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Customer Reviews for Traditions™ St. Louis Hawken Rifle Kit

Traditions™ St. Louis Hawken Rifle Kit

Looking for a challenge? Try out a blackpowder kit!This handy kit contains everything you need to build your own blackpowder rifle. .50 caliber, 28'' octagonal barrel with a hooked breech; 1 in 48'' rate of twist. Select hardwood stock with brass trigger; fixed sight. Weight: 7 lbs. Overall length: 49''.
Average Customer Rating:
4.182 out of 5
4.2
 out of 
5
(11 Reviews) 11
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Rating Snapshot (11 reviews)
5 stars
4
4 stars
5
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11 of 11(100%)customers would recommend this product to a friend.
Customer Questions & Answers:
5 Questions | 14 Answers
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Customer Reviews for Traditions™ St. Louis Hawken Rifle Kit
Review 1 for Traditions™ St. Louis Hawken Rifle Kit
Overall Rating:
4 out of 5
4 out of 5

Hawken Rifle Kit

,
December 4, 2010
By TACC
from Houston, Texas
Advantages: Ease of use, Durability, Performs well, Quality
"My wife gave me this kit for christmas last year, and I found the kit overall easy to assemble. However, what I did not like about the kit, was that I had to remove alot of wood from the trigger assembly area to get the barrel tang screw to algin up with trigger assembly. Even though I had to remove so much wood, the finished product still came out great. Lucky for me, the trigger guard covered it up. What I like most of all about this kit, is the dual triggers. This rifle will shoot one hole groups at 50yards. Also, the front sight may be made of plastic, but I found it to great on cutting down on glare."
What do you usually hunt? Deer
How many times a year do you hunt on average? 11+
Would you recommend this product as a gift? Yes
Review 2 for Traditions™ St. Louis Hawken Rifle Kit
Overall Rating:
4 out of 5
4 out of 5

My kit was so-so

,
August 12, 2009
By DaveinVA
from VA
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Advantages: Performs well
Disadvantages: Quality
"The Hawken rifle kit I recieved was far from the kit my brother-in-law bought in past yrs.
My stock was covered with burn marks that took hours to remove. I don't mind the rough cut of the wood as shaving and sanding can easily remove that. However, the burn marks had me worried about the final product. I shaved and sanded the stock for a total of 15hrs (all by hand) taking my time on days off work.
The cast of the brass was as bad as the stock. The seam line on the trigger guard being the worst, I sanded all the brass down from 150 grit to 2000 grit wet sanding, and then used jewlers rouge for the final polish. 4hrs total on the brass was spent to get it like a mirror.
The stock was finished with 3 coats of Tru-oil, 3 coats of polish, and 3 coats of wax. Barrel was blued, and all the cheap screws in the kit were replaced with all brass."
What do you usually hunt? Deer
How many times a year do you hunt on average? 11+
Would you recommend this product as a gift? Yes
Review 3 for Traditions™ St. Louis Hawken Rifle Kit
Overall Rating:
5 out of 5
5 out of 5

GREAT RIFLE FOR THE PRICE

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May 30, 2009
By Lieutenant245
from Aynor, SC
Advantages: Durability, Ease of use, Performs well, Quality, Value for money
"I absolutely LOVE this rifle. I'm not even a remotely skilled wood-worker/tool-worker, but this kit was an absolute pleasure to work with. This is a GREAT rifle for the price and, when completed, really does give the weapon its' own character and personality, but also gives you a huge sense of achievement and accomplishment. It is a very accurate weapon using round, ball ammunition loaded with one hundred grains of Goex's FFg black powder. I'm able to consistently shoot five-inch diameter groups at approximately one hundred and twenty-five yards using the aforementioned load protocol. My rifle is ALWAYS the center of attention and conversation between my friends and I when we get together to shoot, have some fun, and generally to just blow off some steam. Out of all the rifles I own, my St. Louis Hawkin fifty caliber is probably THE MOST FUN rifle to shoot (with the possible exception of my Colt Armory, law enforcement restricted, M-4, model 6933.) My ten-year old son absolutely LOVES to shoot this muzzle-loader and is truly shocked that his "idiot" Dad bought it as a kit and assembled it without anyone's help. He really gets a "kick" out of shooting "our" Hawkin (no pun intended.) In fact, he is trying to talk me into buying a black powder revolver for he and I to work on together however, I'm still trying to figure out how to get this "acquisition" past my wife. Ha Ha Ha. I do have a question that hopefully someone out there in cyber-land will be able to answer for me. I've had my St. Louis Hawkin for approximately twenty-five years now and shot hundreds of rounds through it without any problems whatsoever. However, I think it's time to replace the entire percussion lock-plate, component assembly due to its' normal wear, tear and corrosive consequences that is inherent in the discharge of a true black powder firearm. My question is this; does anyone know how, or where, I can purchase the entire percussion lock-plate, component assembly, specifically for the St. Louis Hawkin, percussion fired, dual trigger, fifty caliber, muzzle-loading rifle? Any help or information on this is greatly appreciated."
What do you usually hunt? Deer
How many times a year do you hunt on average? 3-5
Would you recommend this product as a gift? Yes
Review 4 for Traditions™ St. Louis Hawken Rifle Kit
Overall Rating:
5 out of 5
5 out of 5

