The men who ascended the Missouri River to trap beaver with Andrew Henry in 1822 carried the rifles they already owned and were familiar with. Those rifles were full stocked flintlocks of either the Lancaster pattern or the Southern type.
The Lancaster rifle is also known as the “American Rifle”, the “Kentucky Rifle”, or the “Pennsylvania Rifle”. These were built by several highly skilled rifle makers in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
A Lancaster rifle was the favorite of the frontiersmen who first crossed the Appalachian Mountains. The shooting skills of these experienced frontier riflemen were spectacular when compared to the marksmanship of soldiers or the average eastern civilian. As a result, a thousand legends have grown up about them, crediting men like Daniel Boone with feats that are essentially impossible. The truth about it is impressive enough and the devastation effected upon the British in the battle of Kings Mountain in 1780 and the battle of New Orleans in 1815 proved what backwoodsmen armed with Lancaster rifles were capable of.
English trade rifles were available as early as 1780. These rifles were made in England for sale to the American Fur Company, the Northwest Company, and British traders in the North West. The early rifles made by Grice, were almost exact duplicates of the Lancaster rifles, the difference being the English rifles were always stocked in walnut. The latter version of the English rifle used a heavy British military style patch box, a large flintlock, and walnut stock.
In the 1820’s American rifle makers were making copies of the English rifle. An order for Henry built English rifles for the “Mountain Outfit” is dated 1826. Jim Bridger was known to have used one of these rifles.
The large trapping brigades organized by Ashley and Astor were generally supplied with rifles made in Pennsylvania. A "steel mounted" rifle, produced by John Joseph Henry and Son in Bolton, Pennsylvania (1827-1850) was a favorite of the mountain men from the early 1830's until the end of the rendezvous era.
These were Lancaster style flintlock rifles with all steel furniture, a full stock of maple with a 42 to 44 inch barrel, single or double trigger, in .47 to .55 caliber. Kit Carson is reported to have carried a rifle of this type built by Benjamin Gill.
The Southern type rifle from Tennessee and North Carolina is a Lancaster pattern rifle built with iron furniture, no patch box, and less expensive, often crudely made trigger guards. These rifles were generally larger caliber intended for bear hunting in the cane and defense from hostile Indians. These Southern Rifles are also known as “Tennessee rifles”, “Virginia rifles”, “Barn rifles”, or “Poor-Boy” rifles. Southern rifles are more utilitarian than the Pennsylvania rifles and lack decoration and embellishments. These rifles do however, retain the form and function of the Pennsylvania Lancaster rifle at much less expense and are just as effective in the field.
In 1834 J. J. Henry developed a new English pattern rifle that became popular with the traders and trappers. The rifle was a flintlock with a maple stock, an English or American patch box and a brass scroll trigger guard similar in appearance to the Hawken. It was known as the “scroll guard” rifle.
All of these rifles were available in quantity and at good prices throughout the rendezvous period.
The earliest type of percussion ignition was invited by a Scottish clergyman, Alexander Forsyth. His patent application was granted April 11th, 1807. The percussion cap ignition system as we know it was developed around 1818 and came into universal use on private arms in 1826. It was adopted on military arms by the 1830's.
In 1827 Wm. Goulding advertised percussion caps for sale in Portland Maine. On July, 20th, 1830 the Missouri Republican listed an advertisement by F.L. & C.P. Billon for percussion caps, pistols, powder horns and flasks, shot and game bags. From that time forward the St. Louis merchants advertised hundreds of thousands of percussion caps available from England, Germany, and France.
Jacob Hawken moved to St. Louis in 1807 and opened his first shop in 1815. His brother, Samuel closed his shop in Ohio and joined Jacob in St. Louis in 1822. Over time they developed a distinctive style of plains rifle known as a "Mountain Rifle". It was of large bore, .45 -.54 caliber, iron mounted, with a scroll guard, nearly always in percussion, barrels were less than 40 inches in length, stocks were usually maple in both full and half stock style. A long tang and trigger plate extended the length of the wrist with two bolts connecting the pieces. This design element strengthened the wrist, the most fragile part of a rifle stock. These were stout, dependable rifles. They were also expensive and uncommon during the mountain man period but they were of outstanding quality. Available in percussion very early, the Hawken rifle was likely the first percussion rifle to be used by the trappers.
The earliest Hawken rifle known to be used in the Rocky Mountains was purchased by William Ashley in 1823. This was a special order heavy rifle. It had a 42 inch long barrel and was bored for a one ounce ball (about .68 caliber). On the return trip from the mountains Ashley reported killing a buffalo from a very long distance with a single shot from this rifle. In 1832 Lucien Fontenelle purchased a Hawken rifle and 500 percussion caps. Andrew Drips bought a Hawken rifle and a spare lock. Etienne Papin and James Jackson each purchased Hawken rifles that year as well. Although the Hawken rifle was not the most common rifle in use during the rendezvous period, existing account records list no fewer than 44 mountain men who purchased Hawken rifles between 1831 and 1840.
The pinnacle in popularity of the Hawken rifle was during the post 1840 period of the Santa Fe Trail, and the gold rush periods of 1849 and 1859. Rifles of this type were made by dozens of St. Louis rifle makers such as; H. E. Dimick, Reno Beauvais, T. Albright, and others. The Hawken rifle remained popular until the American Civil War when advancements in metallic cartridge rifles rendered them nearly obsolete.
The Hawken percussion rifle was available in limited numbers during the latter years of the rendezvous period and there is evidence of a few mountain men owning them. However, the most popular and common rifle in use by the mountain man and trapper was the flintlock Lancaster rifle.