I am enjoying this thread on Hawken rifles. I've had an on-again, off-again love affair with creating this particular rifle for about 50 years, and have purchased every piece of literature I could find on it, including Bob Woodfill's new book -= a good investment.
Like a lot of you, I started out too with a T/C "Hawken" rifle, mine a flint .50 cal, and I shot, hunted and enjoyed the rifle for many years. But as my experience and knowledge grew, I became disatisfied with the "cookie-cutter" factory rifle and wanted a more authentic rifle. So I began making muzzleloading rifles in a time when the Hawken was all the rage, and everyone, it seemed, wanted one. I built about a dozen for friends and in the late 70's was hired by a local gunsmith to create Hawken rifles in his shop. Over the next three years, we turned out around 180 Hawken rifles until finally, interest in it diminished to the point where I was laid off and the Hawken manufacture ceased. Since then, I have from time to time had requests for Hawken rifles and so have built a number. I even was able to keep one for myself, and it is my go to rifle for easy shooting accuracy, especially at longer ranges. Mine is a .62 cal and weighs over 11 pounds. It is quite true that during the first and second quarters of the 19th century, there were many gunsmiths cranking out plains rifles from the city of St. Louis, and the Hawken bros were just two of them. Even so, there was something special about the Hawken rifle that endeared it to the hearts of men of adventure, comparative wealth, and prestige, many of their names already appearing in posts above. And so the love affair continues to this day.
I'm going to try to post a picture of two rifles that I have built in the last ten years...hope I'm successful.