I can only echo what
@Spikebuck said. I'm glad you have found enjoyment and success with your rifle, and I do like the dark-finished mountings on the one in the photo. However, "Hawken" has become a very generic, nonspecific term. While the original Hawken brothers did turn out some lighter-weight, smaller-caliber rifles for the local Missouri trade, they are best known for their "mountain rifles," which typically shot a half ounce ball or larger, and weighed 12 or 13 pounds. Francis Parkman carried a Hoffman & Campbell rifle that weighed 14 pounds, and if I remember correctly the barrel was over forty inches long! Tom Tobin's Hawken, which is still in existence, also had a barrel just shy of forty inches:
View attachment 107346
It appears to me that the term "Hawken" or "Hawkins" has been loosely applied to various plains and mountain rifles for a long time, and not just those from the actual Hawken shop. There were some very bright and literate fellows crossing the plains in the 1840's and 50's, and they nearly always wrote of the border men's weapons as "Hawkins rifles," even though the name "Hawken" would have been stamped clearly on the barrel. I think frequently they were likely referring to a
type of rifle, even back then, rather than a specific maker, just as we refer to any tissue as "Kleenex" and any blue jeans as "Levis." So, "Hawkins" was not just a misspelled proper name; it was an eponym. The practice continues. I read an article from the 1960's that stated "Kit Carson's Hawken was made by Benjamin Mills of Harrodsburg, Kentucky," and I found a review written not too long ago of the "Pedersoli Tryon half-stock Hawken."
In any event, I enjoyed your post, and hope you continue to find pleasure and success with your rifle.
Best regards,
Notchy Bob