Russ Hamm Depleted Uranium Frizzen

[Many Klatch]

I can't remember who it was on this forum that said that they had a smokepole with a Russ Hamm lock, but he was from Australia.

Anyway I was at a shoot this weekend and we were talking about locks and one of the shooters told me that 30 years ago Russ Hamm had made a number of locks with a depleted uranium frizzen. They sparked like the devil but were a real health hazard. They were eventually banned at Friendship.

Anyway, if you have a gun with a Russ Hamm lock and it sparks fantastically, better check to see if it has a depleted uranium frizzen. Whether you continue to use it or not is up to you. I don't know how you would check it, Geiger counter?

 

[Stumpkiller]

If it's depleted the Geiger counter won't help much.

What folks didn't realize is that even without the radioactivity metals like Plutonium and Uranium are up there with the other nasty heavy metals like cadmium and arsenic and are poisonous if ingested or if you inhale the particles.

Not saying anyone ever got ill from shooting a Uranium frizzen - but we've got plenty enough else to make us sick so why add to the problem?

 

[Rifleman1776]

They had a short lived popularity with some. Many people installed the dp. Strips could be purchased for do it yerself projects. Sparks were non-directional and made for a hazard. Plus, they were so far off the pc charts NMLRA did the right thing in banning the stuff.

 

[Zonie]

I have never heard of the entire frizzen being made of D.U. but I have heard of a thin strip of it being bonded to the face of the frizzen.

Yes, it and the use of it was banned by the NMLRA and rightfully so.

 

[Heelerau]

Many Klatch it was me you were referring to, sadly no depleted uranium on my frizzen, the greenies would have conniption fits !! I have a smart new L and R RPL lock on its way from a chap in Minnesota who has done the polish and tune up on it. I have some nice inletting tools sent to my by an older chap on another forum, I see by the tracking it has arrived down under, but will take about 10 days to get to WA from over east, by Aussie postal camel train. Will post under another heading when it is all together and shooting.
Depleted uranium frizzen, damn that is something else !!

Cheers

Heelerau

 

[kopfjaeger]

I bet them frizzens made the PC / HC crowd mad. :stir: :stir:

 

[tenngun]

just mentioned one of these on another thread hadn't thought about them for years. Have to say when I first saw it I thought 'whats the point
' got the same feeling when I saw my first in line.

 

[MacRob46]

Depleted uranium is nothing to mess with. It was used in 20 and 30mm cannon shells during the Gulf and Iraq wars and made some of our guys sick. It is a very efficient armor penetration round but a bio hazard for sure.

 

[Many Klatch]

Those frizzen predate the HC/PC crowd. Most of them were still in their cribs.

 

[TNGhost]

I want one of those! :wink:

 

[frogwalking]

I still have issues with Agent Orange. I feel for the folks in Desert Storm who will be dealing with depleted uranium poisoning for years to come.

 

[Claude Mathis]

Those frizzen predate the HC/PC crowd. Most of them were still in their cribs.

In what year do you think people started wanting to be historically accurate? (I know some still don't, but that's another discussion)

 

[Many Klatch]

Claude, it wasn't until the internet made research so much easier that many of us had access to all the great records and knowledge about the past. Until the internet the best a lot of us could do is watch a Hollywood movie and copy what they showed. So I think Historically Correct really dates to the 1990's.

Politically Correct on the other hand seems to be a bit more recent.

 

[TNGhost]

"Politically Correct on the other hand seems to be a bit more recent."

PC is as old as people, when I was a youngster it was called being "cool". Some "cool" stuff was worthwhile, on the other hand people did a lot of stupid, unproductive, damaging, costly, dangerous stuff in the pursuit of being "cool"

Never worried about being cool, so have never been PC, that's why I WANT one of those depleted unranium frizzens. :haha:

 

[Zonie]

Although this is a little off topic, many of the newcomers to reenacting may not be aware of this:

Actually, "PC" when used on most of the areas of this Forum stands for "Period Correct", not Politically Correct.

As I understand it, HC, or "Historically Correct" gets into the exact items that were used at some event or place in History. This can be speaking of clothing, guns or even hairstyles or whatever.

Period Correct and Historically Correct overlap but PC is more general and covers larger periods of time.
For instance, at a gathering of people just reliving a day during the 1770's shouldn't be carrying a percussion rifle because they didn't exist at that time.

Likewise, they shouldn't be lighting their campfires or pipes with a Bic butane lighter. :grin:

 

[TNGhost]

My mistake. Thank you Zonie for pointing that out. Any day you learn something is a good day!

 

[Claude Mathis]

Claude, it wasn't until the internet made research so much easier that many of us had access to all the great records and knowledge about the past. Until the internet the best a lot of us could do is watch a Hollywood movie and copy what they showed. So I think Historically Correct really dates to the 1990's.

Before the Internet, there were libraries. I have to think that anyone who really cared about being historically accurate went there to do research - not the movies?

 

[Twisted_1in66]

***SNIP***

Before the Internet, there were libraries. I have to think that anyone who really cared about being historically accurate went there to do research - not the movies?

Yes libraries were your source for research before the internet. If you lived in a small town it could be really frustrating because they didnt' have the depth of sources larger towns and cities did. You could often have a the library "borrow" a source from a larger library, but you couldn't take it home and had to study it there in the building. Thought I had died and gone to heaven the first time I got to visit a University library!

It is night and day easier now for sure!

Twisted_1in66 :thumbsup:

 

[Stumpkiller]

And The Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday Nights!

http://hisvorpal.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/fess-parker-and-rifle-betsy.jpg[/Image]

[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Daniel_boone_television_parker_1966.JPG

 

[Zonie]

I wonder why some guy is holding a uncocked flintlock on our Hero?

I'm bettin ole Davy could poke him in the eye before he could cock the gun. :rotf: