How often do you guys take apart and oil your locks?

[laagamer]

Howdy! Like the title says, how often should I oil my lock?

I just took her all apart, cleaned the pieces with simple green cut with water, and reassembled her. I take it I should oil it then, but do I need to oil her say in between shoots to prevent rust?

Also, should I fully take apart my lock and clean it after every shoot? Is that necessary? Would that damage the springs by compressing them all the time?

Thank you!

EDIT: Does anybody have a video of a Thompson Center lock full disassembly I can watch to make sure I did everything correct? YouTube doesn't have any great results, especially for flintlocks.

 

[deerstalkert]

removing the springs every time may not weaken them, but does increase the odds of breaking one. they really don't need taken out every time or even ever. if you do a thorough job of cleaning the soot and fouling out with a good cleaner its sufficient.
my method is just mine but, i take out the lock (flintlock) after every shoot. spray it down with a stream of windex, then a soft brush.
next is an alcohol flush. when dry i lube the tumbler, sear, sear spring and the main spring sear hook.
with a percussion the lock gets cleaned inside every other shoot in the same manner.

 

[RobertE]

I take them apart about once a year. When I do a cleaning after a shoot, I remove the lock, throw it in a container of water and a couple drops of Dawn, let it soak, then scrub it with a tooth brush. A good rinse/flush with clean water, shake it, then blow out all the water I can with a compressor. Let it air dry, then re-oil.
Works for me and my locks look new on the inside.

 

[Juice Jaws]

Never take them apart but do take the lock off and clean it each time a shoot

 

[hawkenhunter50]

I remove and clean after each shooting session, but do not disassemble the lock. After cleaning I lube all the contact points. Like RobertE above said, old toothbrushes work great for cleaning locks.

 

[IanH]

I do like the above, clean with water with a drop of dawn and a toothbrush to get the powder fouling off, rinse, dry, and re-oil after every time I shoot the gun. I use a full-synthetic differential oil applied sparingly with a shaving brush and find that it pretty much repels water from scrubbing. Dawn doesn't "cut" the oil very well but makes the grime seem to evaporate, so it gets clean without rusting while drying.

 

[Togo]

I never take mine apart for cleaning. After a match or the range I take my lock out of the stock and submerge it in soapy dawn water and scrub it down with a brush, dry it off then spray it heavily with Rem Oil, done!

 

[The Appalachian]

A good spraying of brake cleaner will get the internals of a lock very very clean, even under springs and such. Spray it down with the red tube installed using a forceful blast, blow the lock out with compressed air, give it a few minutes to evaporate dry, then re-oil what needs oiling. Brake cleaner is a little less harsh than carb cleaner and a touch slower to evaporate. Never not works for me.

 

[Omahkapi'si]

Never take it apart but take it off about once a year and clean it. It's never very dirty, and no rust anywhere. I shoot about once a week.

 

[Rob M.]

Very infrequently ,usually no need . Every once in awhile , maybe 3-4 times a year and I shoot a lot . ,I'll remove the lock and check out the interior , put a drop of oil on mainspring where it rides on tumbler ... but usually no need unless lock is acting weird . After each cleaning I put a drop of oil on the frizzen toe and work the frizzen back and forth few times ...

 

[tjiann]

I don't disassemble it unless needed for adjustment or repair. Pull it once in a while after a number of shoots, inspect it, then put it in a baggie with some Simple Green and distilled water, and put that in my ultrasonic cleaner for a couple of cycles, take out, rinse and dry, then oil/grease it.

 

[EC121]

Never. I rinse my lock with just water from my garden hose then spray it with G96. Then I grease all the contact sufaces using toothpick. No oil used except on the tumbler shaft. Oil will eventually run into the wood. I only disassemble the locks when building the rifle. Once they are polished and inlet there is no reason to disassemble them unless replacing parts.

 

[ColonialRifleSmith]

Howdy! Like the title says, how often should I oil my lock?

I just took her all apart, cleaned the pieces with simple green cut with water, and reassembled her. I take it I should oil it then, but do I need to oil her say in between shoots to prevent rust?

Also, should I fully take apart my lock and clean it after every shoot? Is that necessary? Would that damage the springs by compressing them all the time?

Thank you!

EDIT: Does anybody have a video of a Thompson Center lock full disassembly I can watch to make sure I did everything correct? YouTube doesn't have any great results, especially for flintlocks.

Everyone has their own way of doing things, however I clean my guns once a month when not shooting them. I clean them immediately after shooting them, then a week later to ensure I got all the stuff out. I use Barricade on all the metal parts and bore when I'm finished cleaning.

 

[MAPMFF]

When I get any musket in, original or reproduction I take the entire thing apart as far as I can go with it and give it a deep clean. Take this lock for example of a Wickham M1816, god knows how old that grease was, had a cosmoline smell to it. Underneath all of that gunk there was quite a bit of surface rust on the components and lock plate. So it got a deep scrub and an oiling. I store them in my office on a bit of a display rack in a pretty dry environment, so I'll give it a less in depth cleaning annually.



My reenacting guns which I shoot regularly I will take the lock off and give it a good scrub with a tooth brush to get the heavy fouling out, if any is present then oil and put back on. I typically won't take the individual components apart. Lots of reenactors hardly seem to clean their pieces, I guess I'll blame the Army for being a little more thorough.

 

[Art Caputo]

I do not disassemble my locks. When cleaning the rifle, I will remove the lock from the rifle and clean/lubricate as necessary. The mechanisms of the lock are sufficiently exposed to enable thorough cleaning lubrication. I will check periodically to make sure lock screws have not loosened.

 

[flatcreek]

A good spraying of brake cleaner will get the internals of a lock very very clean, even under springs and such. Spray it down with the red tube installed using a forceful blast, blow the lock out with compressed air, give it a few minutes to evaporate dry, then re-oil what needs oiling. Brake cleaner is a little less harsh than carb cleaner and a touch slower to evaporate. Never not works for me.

Pretty much what I do, works really good.
Phil

 

[S.Kenton]

Howdy! Like the title says, how often should I oil my lock?

I just took her all apart, cleaned the pieces with simple green cut with water, and reassembled her. I take it I should oil it then, but do I need to oil her say in between shoots to prevent rust?

Also, should I fully take apart my lock and clean it after every shoot? Is that necessary? Would that damage the springs by compressing them all the time?

Thank you!

EDIT: Does anybody have a video of a Thompson Center lock full disassembly I can watch to make sure I did everything correct? YouTube doesn't have any great results, especially for flintlocks.

I never fully dissemble my locks, I do pull them from the stock and clean them with a tooth brush, then re-oil them with some lightweight spindle oil. I’ve never encountered any rust on mine.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Taking apart a lock, except for repairs, is never necessary. I cleaned mine with soapy water and an old toothbrush the lightly oiled with (almost) whatever oil I had at hand. I have three rifles with apx 50 years use on each that were maintained that way and still going strong.

 

[Sidney Smith]

I never disassemble a lock once the gun is finished. I do however remove the lock from its mortise after each shooting session. I use a nylon bristle brush dipped in cleaning solution to get rid of any soot, then dry the lock with a hairdryer then lightly oil the wear points then back into the gun. Been doing this forever.

 

[John Strong]

I actually boil my locks and then wipe them clean. After it is completely dry, I lightly grease the frizzen toe, the area where the mainspring touches the tumbler, and a couple of other contact points using grease for an M1 Garand. I do this after every outing.