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Samuel Hawken retired in 1855 and passed the shop onto his son William. William Hawken and Tristram Campbell had been partners since at least 1853 but split by early 1856. The Hawken shop was sold in 1860 to a group of gunsmiths, including J.P. Gemmer who eventually took over. The shop also marked some of the rifles “S. HAWKEN ST. LOUIS” after 1862, but by that time the full-stock rifles would have been out of fashion. The barrel tapers from 1.11 inches at the breech to 1 inch at the muzzle and has seven- groove rifling, a silver blade front sight with dovetailed copper base, a dovetailed iron notch rear sight, “S. HAWKEN ST. LOUIS” stamped on top of the barrel behind the rear sight, and a solid breech plug with integral tang that extends to just ahead of the comb and has a tapering and then swelled profile. A fence on the bolster appears to have
been removed during the period of usage. The lock has scroll and border engraving.
It is setup with only a full-cock notch and requires the triggers to be set first. The lock screw washer has a pointed finial pointing down. The adjustable double set triggers are fitted in a long trigger plate with a pointed rear finial and squared front. A screw from
the upper tang secured the trigger guard’s scrolling tail. The barrel is secured by three wedges entering from the right side. The forend is also fitted with a iron forend cap, two iron upper ramrod pipes, and an iron entry pipe. The butt has a straight “Tennessee” style cheek piece with an incised line at the edge, a difference noted between the Hawken
full-stock rifles versus the beavertail cheekpiece of many of the half-stock rifles, as well as a crescent iron buttplate with rounded heel tang and an iron toe plate with pointed finial that coordinates with the trigger plate finial.