BigSky, Don't know if you ever got a reply to this, but I'm doing that exact thing right now. I have several photos of the progress I'll upload when I figure out how, but here is where I am now. I have a brand-new Dixie Tennessee Mountain Rifle (TMR) I just acquired in a trade. The .50 cal. Barrel of mine appears unfired, and I suspect it to have been used as a decorator these many years. The rifle is a pretty good example of the Tennessee “school” of riflemaking, except for a couple of things: The finish is ”˜way better than any originals I have examined, including a couple that have come down in remarkedley good condition, and if one is discerning, the triggers are something that needs to be re-worked. The other posters were suggesting changing them out for another set, and this is possible to do, but I’m a contrary old fellow and I decided to re-work them to better represent the “typical” set one would find on a flint rifle of this type. The original antique TMR triggers were almost invariably of the “Single-phase” set trigger type. The trigger had to be “Set” before the lock could be cocked. There are several disadvantages to this arrangement if one wants to hunt with one of these. The Dixie TMR triggers are of the “Double-phase/ double-set type, in that the front trigger can be pulled without setting the rear, and it will fire the lock just as a single trigger will. “Cock” the rear trigger; the front is transformed into a “hair” trigger. Perfect for the range; unsuitable for the hunt, unless one is VERY practiced and one’s hands are not ¾ frozen, as usual in the October-January timeframe.
I did my research on what they should look like, and figured I could change it to the configuration of the typical TMR. Also, since I am gathering the parts to custom-build another TMR, and I have a R.E. Davis Co. D.S. trigger kit on-hand, I will be using as a side-by-side comparison. The Davis set is close, but even it needs some re-work before it is “authentic”.
Now, I feel compelled to give a warning here. If you are not experienced on heat-treating parts till they are very hard; DO NOT ATTEMPT THE FOLLOWING operations.
The front trigger on most original TMRs USUALLY (and there ARE exceptions) only releases the rear trigger. The original front triggers are very slender and very thin. We will have to maintain that appearance as it is peculiar to a TMR, but the front trigger has to be a bit “beefier” because we are going to use it as a conventional single trigger. So, we will move into the realm of metal sculpting.
Dixie has always been masterful at bringing black powder shooting to the “masses”, providing authentically styled and designed black-powder rifles and pistols into the price range of people that are not CEOs of computer companies or owners of hotel chains. Usually, to accomplish this, there must be some compromises. The trigger assembly is an example. Functionally, it works beautifully. What you see from the outside of the stock is perfect. The working parts are so hard; you will flatten the teeth of a good file on them with one pass. But as soon as you tear down the parts a couple of things become evident. The triggers appear to have been “punched” out of a sheet of heat-treatable carbon steel. The edges were not smoothed, and still have the “shear” separation marks, and the top of the front trigger is a good example. This rough area was polished as this is where the lock sear arm rubs. Roughness in this area will produce a “gritty’”, rough take-up. I carefully smoothed this area off with a belt grinder, taking as little metal as possible off. There was also an issue with the small coil spring used to “tense” the front trigger. It was becoming completely compressed and became a solid piece before the front trigger could trip the sear. The trigger could only trip the lock when it was set.
Front trigger shape is next. The front trigger “shoe” has a pronounced “bow” This is not good, as most all originals were “straight”. To get this out, I measured what I had to work with and discovered I did not have enough metal to grind it to the straight form. So, I heated the bowed part with a propane torch until I could gently tap it straight. Heating this annealed the trigger shoe area (and everything else, too!) and I shaped the shoe (the portion where the finger rests,) it to a rough configuration with files. The rear trigger will be given a wider profile by heating it to red heat, then “peening” to a wider shape with a small hammer. It will gain a ”˜shoe” and will approximate the contour of the Davis trigger. More will be posted as I complete the project.
I plan on addressing the front trigger return spring when I get time to take it up again. Since the front trigger is now soft enough to drill, I may bend up a round music wire spring. This is a vital area; the front trigger has to be able to hold the contact point of the rear trigger securely, yet it must be able to be released with a very light pressure. It also needs to be able to hold the rear trigger securely even if there is no trigger spring. The holes in the plate are also a tad larger than the trigger pins on both front and rear. The triggers both have a lot of “shake” which I find personally annoying. I will drill this out later with a slightly larger drill (BTW, the plate is [thankfully] soft enough to drill) and eliminate all the side movement on both triggers.
