• Friends, our 2nd Amendment rights are always under attack and the NRA has been a constant for decades in helping fight that fight.

    We have partnered with the NRA to offer you a discount on membership and Muzzleloading Forum gets a small percentage too of each membership, so you are supporting both the NRA and us.

    Use this link to sign up please; https://membership.nra.org/recruiters/join/XR045103

**** alignment

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Jul 30, 2021
Messages
240
Reaction score
503
Location
Parowan Valley, Utah
On this build, the **** and frizzen were offset from each other. Enough so that it was difficult/ aggravating to get the flint aligned and be securely set in the **** jaws.

I made a spacer thick enough to get better alignment of the ****, flint, and frizzen and it seems to work better. This is the first time I've done this sort of thing - don't know what to expect...
Comments?

ppb
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0819.jpg
    IMG_0819.jpg
    1.4 MB
  • IMG_0823.jpg
    IMG_0823.jpg
    1.4 MB
The spacer holding the **** out will drag between the plate and ****. That will slow the fall of the **** and reduce the sparks, also the square of the tumbler and **** is reduced putting added stress on the joint. I’d remove the spacer and determine why the **** isn’t in the correct position.
 
100% with what Phil says! Putting a spacer between the lock plate and the **** is like putting STP in an engine to stop a rod knock. The most significant thing the spacer adds is friction to slow the ****. Locks were never designed to have anything in there.
 
Phil & Hawkeye,

The spacer adds no friction to the device. It was carefully fitted to seat against the round shoulder behind the square post where the **** is mounted. As you can see in the image, that shoulder protrudes from the lock plate which in turn also prevents the **** from contacting the lock plate.

Rich Pierce may have the correct perspective - that's just the way it is...

On the other hand, issues like this may be one of the reasons custom locks and those like the ones you can get from Kibler are gaining favor.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0818.jpg
    IMG_0818.jpg
    1.6 MB
A friend and I ordered some $400 locks. He got his first and after I saw his, I canceled my order. The **** was bent/twisted so bad that the flint would have to hang out 1/4" to miss the side flat. The maker said it was normal. My mental answer to that was: "Not on the lock I'm paying $400 for." A slight bend doesn't hurt, but this was extreme.
Clamp it in a vise and heat it up a little and twist it straighter. That little nub of tumbler shaft sticking out will cause more problems than a bent ****.
 
Last edited:
my Kibler SMR is like this, but with the **** seemingly twisted slightly inboard. Its no problem though, I just set the flint in the **** semi tight and then lower the **** and flint against a closed frizzen to square everything up before final tightening of the jaw screw.
 
Don't think I have ever seen a kit gun with all the parts fitting and no need to machine anything. Muzzleloaders really do not lend themselves well to mass production. If you want a really good gun, hand-fitting is often needed. That said, I have several guns, some of which were assembled as kits that fit well enough to work reliably. More than that I don't really need and can't afford anyway.
 
my Kibler SMR is like this, but with the **** seemingly twisted slightly inboard. Its no problem though, I just set the flint in the **** semi tight and then lower the **** and flint against a closed frizzen to square everything up before final tightening of the jaw screw.
I have no issues with any of my Kibler locks.
Yours is a pragmatic approach and one I may get back to.
It may turn out that using a different sized flint could be the answer. I just don't know, but I'm not happy with the way this one works.
Thanks for you input!
 
I bought a lock for my Fusil de Chasse build and the **** was so far off center I sent it back. Got another from same place that was fine. Didn't want to fight it for the rest of my live.

Jack
 
One of my locks was exactly like the OPs. It was aggravating to constantly be tightening the flint as it would push itself out of the jaws. Its an excellent sparker though, and I always received comments from other shooters on how fast it fired, so I was a little leary about messing with it.
After procrastinating long enough, eventually I fixed it by heating the **** and bending it slightly. I also punching sharp teeth into the **** and top jaw. Something I should of done in the first place.
 
Every Siler left hand lock I've ever gotten is that way. The lock plate has the pan attached and the issue could have been corrected on the molds but guess no one cared enough to fix it. That said, even though only half of the flint hits the frizzen they have all sparked well and owners never had a problem.
 
Many thanks to all who have commented! Using your input, it appears likely the spacer could cause more headaches than cure. I appreciate the input and willingness to forward your experience.
You are a persuasive group.
Thanks again!

ppb
 
Ppl, yeah, eventually that **** will batter the crap out of itself, AND the lock plate, and if left, possibly destroy the tumbler.
An easy fix, if you must, is to heat and bend the **** To align better.
Hope this helps.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top