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patent breech, with its hooked tang, was invented early on by the better English gunmakers.
The Hawken variant is not so unusual that it is not seen in English and continental rifles and
shotguns. The scroll trigger guard is likewise a very English feature and was very popular in
England during the Hawken years. The fore-end cap was likewise English in styling. The
Percussion lock and the simple lockbolt plate on the opposite sidelock panel were also typical
of the understated English styling of the day.
This is something the Hawken Brothers probably never did: a fullstock flintlock with brass
furniture and a flat to the wrist trigger guard. By the way, it’s a charming rifle, but once again,
hardly traditional.
Two things the Hawken brothers never did: as far as anyone knows, they never produced a
flintlock rifle in the St Louis shop, at least not a marked and identifiable one. We all presume
that they did, just never marked them. But even then, if they did, the styling was not
recognizable as a Hawken, like the later percussion ones. Also, our modern flat to the wrist
trigger guard was rarely used by the Hawkens. It appears on only a few of their known and
marked rifles.
Another item for the strict traditionalist to pay attention to is the curl at the rear of the trigger
guard. Early Hawkens appear to have had a more rounded curl than is currently available
on the reproduction market. Later rifles did indeed have the narrowed, slanted curl that we
more commonly see on reproductions. Of course, a good gun-maker can re-forge an incorrect
modern casting into any conformation that he wants.
The last item is the corner of the buttplate, the upper rear corner, that is. Many later plains rifles
had an attractive rounded detail in that location. Many modern castings include it. It is pretty.
But it certainly is not traditional. Hawken buttplates, whether an early one fabricated from sheet
iron or the later bought from the East castings, were invariably straight with a square corner.
It is obvious that many of the details of the more famous of their rifles were gleaned from the
English rifles of the day. Whether or not this styling came from personal exposure to English
travelers or from design catalogues and literature is unknown, but the styling is obvious. The
patent breech, with its hooked tang, was invented early on by the better English gunmakers.
The Hawken variant is not so unusual that it is not seen in English and continental rifles and
shotguns. The scroll trigger guard is likewise a very English feature and was very popular in
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