Gemmer Hawken

[RAT]

Here are photos of my recently finished Gemmer/Hawken rifle.

I previously posted photos of the triggers…

https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=60583.msg608281#msg608281

and made 2 posts regarding the case hardening…

https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=61673.0

https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=61738.0

I tried to make this rifle reflect a mid 1860’s period rifle during the time J.P. Gemmer owned and operated the Hawken shop (years after Sam Hawken’s retirement). Therefore I used all cast hardware.

I made the triggers. The lock is from R.E. Davis. I case hardened the hammer screw, all other screws on the rifle were heat blued. I had to replace the sear to get the lock and triggers to work. The hole in the original sear was drilled at an angle causing the sear to bind. I also made a new sear screw with a tighter fit to eliminate slop.

The barrel is a 36” long .54 cal. Rice tapered Hawken barrel (1 1/8” at breech / 1” at muzzle). Deviating from the common maple stock, I used black walnut. Both the cast muzzle cap and cast entry pipe are fastened with screws through the barrel channel. The underrib is hollow and filled with solder at both ends. It is fastened to the barrel with #5-40 screws with the heads cut off and peened heads formed into counter sinks. I rust blued the barrel.

This is my 6th rifle build. My first half stock and my first time making a percussion rifle. It’s the first time using a hooked tang. I had a heck of a time fighting that tang. I finally got it inlet, but the center line of the tang isn’t in line with the center line of the barrel. That’s really bad workmanship, but it is what it is.

This project had several goals. One was to use a maple stock I had on hand. That didn’t work out, so I used a walnut half stock that I was going to use for a different project. Another goal was to get experience with the hooked tang. I failed that as well, but learned some lessons for the next time. The underrib was my first, that worked out OK, but it was really too wide for this barrel. I’ll use a different rid the next time. The last goal was getting experience with color case hardening. Since this style of rifle would have had all case hardened hardware, it provided a chance to experiment. That worked out better than I expected.

[Pete G.]

Really nice job. Enjoy.

[ScottH]

I like it alot!
The color cased metal is exceptional in my opinion. Your inletting over all looks good.
I would bet that this rifle is as goof as or better than a brand new Gemmer back in the day quality wise.
Two thumbs up! 

How much does it weigh?

[RAT]

Hmmm... never thought to weigh it.

[FALout]

Fine looking rifle, I also like the color case metal.

[Gunnermike]

This may be the 1st time that I've seen a lock inletted the same as the Bridger Hawken - GREAT WORK!



and great attention to detail & fantastic case colors,  Mike

[Dphariss]

Looks really good Bob. Be nice if Garbe was back from the South Seas its been a long time but he has had the Bridger Rifle in his hands for at least an hour or two. Maybe he will tell you the story sometime.
Wait till you see what I have in the works
Some English rifles had the  lock installed in this manner as well.

Dan

[alacran]

Most of the Hawkens I have seen have been in photos. What they have in common with each other is an overall appearance.
You need look no further than Baird's book . There are two photos at the beginning of the book that show 7 Hawken rifles. The lock side and the cheek piece side.
 The lock inlets are different on all of these rifles. Same can be said of the cheek pieces.

[hudson]

Really nice, love the case color.

[FDR]

Nice. I really like the indexed screws. Real sign of craftsmanship.

Fred

[RAT]

The lock tilt came from the Bridger Hawken. So did the stock pattern. I also used the Bridger rifle as a guide for bending the rear scroll of the trigger guard and for shaping the triggers.

I used photos on my computer, sized them full scale, and printed them as patterns.

I had to bend/flatten the butt plate. The casting had too much crescent.

I reshaped the entry pipe by turning on a small bench-top lathe, but it's a compilation from other guns, not an exact copy of the Bridger pipe.

I think the only part I used without modification was the muzzle cap.

[redheart]

This is a beautiful rifle and I applaud the workmanship, however when I look at it my eye goes directly to the tilted lockplate. I was surprised to see that the Bridger Hawken had a somewhat similar tilt to the lockplate. It appears that there are a few slight differences to the Bridger that make the tilt look a bit less severe. The somewhat common rounding to the lockplate edge ahead of the snail might make the difference or perhaps something else that I can't quite put my finger on.  Also D. Taylor Sapergia has shown in another post how to turn this style of hammer into a believable Hawken style hammer, if you are interested.
Question, can you point out what characteristics make this a Gemmer/Hawken? 

[RAT]

Gemmer purchased the business from Watt... who purchased the business from Sam's son... who was acting on Sam's behalf after Sam retired. Sam was no longer in active business and retired after returning to St Louis from Denver around 1860. This rifle represents a gun made around 1865 (mid 1860's), therefore it was (or would have been) made when Gemmer owned the Hawken shop and was using the Hawken stamps.

Rifles made when Samuel owned the shop are quite different. Rifles made before Jacob's death in 1849 are very different.

The entry pipe being a casting fastened with a screw is one late feature. before 1860 pipes were conventional, formed from sheet, and fastened with cross pins. The muzzle cap being a casting and fastened with a screw is also a late feature.

The butt plate is a solid casting, not made in 2 parts with a brazed seem. It has a sharp squared corner where the comb meets the butt rather than a radius.

The washer for the lock bolt has a late period shape.

I used photos of several late rifles as inspiration. These include (among others) the Bridger rifle owned by the Montana Historical Society, the Kit Carson rifle, and the Jeremiah Johnson rifle.

