The rifles are generally shorter and of a larger caliber than earlier "Kentucky rifles" from which they descend. The style of the rifles is the same as the Harpers Ferry Model 1803, a half stock rifle (although they also made some with full stock), with the same lines as the Kentucky Rifle. The "plains rifle" style would become the "sporter" for much of the United States during the 1840s. Their "Rocky Mountain" guns were typically .50 caliber or .53 caliber, but ranged as high as .68 caliber. They averaged , although there are examples of guns. Barrels were of varying lengths (33 and 36 inch examples are described), and are octagonal on the outside and made of soft iron, which reduced fouling. The walnut or maple stocks have a curved cheek piece, often looking like a beaver's tail and called that. They tend to have double triggers; the rear trigger is a "set" trigger. When the rear trigger is pulled, the hammer does not fall but rather the action "sets" the front trigger, the front trigger becoming a "hair trigger," tripped with a light touch. In many examples, when the front trigger is used without using the rear "set" trigger, it requires a firm pull, and others require the trigger to be set before the front trigger will drop the hammer at all. The front sight was a blade sight. Unlike many modern reproductions, the butt plate and other trim was not made of brass, but of iron. In Karl May's Winnetou books, the eponymous Indian brave and his blood brother Old Shatterhand both owned Hawken rifles. Winnetou decorated his rifle with silver thumb tacks, and Old Shatterhand named his own gun Bear Slayer. The 1972 film "Jeremiah Johnson," starring Robert Redford as a mountain man who used such a rifle, contributed to general interest in replicas and a resurgence in the popularity of muzzleloaders among modern hunters.