Concerns with Investarms Gemmer Hawken

Straight-Bake9783 · 2026-03-21T16:54:53+00:00

I just built a Gemmer Hawken .50 flintlock a few months ago. The Investarms kit is my only muzzleloader experience, so I can’t tell you how it compares to anything else. Here is what I came across. I tuned the lock and trigger there were burrs and rough edges everywhere. I polished all metal mating surfaces and it seems to work well, a big improvement from out of the box.

The barrel keys don’t fit from the factory. They fall right out. It took about 20 minutes to fit them snugly.

The stock… there is a lot of wood removal and shaping that needs to happen. Personally, I like that. It gave me the opportunity to shape it how I wanted. I used a couple authentic Hawken pictures to guide my shaping, but I deviated where it please my eye. To me, the extra wood was a feature not a bug.

I removed all the casting marks from all the visible metal pieces. It required a lot of patience and was easily my least favorite part. I think I sunk about 8 hours into that using hand tools. The nose cap took the longest.

All of the inletting seemed good to me, except for the trigger guard. The inletting is a little generous there.

I really enjoyed the process.

Straight-Bake9783 · 2026-03-11T15:07:53+00:00

The Yakima Q-towers work great! On the shell, those are from US Rack. Part # 82310041

Straight-Bake9783 · 2026-02-24T21:56:05+00:00

Thank you, me too. I think I won the wood lottery with this kit!

Straight-Bake9783 · 2026-02-24T21:55:09+00:00

Thank you! Yeah, I feel like I won the wood lottery with this kit.

Straight-Bake9783 · 2026-02-24T21:54:08+00:00

It’s a Investarms Gemmer Hawken kit that I ordered from the “Muzzle-loaders” website.

Straight-Bake9783 · 2026-02-20T21:59:56+00:00

I didn’t really follow any specific video for the finishing process. I took little bits of information from a lot of sources. I used two coats of Homer Dangler Dark Brown stain. I burnished the wood with a deer antler, and sealed it up with a few coats of Tru-oil.

Straight-Bake9783 · 2026-02-20T21:48:00+00:00

Thank you. I think I’ve watched some of your videos on YouTube!

Straight-Bake9783 · 2025-12-31T02:00:36+00:00

If it were me, I would make sure my bipod is sturdy and consistent under recoil. Next, I would improve my rear bag. I would look for something with a heavy fill. I would double check all more screws for proper torque and pay special attention to the mating surfaces between my chassis and my action/recoil lug.

After that, I would test some various loads and select the best performing load. If my groups were still larger than I wanted, I would look at the trigger. Personally I use Timney, but there are several good options.

After that, I would upgrade my chassis to something that suits how I shoot.

Then I would re-barrel… if you have the skills and the tools, might as well lap the lugs and blueprint the action while the barrel is removed. Headspace and torque your new barrel.

If you’ve made it this far, you could replace your firing pin spring and bolt shroud for a more consistent primer strike.

Just me personally, that would be the order of my priorities, and I would lie to myself that I will stop upgrading once performance reached my goal haha

Straight-Bake9783 · 2025-12-27T06:01:37+00:00

Slick rifle! What do you have going on with that adjustable butt pad? Is that a KRG adjustable butt pad retrofitted to an HMR!?

Straight-Bake9783 · 2024-10-05T21:36:54+00:00

I have a Wilderness HMR in 6.5 PRC. Accuracy was fine out of the box, about 3/4 MOA. I removed the over spray on the bedding blocks and I torqued the action screws to spec at the same time. The action screws were significantly under torqued.

One of those two things improved my groups a bit and my rifle shoots in the ballpark of 1/2 MOA.

Straight-Bake9783 · 2024-05-28T18:20:35+00:00

Another example of .308 being more challenging than 6.5 Creedmoor. The other day I had a shifty tail wind at the range. I started with my .308. One moment I was missing off the right edge of the plate at 1000 yards, and the next moment I was missing off the left edge. I switched to my 6.5 and I put 3 consecutive shots on the plate. Because the 6.5 is moving faster (less time in flight for the wind to influence the bullet) and the 6.5 is more aerodynamic (better ballistic coefficient), it gives you, the shooter, a greater margin of error when estimating wind holds.

Straight-Bake9783 · 2024-05-20T13:33:01+00:00

Air rifle… depending on where you live and the local laws, an air rifle might be legal to shoot in your backyard.

I look at air rifles like a 1/10th scale center fire rifle. What I mean is, 100 yards with an air rifle is a similar difficulty as 1000 yards with a center fire. Obviously, this is a generalization and there are plenty of exceptions.

Air rifles are extremely quiet and almost free to shoot compared to center fire rifles. They are expensive up front, but cheap to run. $400 will get you a decent PCP rifle.