Bob Woodfill wrote an article for Muzzle Blasts on the Bridger rifle. His opinion was that Bridger acquired the rifle at Ft. Laramie around 1865 before leaving for his trip in 1866 scouting a trail to Virginia City Montana. This is the trip where he was competing with John Bozeman to establish what would become the Bozeman trail. Today this trail pretty much follows interstate 90. The Montana Historical Society has very good provenance for this rifle. After this trip Bridger sold the rifle to a Crow scout. This scout later sold the rifle to a collector, who donated it to the museum. I'm pretty independent minded, but I believe Mr. Woodfill is correct.

Funny thing... I've lived in Bozeman, MT for the last 30 years. Great place!

By the way... I got around to weighing it... exactly 11 lbs.

[jerrywh]

Rat. Your case hardening setup is almost exactly the same as mine.

[redheart]

Thanks Rat!
Great info!

[Mtn Meek]

RAT,

I read that Bob Woodfill article in Muzzle Blasts on the Bridger rifle where he thought that Bridger acquired the rifle at Ft. Laramie around 1865 before leaving for his trip in 1866 scouting a trail to Virginia City Montana.  As a result, Woodfill attributed the Jim Bridger Hawken in the MHS collection to J.P. Gemmer.

That struck me as odd.  I had never seen anyone else make that attribution.

John Baird has J.P. Gemmer joining the Union Army during the Civil War and working at the Government Arsenal in St. Louis as a gunsmith.  I haven't seen any other writers provide details on Gemmer's military service, but it should be easy to verify in Army records.  Baird has Gemmer taking over the Hawken shop after the Civil War ended.

The business directories and advertisements in the local newspapers have William L. Watt - Successor to W. S. Hawken in 1860 (Baird, pgs 16 and 70) and Watt is still listed as the proprietor in 1864 (Hanson, pg 44).  Gemmer is listed as a gunsmith at the Hawken shop address, 21 Washington Av., in Edward's 1865 directory (Hanson, pg 44).  Gemmer isn't listed as proprietor of the shop until 1866 (Baird, pg 16).  This all fits with Gemmer being in the Army during the war.

That doesn't give Gemmer much time to make all the patterns and molds for the cast parts on the Bridger Hawken, make the rifle, and for the rifle to have been transported all the way to the mountains in time for Bridger to buy it in 1865.

I was in Santa Fe for a few days last December studying the guns in Jim Gordon's museum and an afternoon at the Masonic Lodge studying, measuring, and photographing the Kit Carson Hawken.  The quality of the several Gemmer marked guns in Gordon's collection (they are also pictured in Gordon's books) was way below the quality I saw in the Carson Hawken.  (I haven't seen the Bridger Hawken in person in decades, but from the pictures, it looks close to the Carson Hawken.)

It's hard for me to understand how and why Gemmer would put so much excellent workmanship in rifles he marked with "S. HAWKEN", if he made the Carson and Bridger rifles, and settle for a much lower level of workmanship in rifles he marked with his own name.  I don't think he did.

The Carson Hawken (and the several other S. Hawken rifles that are similar) is the apex of the evolutionary development of the Hawken rifle.  It's nearly perfect in its design and execution.  Probably something Sam was working towards his whole career.

Whatever you choose to call it, you built a very fine rifle.

[alacran]

We can agree that Bridger bought his Hawken in 1865. In one way that date is meaningless to me. Did he buy a new rifle? was it a used rifle that could have been say 5 years old? Hawkens were expensive, I could see one sitting on the shelf for a couple years or more.
I'm not sure of the logistics of ordering a rifle in from St. Louis MO and getting it to Laramie WY. Or was it bought by a trader and eventually wound up in Wyoming.
According to Hanson Bridger ordered a Hawken in 1842, as part of the surge of orders of 42 rifles between 1838 and 1832.  The only mention by Hanson of the rifle we are talking about, is that Bridger sold it to a Crow chief around 1866. So if he bought in in 1865 and sold it in 1866, It was probably bought for trade purposes.
It sure makes it fun to speculate. Too bad they didn't see the need to date their rifles.
All that being said yours is a fine interpretation.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

How nice to see such excellent workmanship!  ...a most credible Hawken rifle.

If I may, there are two particulars about the lock that in my opinion would have improved the 'look'.  First, the forward upper edge of the plate on the original rifle slopes downward very slightly whereas the copy does not...this diminishes (on the original) the tipped effect of the lock plate.  a very small point.
Secondly, I'd have preferred the cup on the hammer to have been recut deeper to allow the hammer to come down farther on the nipple...again, just a very small point.
Your case colours are very flamouyant and I like that.  great job finishing up the walnut.  Overall, great rifle!

[Bob Roller]

Most of the Hawkens I have seen have been in photos. What they have in common with each other is an overall appearance.
You need look no further than Baird's book . There are two photos at the beginning of the book that show 7 Hawken rifles. The lock side and the cheek piece side.
 The lock inlets are different on all of these rifles. Same can be said of the cheek pieces.

This proves what I have said about all hand made guns and other things and
that is there is not even one that's the same much less two.
Bob Roller

[Marcruger]

A beautifully done rifle to my eye.  I really appreciate that case hardening.  God Bless,   Marc

[MuskratMike]

What breech plug did you go with? The snail looks just right for a late Gemmer.

[RAT]

The breech plug is from track of the wolf. It took considerable filing. As cast it is not correct.