Past fun & other stuff

[Hanshi]

My first rifle, and I still have it, was a Hopkins & Allen .45 Heritage Model underhammer that I ordered some 55 years ago. I ordered it with a "gain twist" bore and a nice couple of heavy leather soft gun cases came with it (getting two was obviously accidental).  I fired it and fired it and then fired it some more.  I hied out to the woods often for whatever game was in season & available.  Right off the bat I managed to kill two bobcats within a week of each other.  I skinned them and kept them.  Knowing nothing about doing it correctly, they were doomed.  My dog got hold of one of them about ten years later and it was no more.  The other I kept until about three years ago.  Being just "furred" dry hide it broke little pieces off over the decades.  I did a good job of skinning though, and even got the ears right.  The rifle is/was extraordinarily accurate but hasn't been fired the past few years.  The trigger guard is a flat spring that powers the trigger AND hammer; the original one died several years ago and I can't find any quality newly mfg. ones.  I'll just have to come up with another method of getting it to return the trigger and stay at half-cock.  It went on to take deer & some small critters prior to its retirement.  It's been used, sometimes hard, but never intentionally abused.
It stays here now. 

This photo was taken within the last 12 years or so.  The forestock was removed temporarily then re-attached.

We had many, many adventures over the decades and I killed deer with it even after getting other BP rifles.  Somehow the tang peep sight got gone.  The barrel is a 33" X 15/16" straight tube and of excellent quality, American made.  Just thought I'd share.

[beowulf]

good reliable rifle at a very decent price !I liked the one I had ! 

[flintboomer]

Check with Deer Creek.

I don't currently have their information and I understand that the business has a new owner, but that is the last place where I was able to get parts.

[Hanshi]

Check with Deer Creek.

I don't currently have their information and I understand that the business has a new owner, but that is the last place where I was able to get parts.

Believe me I WILL check Deer Creek out.  If I can't get the tg-spring I'm going to have to cobble up a novel way to make a trigger return.

[pilgrim]

    any good machinist could make what you need

[hotfxr]

You do know that if I had it in my hands, I would be able to make a new spring/guard/whatever. Having never seen one of these, or actually any underhammer in real life, it is all still simple mechanics and shouldn't be hard for someone like me to figure it out. Hopefully I would not mess it up any more than it is. Drop it by next time you are in the neighborhood and I'll take a look at it.

[beowulf]

any decent black smith could do it ! 

[Hanshi]

You do know that if I had it in my hands, I would be able to make a new spring/guard/whatever. Having never seen one of these, or actually any underhammer in real life, it is all still simple mechanics and shouldn't be hard for someone like me to figure it out. Hopefully I would not mess it up any more than it is. Drop it by next time you are in the neighborhood and I'll take a look at it.

Let me see if I can strip it down to just the breech and we can see about doing something.  Thanks, brother. 

[flintboomer]

Deer Creek products
PO Box 246
Waldron IN 46182
765-525-6181
www.deercreekproducts.net

I found them on page 2 of the January issue of Muzzle Blasts

[beowulf]

they dont list any parts for the underhammer , you might be able to get what you need from this outfit ! pecatonica river  ,  http://www.longrifles-pr.com/underhammer.shtml

[DandJofAZ]

Love the looks of those little underhammers and finally got one at the last western national match I got to. (NMLRA has since canceled that match).  Saw it in back corner of traders rack for $325 and as all his others were $2-3000, asked if it was wrong... He said "No, its just been laying around for a few years and I don't use it anymore."  Grabbed it and won medals in several matches.  Darned nice little gun for a lefty.  If you want to ship it my way, my lefty grandson could sure use it... He does have a nice lefty .45 Mongrel made.     

[Hanshi]

Mine came to me around, oh, 55 plus years ago.  I chose the Heritage model in .45 with a gain twist barrel.  The one thing I can say without qualification is that it is incredibly accurate.  I don't know if the gain twist has anything to do with it but I do know it is one truly high quality barrel.  What I do prize about this rifle is the architecture.  I love the shape and the way it "hangs" when brought to the shoulder.  To me, it screams "elegance"!

But the rifle (and this type) are indeed very simple.  With the trigger guard powering the hammer AND the trigger it's as simple as simple can get.  As it came to me the trigger was spectacular; light, no creep and crisp.  For years it thrived with a "spit-patched" round ball.  No starter but I loaded it easily with just the wood (which I still have) ramrod that it still sports under the barrel.

The tg spring continues to do well as a hammer spring; but the trigger return on it is dead.  I am capable of installing - even something temporary - a thingy that would work to return the trigger.  I'd prefer a permanent installment if I ever can make myself get around to it.  But the past several days have been bad for me.  Near unbearable back pain - which causes various agonies from the neck to the feet - and that may be the root cause of the way I feel. 

Speaking of back pain, I spent years getting regular chiropractic care which made it possible for me to 'do my stuff".  But a few years ago a specialist in Va. told me it was in horrible condition.  Even prior to that it was too dangerous for any chiropractic manipulations.  But I have an osteopath (and medical doctor) in town that has helped a lot.  But let's get back to rifle.

First game taken with it were two bobcats.  Back then there weren't nearly as many deer as just a few years later.  Plus, some counties didn't even have a season.  This situation made miscellaneous critters "the only game in town".  But the chance did come and the old rifle performed splendidly.  A 75 yard shot = one downed deer.  Nowadays it would never be my favorite.  But it is an old friend that I can admire and treasure.