Its a Small World!

New member - Jcast here. Recently I completed my first Traditions St. Louis Hawken kit build. Many thanks to Frontier Gander, Hanshi, Winterhawk, Mustang65 & Uffda and others for the encouragement and positive feedback.

An unexpected surprise happened when I shared some pictures of the build on a couple of Facebook Black Powder groups.

Let me explain, I grew up on a dairy farm in upstate NY in a rural community near the Canadian border east of Lake Ontario in heavy snow country. During the summers of my teen years, we would convene at Reid's Gun Shop in Smartville, NY every week to shoot black powder rifles - selecting a partner for each round and shooting for big $ dollars - $0.25 cents each. High Score takes the pot of cash! It was this memory of summers during a simpler time that lead me back to my current interest in building a black powder muzzle loader and taking up an old rewarding hobby.

So I posted the picture of the finished rifle on the FB - Florida Muzzleloading Association group and my childhood friend Dick "Buck" Reid popped up and complimented on the build. He said it reminded him of his youth in his Dads gun shop - receiving TC Hawken kits and putting them together, bluing, finishing and putting them on the shelf for sale. (Pretty sure my Dad and Sisters boyfriend bought 3 TC's from this shop). I told him my story about the memories of shooting with his Dad, Uncles, Friends and Neighbors was the reason for the build.

"Buck" is a successful steel guitar player in Nashville, TN having spent years with John Anderson and more recent with Lyle Lovett and His Big Band.

It is a good story and I learned now that in all likely hood my childhood friend built my Dad's long gone TC Hawken's. Wish I had one to pass on.

The best part of this story is starting a tradition and passing on a rifle, bag and horn each of my children - 3 daughters, 2 steps sons and another step daughter. Looks like i will be busy building rifles and fowlers for the forseeable future.......GOD Willing!

And the best for last............My Traditions Mountain Rifle Kit arrived today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Build #2 will be a slow as you go due to an extensive work/travel schedule. I will post progress slowly as time permits and try and capture a full build as it unfolds. Hopefully it will benefit someone new to follow.

all for now...........Jcast

That is a great story fulfilled!
Sounds like you have some enjoyable and fruitful work ahead of you.
Enjoy.

Looking forward for your future builds. Enjoy your endeavors.