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Pilgrim
posted
In the thread on barrels for a Leman kit, Dave asked me to post some pictures of my GRRW Leman Indian rifle. Well, you don't have to ask me twice. Ok, Mike asked me also, but before I had a chance to respond to Dave. I'll gladly share some photos of the rifle, and Mike, I can share a little of what I've learned over the last couple of years about GRRW and its rifles. You may recall some of my early posts on this board after I had acquired my first factory GRRW Hawken and the correspondence we exchanged two or three years ago.

I would also like to see pics of others' GRRW rifles and hear your stories about them as I'm still gathering info on GRRW rifles and learning new things.

Here is the Leman full stock. GRRW called it the Leman Indian Rifle. I bought this kit from GRRW in 1979 and assembled in on a card table in my apartment bedroom. It came 90-95% inlet and only need final inletting, shaping, sanding, and finishing. The only power tool I had at the time was a hand drill which I used to drill all the holes for pins and screws.

Leman fullstock
IMG 0109
IMG 0104
IMG 0113

Most of the pictures I will post are in my collection, but some may be from friends collections just to show more variety. Here is a factory made Leman Indian Rifle from another collection. Notice the adjustable rear site. I don't know if the site is factory or after market.
aae 801 1

My kit rifle weighs just under 9 lbs and is 45.5" overall. They came pretty standard with 1-1/16" x 30" barrel. I don't have the date at my finger tips that GRRW introduced the full stock to their line, but it was after they started making their own barrels in 1974.

Green River Rifle Works started up in 1972. Their first rifle was the Leman half stock or Leman Trade Rifle. Gary "Doc" White states on his website that something less than 3,000 Leman Trade Rifles were manufactured before GRRW closed in late 1980. There were two versions of the Leman Trade Rifle. The first version shown below was built around a Douglas barrel, used a Kern lock that incorporated a coil spring rather than a leaf main spring, and used commercially available furniture, namely the butt plate and trigger guard.

2

The available butt plates and trigger guards were a little large for a proper Leman and made a slightly bulkier rifle that, along with the Kern lock, make these early Leman Trade Rifles easily identifiable. Somewhere around 800-900 of this version were made. (When I refer to manufactured numbers, I'm talking about factory built rifles, and do not include the large number of kits that were sold. The factory rifles all had serial numbers. The kits did not. Their reputation suffered some when a few people began assembling kits, not doing a very good job of it, and then passing them off as factory made rifles. To counter this, GRRW went through a period when they chose not to put their name stamp on the kit barrel. Later, they had the individual riflesmith that stocked and finished the factory rifle put his cartouche or makers mark on the barrel. I think this, along with the serial number and GRRW stamp, was an effort to clearly distinguish a factory built rifle from a kit someone else assembled.)

This is an early Leman Trade Rifle. (Not in my collection, but I did have a chance to buy it and acquired the pictures.)
6

As the business grew and became better known, they gained access to original rifles and began to refine the architecture. GRRW had cast propriety butt plates and trigger guards that allowed them to build a slimmer, sleeker Leman. They started using the Siler mountain lock and Long's lock on their Lemans around this time, also. And of course, they were making their own barrels.

This is the later version with proprietary butt plate and trigger guard. Notice the difference from the rifle above, especially in the butt stock and beaver tail. (Not from my collection.)
aae 518 1
aae 518 6

I've got a lot more I can show and talk about, but it's getting late, so I'll stop here and allow some others to post pictures of their GRRW rifles.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Meek,


Phil Meek
 
Posts: 78 | Location: Denver | Registered: 19 August 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Factor
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Meek, Good doin's! Show us more, for sure. I've got a GRRW Hawken, one of their early S. Hawken rifles and I think mine is #41. I must say "I think" because I haven't looked at that number lately, just to be sure. Of course, you are getting Bob Allen's newsletters, the GRRW Gazette. If not, just say so and I will forward a couple of copies to you. One of these days I'll make it to one of the GRRW collectors' doin's. Shoot sharp, Mike
 
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Pilgrim
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Thanks, Mike. Nice of you to mention your GRRW Hawken. I wanted to talk about those next.

