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Picked up a fairly nice looking "Leman" style plains rifle recently. Looked to be 70's era. Was taking it apart to clean everything and was really surprised to see the inside of the lock. Marked R. Kern with a patent number. It looked like a generic "plains" rifle lock from the outside but on the inside everything is very different. It uses a coil spring and the sear and all hammer engagement pieces are enclosed in a nickel sized round steel case.
Wish I could figure out how to post pictures. Anyone know anything about Robert Kern? Google provides a patent given to Kern and Allen Hamm in 1968. Rifle itself is unmarked.
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I went through my Muzzle Blasts magazines from 1968 to 1976 and found nothing on the Kern lock.
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Will try to post pictures again:
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Outside view
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photo 2[130] by James Chamberlain, on Flickr
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I found a review of the Kern lock in the March 1980 issue of Muzzle Blasts .The mainspring
is adjustable for tension and force of blow you want,The sear is fully adjustable and once adjusted
has a lock screw that keeps everthing set. The lock was sold by The Kern Gun Shop,Inc. 319E.main
street Ligonier,PA the lock sold for $45.00.
Dick
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I don't know what is going on but everytime I post something it never shows up the way it was typed in.
Dick
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Hi Dick
Thank you for the info. After playing with it a bit I was really impressed with the quality of workmanship, simplicity and adjustability. I was going to just clean up the rifle and find it a new home, but now I might find a different project for it. Wonder if the Thompson Center people saw one of these before they designed theirs..
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