G L Deck

[recurve]

Found a rifle at a gun show in Allentown pa marked G L Deck( in script) 45 barrel (said to be Douglas) nice carving  brass patch box .. Anyone know this maker? said to have been made in the 1960s set trigger
What Kind of lock is this?

[Kevin]

Greetings Recurve,

There was a George Deck active building rifles back at least in the 1970s.  I believe he was somewhere in the eastern half of PA.  I half recall seeing a George Deck gun for sale some time ago in a shop - probably Dixon's.  If you do not land more info here Greg Dixon probably would have some insights.

Nice Find,
Kevin

[ken]

I would say it was built by George Deck  Master builder.  would like to see rest of the gun

[Notchy Bob]

I think that lock may be the "Peter Gonter" lock that Russ Hamm used to make.  You don't see them often, although Mr. Hamm always had a full page ad for his various locks in Muzzle Blasts magazine throughout the sixties and maybe into the seventies.  They were said to be pretty good locks, although I have no personal experience with them.

Notchy Bob

[Bob Roller]

I think that lock may be the "Peter Gonter" lock that Russ Hamm used to make.  You don't see them often, although Mr. Hamm always had a full page ad for his various locks in Muzzle Blasts magazine throughout the sixties and maybe into the seventies.  They were said to be pretty good locks, although I have no personal experience with them.

Notchy Bob

They were not quality locks and I remade a number of them.Hamm told me that I was crazy for taking
the time I did making a lock and I told him I didn't want them coming back to haunt me.He sold his lock
business to another man whose name I can't recall but they were even worse and I saw a boot box full of them
while visiting the Log Cabin Sport Shop in Lodi,Ohio.
Bill Large owned the antique lock that the Maslin lock dies were made to copy and never got one set of parts
after paying to have these moulds made. I think Jerry Devaudreuil had them but the last time I tried to talk to
him there seemed to be an obvious problem with coherency.Sad situation for sure.
Bob Roller

[hornturner]

Dean Mitton from Veedersburg, IN was the fellow who bought Russ Hamm's lock business when Russ retired.  I used one of Russ's locks on a rifle once and it was not a great lock by any means.  Frizzen didn't fit the pan and would leak powder.  Release of the sear was not consistent.  Spark was O.K. but the frizzen was soft.  Russ Hamm was an acquaintance of my dad's and I remember seeing him at gun shows and visiting his place In Crawfordsville, IN one time.  Dad loaned him a very nice Maslin lock from one of his originals once supposedly so he could make a pattern.   Even back then, I should have known better and spent more on a better lock.

Art DeCamp

[Notchy Bob]

Thank you, Bob and Hornturner, for filling out "rest of the story" with regard to Hamm locks.  I have no personal experience with these locks, and was not aware of the problems!  I do recall that for a while Mr. Hamm was selling some sort of super sparking material for "half-soling" frizzens, which mysteriously disappeared from the market.

I also found this old thread here on the ALR Forum while searching for a picture of the "Peter Gonter" lock:  Russ Hamm Lock/Frizzen

Best regards,

Notchy Bob

[heelerau]

I have an early 70's custom long rifle, given to me by a late mate and mentor, it had a Russ Hamm lock. My mate could never get it to spark consistently. Had a local gunsmith who is pretty handy with tuning flintlocks, changed frizzens, springs and hammer geometry. NO luck.
       The rifle has a lovely Douglas barrel straight,.36 and is ver accurate. I have since fitted it with an L&R RPL drop in lock, from TOW, which did go straight into the mortice with minimal fiddling, it was tuned by a chap in Minnesota before being sent down under.
    I heard tell of a Russ Hamm lock having a frizzed faced with depleted  uranium and apparently would go off with a huge shower of sparks, but not to healthy to be around.

Cheers

Gordon

[Bob Roller]

I have an early 70's custom long rifle, given to me by a late mate and mentor, it had a Russ Hamm lock. My mate could never get it to spark consistently. Had a local gunsmith who is pretty handy with tuning flintlocks, changed frizzens, springs and hammer geometry. NO luck.
       The rifle has a lovely Douglas barrel straight,.36 and is ver accurate. I have since fitted it with an L&R RPL drop in lock, from TOW, which did go straight into the mortice with minimal fiddling, it was tuned by a chap in Minnesota before being sent down under.
    I heard tell of a Russ Hamm lock having a frizzed faced with depleted  uranium and apparently would go off with a huge shower of sparks, but not to healthy to be around.

Cheers

Gordon

Gordon,
That was called wildcatting a flintlock back in the day .I saw one of mine with that done to it
and the rest of the lock had been messed with and was almost unrecognizable.
Did you get that Whitworth operational?

Bob Roller

[Roger B]

Notchy;
The super sparking material was depleted uranium (really!) & was known by all sorts of names one of which was "moon metal".  I've seen some old guns half soled with the stuff & I don't think they really needed priming powder.  If I remember correctly the NMLRA disqualified guns so altered years ago.  They were, of course, mildly radioactive, & were not a good thing to shoot with over time.
Roger B.

[recurve]

could be   I might have mistaken the h for a k

[heelerau]

Bob, I did get it going, Rick Webers custom platinum cone fitted a treat,  I thought I sent you a pm with a photo of the target I shot. I will send one to your email.
cheers

Gordon

[Bob Roller]

Notchy;
The super sparking material was depleted uranium (really!) & was known by all sorts of names one of which was "moon metal".  I've seen some old guns half soled with the stuff & I don't think they really needed priming powder.  If I remember correctly the NMLRA disqualified guns so altered years ago.  They were, of course, mildly radioactive, & were not a good thing to shoot with over time.
Roger B.

I haven't seen any of this "MoonMetal" for a long time but if we see shooters that glow in the dark
we might ask them if they used it .

Bob Roller

[EC121]

I had one of the "moon metal" frizzen faces.  I half-soled a Dixie Ashmore with it.  It really sparked.  My job at the time was radiation related, and I had a Geiger counter.  That stuff made the counter buzz like crazy.  I sent the whole frizzen to the home office for disposal and ordered a replacement from Dixie.