Does this seem right to you?

[jps2486]

I recently purchased a Dixie Cub, only because it's the only gun I could find in 36 caliber without resorting to a kit. The gun arrived in perfect shape, so I decided to remove the flintlock so that I could get to the vent plug and put some anti-sieze compound on it. When I looked at the lock, the sear was bent at an approximate 15 degree angle. Although it worked ok, I'd never seen one like this. I contacted Dixie and was told that bending the sear to accommodate it's connection with the trigger is common. Not really satisfied, I contacted Pedersoli who claimed they don't make this gun, although in Dixie's catalog, it says made by Pedersoli. Dixie sent me a new sear which I replaced, but the lock/trigger didn't work at all, so I put the original sear back in place. Have you ever seen anything like this?

 

[Fly103]

My sear on my Pedersoli pennsylvania is bent up about 5deg from the factory. If it works it works........ not very professional looking though.

Chris

 

[Grenadier1758]

It seems right to me. I have seen the sear bent to improve the trigger pull. Its a little clunky looking, but its under the lock plate and won't be seen until the lock is removed.

 

[NorthFork]

Basically normal although yours is a bit extreme. I wouldn't worry about it. That said Pedersoli made the rifle or at least the parts for the rifle. There seems to be some sort of disconnect between Dixie Gun Works and Pedersoli when it comes to the 'dixie' models. I suspect, but have absolutely no hard proof, that the 'dixie' models are imported as kits for DGWs and assembled by DGW. Thus Pedersoli wanting nothing to do with them as they are not true factory built rifles. I had issues with a 'dixie' model Pedersoli smoothbore that Pedersoli wanted nothing to do with and was specifically directed to deal with DGW only.

 

[brawny man]

I recently purchased a Dixie Cub, only because it's the only gun I could find in 36 caliber without resorting to a kit. The gun arrived in perfect shape, so I decided to remove the flintlock so that I could get to the vent plug and put some anti-sieze compound on it. When I looked at the lock, the sear was bent at an approximate 15 degree angle. Although it worked ok, I'd never seen one like this. I contacted Dixie and was told that bending the sear to accommodate it's connection with the trigger is common. Not really satisfied, I contacted Pedersoli who claimed they don't make this gun, although in Dixie's catalog, it says made by Pedersoli. Dixie sent me a new sear which I replaced, but the lock/trigger didn't work at all, so I put the original sear back in place. Have you ever seen anything like this?

View attachment 67899

I have seen the bent sear on CVA mountain rifles. Of the several CVA mountain rifles I own only two of the sears are bent. They function fine. It is always a good idea to make sure the lock and triggers work correctly before going to the range.

 

[EC121]

Sear arms are bent to make more room for the triggers and this allows more wood to be removed from the bottom of the stock. This keeps the stock from being too thick under the sidepanels and in the forearm. A proper stock should be almost flat under the lock panel. Look at some pictures of the originals. That being said, it takes a vertically thin set of triggers or a single trigger to pull it off.

 

[hanshi]

Bending the sear to alter trigger contact is one of the few ways to improve the triggers performance. The point and angle of contact of the sear on the trigger bar are critical to a good trigger pull. If the rifle functions okay, then it's a non issue.

 

[M. De Land]

I recently purchased a Dixie Cub, only because it's the only gun I could find in 36 caliber without resorting to a kit. The gun arrived in perfect shape, so I decided to remove the flintlock so that I could get to the vent plug and put some anti-sieze compound on it. When I looked at the lock, the sear was bent at an approximate 15 degree angle. Although it worked ok, I'd never seen one like this. I contacted Dixie and was told that bending the sear to accommodate it's connection with the trigger is common. Not really satisfied, I contacted Pedersoli who claimed they don't make this gun, although in Dixie's catalog, it says made by Pedersoli. Dixie sent me a new sear which I replaced, but the lock/trigger didn't work at all, so I put the original sear back in place. Have you ever seen anything like this?

View attachment 67899

Sear bars were designed to be straight and perpendicular to the trigger lever. The reason is so there is to eliminate most angular pressure on the sear screw or worse the trigger pin which is often mounted through the stock on simple trigger guns. If it were mine I would remove, anneal, bend straight, re-harden and then file down the trigger lever until it rests on the sear bar and releases correctly. The fit I described will also eliminate a lot if not all trigger slop in most case. It's a wonder it didn't snap off with that much bend into it. This is a Rube Goldberg tune in my opinion.

