ok.. this is 1823.. seems a bit early for a hawken type rifle.

What rifle would these men have ? 50 ? 54 cal ?

I already have a percussion hawken, and would like to purchase a flintlock rifle fro that era.

Seems like to me the 30 or 40cal they were using in the east would be too small of a caliber for the game of the west (grizz, buffaloes, elk )

Does anybody have an idea of what kind of rifle these trappers would have in the early 1820's and who makes a good repro ?

http://www.davide-pedersoli.com/scheda-prodotto.asp/l_en/idpr_103/rifles-frontier-frontier-flintlock-model.html

something like this ?

I "think" Hawkens was producing rifles out of their St.Louis shop in the late teens, early twenties.


I have a Traditions flintlock that I killed a few deer with 20+ years ago, I've been thinking about getting back into it...

I handled a Pedersoli rifle, it was the "Pennsylvania" model. Very nice craftsmanship. It was $1000+.

40-45 were very common caliber types of that time. but, don't forget that a lot of those guns in the west at the time were also Trade Guns with 20 gauge type bores. French firearms were a dime a dozen at that time.

http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/The_Revenant

Google is your friend

The Hawken rifle was  being made around 1820... even in percussion lock versions.

They would have been cutting edge technology.


Few mountain men used percussion rifles. They knew

if the caps were lost,  the gun became a club..


Much more likely he carried a flintlock ....could have

been a Hawken (St. Louis style)....Just as likely was a

musket or mid caliber (36-45) rifle.


These guys made do with what they had. In 1820, the

fur trapper was truly an explorer. Chances are they wouldn't

even be aware of  what it took to take down game or even survive in the

region until after they arrived......No internet, phones, few newspapers.


It was all word of mouth and these guys were often misfits and loners

who didn't hang around asking a lot of questions. After all, who were they

going to ask?  The fictional movie version of Jeremiah Johnson being a notable exception).

The .54 caliber Harper's Ferry Model 1803 would be a good choice. Not sure about their availability to civilians back then.

Hawken rifles were fairly rare in the early years of the movement westward. At $25.00 for a half stock and $20.00 for a full stock they were expensive compared to a $8.00 Leman Trade rifle.
Very few "working class" trappers, traders and guides could afford them.
The likes of Bridger and Modena did not get theirs until later in life long after the fur trade era.
The vast majority of "working guns" were Leman, Derringer, Dickert, English and French trade guns. Most preferred flint and smoothbore, you didn't have to worry about a supply of percussion caps and a smoothbore was more flexible, hell- you could shoot rocks and nails out of it if need be.
I am sure more than a few Charlieville and Brown Bess muskets made the trip west, Harpers Ferry were prevalent as well.
A really good reference on the subject is "Firearms, Traps and Tools of the Mountain Men."

http://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/2016/1/11/the-revenant-hugh-glass-and-his-rifle/

Good example here. An authentic fur trade era replica will set you back about $3000 and you will wait a couple of years for it. Money well spent if ya can spare it..
http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=20669.0

Shung, take a gander here....

Track of the Wolf

yep, this is the place.

I spend a lot of money there.

I was a track of the wolf customer 10 years ago already