FrankenMauser
New member
My 20 year-old Traditions Hawken Woodsman .54 made its way back to me after long-term possession by a family member.
Long story short, the barrel is toast.
At the time of discovering that, I had a muzzleloader hunt in just over three weeks. I called Traditions to attempt to get a barrel. No dice.
So, I picked up a Deerhunter .50 kit as a quick bandaid to get me by.
Best case: I can drop the Deerhunter barrel, with the better Hawken sights, in the Hawken stock (with double-set triggers) and roll with it.
Less desirable: I have to build the kit and use the Deerhunter as designed.
Worst case: I borrowed another Hawken Woodsman .54. But I don't like using other people's BP arms.
The Deerhunter barrel will, in fact, drop right into a Hawken stock.
But the thimble screw holes are all wrong for the bottom rib from the Hawken and the die-cast Deerhunter thimble is too tall for the Hawken stock. I could drill and tap to adapt, but I don't have an appropriate bottoming tap. Not happening.
Gonna have to build the Deerhunter as designed.
Except that's not possible, either.
I won't even get into cosmetic or cost-cutting issues -- just the ridiculous:
The stock was inletted too deeply for the tang.
The front and rear sight screw holes are drilled but not tapped.
The sight screws, themselves, are almost 1/8" too long for the application - if the holes were actually tapped.
The thimble is for a round barrel, not the provided octagon barrel, and fits about as well as Merle Haggard at a Black Panther party.
The thimble screws are also too long and the holes are not tapped.
And, to top it all off, the trigger assembly is bound up with paint and the crappy spring keeps falling out (it's supposed to be staked in).
So, I called Traditions again.
Their response was essentially, "Some fitting is usually required."
I pressed a bit more, dwelling on the untapped holes and bad inletting, to get the point across.
Finally, the guy that I was talking to agreed to send a trigger assembly, but told me he'd have to check on the barrel and screws, and get back to me after about 15 minutes. "It may be better to send a complete kit." Ya think...?
Forty five minutes later, still no call. So, I called them. Closed for the weekend! I checked the website for their hours, and found that they closed just two minutes after I got off the phone with the guy in their Support department.
So, on to the worst case, the borrowed Hawken Woodsman .54...
Yea...
I looked at it closely, and called the owner. It didn't look healthy.
During the conversation I hear, "Oh, crap! I think we took the muzzleloaders out in June, and we never cleaned them."
Yea, it looks like death in that barrel...
Long story short, the barrel is toast.
At the time of discovering that, I had a muzzleloader hunt in just over three weeks. I called Traditions to attempt to get a barrel. No dice.
So, I picked up a Deerhunter .50 kit as a quick bandaid to get me by.
Best case: I can drop the Deerhunter barrel, with the better Hawken sights, in the Hawken stock (with double-set triggers) and roll with it.
Less desirable: I have to build the kit and use the Deerhunter as designed.
Worst case: I borrowed another Hawken Woodsman .54. But I don't like using other people's BP arms.
The Deerhunter barrel will, in fact, drop right into a Hawken stock.
But the thimble screw holes are all wrong for the bottom rib from the Hawken and the die-cast Deerhunter thimble is too tall for the Hawken stock. I could drill and tap to adapt, but I don't have an appropriate bottoming tap. Not happening.Gonna have to build the Deerhunter as designed.
Except that's not possible, either.
I won't even get into cosmetic or cost-cutting issues -- just the ridiculous:
The stock was inletted too deeply for the tang.
The front and rear sight screw holes are drilled but not tapped.
The sight screws, themselves, are almost 1/8" too long for the application - if the holes were actually tapped.
The thimble is for a round barrel, not the provided octagon barrel, and fits about as well as Merle Haggard at a Black Panther party.
The thimble screws are also too long and the holes are not tapped.
And, to top it all off, the trigger assembly is bound up with paint and the crappy spring keeps falling out (it's supposed to be staked in).
So, I called Traditions again.
Their response was essentially, "Some fitting is usually required."
I pressed a bit more, dwelling on the untapped holes and bad inletting, to get the point across.
Finally, the guy that I was talking to agreed to send a trigger assembly, but told me he'd have to check on the barrel and screws, and get back to me after about 15 minutes. "It may be better to send a complete kit." Ya think...?
Forty five minutes later, still no call. So, I called them. Closed for the weekend! I checked the website for their hours, and found that they closed just two minutes after I got off the phone with the guy in their Support department.
So, on to the worst case, the borrowed Hawken Woodsman .54...
Yea...
I looked at it closely, and called the owner. It didn't look healthy.
During the conversation I hear, "Oh, crap! I think we took the muzzleloaders out in June, and we never cleaned them."
Yea, it looks like death in that barrel...
