Good post, Dave. I had forgotten that about the old-time "California buckhorn" rear sights mentioned in Major Roberts' book. The sights that came to my mind were the "California sights" made and sold by the late Andrew Fautheree (1939-2014), a highly-respected west-coast muzzleloading gunmaker. This is a picture of his California front sight, from an old Track of the Wolf catalog:
View attachment 147097
Track still carries these front sights, but the Fautheree California rear sight is no longer available. If I remember correctly, this was a nicely machined adjustable semi-buckhorn sight. The adjustment mechanism was very subtle, so as not to offend traditionalists. I regret that I don't have a picture. However, there was a nice little half-stocked percussion rifle which sold on this forum recently (see
.40 caliber price drop again... ) which I am pretty sure had a set of the Fautheree California sights.
I'm not so sure about the conical projectiles, though. I'm not aware of any rifles intended for sugar-loaf bullets coming out of the Hawken shop. At last report, the original Hawken rifling bench or guide, with a uniform and non-adjustable 1-48" twist, was still in existence and in the possession of the Missouri Historical Society. However, I would not be too surprised to learn of rifles for conical bullets being produced by some of the more progressive builders in Philadelphia, Denver, or California.
Regarding the gain twist,
@Loyalist Dave makes a good point. This old rifle by J.J. Freitas (the only Portuguese-American gunsmith I know of) is marked "GAIN TWIST" on the top barrel flat:
View attachment 147098
Incidentally, this rifle conforms very well to our hypothetical "California Rifle" style; half-stock, heavy barrel, brass mounts with the "hook & scroll" triggerguard, and no frills. One thing you can't really appreciate in this photo is that the end of the barrel has been turned round, to accept a precision bullet starter. At least two of the rifles pictured in my previous post had similar treatment, although the Hawken is not one of them. You can see this clearly in another image which is a part of a series of photos of the Freitas rifle on Mr. Curtis Johnson's Flickr page:
J.J. Freitas Rifle
I think Mr. Johnson put up five excellent images of this rifle in the series, with some written commentary on the page below each picture. It's worth taking a look.
A lot of people will look at this rifle and think, "that looks like a Dimick." It is true that Horace Dimick of St. Louis built rifles that were very similar. Here is an example:
View attachment 147115
I would submit that Mr. Dimick was
following a trend rather than setting one when he designed and built these rifles. I think this general pattern, which may be the "California Rifle," was a style that became popular in the 1850's, and gunmakers from Philadelphia to San Francisco were trying to give their customers what they wanted.
That pretty well sums up my own take on the "California Rifle" as it currently stands. However, as far as I'm concerned, the topic is still open for discussion.
Best regards,
Notchy Bob
