Hawken rifle

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Hawken Type Plains Rifle

Lyman Replica of Plains Rifle
Type Rifle, Long rifle
Place of origin U.S.
Service history
In service 1823-1870
Production history
Designer Samuel Hawken
Designed 1823
Number built Approximately 200
Variants double set trigger
Specifications
Weight approximately 10-15 pounds
Caliber round shot averaged .54
Action percussion cap
Rate of fire user dependent
Muzzle velocity Variable
Effective range 200 yards
Feed system Muzzle loaded
Sights open blade sight

The Hawken rifle is a specific black powder long rifle, generally shorter and of a larger caliber than earlier "Kentucky rifles." Popular with in the mid-nineteenth century, the term "Hawken rifle" technically referred to rifles made by Samuel and Jacob Hawken of St Louis, Missouri but was often used generically to refer to a variety of "plains rifles" of the period.

The earliest known record of a Hawken rifle dates to 1823[1] when one was made for William Henry Ashley. The Hawkens did not mass-produce them as they were hand made one at a time, but other famous men said to have owned a Hawken rifle [2] include (in alphabetical order): Jim Bridger, Kit Carson,Joseph Meek and Theodore Roosevelt

Although popular during the mid part of the century, muzzleloaders were generally replaced by mass-produced, breech-loading weapons such as the Sharps Rifle.

Characteristics of a "classic" Hawken rifle include:[3]

The 1972 film Jeremiah Johnson starred Robert Redford as a mountain man who used such a rifle, and contributed to general interest in replicas and a resurgence in muzzleloaders among modern hunters, including a model called the Hawken from Thompson Center Arms of New Hampshire.