mountain rifle

The Hawken rifle is a muzzle-loading rifle that was widely used on the prairies and in the Rocky Mountains of the United States during the early frontier days. Developed in the 1820s, it became synonymous with the "plains rifle", the buffalo gun, and the fur trapper's gun. It was displaced after the Civil War by breechloaders (such as the Sharps rifle) and lever-action rifles.
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: a quality gun, light enough to carry all the time, that could knock down big animals at long range.In 1858, the shop passed to other owners who continued to operate and sell rifles bearing the Hawken name: William S. Hawken, William L. Watt, and J. P. Gemmer. Gemmer closed the business and retired in 1915.

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