Antique Half-Stock S. Hawken Saint Louis Long Rifle.

Antique Half-Stock S. Hawken Saint Louis Long Rifle
.38 Caliber Percussion by the famous maker of Missouri.

One of our members Michael Thompson sent me this link on a very important rifle, read on ...

Description:
Antique Half-Stock S. HAWKEN SAINT LOUIS LONG RIFLE .38 Caliber Percussion

Here is an antique Samuel Hawken Rifle, made circa the early to mid-19th Century in St. Louis, Missouri. Developed in the 1820s, it became synonymous with the American West as all manner of person made their way through the “Gateway to the West” which was Saint Louis. The city was at one point in its history the last bit of civilization one might see, which made it a good place to pick up all the equipment and supplies one might be lacking before stepping another foot into the Frontier. It was also a place where the trappers and miners and others could bring back their goods to sell back to the East.

The Hawken rifle was made and sold by Jacob and Samuel Hawken. Trained by their father as rifle smiths on the East Coast, the brothers moved to St. Louis, Missouri, at the beginning of the Rocky Mountain fur trade. Opening a gun shop in St. Louis in 1815, they developed their “Rocky Mountain Rifle” to serve the needs of fur trappers, traders, and explorers, making a quality gun, light enough to carry all the time, that could knock down big animals at range. Famous adopters included Hugh Glass (a trapper whose life was most recently brought to life in the DeCaprio film The Revenant), Jim Bridger (a mountain man, trapper, and scout), Kit Carson (a trapper, guide, and officer who fought in the Mexican-American War), Jedediah Strong Smith (hunter, trapper, explorer, map maker of the American West and the Rockies), Auguste Lacome (a French immigrant who came up through Mississippi and settled and traded in New Mexico Territory), Joseph Meek (a mountain man and eventual US Marshal in Oregon Territory) and Orrin Porter Rockwell (bodyguard to both Joseph Smith and Brigham Young).

This piece features a 37 ¾” octagonal barrel in .38 caliber (measured from land to land). Half-stock with a pewter tip. Crescent butt plate. Semi-circular cheek rest. Single barrel wedge. Double set triggers. Back action lock. The top barrel flat is marked “S. HAWKEN” and “ST. LOUIS” and is comparable to the illustration in Plate 30, page 56 of Hanson’s The Plains Rifle. This one came from the famous Lewis Collection of Great Falls, Montana. A firearms enthusiast, Lewis collected early Montana guns, founded the Montana Arms Collectors Association, and owned a shop in Great Falls called Montana Outfitters. His personal collection included some unique and rare pieces, such as this.

The overall condition is very good (near fine for the type). Strong action—must be used with the set trigger. The bore is in very good shape for its age with strong rifling. Solid stock. The barrel wedge is an old replacement. A rare piece of American history!

Own the original! This is a legitimate antique and not a reproduction.

Barrel is 37-3/4 inches. - Caliber: .38 Percussion (land to land).    SOLD $14,685.xx

The lightest original Hawken I have seen was "Kit" Carson's half stock in .52 caliber and it still weighted 7 - 1/2 pounds while the other Hawken built guns were in the 9–10-pound range.