GREAT CHALLANGE

,
April 22, 2009
By joefly55
Advantages: Durability, Ease of use, Performs well, Quality, Value for money
"My wife bought this for me at Christmas.Due to work it took me a year to complete. But it turned out great. The instructions were very easy to follow, and it was a lot of fun. I've taken it to the range 3 times now and I love shooting it."
Review 5 for Traditions™ St. Louis Hawken Rifle Kit
Overall Rating:
5 out of 5
5 out of 5

Excellent Starter Kit

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February 3, 2009
By TMike
from Columbia, MO
"This was a fun and enjoyable kit to put together; perfect for someone like myself building one for the first time. I plan to buy another some time so I can apply the lessons I learned from the first.
Shaping the stock to the butt plate was the hardest part; although all cutouts and shaping of the wood are close to where they need to be, they still require final shaping and sanding.
The instructions may seem daunting at first due to their brevity. Take some time to get familiar with the part names and the parts. Loosely hand fit pieces into the places you think they should go. As you become more familiar with the parts, it begins to make sense how they fit together. Patient and repeated hand fitting (test fitting) is key. Don't rush to bolt things into place. Sand the wood a little at a time and test fit, then repeat, and repeat.
On the down side, I'm not too happy about the plastic sites. The screws that hold brass pieces in place should be replaced with brass screws. The original screws provided to hold the trigger guard are a little short and should be replaced with somewhat longer ~brass~ screws, in my opinion.
Overall this was a very fun kit to build. It's a bit of a challenge but not a daunting project for the beginner. There is enough work to be done that I had a definite feeling of satisfied accomplishment when I finished it. For the price it was a very good buy."
What do you usually hunt? Deer
How many times a year do you hunt on average? 1-2
Would you recommend this product as a gift? Yes
Review 6 for Traditions™ St. Louis Hawken Rifle Kit
Overall Rating:
5 out of 5
5 out of 5

this gun is awsome

,
July 1, 2008
By buckfever9
from richmond,va
"i bought this kit a couple of years ago and outher than the plastic sights it was pretty cool. ever sence then i kept buying parts for it. like fiber optic sights, accessories, a scope mount and correct swivel studs from dixie gun works, but since then i have also built the kentucky rifle which i am soon going to convert to a flint lock rifle"
What do you usually hunt? Deer
How many times a year do you hunt on average? 5-10
Would you recommend this product as a gift? Yes
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
Review 7 for Traditions™ St. Louis Hawken Rifle Kit
Overall Rating:
3 out of 5
3 out of 5

ok

,
January 1, 2008
By Slidellcop
from Fl
"Brass parts casting require lots of work. Screws on brass need to be changed to brass. Wood to metal parts need lots of work to make a tight neat fit. Built two for Christmas gifts. Had built a Thompson Center before. Came out better than these but overall a good buy for the price."
What do you usually hunt? Other
Would you recommend this product as a gift? Yes
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
Review 8 for Traditions™ St. Louis Hawken Rifle Kit
Overall Rating:
3 out of 5
3 out of 5

A new and fun experience

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November 21, 2007
By JTRobertson
from Arkansas
"My wife and daughter bought me this for Christmas last year. I had a fun and enjoyable time putting it together, and I look forward to getting to hunt with it. My main complaints about this product is that it: A) doesn't have any real instructions to get you started or help you along the way, and B) it came with cheap plastic sights for the gun. Other than that the gun turned out beautiful, and I would love to do another one in the future, know that I am a little more experienced with a project like this."
What do you usually hunt? Deer
How many times a year do you hunt on average? 11+
Would you recommend this product as a gift? Yes
Review 9 for Traditions™ St. Louis Hawken Rifle Kit
Overall Rating:
4 out of 5
4 out of 5

Great father son project

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September 24, 2007
By handyman
"I purchased this kit to build with my son. Just the right amount of work was needed to make the kit challenging, but still very fun to build. Patience and fair woodworking skills required to make a beautiful firearm. Lack of assembly instructions included in the box kept it from getting 5 stars. Found them on the internet, but they should have been included. If you are familiar with guns like this, can be assembled without instructions. We browned the barrel, instead of blued because my son wanted it to be more 'authentic' looking. Turned out very nice, but browning is more difficult than bluing, but the authentic look was well worth the extra trouble. I won't hesitate to purchase another kit to build with my other son, when he is ready."
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
Review 10 for Traditions™ St. Louis Hawken Rifle Kit
Overall Rating:
4 out of 5
4 out of 5

rifle kit

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September 16, 2007
By D and E
"My girlfriend and I got this kit for an aniversery project. it was fun for the fact that it required more work then it looks like. the brass peices dont aline well but is fixed without to much wood work. the stock took a stain and looks great. the barrel blued well and when it was all finished it looks great. it only got four stars because there was one screw that would not line up when the barrel was properly in place. it does not affect the gun at all though."
Review 11 for Traditions™ St. Louis Hawken Rifle Kit
Overall Rating:
4 out of 5
4 out of 5

Great kit for first timer!

,
December 30, 2006
By alexsbuddy
from Joplin, MO
"Overall, the kit produced a very nice gun. The wood finished beautifully (nice grain, took a stain well) and everything operated as it should. Some things to consider: the assembly instructions were not included but I got these online, the butt plate and the area of the stock where it fits did not match well and had to do a lot of extra work to get these properly fitted, and the barrel tenon did not mate well and had to do some work on this. Otherwise, it was a fun kit to assemble and I wouldn't hesitate to buy another one or another Traditions product."
What do you usually hunt? Other
How many times a year do you hunt on average? 1-2
29 of 30 people found this review helpful.
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