On this subject, has anybody seen a lock stamped by either or both of the Hawkens brothers? I’ve seen barrels with their stamp on them, but not a lock. Just curious.
Hungry Horse
There was a percussion lock being sold through the 1980s with cast-in “J&S Hawken” on it.
I made a lot of these with the J&S Hawken name cast into the plate and they were sold as a kit.I had a poor opinion of the mechanism offered and made my own.They were later sold by Jerry Devaudreuil in Ohio and I bought plates and a matching hammer from him and
he got those items and a LOT more from "International Arms Co" in Livonia,Michigan.*These plates and hammers were good and all I made
had my last name in a semi circle and usually the year date and later USA.The last lock I made was one of these with the primitive internal parts like the old ones with a full cock only,bridle with one screw and a pin plus main and sear springs with the blue temper color.The hammer had a pattern of cross checkering and the original had none.I may still have some of these parts but maybe not.
*International Arms was owned by H.C.Hess in Livonia,Michigan and the name attracted the attention of the BATF who thought he might have been selling WW2 MG 42's or other interesting contraband.He owned a number of moulds for a lot of different parts and pieces for muzzle loaders and even if you had an exclusive the chances were that your parts would show up in somebody else's catalog.An an example was that Bill Large was the one who paid to have the Maslin moulds made and then Russ Hamm started selling the locks.Bill thought it was
funny and later I got Maslin parts and made locks from them
.Chet Shoults Ketland locks and another Ketland of unknown origin and a big assortment of butt plates and trigger guards were also part of the inventory.Later Jerry Devaudreuil bought the whole operation and Hess moved to Florida where he passed away in the 1970's. "International Arms"was,after Jerry Devaudreuil's death was finally bought by Log Cabin Shop in Lodi,Ohio and now managed by Liza Kindig,a grand daughter of the founder,Wes Kindig.This was before Log Cabin got the
R.E.Davis operation.
Bob Roller