But first, I wanted to show the earliest advertisement I could find for GRRW. This was from the July 1972 issue of MUZZLE BLASTS.
1st GRRW ad

The first ad I could find for the GRRW Hawken rifle was in the May 1873 issue of MUZZLE BLASTS.
May1973 GRRW 1st S Hawken Ad 1

If you look closely, you may notice that the picture in the ad above is of the Leman rifle. The opposite side of the page had the ad for the Leman with a picture of the Hawken.

Here is a picture of GRRW Hawken Prototype #1
aae 607 1

You also, mentioned the GRRW collectors meeting that was held last year. There were a number of folks from Colorado there and one from Kansas. Here are a series of photos of GRRW Hawken serial # H-004 that is owned by one of the guys, which he bought in 1973. This rifle is very similar, but not exactly like Prototype #1. They have different butt plates and different hammers if not different locks. The lock on Prototype #1 looks like a Long lock, but as you can see, H-004 is something else. They both have pewter or German silver nosecaps.

IMG 0887 crop
IMG 0885
IMG 0883

I have seen another Hawken advertised for sale on the internet that had a serial # H-020 that looked similar to these two.

Somewhere after H-020, GRRW had pretty well established a pattern for what they called their S Hawken rifle. It had a Douglas barrel; Cherry Corners breech & tang, as well as Cherry Corners butt plate, trigger guard, and sometimes triggers; and a William Morgan lock. Some Ron Long triggers were used. The other pieces of furniture were made in-house, such as the nosecap, underlugs, wedges, escutcheons, and thimbles.

Here are some photos of my early pattern Hawken rifles.
Early GRRW Hawken
IMG 1021 crop
IMG 1624

The top rifle is .54 caliber and the bottom rifle is .50 caliber. The .50 has 3/8" ramrod which makes for a slimmer forearm. Otherwise, they're dimensions are the same.

The nosecaps used on these early rifles are interesting in that they are handmade, two pieces brazed together rather than cast. Gordon's book has pictures of one J&S Hawken marked rifle and possibly as many a five S Hawken marked rifles with this style of handmade, two-piece nosecap.

Here is a picture to show what I mean.
IMG 1028

Obviously, with the Morgan lock this early pattern resembles a J&S rather than a Sam rifle, though the other characteristics could apply to both.

One of my rifles has a 3-digit serial number, so at least 100 of these early pattern Hawkens were made, and the actual number could be double that. I mentioned before that these rifles used Douglas barrels, so they were made before GRRW had got their own barrel manufacturing operational (sometime in 1974). That allows about a year that they made this pattern. I've seen about a dozen of these rifles, and they all had the Morgan lock, Douglas barrel and a serial number that had an "H" prefix. I have not seen a GRRW made barrel (7 grooves and lands) Hawken with an "H" prefix. It is very likely GRRW dropped the "H" from the serial number when they started building Hawkens with their own barrels. It would be interesting to hear from anyone who has or has seen something different than my observations. [Since I had originally posted this statement, I have come across an early pattern Hawken with a GRRW made barrel. It's serial number is H-129, and I also learned that serial number H-121 Hawken is the first one to be made with a GRRW barrel. The speculation that the "H" was dropped from the serial number when they started making their own barrels was incorrect.]PLM

I would expect a transition from this early pattern Hawken to the late Sam Hawken pattern I will describe later, but I haven't had the opportunity to inspect one. Their ads in 1976 and a GRRW brochure I have from 1976-77 is illustrated with a picture of a Hawken half stock with a Morgan lock, but the stock shape looks a little different, from what I can tell from a photo, and they wouldn't have the Douglas barrel. I believe these transition Hawkens, if they exist, would have serial numbers in the 200 range without the "H" prefix. I would like to know if anyone has seen something that fits this description.

