Milsurp After Hours

Not good.....

Well I have been working on the bloody thing and have actually fired it 4 times (9 attempts ) using a .618" / 345 grain patched ball.

Initial conclusion after emailing a rifle maker friend in the States is that the lock is a piece of garbage.
He does, however think that something can be salvaged from it to make a functioning piece.

So, I need to strip it down and work on all parts as instructed by him in emails and if I don't screw up I might yet save the day........
At least it's the right time of year for this sort of thing .

A few images to show you just how bad it is............











Good job I bought a Mainspring Clamp last year!!!

I look forward to seeing the next report. Just remember that whatever metal you file off you can't put back if you make a mistake.

That filing thing is a good point, although Duncan obviously already knows that. I found that out
the hard way when doing very little filing and a lot of polishing on the trigger of an AR-15. I made it
so smooth that every time I pulled the trigger it did a double or triple tap, making it a fully auto rifle......
So when I got home I used a bench grinder on it to totally destroy it and threw the pieces in the trash.....
Luckily, the triggers are cheap and easy to come by, not sure about the parts for Duncan's rifle.....


.

I approach this project with some trepidation because all the parts are mass produced to no tolerance whatsoever
The ultimate lesson is; If a seller is selling Indian made weapons then do not believe whatever he says about the quality or how much work he puts in before delivering the goods to you - crap is still crap.

As for Derbyshire Arms in the UK...........They have lied consistently during the time they dealt with me and are no more than dealers in sub standard merchandise which they buy from India. Do not trust them, they are dishonest charlatans...............................

I stripped the lock of the Baker Copy today before trying to polish and fine tune it into something that will actually work......not impressed.

Looks like you got it into as many pieces as you can take apart. For me that is always step one in a great deal of frustration.

Duncan,

It is indeed a 'heap a ....", but be consoled it is historically accurate in that it is at least as bad as the worst contract muskets of the Napoleonic War era. (note: no smilies).

As I have said, I have a mentor in Iowa who is helping me sort this cow of a piece out here are his comments on the photographs which I sent him.

You certain this lock was not made in Nepal?

So here goes:

1. Grind/stone the hook on the main spring where it rubs on the lock plate.
2. Ditto the tumbler. May be rubbing on the edge corners around the tumbler foot because of poor fit of tumbler shaft to plate. Check for wear against the inside of bridle.
3. Ditto sear.
4. Actually all components are scabrous and in need of some polishing or at least leveling the surfaces and removing burrs.
5. Polish off any place that shows wear. Note that any wear marks on the tumbler, sear, and frizzen may indicate poor hardening and may need to be reworked.
6. Make certain the tip of the sear spring does not touch the hump of the sear (which the mounting screw goes through) in any position. It should touch just behind it.
7. Smooth the inside of the lock plate.
8. Make certain there are no burrs projecting beyond the edges of their respective holes. Countersink lightly, if required. (a drill bit countersinks holes admirably.)
9. Sear spring appears to have cold shut- probably going to fail you later on. Do not know why there is a slot in the knee of the spring. The tip looks.......
10. Tumbler and sear must pivot effortlessly when reassembled.
11. No drag on the springs. Use grease on the tips.
12. Examine frizzen face for scuff marks. You want the flint in position to obtain the longest scratch marks possible AND throw open the frizzen from the pan.
13. There should be no hesitation of the flint to throw the frizzen open. If there is, the frizzen toe may be at fault – poor geometry. The frizzen may be dragging on the frizzen screw. The toe maybe dragging on the spring for some reason, such as metal bits or file marks, etc.

A good flint lock and flint will fire the main charge usually 1 out of 6 times without powder in the pan. A frizzen spring is not essential to fire the gun. A properly fitted and tuned flint lock will feel glass smooth when assembled and cocked. You should be able to fire the flint lock by holding it in your hand and feel little or no torque as the components go through their paces. A good flint lock can have the pan filled with powder, your thumb covering the hole where the pan fits to the vent, the lock held under running water, pulled out and be immediately fired with soaked frizzen 100% of the time. (I love showing people this.) A good flint lock will fire 100% of the time upside down.

Now that you know some of the standards, try to bring your lock into line as much as you can. Do realize this is not an exercise in futility, but yet another opportunity to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. One thought not discussed is that you may be able to fit Rifle Shoppe parts to your plate and thus end up with a fine functioning lock worth keeping.

So, thats the plan for now................

Your friend, no doubt, is a real flintlock gunsmith. Good luck following his directions to the letter.