by Mike Nesbitt Contributing Editor
Liver Eatin’ Johnson rifle with the 32-inch barrel
This new muzzle-loading rifle is from October Country, out in Idaho, and they call it their Liver Eatin’ Johnson rifle.
That name is taken from the character in the movie “Jeremiah Johnson” more than from history. In the movie when Johnson went west, he wasn’t able to take the rifle he wanted. This gun is well along the lines of what he was looking for, a heavy barreled big bore, and it’s a rifle worthy of taking up the river.
It isn’t a Hawken, but it has several features that the old Hawken rifles made famous. And this new rifle is outstanding in one very big way; it’s currently the only limited production (some call that semi-custom) halfstock rifle being offered that I know about. The Liver Eatin’ Johnson rifle is being built for today’s hunters as a powerful traditionally styled muzzleloader. While it is a limited production piece, being made upon order, it is available with certain special or custom “ingredients” to suit the buyer’s tastes. Those “to order” items will be mentioned as we get further along with this discussion.
Deluxe versions made with a fancy curly maple stock are available and the standard barrel length is 32 inches.
Those barrels are from Green Mountain, one-inch wide, and available in .50, .54, or .58 caliber, all with a rate of twist at one turn in 70 inches. The Hawken percussion lock from L&R is used, and barrels are fitted with a hooked patent breech. The barrel, lock, and triggers are browned and the forearm of the stock on the deluxe version is “capped” with a poured pewter nose cap. Other furniture is made of German silver. The standard version uses a plainer grade of maple for the stock and is not generally fitted with a nose cap.
.530 inch balls and Bumblin’ Bear Grease lube
One point we can make about these Liver Eatin’ Johnson rifles is that they are made for round ball shooters. The Green Mountain barrels have a rate of twist made for round ball shooting and the groove depth is about .011 of an inch, fine for those thicker patches. In the .54 caliber rifles, like the one I tried, October Country recommends using a .530” round ball wrapped in a .015-inch patch, lubed with their own Bumblin’ Bear Grease.
The breech of this rifle deserves good comments. This is the hooked breech from L&R Lock Company. Good comments are deserved because of the way the nose of the hammer drops completely over the front of the fence of the standing breech before contacting the top of the nipple. This is a good feature because it protects the shooter’s face from almost any possible cap flash or fragments being blown to the rear.
The L&R breech plug is a Hawken style in design, with a long tang. This rifle uses that long tang with two screws that go down and thread into the Hawken-style trigger plate. That construction allows the trigger plate and the tang of the breech to strengthen the wrist of the stock, a feature that was highly appreciated in the days of the Plains rifle. We can appreciate that today, and the Liver Eatin’ Johnson rifle is built to last.
L&R set triggers are used on this gun and the rifle looked at here had the style of Hawken triggers which have both triggers curved. That is often considered to be the later style and if a buyer wanted to get the style with the straight front trigger I’m sure that would be a “just ask for it” option.
During the shooting with this rifle, the set triggers, of course, worked very well.
Another part on this rifle that I want to mention is the adjustable rear sight that is available on the deluxe version.
This is a buckhorn-style sight and it is the “Hawken Ramp Sight,” also from L&R. It sits in a standard 3/8ths” dovetail in the top of the barrel and the sight itself (that part which you see while aiming) sits on a long leaf a full three inches to the rear of the barrel’s dovetail slot. While this sight is nicely sculptured and it is very attractive, I’m not completely sure about what value an adjustable sight might have on a hunting rifle. That question comes to my mind mainly because I’ve not found the need to adjust a rifle’s sights while on the hunt. However, I can fully see where some others would like to have adjustable sights so the option of adjustments would be right on top of the rifle’s barrel.
When I talked to John Maciosek at October Country about this sight he had the following to say. “The sight thing is something that we talk to customers about. We have them shoulder a gun then run their thumb down the barrel and when it becomes clear, we have them mark and measure it. That’s where we’ll put the rear sight. With this method, when we build a custom gun for someone we build the gun to specifically fit them. We give the same attention to the rifle’s length of pull, sights, upgrades in wood, barrel length, choice of calibers, left-handed rifles, and the choice of flintlock ignition.” Now for an overall view of the Liver Eatin’ Johnson rifle, the gun I got to shoot and admire is very well made.
The inletting is very good with excellent fit and the lines of the rifle are very pleasing. This rifle has a length of pull of 13-5/8 inches and that fits me very well. The deluxe wood on this rifle was very attractive and the oil finish of the stock allows that fancy stock wood to “brag” in rather quiet tones. My overall appraisal of this rifle is that it is simply very good.
This is a fine adjustable rear sight that is available on the deluxe version
After looking this rifle over and giving it the “fine tooth comb” inspection, it was time to take the new gun to the range. John at October Country made sure the correct ammo to use was available to me by sending along a bag of cast .530 inch round balls and a bag of .015 inch Ox-Yoke patches plus some Bumblin’ Bear Grease. With all that shootin’ plunder he sent this info about the loads he used plus comments on their performance. John said, “I fired three groups of 3 shots each, different targets, and had all holes touching.
Those groups were fired from a benchrest at 50 yards using 80 and 90 grains of FFg. When I went up to 110 grains of powder the group moved a little to the right. If you need any more info give me a call.” That was plenty of good information, so the rifle along with the balls and patches were gathered up and taken to the range.
To say my shooting got started with a bang would be straining an old joke a little too much but that’s exactly how it went. I started shooting this rifle from the bench with a small target posted at just 25 yards. The powder charge I used was 60 grains of Jack’s Battle Powder with ignition provided by standard #11 CCI caps and my first shot printed at the top of the black, just a bit to the right of center. The second shot was an inch to the right of the first one. Then three more shots were fired and they all printed in a line between the first two. That gave me five shots with all holes touching.
Let me elaborate (or brag) on that group, those five shots tore a single jagged hole just barely an inch and a half across. When you subtract one ball diameter from that inch and a half, the center-to-center group is just a little less than one inch. Let me quickly admit that I tried to do better. Other groups were fired but none of my following groups were quite as good as this one. And I think a one-inch group even at the close distance of 25 yards, fired from the bench, is something to crow about.
If this rifle was being fired to sight it in or prepare it for a hunt, some heavier powder charges would have been used as well as seeing how it would print on targets posted at longer ranges. Actually, the shooting done at 25 yards showed how well this rifle can perform. So, shooting was done just at the shorter distance and the rifle handled very nicely with no problems at all.
October Country’s prices for these rifles are listed as $1,600 for the deluxe version and $1,300 for the standard model. There are other options which can change those figures and, for instance, the photo on their website shows the standard model with a nose cap, so that is an available option.
Other possible options have already been mentioned. To find out more about the half-stock Liver Eatin’ Johnson rifles, contact October Country, PO Box 969, Dept. TGM, Hayden, ID 83835; phone 208-762-4903. You can also find this product on their website at: octobercountry.com. They’ll make it just about the way you want it.