I'll close with a couple of pics from the GRRW collectors meeting last June.
IMG 0882
IMG 0907

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Phil Meek
 
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Factor
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Meek, You made me go look! My GRRW S. Hawken is H-042. Ken Allaman, I'm pretty sure, had H-041. We did some talkin' back in those years about teaming our rifles up on a hunt but that never came to be. Good doin's on the photos and the run-down of the GRRW rifles. Keep giving us more info. Shoot sharp, Mike
 
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Pilgrim
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Nineteen seventy-four was an important if not pivotal year for GRRW. Business was picking up. They started having their own butt plates and trigger guards cast for their Leman rifles. They introduced the full stock Leman Indian Rifle and began development of a new full stock Hawken rifle.
scan0003
scan0002
scan0004

Almost from the beginning, getting parts from their suppliers was a problem. They addressed some of this by making most of the small parts in-house. The increase in orders as business improved put additional stress on the supply problems and made it difficult to keep some of their customers happy. Barrels were particularly problematic.

To quote Gary "Doc" White from his web page:
quote:
While I didn't exactly invent barrels, I did design the interior of the barrels that GRRW manufactured. This particular story started in 1972 when it became apparent that GRRW could not acquire all the barrels it needed, on time, for production of its famous rifles. Delivery in those days was terrible and they were expensive, payment being required up front. My old friend Bill Large was slowing down at the time, age catching up to him, and he sold me a Pratt & Whitney 1/2B X 50 Rifling machine and a deep hole drill and planer to match. I acquired another set in Salt Lake City when Rocky Mountain Arms went out of business. We modified a huge hydraulic planer to plane a dozen barrels at a time and installed the turret lathes and other small machines needed for muzzleloading barrel production. It was then that we discovered why delivery was so sporadic. The problem lay in delivery of barrel steel. It took about a year to get GBQ steel from the foundry. What a mess.


This add appeared in the April-May 1974 issue of MUZZLE BLASTS.

74 04 05 MB 1st GRRW barrel ad

It wasn't long, and the word got around that the GRRW barrels were capable of outstanding accuracy. The secret to their accuracy can best be explained by Doc in another quote from his web page:
quote:
Since the Hawkens had used 7 lands and deep grooves in their rifles, we had to, too, so the machinery had to be re-tooled. We spent so much money getting all this done and buying a huge quantity of barrel steel that I could not afford a production bore reamer. We ended up cutting the top of the lands with the same cutter that was used to cut the grooves. This was labor intensive but resulted in fantastic accuracy. It proved to be a better technique with improved results over the reamer anyway. We sold thousands of barrels into an enthusiastic market until Carter's inflationary recession killed the Co. in 1980.


Since the lands were cut with the same cutter as the grooves, all the small cutting marks or were parallel with the rifling rather than perpendicular to it. Another key to the accuracy was that the pressure on the cutter changed as the cutter approached the muzzle and resulted in a slight choke near the muzzle. If you are lucky enough to come across a GRRW barrel and want to shorten it, be sure to cut it from the breech end and not the muzzle so this choke effect is maintained.

One last quote from Doc, and I'll close for now:
quote:
it took about 40 hours of labor to fully finish a Hawken rifle, including manufacturing the barrel, fitting the breech and tang, carving the stock, cutting in the mortises, then hand fitting each part, then file finish shaping, sanding, staining and varnishing the stock. In the meantime the metal parts, once fitted, were likewise finish shaped, sanded, polished and then browned. At least 5 skilled workers were involved in the production of a Hawken, or indeed, any GRRW rifle.

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Phil Meek
 
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Factor
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Meek, You're bringing back a lot of memories. Keep'em comin'. Shoot sharp, Mike
 
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Booshway
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Simply fascinating and really interesting. thank you for sharing.

BC


"Better fare hard with good men than feast it with bad."
Thomas Paine
 
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Factor
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Hey Meek, Did you ever encounter the guns or guys from the Henry Leman Rifle Company, also of Utah during the mid 70's? They made a half-stock Leman, maybe a twin to the GRRW gun, and didn't survive very long in business. Shoot sharp, Mike
 
Posts: 3531 | Location: Pacific Northwest | Registered: 25 October 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Pilgrim
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No, Mike, I'm not familiar with the Henry Leman Rifle Company. You say it was operating in mid'70's? That would be while GRRW was still in business, right?

