Help With Possible Hawken ID

[CM Shoemaker]

Greetings! I write on behalf of a small Georgia museum where someone has just donated this rifle. It's 50cal with a barrel 1 and 1/16 of an inch across. Aside from some sparse engraving on the lock, there are no identifying marks on the weapon at all. No signatures, numbers, proof mark, nothing. I've used lights and a magnifying glass, and still can't find anything. The overall length is 51", the barrel is 34.5". Does any of this look familiar to anyone?

 

[CM Shoemaker]

Here's a pic of the other side of the stock.

 

[andy52]

I'm pretty sure it's not a "Hawken" to my knowledge the Hawken brothers didn't use backaction locks. The rifle does have a Hawkenish look other than the lock and the cheekpiece.

 

[nit wit]

I don't believe it's a Hawken either.
Nit Wit

 

[CM Shoemaker]

Yeah, the first 30 min of my looking at this was different versions of "What...???" I will take pictures of the entire rifle later today. Also, there does appear to be some sort of engraving on the top (pic #852). Some kind of gumdrop-shaped seal or logo. Will try to clean that up a little, too. Thanks for the input!

 

[Phil Coffins]

Yes there are some bands around the breech. Back action locks became common in the mid 1800s and this half stock could be called a plains rifle but not a Hawken.
Better lighting for the photos would help. Don’t use anything rougher then a piece of cloth to clean with!

 

[CM Shoemaker]

Yes there are some bands around the breech. Back action locks became common in the mid 1800s and this half stock could be called a plains rifle but not a Hawken.
Better lighting for the photos would help. Don’t use anything rougher then a piece of cloth to clean with!

I'll try tonight, and get an approximate weight also.

 

[CM Shoemaker]

As promised, better pictures (hopefully!)

 

[Cattywompuss]

Mid 19th C. Sporting rifle. Plains-ish, but not necessarily. A lot of non-Westerners owned guns in the rest of America in the mid-1800s too. Almost certainly not Hawken. Very cool that they have such an artifact though.

I'm a Savannian. We have a pair of cannons given by George Washington to the Chatham Artillery. They were captured at Yorktown. They were not personal guns of Washington. He didn't fire them. They aren't even American. But they are Washington's Guns to all of us from Savannah. Actually, to most of us, they are just a couple of many cannons around the Savannah area. Many artifacts are just that. Significant for some historic value, but really just the remnants of the past. I mean... Nathaniel Greene briefly lived at Mulberry Grove Plantation in Savannah, where Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin. It's just a non-place now. George Washington visited the place himself to see Greene's widow. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of the Lord endures forever.

 

[#blackpowderbill]

Pull that lock off lets see if it is stamped inside.