to assemble the Tradition Trapper pistol and what a PoS.  Had to redrill the ram rod hole (it was at an angle).  The "brass" is magneticable so it isn't brass but some sort of alloy.  I had to modify the drum so the lock and drum would work together.

Ok.....color me newb but how are most of the current "Hawken's" rifles not really good versions of the original rifle?  I have heard that many times.  There is a shooting game for muzzle loaders that I don't recall the name of but they do not allow any of the modern repros.  I was checking out a thread about that game and those guys were hating big time on the modern Hawken's.

Thanks!

All that shiny brass, for starters!

It's Hawken.

Most rifles named 'Hawken' today are not styled at all like the original Hawken rifles. The manufacturers have simply created a generic half-stock plains-type rifle and stuck the Hawken name on it because it sells. The Lyman GPR is an exception. It doesn't have the Hawken name but it looks very close to a real Hawken. Much more so than most others, anyway.

But that's not to say the other Hawken rifles being made today aren't good rifles. They're generally good shooters, they just don't look much like their namesake.

It's really only a concern if you're going to get into reenacting, where everything needs to be authentic, or in certain competitions that have strict rules about what's allowed. If it's just for your own enjoyment, get whatever appeals to you.

Smashy....thanks!  I could never figure out what the specifics were.  I picked up a Thompson Center version for $80.  It needed a little TLC and a $10 visit to the smith to get it working.  I thought I had a Hawken cause it says that on it.  I geuss I was wrong.

I have a T/C Hawken, and a Lyman GPR. One looks a little more like an original Hawken than the other, but they're both good rifles.

Unless you're going to start reenacting or something, don't worry about it. If you like the rifle and it shoots decent, that's all that matters.


ETA: For $80, you can't go wrong with a T/C Hawken. Once you've got it cleaned up and shooting, you'll realize it was worth it. They're good quality rifles.

It is already to go.  I have some pyrodex but need some .50 cal balls.   I want to use it on deer this winter.

Your T/C (like mine) is probably designed for "maxi balls" or bullets rather than round balls.  Mine shoots well with the T/C Maxis and the old Hornady lead muzzle-loader bullets.

Rob

The T/C Hawken, like a whole lot of other mass-produced traditional muzzleloaders, has a 1:48 twist. Supposedly a good compromise for both roundballs and conicals. Experimentation with different conical bullets is required to find the one it likes best, but the 1:48 twist works fine with patched roundballs. Most people get very good accuracy with them in that rifle.

If you really want a rifle near what was used in The Revenant your going to have to look into flint trade rifles and muskets.
This is one thing that Hollyweird has absolutely fucked up about the Fur Trade/ early west exploration era.
EVERYBODY HAD A HAWKEN!
Bullshit.
An actual Hawken rifle was a rareity as a "working mans" rifle. They were too expensive for the contract trapper. Even Jim Bridger and Mariano Modena did not get Hawken rifles until later in life.
Leman, Derringer, Indian/Northwest Trade rifles, Harpers Ferry 1803, Prichett, surplus Tower and Brown Bess muskets and such were more the norm. A trade rifle cost maybe $5.00-$7.50 whereas a Hawken was $22.00-$27.00.
Not to mention Hawken percussion guns came into prominence well after the fur era was gone.

Just like every cow puncher carried a SAA. In reality it was a surplused or stolen cap and ball revolver he was carrying, if that.