I know some of the smiths from GRRW went off in different directions after GRRW closed down and started companies that built and sold Lemans and other rifles. Seems like one of these was up in Oregon. Few of these lasted very long, but some made some nice rifles.

I'm working on another installment on the GRRW rifles. Need to get more pictures organized and uploaded to PhotoBucket.


Phil Meek
 
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Factor
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quote:
know some of the smiths from GRRW went off in different directions after GRRW closed down and started companies that built and sold Lemans and other rifles. Seems like one of these was up in Oregon. Few of these lasted very long, but some made some nice rifles.


Meek, I think that one in Oregon was Green River Forge after Frank Straight sold it. They made the Astorian rifle as well as Northwest guns. The Henry Leman Rifle Company might have been started just after GRRW closed. Shoot sharp, Mike
 
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Booshway
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Fellows I don't know anything about GRRW ,But I find this all very interesing. Keep it going.


I never have been much for drinking the kool-aid.It's not in my nature.
 
Posts: 336 | Location: Central Pennsyltucky | Registered: 12 January 2012Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Pilgrim
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Previously, I posted this statement:
quote:
I would expect a transition from this early pattern Hawken to the late Sam Hawken pattern I will describe later, but I haven't had the opportunity to inspect one. Their ads in 1976 and a GRRW brochure I have from 1976-77 is illustrated with a picture of a Hawken half stock with a Morgan lock, but the stock shape looks a little different, from what I can tell from a photo, and they wouldn't have the Douglas barrel. I believe these transition Hawkens, if they exist, would have serial numbers in the 200 range without the "H" prefix. I would like to know if anyone has seen something that fits this description.


To illustrate what I was trying to describe, here is the GRRW ad from the January, 1976 issue of MUZZLE BLASTS,
Jan1976 Muzzle Blasts

Here is a close up of the rifle pictured in that ad,
Jan76 Muzzle Blasts Ad lock area

It looks to me like it has a Morgan lock, but the nosecap appears to be the later cast version rather than the hand-made, two-piece nosecap found on the early S Hawken pattern. The lines on the rifle pictured in the ad just scream Sam Hawken. The shape of the butt stock, the narrow lock panels, the roundness of the forearm, and the transition into the nosecap is all Hawken. These rifles would also have GRRW’s “Plumb Center” barrels.

Below is a notice that ran in the August, 1976 issue of BUCKSKIN REPORT. It describes a number of rifles that were stolen from the GRRW shop in mid May, 1976. Of interest is the serial numbers that are given for the different rifles. The seven half stock Hawkens had serials numbers that ranged from 278-292. This provides us snapshot of their production numbers as of the middle of 1976, and suggests that the 1975 Hawken half stock pictured above would likely have a serial number in the low to mid 200 range.
Stolen GRRW rifles Aug76 Buckskin Report

The serial numbers for the stolen Leman half stocks suggest that by mid-1976, they were not quiet half way through their production of their most popular rifle.

Also, of note, is the two full stock Hawken rifles listed in the notice. The single digit serial numbers indicate that GRRW definitely started producing these in early 1976. Below is a picture from the September, 1976 issue of BUCKSIN REPORT, showing Ron Paull with one of these full stock Hawkens in flint.
scan0010

The full stock Hawken was available in two styles, (1) an early style with flintlock, flat-to-wrist trigger guard, and Tennessee style cheek rest (shown in picture with Paull); and (2) a late style with percussion lock, late trigger guard, and beaver tail cheek rest. Percussion locks were invariably Ron Long locks. Flintlocks were often Siler locks, but could be ordered with Ron Long late English flintlock once they became available. A two year delivery schedule for the full stock was mentioned in their 1976-77 brochure. This undoubtedly discouraged many orders, and numbers of factory made rifles may be 100 or less.

This rifle, from a friend’s collection, is fairly unique in that it was made as a convertible from flint to percussion. It uses a Siler lock and has two lock plates, but only one set of internals. It is shown in the percussion mode.
IMG 0855 crp
IMG 0850 crp
IMG 0862 IMG 0861
IMG 0857 crp
IMG 0858

The next series of pictures, from another collection, show a full stock Hawken with a Ron Long flintlock. [It turns out that the rifle below is not a factory GRRW rifle. It may have been built from a GRRW kit, though. It does have a GRRW barrel, and all the components are known to have been used on GRRW Hawken rifles.]
aaf 568 1
aaf 568 2
aaf 568 6
aaf 568 5

Interestingly enough, the Bridger Hawken butt plate is found on even the early style full stocks, likely in response to supply uncertainty of other butt plates.

