Traditions St. Louis Hawken Kit

[youthpastorjon]

I am thinking about purchasing a Traditions St. Louis Hawken Kit.  I know Traditions isn't top of the line but I was curious if anyone on this sight has bought a kit and built one of these guns?  Pros and Cons will help thanks.

[forest2]

Bought one finished for my son 7 years ago for 200. It was the only thing in my price range for a lefty.
 It's a surprisingly good shooting gun. slow twist, ball shooter.
It should be an easy kit(beginner type), I did dis-assemble the lock and polish/tune the parts for a smoother action and I did re-cup the hammer as we had a little trouble with fired caps sticking in the hammer. ( that's a bad thing, as copper shards tend to sting a bit and can leave a nasty little cut). I did make sure we went through a proper break in period for load development and the learning curve.
 It's a good gun, he's 15 now, and he uses the same gun at rendezvous with his young eye's and makes some of the old pro's re-learn humility.( that's a good thing).
  Good luck, I think it's a good choice for the money. Just don't expect, "off the shelf" accuracy being the same as spending 500 or more

[henry1]

There is an article in the sept issue of Shooting Times mag. in the back. a smith put one together and said that they are a lot better as far as parts go and they are better quality all around then what they used to be. It said that at the factory before each kit leaves it is put completly together and then disasembaled for us to do the finishing work on. Sounded pretty darn cool. I wished i had more time to tinker around like that. Hope this helps. I think you might be able to get the article on the net too if you feel so inclined. hope this helps.
Henry.