I don't think the Hawken mystique is hype. By all accounts, they were excellent rifles. Most of the early writers referred to them as "Hawkins" rifles, but as such they were specifically mentioned by George Brewerton, Bill Hamilton, George Ruxton, "Kootenai" Brown, Captain Marcy, and likely some others, but I have personally read what those chroniclers had to say.
I think the Hawken brothers, Jacob and Samuel, were very progressive for their time. If you take a real interest in the rifles that came out of their shop over the forty-odd years it was under their management, you can see how the rifles evolved. The changes might be subtle, but they are there, and they incorporated practical features. The hooked breech made thorough cleaning easy. Two wedges meant the barrel would stay in the stock if one wedge was lost. The long tang on top of the wrist with the long trigger bar below reinforced the part of the stock most vulnerable to breakage.
Another point is that the Hawken barrels,
as far as I know, were always made of wrought iron. Bill Large referred to this as "dead iron," which would minimize vibration or "whip." We also know the bores were either tapered or choked, and I believe the muzzles were slightly relieved.... Easy to load, easy to seat the ball, and they were renowned for accuracy. The twist was 1:48", which today's shooters consider too fast for a round ball, but
@Herb (see post #57) did a write-up of a big bore Hawken he built with a 1:48" twist, right here on this forum a year or two ago, which showed that twist gives up nothing in accuracy or energy. I believe a lot of today's builders try very hard to duplicate the "look" of the original Hawkens, but their choice of barrel is based on different criteria. I think it is significant that the S. Hawken replica offered by The Hawken Shop has a seven groove, 1:48" barrel. I've read of no complaints by people who shoot them.
I would agree with my buddy,
@Rod Man , who indicated the "classic" Hawken rifles might be more associated with western expansion than with the pre-1840 Rocky Mountain fur trade. However, there was a
lot going on in the western frontier after 1840, and muzzleloading rifles played a very prominent role. I think reenactors may be shortchanging themselves by establishing that pre-1840 date for the modern-day rendezvous reenactments. Bill Hamilton didn't even get onto the plains until 1842, yet he wrote of participation in beaver trapping expeditions and of trappers' rendezvous for years after that date in his book,
My Sixty Years on the Plains. He also mentioned "Hawkins" rifles. The rendezvous he attended may have been less formal affairs than those earlier sponsored by the fur companies, but they surely happened.
When we get down to it, there were so few Hawken rifles made by the Civil War that there would not have been enough to have been used to justify the use of a Hawken by Civil War Reenactors. We of the Gemmer Club are aware of one Hawken rifle that came into Don Stith's (RIP) possession. The history is that it was ordered and received by a doctor stationed at Jefferson Barracks just prior to the start of the Civil War. When the war started, he left with his new rifle to his home (IIRC) South Carolina. It was never used. When Don received it, it was still in the cloth bag. He sold it and we no longer know where it is.
I can't account for the Civil War reenactors' bias against Hawken rifles, unless they are confusing the originals with the modern, lightweight, brass-mounted versions. I can see how those would be banned.
I appreciated
@Grenadier1758 's comments about that doctor's Hawken. This is the rifle:
...and a better look at the text:
This rifle was written up, as you see it, in the August 1998 issue of
Muzzle Blasts magazine, in Dr. George Shumway's column, "Longrifles of Note." The article was republished in Dr. Shumway's book,
Longrifles of Note, Volume 2. The images above are from the book.
Dr. Shumway did a nice write-up, but I wondered if there was any more to the story, and I was also interested in the rifle's current whereabouts. I contacted a well-recognized Hawken expert (whom I will not name out of respect for his privacy) to ask about this. I received a really good response, which said, in part:
"
...that rifle was owned by Don Stith when Shumway wrote his piece. Don said he had subsequently sold the rifle since the article [by Shumway]
was published. He didn’t say who he sold it to—these guys tend to keep that info close to the vest.... I think [Don]
Stith acquired the rifle from the family and felt pretty good about its provenance. I’m not sure how well Shumway remembered what Stith had told him about its history. Another acquaintance pointed out a discrepancy in Shumway’s telling of James Lawrence Jones’ trip to St. Louis and his time at the school he went to for his medical training. I found some enrollment info on the internet for the school and saw the discrepancy, but I’ve forgotten the details and don’t recall the website I went to. A search of the school name may turn it up because I think that’s how I found it before."
So, we don't know where the rifle is now. I can't say that I blame the current owner for keeping it quiet... An original J&S Hawken in like-new condition would be priceless. However, I hope it turns up again someday so Herb can get a look at it and document it more completely.
Best regards,
Notchy Bob