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Phil Meek
 
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Pilgrim
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If you allow me, I would like to editorialize a little in this post. If you think I’m full of BS or otherwise disagree, feel free to say so. You won’t hurt my feelings any.

GRRW was known for at least two things,

  • 1. the quality and accuracy of their barrels
  • 2. the quality and accuracy (authenticity) of their rifles

With the passage of time, there may be a little myth in the first point, but I've read enough testimonials from people still shooting GRRW barrels to think there is more fact than myth.

The second point is more open to debate. Based on the knowledge at the time (1970's), the GRRW rifles, particularly the later Sam Hawken pattern, incorporated most of what was known and reflected the conventional wisdom about the more speculative areas. In their day, they were considered the most authentic (Hawken) you could buy, short of going to a custom rifle maker.

My least favorite rifle is the most numerous, namely the Leman Trade Rifle. I never liked the nosecap. The pictures I've seen of original Leman half stocks all follow the typical half stock Pennsylvania/Kentucky pattern. By that, I mean the originals had a rear entry thimble that was separate from the nosecap with the step transition from forearm to nosecap. In fairness to Doc and Greg and Carl, the objective of the Leman Trade Rifle was to build a quality, affordable, representative rifle for shooters and hunters. At their introductory price, they more than filled that bill.

The main criticism I have of the early S Hawken pattern is with the trigger guard and its rear scroll. John Baird illustrated the proper shape of the scrolls found on many J&S and Sam Hawken rifles in his article in the May, 1967 issue of MUZZLE BLASTS. For some reason, he didn't include that chapter in his book where more would have seen it and may have paid more attention to the detail. In Baird’s words, "The scroll guards found on early J&S Hawken rifles all tend to form a complete circle...Later [Sam] Hawken guards tended to be with a tighter, more oval form of scroll, with the rear portion nearly forming a right angle to the bottom of the stock." (Baird was also very aware that with original Hawken rifles that were individually made one-at-time over a span of 40 or more years, there are exceptions to every attempt to generalize.)

Baird's sketch
Baird May 67 Muzzle Blasts scrolls

Below are some pictures of original J&S Hawken rifles I’ve taken from the literature to illustrate Baird’s point.
scan0008
scan0003

Fortunately today we have available from TOTW [This guard is no longer available from TOTW. It is only available from Don Stith with one of his J&S Hawken kits] , a trigger guard very similar, if not identical, to the ones on the two rifles above.
JS Hawken replica guard

Another original J&S Hawken rifle is pictured below that once belonged in the Robert May collection. It has a variant of a flat-to-wrist guard that only partially follows the line of the wrist before rising again to a rounded scroll.
Lock and Trigger Guard

Don Stith had some similar guards investment cast, though these are not commonly available at this time.
scan0001

The classic Sam Hawken trigger guard that Baird described is shown on these two original Sam Hawken marked rifles.
Sam Hawken guard
lock bolt panel

TOTW also offers a late Sam Hawken trigger guard that closely resembles the originals.
Sam Hawken replica guard

The reproduction trigger guards shown above were not commercially available during GRRW’s years of operation, but I wish they had had them cast like their Leman guards and butt plates.

Some claim the flat-to-wrist trigger guard that GRRW used to represent the “early” J&S Hawken period on both full stock and half stock rifles is actually representative of the 1840's and later period. This may be true, as I haven't had the opportunity to closely inspect any original Hawken and can't speak from personal knowledge. On the other hand, I haven't seen in writing any convincing arguments to support this claim. Very few original Hawken rifles carry a date of any kind. One of the better known specimens with a plate on the cheek rest with an engraved date is the Medina Hawken, and the accuracy of that date has been heatedly debated on several forums. Ironically, the most often cited characteristic for a post 1840 date for the Medina rifle is its flat-to-wrist trigger guard. I find that logic circular—-the flat-to-wrist guard is post 1840 because it is on a rifle that is believed to be post 1840 because the guard on it is post 1840. For me, the flat-to-wrist question is unresolved.