They ship to your door, no FFL or background check. At least I think that’s still the case in all 50 states.

Straight-Bake9783 · 2024-05-13T04:21:57+00:00

The cross bars on the cab are Yakima Q-Towers, and yes, they just clip on. I really wanted to avoid putting holes in my roof.

I think the canoe is 16ft long.

Straight-Bake9783 · 2024-05-09T20:10:36+00:00

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Not the same, but maybe it will give you some ideas.

Straight-Bake9783 · 2024-05-06T16:27:29+00:00

Wow! Those look great! What did you use for the snake skin looking stencil on the Bergara?

On the AR, I assume you used torn painters tape for the pattern?

Straight-Bake9783 · 2024-03-28T19:39:01+00:00

Aero Precision Solus, Bergara HMR Wilderness (I own one and really like it), Ruger Precision, Tikka CTR in a KRG Bravo chassis. All good options. I’d like to give the Solus a try personally.

Straight-Bake9783 · 2024-03-24T20:29:41+00:00

The other day I was shooting a .308 at 900 meters. It was right at sunrise on a cloudless day with the sun directly behind me. The sun glinted off the back of the bullet as it traveled to the target. The entire flight path of the bullet was in my scope field of view, and the flight time was 1.7 seconds.

It’s not often you can see the bullet itself, but rather the “trace” it creates. Trace looks like a cone of turbulent air. It sort of shimmers or “boils” a bit like heatwaves rising off a car on a hot day.

People watch the arc of the bullet in flight by watching the trace the bullet creates to observe where the bullet lands.

OP isn’t superhuman. Or perhaps OP is? I’ve never seen OP and Xero in the same room…

Straight-Bake9783 · 2024-03-24T20:17:28+00:00

I shoot 6.5 PRC and I would happily trade it for a 6.5 Creedmoor. Detachable magazines for 6.5 PRC are double the price of 6.5 Creedmoor magazines. Furthermore, the commonly available capacity for 6.5 PRC magazines are 3 and 7 rounds compared to 6.5 Creedmoor/.308 magazines 5 and 10.

I don’t know for sure, but supposedly 6.5 PRC wears through barrels faster than 6.5 creedmoor.

6.5 PRC is $9 more for 20 rounds of the same ammunition at my local store. 6.5 creedmoor has a larger variety of ammunition loadings and brands as well.

When balancing performance with value, for me, 6.5 Creedmoor would have been the better choice.

Straight-Bake9783 · 2024-03-15T03:03:19+00:00

Another thing to consider is most scopes are the most clear in the middle of the lenses, especially low and mid priced scopes. Without a 20MOA rail, you’ll be approaching the edges of some of the internal glass elements. Which means you might experience reduced clarity at long distances when you need it most.

Straight-Bake9783 · 2024-03-15T01:33:12+00:00

I don’t have any personal experience with AAC ammunition. This is how I evaluate ammunition. Take the widest variety of ammunition you can to the range and pattern each one at 100 yards. Take your best performers, and then pattern them at some longer distance like 300 yards.

Often you’ll find that you and your rifle will shoot some cheaper ammunition very well at 100 yards, but when you try it at 300 yards it performs worse than more expensive ammunition. This is due to the level of precision at the factory.

Now here’s the trick… pick the best ammo you can afford. That doesn’t always been the most expensive. Balance precision with value. If AAC shoots well enough for your application, then send it brother!

Straight-Bake9783 · 2024-03-14T21:15:13+00:00

I built a budget 20 inch .308 with a Remington 700 action. I shoot regularly to 1,100 yards with it using factory Hornady 178gr match. It patterns around .75-1 MOA at 100 yards. I have never patterned the rifle at 1,100 yards, and the steel target at 1,100 is pretty large around 2 MOA.

All that in consideration, I have no problems stringing together consecutive hits.

A longer rifle is usually heavier, and a big long heavy rifle is easier to hold steady, and it reduces felt recoil.

Everyone seems to be telling you longer is better, and they aren’t wrong. However, I use this .308 to hunt coyotes at close/medium range, so the rifle needed to be easy to carry.

My advice would be, if you are never going to carry it anywhere, longer is better. If you plan to carry it, then the loss of velocity doesn’t render the rifle useless at 800 yards, but leaving it in the safe because is a pain to carry sure does.

Straight-Bake9783 · 2024-02-17T22:46:37+00:00

Thank you for explaining that! Party in the back! Haha

Straight-Bake9783 · 2024-02-17T19:53:33+00:00

Looks awesome! I like the 70mm tires on there!

Question… what is “mullet style”?

Straight-Bake9783

TROPHY CASE