 

[jps2486]

Sear bars were designed to be straight and perpendicular to the trigger lever. The reason is so there is to eliminate most angular pressure on the sear screw or worse the trigger pin which is often mounted through the stock on simple trigger guns. If it were mine I would remove, anneal, bend straight, re-harden and then file down the trigger lever until it rests on the sear bar and releases correctly. The fit I described will also eliminate a lot if not all trigger slop in most case. It's a wonder it didn't snap off with that much bend into it. This is a Rube Goldberg tune in my opinion.

I agree with your assessment.

 

[Snooterpup]

I am in the process of finishing a recently obtained Kennedy flintlock pistol kit. The lock and trigger plate were already inlet. There are only two things you can do to adjust the working relationship of a single trigger and sear.
First, establish that the lock will work mounted in the gun by actuating it with a small flat blade screwdriver. Once established that the lock works, install the trigger. If no significant "play", and the lock will not fire, either the trigger bar needs to be filed down, a bit at a time until the lock works, or slightly bend the tail of the sear to get the correct clearance needed for the lock to work. Your sear angle is a bit on the extreme side but as long as it works I'd leave it alone. Especially true if the gun has double set triggers. If it has double set triggers, bending the sear is by far the easiest what the adjust this relationship.

 

[Flinty Scot]

Other than bending a dogleg in the bar, to assure square contact with the trigger bar, trimming the trigger bar seems the most logical approach. (The trigger assembly is also likewly to be cheaper than a lock to replace, if you foul something up.)

 

[Treestalker]

The U.S. Army has a saying I love, 'If it looks stupid but it works, It's not stupid.' Which points up another Army saying, 'Improvise, Compromise, Overcome.' Amen. Great advice from those who know. (Tell me again why I joined the Navy? LOL!)

 

[M. De Land]

I like this saying that I think my dad said, (If a job ain't worth doing right it ain't worth doing at all) !

 

[The Crisco Kid]

In this case my Dad would have said "You don't bend it. You reshape it".

 

[Col. Batguano]

If it works, I guess it's ok, but it's certainly not good workmanship. It's up to you if you want to go through the effort of making something correct that you don't even see when the gun is assembled.

If it is affecting performance then that is another matter entirely. The gains you will get in trigger break feel by changing the sear bar / trigger blade engagement from angled to perpendicular will probably be so slight that you won't be able to notice it without sensitive instrumentation.

If there is a bit of grittiness to it (as it currently sits) then the first thing I'd do is polish the sear bar and trigger blade and maybe put some oil or graphite on them. If it's still causing binding only then is when I'd start getting serious about doing the deeper dive of a proper fix. In that case you can bend the sear armature or put something of a dog leg in the sear bar (be careful not to wreck the temper of the sear though) after you file your trigger blade down as much as you can.

In doing adjustments and fixes it's always a good idea to start with the simple ones before you have to go to the more complex ones.

 

[EC121]

The sear bar looks to have a lot of metal in it. Grind and polish a notch to square up and match the area where the trigger rides the bar. Then the vertical force will be the same as a straight bar. Also polish the top of the trigger.

 

[M. De Land]

If it works, I guess it's ok, but it's certainly not good workmanship. It's up to you if you want to go through the effort of making something correct that you don't even see when the gun is assembled.

If it is affecting performance then that is another matter entirely. The gains you will get in trigger break feel by changing the sear bar / trigger blade engagement from angled to perpendicular will probably be so slight that you won't be able to notice it without sensitive instrumentation.

If there is a bit of grittiness to it (as it currently sits) then the first thing I'd do is polish the sear bar and trigger blade and maybe put some oil or graphite on them. If it's still causing binding only then is when I'd start getting serious about doing the deeper dive of a proper fix. In that case you can bend the sear armature or put something of a dog leg in the sear bar (be careful not to wreck the temper of the sear though) after you file your trigger blade down as much as you canw

In doing adjustments and fixes it's always a good idea to start with the simple ones before you have to go to the more complex ones.

What bothers me is that sears are usually hard surfaced through out and when hard steel is bent without annealing first, the strength is usually compromised by cracking . Case hardened steel will still have a malleable core to keep it together but if hard all the way through alloy is used then the sear bar usually will break off when bent. At best it is a very poor method of tuning a trigger pull issue.