Making a Hawken lock hammer

[dd832]

I've been rebuilding a Hawken rifle I bought several years ago. It has been much more of a chore than I originally thought it would be.

So last Friday I thought I'd make a replica of the late Hawkens hammer from the Jim Bridger and Kit Carson rifles. It's taken me 6 days working about 2-3 hours per day or so, but I'm retired so it doesn't matter how long it takes.

My lock was a Davis Hawken style with the Ron Long hammer than most people have seen. It looked like this originally: (these are thumbnails shots)

You'll note the gap in the standing breech and the lock plate, but the hammer hits the nipple okay.

This is what I decided to copy from the original Jim Bridger Hawken rifle:


And this is what I have at the moment:



So anyway, I think it is coming along alright. I'll post another photo later of the hammer mounted on the lock and mounted in the rifle. You'll see how much tighter the hammer fit is to the bolster.
Mike

 

[bang]

Nice.

 

[user 48679]

You've certainly done well.

 

[deerstalkert]

and i thought i was a glutton for punishment making my own screws!
that is really nice. i read somewhere that a file is the most used tool in gun building. truer words never spoken!

 

[Phil Coffins]

Looking good. I see a lot of difference in the lock springs as well, but I’d be more concerned about the gap. My big question is, how do you keep your hands that clean!

 

[dd832]

Looking good. I see a lot of difference in the lock springs as well, but I’d be more concerned about the gap. My big question is, how do you keep your hands that clean!

Soap Phil, lava soap!
Mike

 

[Rifleman1776]

Fine job.

 

[ZUG]

That hammer looks great. On my first Hawken build in 1968 I made a lock complete with the hammer - not as nice as yours but it worked well.

 

[dd832]

Here's a couple of photos of the partially assembled rifle: (click on the thumbnails to enlarge)
a 1/2 overview photo


a close up of the lock area


The new hammer on the lock looks pretty good. Too bad the tip of the hammer doesn't show better, but you get the idea. Compare this photo with the original photo of the lock area when I got it, it looks much better.

I heated the standing breech and bent it down & welded metal to reshape it. I reshaped the bolster area quite a bit. I also made a larger lock plate, got a little carried away with it but it looks okay to my eye.

Now I have to harden parts and mess with the underrib - still a way to go yet.
Thanks for the comments guys.
Mike

 

[dd832]

Photos of the lock after hardening:

This is a new lockplate that I made. It's longer and wider than the original plate. Mine is 5" x 1-1/16" whereas the original is 4.85" x 1". It's closer to the Jim Bridger lock but there's still differences.

later, Mike