russ hamm lock/frizzen

[lew wetzel]

thanks curt!!!really appreciate the contact info...

[Dan'l 1946]

yes it is a russ hamm lock,name is stamped into back of lock plate...

Track sells an RPL lock that is supposed to replace the Hamm Maslin style lock. The frizzen and spring are available as individual parts and the folks at Track may be able to tell you if they interchange. 
                                                                           Dan

[Frizzen]

I had a Russ Hamm lock also that had a crack in the frizzen. Russ sent me a little piece of
metal to rivit over the crack. After I put this on the lock would throw sparks on the ground!!
Never seen a lock spark as much. Neat thing, I didn't even have to use a very sharp flint either.

[Nate McKenzie]

That sounds like one of those radio-active frizzen plates. Got a Geiger-counter?

[California Kid]

I remember he used to call it, the best invention since the flintlock. He sold them for $5 @, if I remember right.

[Levy]

I quote my old Dean Mitton catalog, "The frizzens are tool steel hardened clear through and tempered".  The lock David shows (lockplate and frizzen) is referred to in Mittons' catalog as a Peter Gonter style.  Dean Mitton's shop was in Veedersberg, IN in 1983 when I got this catalog.  Dean Mitton bought out Russ Hamm.

James Levy   

[SR James]

I have owned 3 of Hamm's Gonter locks.  Built a rifle around one back in the early 70s.  Was supposed to be one of the best locks you could get then but I was never impressed with it.  Years later I replaced the lock with another one, probably after Mitton had taken over.  It wasn't much better.  Recently I bought a flint pistol that had been built in the 70s with the same lock and it works fairly well but I still don't consider it a high quality lock, at least not by today's standards.  I also had one of the radio-active frizzen plates I put on a different gun.  Sparked great.

Based on my experience, I wouldn't build a gun around a Hamm lock given the choices available today.

[lew wetzel]

its nice to learn some of the history behind these locks..i was a kid in the 70,s!!surely not building rifles...thanks for the info guys...i like the looks of them and right now they make attractive paper weights....