Russ Hamm

[Gaeckle]

I just picked up an old Russ Hamm lock..........man, is that thing wobbly. The tumbler really wobbles in the plate.

I solved the problem by making a bushing and that tightened things up nicely......

When did Russ make his lock, between what years? What ever became of him and his locks?

[Hungry Horse]

I don't know how long ago Russ was making locks, but the tolerances compared to the modern makers were a little loose. I had one on a pistol that I had to bush to stop it from binding up.

                             Hungry Horse

[RonT]

I have a tumbler and fly from a 70's vintage caplock in my 'accumulated stuff' box.  It's yours if you want, see PM.
R

[Don Getz]

There was a time back in the 50's and 60's when Hamm Locks were about the only thing available, and not too great.
Finally Siler locks became available, then Hadaway, both were giants steps forward...........Don

[Bob Roller]

I knew Russ Hamm and he was not oriented to  any quality work and thought I was crazy for rebuilding his locks. I have a picture of him taken at Friendship in 1964 at The Fall Shoot.
He sold out to another man and the quality dropped even more in spite of ads to the contrary. Hamm supposedly defaulted on a bill from a supplier of castings and they showed up at my door one evening,about 50 pounds of them for the little Maslin lock. They came from H .C.Hess in Livonia,Michigan and when I called him about them he told me he couldn't get paid and if I'd make him 3 or 4 locks,they were mine. I think I worked out of that box of parts until about 1978. The dies to make he parts are still in existence and belong to Jerry Devaudreuil of Wooster,Ohio. Hess sold them to Jerry along with other tooling that wasn't his to sell and Jerry was hauling him into court but Hess passed away suddenly and that made the whole thing go away. Bill Large owned the dies for that Maslin lock and I remember that in 1960,he paid the grand sum of $113 to get them made.I owned a mould for a neat little percussion hammer and gave it to Jerry. I haven't made one of these Maslin locks for years and have no intention of making them again.
Doc Haddaway had a fine little lock that was not on the market very long because he passed
away suddenly in 1978. The last time we talked,he asked me to make a Ketland lock for him because his elegant little lock was no good for a flint Hawken and my Ketland was. I have no idea whatever happened to the tooling for this lock and none were made after Doc's death unless it was from parts on hand
There have been a number of locks and makers come and go over the last 50 years like W.G.Sutter,Ted Cole,Mack Vance,Chet Shoults and Harold Robbins plus one off makers who are now lost to memory. What we have today seems to be keeping the market happy so I will depart from this thread for now.

Bob Roller

[okieboy]

  Didn't Russ also make a Bedford lock that whatever the quality had an attractive plate and hammer?

[Bob Roller]

Yes,he did make a Bedford lock but if the mechanism is no good why bother with it unless cosmetics are the only thing.

Bob Roller

[Frank]

I made a Bedford County Flintlock rifle back in the 80s using the Hamm lock before I knew better. That rifle is a wall hanger now, as that is all it is good for. That lock might ignite the powder in the pan 2 out of 10 times. I had Bobby Hoyt re-work the lock, but that was an exercise in futility.

[Mike R]

I have a beautiful Keith Casteel rifle made in 1974 using a Russ Hamm Germanic lock.  It still works fine.  I assume Keith reworked that lock before installing it. Way back when, folks who built longrifles assumed they would have to "tune" the various parts or make them themselves--we are lucky to have so many excellent factory locks these days. 

[blunderbuss]

 I bought a Russ Hamm lock in the 70's I can't complain about the way it sparked but there was a gap between the frizzen and the pan you could throw a cat through and the springs always broke. He would replace the springs for nothing. I finally bought a better lock when they became available

[hornturner]

I used a Russ Hamm lock on my first scratch built rifle in the early 80's.  It worked O.K., but did have some wobble and the pan definitely didn't seal completely.  (It was still sealed better than some name brand factory made muzzleloaders today, though.)  When I was a kid, I remember seeing Russ at various gun shows in central Indiana.  Also, visited him with my father at his home in Crawfordsville, IN one time.  He did some restoration on an original Kentucky that my father owned and I think he supposedly borrowed the Maslin lock from that rifle to make patterns.  Don't know if he ever used these patterns for his lock, though.  I still have that rifle as it is the first Kentucky I ever saw!

Later on I think  he moved to Florida.  He also got involved in selling sthe "special" half-soles for frizzens that threw great sparks, but then it was discovered this special stuff "glowed in the dark".  Russ always had a bunch of interesting stuff for sale at shows.

[B Shipman]

The Russ Hamm stuff was later done by Dean Mitton. No better if that. Dixie imported locks in the early 80's were better. All I used at the time were Walter Cain Siler's if I had a choice. And a Bob Roller. It was great. And still is 30 yeras later. I replaced the barrel on this gun last year from a Large 7/8th .43  40 in. to a Rice .45 , but not the lock other than a little work trimming the frizzen which was well chewed up.

[Gaeckle]

 I bought a Russ Hamm lock in the 70's I can't complain about the way it sparked but there was a gap between the frizzen and the pan you could throw a cat through and the springs always broke. He would replace the springs for nothing. I finally bought a better lock when they became available

...........how does one solve that "gap" problem?

[Dale Campbell]

1   Remove the frizzen and frizzen spring

2   Check to see if gap still exists

3   If not, then fill the hole in the frizzen and redrill (weld, or anneal, tap, place screw and dress off)

4   Accurately redrill hole for frizzen screw. Reharden and temper as needed.

5   If gap exists, with the screw out, use transfer medium to show high spots. Remove with a file as much as possible. Then smear valve grinding compound between the pan cover and pan.  Use a pad sander (with no sandpaper, because they didn’t use it then, not HC ) to vibrate the grinding compound into doing its thing.

6   Go back and do numbers 2 through 4.

If you’re lucky, you might be able to do just #5 with the frizzen screw in place. But that means it already has a sloppy fit. So you’re not lucky.
There are probably other (better) ways to do this, too.

[Hungry Horse]

Boy Bob you real know how to dredge up the memories. My old friend Glenn Wilds (taildragger) always wanted to be a gun builder. Now Glenn was the salt of the earth, but he was a life long cattle rancher,and had run his hands through every kind of farm, and ranch equipment, known to man. A lesser man would have been a cripple. One day he asked me if we could build him a gun together if he provided the parts. I agreed. i didn't   know he had parts squirreled away that hadn't seen the light of day in decades. One winter day he invited me over to his shop, to view the parts he had amassed. When he opened up the box I almost fainted. He had a Doc Hadaway flintlock that looked like it had been built by a watchmaker. He had a set of trigger made by some near do well named Bob Roller, and a beautifully rifled .45 cal, 15/16ths, 43" long Bill Large barrel. A fine piece of maple stock wood, and nicely cast iron parts made the set complete. He wanted a southern style rifle, but not a Dixie Mountain rifle look a like. We built the gun and enjoyed ever minute of it, except the part where we poured the nose cap about five, or six, times. Little did I know it would be the last gun he would build, and the last muzzleloader he would shoot.

                                              Hungry Horse