Tell me about this lock.

[Stoner creek]

A buddy brought his gun in the other day to have a drum/nipple change out. I popped the lock out and found this. R. Kern on the inside plate. When was Kern active? It’s a pretty interesting setup.

[Ky-Flinter]

Interesting lock.  Can't tell you much about it.  I have some brass butt plates stamped R. Kern Ligonier, PA. and have wondered who he was.  I have found that Robert "Bob" Kern operated a gun shop near Fort Ligonier, PA. in the late 60's, early 70's.  Maybe some of our fellows from PA will have more info.

-Ron

[rich pierce]

I seem to remember seeing these advertised in the late 60s or early 70s Muzzle Blasts.

[mountainman70]

Hi all. I posted several pics of this lock and another 60s vintage one a while back, Bob Roller responded ,so you might have the thread archived here.
You know Bob, the repository of a heap o knowledge,and one of our Treasures. Rich, still need the old lock?Dave

[rich pierce]

Yep still need the square tail lock.

[Bob Roller]

Yep still need the square tail lock.
[/quote

I think Mr.Kern's business was called 18th Century Hardware]and was located in or near
Liginier,Pa. This lock,while not attractive would be a first class lock for a big bore single shot survival
gun of some kind. Not fancy but very useable,

Bob Roller

[rick/pa]

You've got it right. Bob Kern was located in Ligonier close to the fort in an alley about a block east of the "Diamond" or town square. My parents bought me a pistol kit when I was 13, about 1961, which was a Dixie kit. I still have it, not that I'd ever own up to building it.  Yeah, it was that bad but it fired... . He died in the late 70's early 80's IIRC.  His daughter tried to carry on for awhile but the shop folded soon after.  I think he also made pine furniture since I have a very dim memory of my parents going there to buy several 3 drawer chests in the early 60's.  I think he also did some brass casting both for guns and furniture.

[Bigmon]

Good old Bob Kern,
I would have to say he probably saved our lives back there in the late 60's early 70's.
Some of the junk we were trying to build guns from while in high school.  And we were allowed back then to build guns in high school.
Anyway, as I remember it Bob invented that lock, and you might notice how similar it is to a TC, which the story was he never made a dime from.  Got that from Mary his daughter.
Bob ran "18th Century Hardware" there in Ligonier, along with the gun shop and a casting facility.  I have a few of his trigger gds as well as a bett plate.
He looked a lot like Buffalo Bill.  Years after we thought he had passed I met his daughter at the old shop to try and buy some parts.  The roof was half fell in leaking, everything was rusted, barrels, locks, bins full of all kinds of parts.  I think I bought a good hand forged hawk from her.  Anyway when leaving she had to get change from the house and behold, there was Bon in a hospital bed.  Didn't know anyone.   And I think missing both legs as I recal.
Bad way to go.  I'd say that was early 80's?  Maybe later.
He was a pioneer in this area.

[CARROLLCO]

I saw an R KERN trigger guard on EBAY today while surfing for muzzleloader parts. It has R KERN LOGINER PA stamped on it. It’s priced at $30.00 and free shipping. FYI, I have no connection with the seller nor EBAY. Just thought someone might be interested. He sounded like a lot of the good folks on this forum. I see that he was a mentor and helped a lot young people get interested in this great past time. If this post is inappropriate, please remove.

[CARROLLCO]

It was a butt plate on EBAY; I had a senior moment there and typed in trigger guard. Should have previewed my post. Sorry for the error.