I use the  Size 9 Copper Rivet & Burr Setter ..leave about 3/32 or 1/8 proud,  once I set then the rivet  I use the mushroom rose to expand, and just one light hit with a a hammer to put a flat on the rose...

Not sure I'm explaining all that well 

https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=ymyy-t-s&ei=UTF-8&p=copper+rivet+setting+tool#action=view&id=2&vid=8cfd0da7b898229bbf71e1cc6a683010

That is what I use also. I cut the shank off to about 1/8" and then us the tool to mushroom it out. If I had a small anvil or something more sturdy I could get a better and more uniformed mushroom like on blue jeans because when the rivet is where I can get to it on the anvil of my vise it works perfect. When I have to improvise its not as neat.

My hardest thing is finding a proper cutting tool that will actually do the job of cutting the number 9 rivet. I have tried three different cutting tools and none work well. The one I have now cuts it but I have to put a large pair of channel locks on them to be able to squeeze the cutting tool enough to cut the bur.

That's a REALLY nice rifle, Grant!  How much does it weigh?

Dale, if you are looking for a reasonably authentic looking half-stock "Hawken-style" rifle, I would highly recommend trying to find an early-production Lyman "Great Plains" rifle.  As I recall, they were actually made in Japan by Miroku (... who made one of the best-sparking and reliiable reproduction Brown Bess muskets, ever ...).  The .50 percussion one that I had for a fair number of years had a browned barrel and all the other metal furniture was browned, as well, and I loved it. 

Although still offered, the less desirable current-production Lyman Great Plains is made by Pedersoli, with blued (or "blackened") barrel and furniture.  I have seen a number of lfairly unfavourable comments and reviews of them.

I must concur with the sentiments generally expressed so far ... the "Hawken" name gets applied altogether too much, and to guns which don't look anything like a real Hawken rifle ...perhaps the worst case in point being the long-produced, but basically "gaudy" Thompson/Center "Hawken" ... I will freely admit to having one for a while, but ultimately "wised up" and went to a Lyman "Great Plains" rifle, which I then used for quite a few years.  Much more authentic appearance ... besides, they didn't call it a "Hawken" anyway ...

Regretfully, I disposed of the Lyman some years back when I gravitated out of shooting muzzleloaders  ... retaining only my .50 Dixie Tennessee Mountain Rifle (flint/percussion convertible), my Miroku Brown Bess and my Parker-Hale P'1853 rifle.   

However, some time after that... but still several years ago ... a chap I know was disposing of a rifle he had received in a trade, or some such, which was much too "beefy" for him to enjoy handling and shooting, offered to me at a price I absolutely could not refuse - a custom-made .62 cal. Hawken-style rifle, with a full octagon barrel 1⅛" across the flats, complete with a .60 roundball mould.  It is truly a thing of beauty, but now I must make another embarrasing admission: although I have owned it now for several years, I have never gotten around to casting any ball, and thus have never fired it! (At 6' 4" and weighing in at over 21 stone  (... 1 stone = 14 pounds ... you do the math ...) I find this rifle quite pleasant to handle ... although I'd definitely want a horse if I had to carry it very far!)

   



Mind you, I was at the range the other day with a long-time friend from those muzzle-loading days ... who also pretty much gave up shooting front-stuffers at the same time I did, when we both transitioned heavily into Cowboy Action shooting ... and we were talking about dusting off the old girls and giving it another whirl.  (Dale: in fact, that would be Merle "Squirrel" Krause, who you will remember accompanying me to Muster, second-kast time I was able to come, who was so enamoured of your Krag that you let him shoot in the Long Range ...)

Weather forecast here is for pleasant, but a little on the cool side, for the next week or so ... and I am very seriously considering a bullet casting session ... in which case that .60RB mould will definitely come out!

Until now, I've set copper rivets with a small ball peen hammer but am looking for a cleaner way to install them.

Does anyone know what a properly installed copper rivet should look like? I tried bucking one with my aircraft rivet gun and got this. The burr looks too dished to me. Also it started to go off to the side and it was impossible to get it straight after that. I had about 1-1/2 diameters of the rivet shank protruding above the burr. I think that was a little long so it took a lot of working to get it set.

Any feedback on how these should be?