Who made the Green River Hawken Locks? Are they still available? Does anybody today make a Hawken lock to where the half cock notch allows the cup of the hammer to cover the cap? Can a Davis lock be modified to make the hammer cover the cap without touching the cap?
Jim,
With a couple exceptions, Green River Rifle Works assembled their own locks in house. They bought castings from Bud Siler, Ron Long, and either William Morgan or THE FRONTIERSMAN for most of their locks.
For example, this photo from GRRW's 1976 catalog/brochure lists Jim Summarell and Dave Holmes as locksmiths.
Some of the GRRW Hawken rifles in my collection have the half-cock notch cut as you describe where the cup of the hammer partially covers the cap. I thought this was a minor manufacturing flaw until my friend Bob Lienemann pointed out that some hunters preferred it this way so they didn't have to worry about the cap falling off while carrying the rifle at half-cock during a hunt.
I know of no one that sells a Hawken lock like this.
You would probably have to modify the tumbler yourself to move the half-cock notch to lower the hammer closer to the cap and nipple. Not a trivial task because you may need to anneal the tumbler to re-cut the notch then harden and temper again.
Thinking about it a little more, you might find it easier to modify a hammer, either by heating and bending the nose, or welding up and re-cutting the square hole for the tumbler shaft so the nose is closer to the cap and nipple.
