Navy Arms flintlock rifle

As much info. as you can provide including any photos and measurements of the part and lock as needed to help ID it.
You may need to provide the info. to a parts supplier to help them match it up.
Even if you can ID the gun doesn't mean that the part is available, but it could help find a similar replacement.
At least it would be a start.

Also helpful would be the proof date code which are usually 2 letters stamped on the inside of a small box located on the side of the barrel.
That is if the barrel or gun were made in Italy or imported.
Look for any other manufacturer or maker's marks that would help to ID the gun or model.

If there's no proof date code then perhaps it was made with US parts.
A photo of the gun could help match it up to a NA catalog or Gun Digest reference.

Looks like a Thompson Center lock to me, or possibly Invest Arms.

agreed, looks like somebody replaced the lock with a TC lock.

Thank you for taking the photos.
The engraving is closer to a TC lock than an Investarms Hawken lock.
There are options that require some legwork on your part.

One option is to contact Track of the Wolf to see if they can match up your frizzen spring.
It could involve sending them the lock so the part can be fitted.
I'm not sure because I've never tried to match a spring.

Another option that was recently mentioned here is to contact Ed Cain by email for TC Parts.
He owned Cain's Outdoors and Mountain State Muzzle Loading which closed down in the past few years and he has a stock pile of TC parts.
His email is [email protected] and send him the photos and ask him if he can help you out to fit the spring.

There's other reputable vendors that can do the same thing if they have the parts, such as Dixie Gun Works, Log Cabin Shop Lodie, Ohio and others.
If may be possible to fit a Lyman Investarms part, but to get one from Lyman the importer, you would need to order the parts list for the model that you want the part for that costs $1.
I suppose the part can be ordered over the phone but I don't know if all of their frizzen springs are the same for all of their different models.
Even the TC part if available may not be a direct fit.
It might be but who knows.
Someone just installed an Investarms tumbler in their TC lock and the part needed a lot of fitting to make it work.
So it depends how much fitting that you're able to do.
To have Track of the Wolf or Ed Cain size up or install the part can save a lot of back and forth and wasted shipping funds for the wrong part.
So I would contact 2 or 3 outfits by sending photos and see what they suggest to do.
And tell them that it looks like you have a clone of a TC lock.
You can contact Lyman and go the Investarms route too.

If anyone has a better idea they'll chime in after they read about it.
But until then I would send some emails and ask who to speak to about fitting the frizzen spring.
Maybe they can recommend the part over the phone or in an email.
These places have a lot of experience.
Track of the Wolf probably has 20 different frizzen springs, and they may already know the size you need if they see your photos.

Let us know how it works out and keep visiting this thread to see any other suggestions.

Here's a couple of reference pages.

1. Track of the Wolf frizzen springs search
https://www.trackofthewolf.com/Search.aspx?search=frizzen spring

2. Lyman parts list
https://www.lymanproducts.com/flintlock-lock-replacement-parts

3. Log Cabin Shop
https://www.logcabinshop.com

4. Dixie Gun Works
https://www.dixiegunworks.com

frontiergander said:

agreed, looks like somebody replaced the lock with a TC lock .

Click to expand...

Agreed,
The TC and Invest Arms locks are super close, BUT you can see that the TC "scroll work" is different, AND the quickest way is the lack of a "tail" on the back scroll, along the upper edge to the rear of the cock.

They may have been made by the same subcontractor, and might interchange, which would explain why the TC lock is on an Invest Arms rifle ??? The locks are so similar, in fact, that I'd venture to guess that a frizzen spring from either would work in either.



LD

edit

Loyalist Dave said:

Agreed,
The TC and Invest Arms locks are super close, BUT you can see that the TC "scroll work" is different, AND the quickest way is the lack of a "tail" on the back scroll, along the upper edge to the rear of the cock.

They may have been made by the same subcontractor, and might interchange, which would explain why the TC lock is on an Invest Arms rifle ??? The locks are so similar, in fact, that I'd venture to guess that a frizzen spring from either would work in either.

View attachment 950505

LD

Click to expand...

There's a MLF thread that shows a TC Hawken clone that may have pre-dated the TC and which was sold for a short time after TC's introduction.
The gun could have been imported except for the barrel which was made in the US and would explain the lack of proof marks.
It was made in both flint and percussion.
Photos of the gun are on page 3, Post #48 and the barrel is marked "T. Mansfield. Inc." --->>> https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/serial-number-dating-a-t-c.34284/page-3

And then if you scroll down 5 posts to Post #52, the same person named anaconda44 states:
"found another one by sears tc hawken copy"

We don't know enough about this other company's locks, but it leads a person to wonder if TC could have used that clone to make their own Hawken.
Maybe they secretly bought the other company's design, copied it or improved it.
The TC guns and coil lock design were believed by many to be copied by Investarms too which ended up putting TC out of the sidelock business.
Sometimes business can be viscous and what comes around goes around.
Who knows how TC came up with their Hawken design, and who copied who.

But perhaps that's how Navy Arms obtained their close copy of the TC coil lock, and everything except the barrel was imported.
And they just barreled the stock, much like CVA did with some of their early guns, stocks and locks that came from Spain, and then in some cases they added a US barrel.

Jackrabbit1957 said:

Looks like a Thompson Center lock to me, or possibly Invest Arms.

Click to expand...

They are interchangeable, Investarms copied the T/C lock exactly so either spring will work on that lock. I was given an Investarms kit awhile back and have interchanged barrels with my Thompson and checked to see locks interchange and they do.

arcticap said:

There's a MLF thread that shows a TC Hawken clone that may have pre-dated the TC and which was sold for a short time after TC's introduction.

Click to expand...

Although it's minutiae about early factory rifles, I find this stuff interesting and thanks for that added info!

It's not the "knowledge" per se, but the ability to help a person by using that info, a person who has rescued an old, but serviceable or nearly serviceable traditional black powder rifle from the mantle, yard sale, or the back closet, and being able to help them get that back to the firing line at the range or into the field..., that's warms-my-cookies.

LD

I tried to find more info. about this flintlock model.
I only found photos of one other that was auctioned. --->>> It's a Google link that only works from Google search results or if logged in. https://classic.gunauction.com/search/displayitem.cfm?itemnum=13342609







Many more photos of the same model were found in percussion and the lock plate is plain without any floral pattern.
Some of the sellers think that the gun was made in Italy. --->>> https://www.gunvaluesboard.com/i-ha...awken-like-new-never-shot-seri...-552013.html

https://www.gunsamerica.com/949958796/NAVY-ARMS-45-CAL-HAWKEN-RIFLE.htm

There was a special run of 2500 of the same model in percussion for Montgomery Ward that were sold as a tribute gun called "Montgomery Ward Tribute to the American Pioneer". The locks were embellished with gold paint and the trigger guard had a slight change. The seller claims that the gun was made in Italy. --->>> https://www.gunauction.com/buy/12851393

even on their percussion models, theres a huge difference in the lock VS the hurricane hawken i had vs the regular hawken. My guess, they were buying TC locks due to the italians not building them as reliable at the time.
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VTI is the best source I can find for parts. If you don't find it just ask them.

https://www.vtigunparts.com/store/

IronHand