Great Gunmakers for the Early West
By James D. Gordon
3 volume set, 509 pages, hardcover: $295.00
Reviewed by Mike Nesbitt
Looking through the books that make up this three-volume boxed set is truly a great pleasure, but these books are also a very good source for technical information. The tremendous photography is all color, offering the viewer a chance to look at the details, both in the fit and finish of the old guns, as well as the added deluxe features, such as inlays and engraving, if the guns have them. Each gun is shown in a full-length view along with close-ups to express those details very nicely. For gunmakers of today who want to copy the work of the early ‘smiths, this set of books is a requirement.
To be more specific, the first book of the three-volume set is basically all about the English-made Northwest guns. Those are broken down into several sections with each section devoted to a particular maker. As an example, the section on Barnett Northwest guns is very good, with several pages.
Let me mention just one, the Barnett Northwest gun that has the date of 1836 on the lock. That gun has what is often called the “early” serpent side plate and the butt plate, by all appearances, is still nailed on. My eye was caught by that gun because it has a bead for a front sight, two ramrod pipes, and yet its barrel scales out to only 24 inches long. It looks like it was built that way, but if it has been shortened, it was cut down by a professional ‘smith.
The second book is about the Pennsylvania gunmakers who built their guns to be sent to the West. Many of the Lancaster makers, especially Leman, with about 40 pages devoted to his work, as well as the work of Deringer and the Henry family are featured in this volume. Each maker is given space similar to a chapter and the table of contents is listed by those makers’ names.
The third book is where the lover of Plains rifles will certainly spend a lot of time. This is the volume that features the makers from St. Louis and other more “Western” locations are featured. Yes, the name of Hawken comes to mind right away and there are at least 40 pages devoted to the guns of J. & S. Hawken or S. Hawken. A couple of the other later Hawken guns, by the later Hawken relatives, are featured too. And, there’s more—makers like Gemmer, Beauvais, Dimick, and O’Dell are also featured.
Another example of the color photography comes to mind when thinking about the third book in the volume and that is the way that Kit Carson’s Hawken is featured. The famous Carson Hawken is a rather late rifle in terms of the Hawken years, and its equally famous owner used it very little. This means it is a fine rifle that is still in nearly new condition. The photographs show the casehardened breech plug and other parts very well. That is truly a gorgeous rifle and a pleasure to admire.
This is certainly the best set of books on the subject of muzzleloaders used in the West that I’ve seen. There are actually very few words in these books, and most of the time things like barrel length or weight of the guns is not listed. However, the photography is good enough that many dimensions can be determined by scale if those measurements are important to the viewer.
My praise for this three-volume set must include saying that this is a limited edition of only 1,000 copies. There has never been such a huge collection of these very interesting guns in one set or book before. Great Gunmakers for the Early West is available from the author, James Gordon, 808 Paseo de la Cuma, Santa Fe NM 87501. Gordon’s phone number is 505-982-9667. Personal checks are fine (no credit cards) and the postpaid price for these books is $295.00. And, if you’d like to have the books personally autographed, just ask.
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