Another criticism of the GRRW Hawken is that they were most often built with straight octagon barrels while many original Hawken rifles had slightly swamped or tapered barrels. GRRW eventually started making tapered barrels and a few factory rifles were made with tapered barrels, but they are not common. Even today, no barrel maker offers, as a standard item, the slight swamp that was common on Hawken rifles, or for that matter, any of the trade rifles. This criticism is nit-picking.

Another comment I've seen mentioned on various online forums is that the butt plate on the late Sam Hawken pattern was actually cast from a butt plate on a Dimick rifle. I don't know how to prove or disprove this claim. Someone may have or know of the Dimick rifle that was used as the pattern, but I haven't seen any reference to it. It is obvious that the butt plate (pictured below) has a slight curve or web where the comb meets the plate on the inside corner. The original late Hawken cast butt plate had a square corner here. This is easily remedied by filing the curve to a square corner.

Bridger Hawken butt plate

In the next post, I’ll talk about GRRW’s most accurate/authentic Hawken.

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Phil Meek
 
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Factor
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Meek, Your editorial should be prepared for publication. Shoot sharp, Mike
 
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Pilgrim
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One GRRW Hawken rifle that can be described as “bench copy” is the Bridger Hawken Commemorative.

quote:
In December, 1975, the Montana Historical Society launched an intensive campaign to purchase Charlie Russell’s masterpiece, When the Land Belonged to God, from the painting’s original owner, Helena’s storied Montana Club.*

* THE MASTERWORKS OF CHARLES M. RUSSELL; edited by Joan Carpenter Troccoli; pg 221


As part of this fund raising campaign the Montana Historical Society contacted GRRW about manufacturing an exact replica of the original Sam Hawken rifle in the Society’s collection that once belonged to Jim Bridger. The Society loaned the original Bridger Hawken to GRRW to copy. The Bridger Hawken Commemorative was offered for sale by the Montana Historical Society in 1977 (see advertisement below). The ad said that it would be a limited edition of 1500 rifles, but the actual number built and sold appears to be a fraction of this number, maybe less than 100 [the number that GRRW made and the MHS sold was 75]. In fact, the Montana Historical Society acquired the Russell painting in May, 1977, after having raised $150,000 from the campaign and receiving another $300,000 directly from the State of Montana. How long the Society continued to raise funds through the sale of the Bridger Hawken Commemorative after May is uncertain.
Bridger Hawken ad

I can't find a reference, but I believe the original Bridger Hawken has a straight octagon barrel. The barrel dimensions from the spec sheet are 1-1/8” x 33-1/8” long, .54 caliber with 7 groove rifling. The GRRW copy is accurate in all respects--except the trigger guard scroll! They even filed the inside corner of the butt plate square as can be seen in the photos below.
Certificate inside
Certificate cover

Bridger Commemorative Hawken No. 42


Right Left Full Length black backgrnd
Right Left Full Length red backgrnd
Right Left Butt Stock black backgrnd
IMG 0518
IMG 0521
pix714787372
IMG 0507

The only other makers of a semi-custom Hawken rifle that come close to being as faithful a reproduction of an original were Art Ressel's The Hawken Shop offering and the current Kit Carson Hawken parts set from Don Stith. Anything better has to come from a custom builder. (Some may take umbrage at me for comparing a GRRW Hawken with Don Stith's parts set. It may not be a fair comparison because Stith has had the benefit of the passage of time and a lot more research on Hawken rifles. Stith's kits are more accurate/authentic, and they should be. Also, Stith may have an occasional rifle finished by some experienced builder on hand for sale, but he is primarily marketing his parts sets while GRRW's core business was building and selling finished rifles.)

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Phil Meek
 
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Pilgrim
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Besides the Bridger Hawken, the folks at GRRW had access to other original rifles during the mid-70's. These seemed to have a pronounced influence on GRRW, and this shows in the refinement of their Sam Hawken pattern. Part of this refinement was the introduction of the Ron Long breech plug and tang.

