Hawken rifle

Hawken Type Plains Rifle
Lyman Replica of Plains Rifle
Type	Rifle, Long rifle
Place of origin	United States
Service history
In service	1823-1870
Production history
Designer	Samuel Hawken
Designed	1823
Variants	Double set trigger
Specifications
Weight	Approximately 10-15 pounds
Caliber	Round shot, averaged .54 caliber
Action	Flintlock and percussion cap (after about 1835)
Rate of fire	User-dependent
Muzzle velocity	Variable
Effective firing range	400 yards
Feed system	Muzzle loaded
Sights	Open blade sight

The Hawken rifle was a muzzle-loading rifle built by the Hawken brothers, and used on the prairies and in the Rocky Mountains of the United States during the early frontier days. It has become synonymous with the "plains rifle", the buffalo gun, and the fur trapper's gun. Developed in the 1820s, it was eventually displaced by breechloaders (such as the Sharps rifle) and lever-action rifles which flourished after the Civil War.

The Hawken "plains rifle" was made by Jacob and Samuel Hawken, in their St. Louis, Missouri shop, which they ran from 1815 to 1858. Their shop continued to operate and sell rifles bearing the "Hawken" name under later owners William S. Hawken, William L. Watt, and J. P. Gemmer, until Gemmer closed down the business and retired in 1915.

Samuel and Jacob were trained by their father as rifle smiths on the east coast. They moved west and opened a business in St. Louis at the beginning of the Rocky Mountain fur trade. The brothers' claim to fame is the "plains rifles" produced by their shop. They produced what their customers needed in the west, a quality gun, light enough to carry all the time, capable of knocking down big targets at long range. They called their guns "Rocky Mountain Rifles," reflecting their customers: fur trappers, traders and explorers.

The earliest known record of a Hawken rifle dates to 1823 when one was made for William Henry Ashley. The Hawkens did not mass-produce their rifles but rather made each one by hand, one at a time. A number of famous men were said to have owned Hawken rifles, including Auguste Lacome, Hugh Glass, Jim Bridger, Kit Carson, Orrin Porter Rockwell, Joseph Meek, Jedediah Strong Smith, and Theodore Roosevelt.

Hawken rifles had a reputation for both accuracy and long range.