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LOT 3246
Historic S. Hawken St. Louis Full-Stock Percussion Rifle with Family Documentation
- NSN, 50 cal., 37 1/4 inch octagon bbl., brown finish, maple stock. This classic full-stock
Hawken rifle’s barrel is distinctly marked “S. HAWKEN ST. LOUIS” on top of the breech section
of the barrel for legendary St. Louis rifle maker Samuel Hawken (1792-1884). The “S. HAWKEN
ST. LOUIS” marking was used following his brother Jacob’s death in 1849. The barrel measures
approximately 1.15 inches wide and has a straight profile. The bore measures approximately
.50 caliber and is coned slightly towards the muzzle and has seven-groove rifling. It is
equipped with a silver blade front sight with dovetailed copper base, dovetailed notch rear
sight, and a hooked breech plug with a sculpted bolster. The standing breech has a fence and
a long tang that extends down the wrist to the front of the comb. The lock has light scroll
and game scene patterns and is marked “G. GROVE/LONDON.” The lock screw washer has a
small round lower finial. The adjustable double set triggers are fitted in a long trigger plate
with a pointed rear finial and squared front. A screw from inside the trigger plate secures the
scrolling tail of the trigger guard. The barrel is secured by three wedges in addition to the
hooked breech. The forend is also fitted with a iron forend cap, two iron upper ramrod pipes,
and an iron entry pipe. The butt has the straight “Tennessee” style cheek piece commonly
found on the full-stock Hawken rifles and is fitted with a crescent iron buttplate with pointed
heel, rounded heel tang, and an iron toe plate with pointed finial that coordinates with the
trigger plate finial. Family historical notes indicate this “buffalo rifle” was a gift from Ray and
Lillian West of St. John, California, to Earl and Lilah Hazelton for display in their cabin at Mill
Creek, California, sometime in the mid to late 1940s. Ray West’s obituary in 1948 notes that
he was an almond grower and historian and was a Nebraska state senator before coming
to California in 1923 to take over his father’s St. John property and researching the trading
history of St. John.
Jacob (1786-1849) and Samuel Hawken (1792-1884) remain among the most well-known and
renowned of all muzzleloading rifle makers in American history and were key gunmakers of
the early West. They were active together in St. Louis starting in 1825 and have long been
associated with the legendary nineteenth century mountain men.