From 1976 catalog,
76 GRRW brochure Breech Plug

GRRW may also have used some breech plugs from Bill Large and likely used some of the breech plugs from the Hamilton Rifle & Machine Co. in Duchesne, Utah, since it was just down the road from Roosevelt.
Hamilton Breech Plug

That said, the Ron Long plug is the most frequently found on GRRW's late Sam Hawken pattern. This pattern closely resembles the Bridger Hawken as can be seen in the photos below (TOTW currently sells a kit that uses the GRRW pattern for the stock and calls it the Bridger Hawken). The barrels were typically 1-1/8” straight octagon, though some were tapered 1-1/8 to 1”, of varying length. A Ron Long lock is matched to the Ron Long breech plug and Ron Long triggers. A late model cast nosecap was used along with the cast butt plate as found on the Bridger Hawken Commemorative, except the inside corner is rounded rather than filed square. A typical late Hawken trigger guard as supplied from several sources completes the larger pieces of furniture. The other small parts were hand made, in-house, including the rear sights. These rifles are a hand full, weighing around 12 lbs, depending on barrel length.

The evolution of the Hawken rifle reached a zenith in the 1850's and came as close to a standard pattern as any period with the use of cast items for butt plates, nosecaps, trigger guards, and breech plug & tangs. The original Bridger Hawken, the Kit Carson Hawken, the John “Liver-eating” Johnston Hawken, and several other late Sam Hawken rifles in public and private collections follow this pattern. So does the late Sam Hawken from GRRW (except for minor issues with the butt plate and trigger guard mentioned above).
GRRW Sam Hawken right left
GRRW Sam Hawken right left1
IMG 0729
IMG 0730

For a short while, I had two of these late Sam Hawken patterns that were almost twins. They were the same caliber, .54, with one having a 34" barrel and the other 33". Their serial numbers are 97 apart.

IMG 0768 crop
IMG 0778 crop
IMG 0775
IMG 0772

I traded the rifle with the slimmer hammer, which is the top rifle in the pictures showing the right side of the rifles and the bottom rifle in the shot showing the left side, to a friend. Here is another picture showing it in full length.
Bobs Sam Hawken left right

GRRW appears to have made this pattern from 1977 until it closed in 1980. Based on serial numbers of samples I’ve seen, they made about 800+ of this pattern . [I've since learned that highest serial number for the GRRW halfstock Hawken is 680. The earliest serial number of this pattern I know of is 368, so that would mean a little over 300 of this pattern were made.] This late Sam Hawken pattern and the Leman Trade Rifle are the most numerous, and the ones that come to mind when one hears the name Green River Rifle Works.

Unless people are getting bored with this post, there is still the rest of the GRRW line of rifles to discuss, an example of custom options that were available, a discussion and examples of barrel stampings, some info from their catalogs, and an example of one of their kits that can be covered in future postings.

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Phil Meek
 
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Hivernant
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Please continue the discussion. I love Hawken rifles and would love to hear more. I've read this thread several times already.
 
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Factor
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Meek, Keep going, certainly! Shoot sharp, Mike
 
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Booshway
Picture of andy*
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Yes, please keep going.
Thank you Meek for this thread and thanks to all who have responded.
Hawken rifles are my favorite round ball delivery device.
Would love to learn and see more about GRRW rifles.
Andy


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Posts: 668 | Location: Everson, Washington | Registered: 27 June 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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Lyman listed the GR rifled in their ML hand book , first addition 1976
shows the hawken half stock , hawkens full stock in flint , the Leman . under which they discribe the Indian rifle as a scaled down version of the Leman and avalable in 45 cal . it also lists options for adding a flintlock , double set triggers , fancy or exstra fancy wood.
they also list the GRRW Trapper pistol
i love those old books, though its kinda hard to call them old when many of us were there LOL when they were new LOL .
its fun to look back and see what was avalable .
how many folks remember Lyman once offered a brown bess LOL

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Posts: 687 | Location: Payette ,Idaho | Registered: 23 November 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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