9/8/2023 0 Comments Early 1800s photo gun![]() Louis, Missouri, where the style was originated by Hawken, the heavy, large bored, full and half-stock muzzleloaders were more powerful arms produced to shoot the large and dangerous Western game, and were better suited for use on horseback-an important factor in the West. Gemmer and others, turned out such rifles, it was the gun shop of Samuel and Jacob Hawken that became the standard by which all other plains rifles were judged. While a number of fine gunsmiths, including H.E. Heavy, shorter and more powerful, these plains rifles were carried by explorers, immigrants and the mountain men who were involved in the Rocky Mountain fur trade of the early 19th century. The powerful and rugged muzzle-loading flintlock and caplock plains rifles were designed to replace the longer, slender and often less powerful Pennsylvania rifles used during the initial period of our westward movement. This circa 1860 photo depicts packers resting in the hills of Utah with what appears to be at least one Hawken. ![]() Many of these arms were significant in their own right, and led directly to the introduction of other famous firearms. I’ve included six long guns and six revolvers, and I am presenting them in the order of their introduction and historical time frames. These guns were used by diverse people, who relied on them for sustenance, defense, conquest, protection of life and property, law enforcement and law-breaking.Īfter much consideration, I selected 12 firearms that were, in my opinion, key to settling our Western frontier. The American West was conquered over a period of decades, beginning with the birth of the industrial revolution, a time of great improvements in firearms technology. Rather, a number of different guns were significant in settling our western territories. “The Gun That Won the West!” “Which gun was that?” you may ask, but, as any serious arms enthusiast would tell you, regardless of advertising or promotional rhetoric, no single firearm tamed the American frontier by itself. – firearm photo courtesy Rock Island Auction Company – Hawken customers included mountain men Kit Carson, Jim Bridger, Mariano Modena and Jedediah Smith, among others. More rugged than the earlier Pennsylvania rifles, the Hawkens were considered the best of the plains rifles. Louis, Missouri, by the Hawken family, these heavy, large-bored, full- and half-stock muzzleloaders were designed for shooting dangerous Western game. True West considers these the most significant workhorses of the frontier.
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