Lock Inletting, Too Tight?

[Eric Krewson]

I am working on my first build.

I have my lock inletted within 1/16" of having the bolster up against the side of the barrel, many hrs involved going slow. My inlet is pretty tight and I have to tap it all the way to the bottom of the mortise with light taps from a leather hammer, I can pull it out by hand but it is tight. Is this too tight?

 

[Roy]

I usually have to use the lock bolt to tap mine out lol. Never had any complaints or problems with it. If the lock plate is a bit below the wood it may create a chip out though.

 

[grey8833]

Eric:
No, sounds right. Ditto on what Roy said. It is amazing how easy the plate will come out if you screw the lock bolt in a few threads and tap it from the other side.

If you don't have the lock bolt cut through the stock - try this. Get a heavy wire (stole on of my wifes turkey skewers), put it in the vice and make a 90 degree bend in it with about a 1/4 of an inch sticking out. Insert the 1/4 into one of the lock holes (assume you disassembled the lock) and grab the end with vice grips. Tap up on the vice grips and the plate will come up easy and should not damage the lock panel. Don't drop the lock plate - it's real easy to do. Like about 4 times. :grin:

Mike

 

[bioprof]

Eric,

Be careful with the hammer! You can break out the lock mortis just in front of the bolster if you are careful. Don't ask me how I know. :shake:

 

[shortstring]

I've popped locks out & had chunks of wood come out with them before. I blamed it on the wood being higher than the lockplate & being too tight. To me the gun owner has to keep an eye on this sort of thing as the wood shrinks & expands with the seasons. Someone who periodically removes the lock & cleans it probably would never have this happen.

Also a small crack can appear coming straight off the back tail of the lock as the wood shrinks.

 

[MikeChapin]

I inlet mine so that they are snug but come out with a little wiggling. When the final finish is put on the rifle, I generally have to run a scraper around the mortice to compensate for the oils swelling the wood. The lock on the finished rifle is snug enough that it takes a light tap on the lock bolt to get it out.

 

[Vaino]

I know this is a basic question...did you file a slight taper on the edge of the lockplate? I use the pan to pull the lock out, thumb pressure to mark and don't try for any degree of tight fit, in fact if held upside down, the lock plate will fall out. There aren't any gaps but why fight a tight fit w/ the attendant possible chipping and cracks? Applying the final stain and finish tightens up the fit which then needs a slight amount of scraping......Fred

 

[dlocke]

This is an interesting subject. I am inletting (little over halfway there) a Chamber's early Ketland lock. The plate does not have a draft filed into it and it is supposed to finish off flush with the lockplate wood. It pops in and pops out, so when it is finally home I may carefully relieve the sides of the inlet a bit. Right now my main concern is keeping the plate at an exact right angle to the top of the barrel. So far so good.
DJL

 

[Eric Krewson]

I did taper the lock plate edge very slightly.

 

[George F.]

There's two points of contact on lock mortices that are not beveled for inletting. One is the front of the bolster, the other is the rear of the bolster and or the fence on a flintlock. And if they are too tight, you do run the risk of knocking out some wood. Once you established that's what it is, then you can take a needle file and file the wood down some to give you a schoch more room.... Geo.

 

[Zonie]

Your mortice sounds tighter than I like to make mine.

While there is no visible gaps anywhere, I like my lock to install and remove with just some gentle wiggling prior to putting on the stock finish.

After the stock finish is applied, the swelling of the wood is often enough to cause me to have to do a little scraping to get it back to the pre-finished condition.

zonie