Innovations and improvements in the machine shop in the form of jigs and fixtures to speed up processes and reduce labor were also occurring. Studying the GRRW Hawken rifles produced from 1973 to 1980 show that Carl, Gardell Powell, Ed Trump, Neill Fields, Ron Paull, Bill McKay, Don McKee, Lloyd Helms, and others steadily improved their skills and knowledge over the period. These changes and challenges meant that Carl Walker and the other employees hired that year would be on a steep learning curve trying to improve and standardize the GRRW Hawken rifle and produce it on a commercial scale.
BLACKPOWDER RIFLE SERIAL NUMBER LOOKUP FULL
There would eventually be a full machine shop with lathes and mills and stock duplicating equipment. warehouse and started adding additional equipment and staff. That first year of Hawken production occurred as the company moved from Doc’s garage to an 8000 sq. Ron Long wouldn’t start producing his Hawken lock and triggers for another two years. Bud Brown of Cherry Corners had introduced his Hawken lock in 1970 and was also selling long bar Hawken triggers. Hawken butt plates and trigger guards were plentiful enough from a number of suppliers, but a suitable Hawken lock and double set triggers were more limited.īob Roller was producing a Hawken lock and triggers on a limited scale. Sourcing the components for the Hawken rifle was also problematic. Getting the Hawken stock architecture right proved to be a little more elusive. The Hawken is a different style that may be a blend of a number of different influences from English sporting rifles to Harper’s Ferry Model 1803 to Southern Mountain rifles. The Leman rifle is basically a late Lancaster style rifle. Then there is the issue of the stock architecture. The Hawken also borrowed the English method of fastening the trigger guard to the long bar trigger plate where the guard on the Leman is pinned to the stock. Again, more time and effort was required to inlet the Hawken triggers. The Hawken also used a long bar, double set trigger as standard component while the Leman had a simple single trigger pinned to the stock and a short trigger plate that the tang screw fastened to. Where the Leman had a flint style breech plug with a short tang, the Hawken utilized a hooked breech with a long tang and two tang bolts fastened to the trigger plate.įitting the hooked breech and inletting the long tang is more complicated and takes longer. The Hawken rifle proved to be a more difficult rifle to build than the Leman rifle. There was an error in the ads–the photographs for the rifles were switched. Hawken rifle and the Leman Trade Rifle appeared on opposing pages. Hawken rifle appeared in the May 1973 issue of Muzzle Blasts.
It took another year before Doc and Carl Walker were ready to put the Hawken rifle into production. Dealer inquiries invited: send for whole-sale parts list.” The very first ad that the Rifle Works placed in Muzzle Blasts magazine announcing the introduction of the Leman Trade Rifle included a statement, “Coming soon: A faithful copy of the S. I heard that Jim Gordon of Santa Fe has it in his collection now. This one was my favorite, 58 caliber, slightly swamped and tapered barrel 38 inches long, 1 1/8″ at britch, 15″ pull to front trigger, 12 lbs., a big rifle made for a big man. He killed a black bear that was messing in his garbage with a Hawken fullstock. At one time he had a half dozen originals at his place. An original heavy Hawken rifle once owned by Bill Fuller of Cooper’s Landing Alaska. I’ll come back to discussing some aspects of it later. It measured 7/8 inches in length and is attached with a single screw (head goes inside next to barrel).” As Doc’s caption to the picture says, this is his favorite Hawken rifle. The article describes the rifle in detail, giving several measurements including, “The barrel is 36-3/4 inches long and measures 1-5/32 inches at the breech and 1-3/16 inches at the muzzle.” He also states, “The fore-end tip is constructed of thin sheet iron, brazed together. He had also written an article about it that was published in the July 1975 issue of Buckskin Report titled, “An Unusual Hawken”. These plans finally came to fruition with the formation of Green River Rifle Works early in 1972.ĭoc has this picture of an original Hawken rifle on his website. He took photographs, made notes, and formulated ideas and plans to build Hawken rifles. While Doc White was stationed in Alaska during his tour with the Army in the late 1960’s, he had the good fortune to handle, shoot, and even disassemble several original Hawken rifles in private collections. Even though the Leman Trade Rifle was the first production rifle and the biggest seller, the rifle most identified with Green River Rifle Works is the Hawken rifle.