wb selb makes hawkens exclusively -
wb selb hawken riflesthere are *SO* many things that went on 150 to 300 years ago that we'll never know about, let alone understand. without empirical evidence/proof, who's to say the hawkens brothers never made a half stock flinter? there was no "transition" rifle that married the flint lock to the half stock, as the flintlock was phased out of their offerings?
this is the same as saying there never ever was a short ball starter used during those periods. to date, there is no short starter artefact, nor written or graphic evidence of such a device, but who can say one never really existed? there are many other like examples.
all that will matter is what you want to make of all this stuff, what sparks yer interest and imagination. hawkens might have been desired, but according to records, not that many were actually in the mountains as compared to so many other rifle types, most chosen out of economic necessity. it's like the popularity of the sharps rifle is solely due to hollyweird, there weren't that many out there killing buff and in military use as compared to other action type rifles. well over a million rollers as compared to maybe 200k worth of sharps.
