My Access Heritage doglock

[ArmorerRoy]

Last month Track sold a Swedish Doglock built by the Rifle Shoppe owner for 4600 +
It looked fabulous but I didn’t wanna wait a year or 2 so I bought an Indian one for 670, and got it in 2 weeks.
I’m happy for you guys whose locks spark, mine stalled at the frizzen.
Going through the lock I discovered the hole in the lock plate was a lot bigger than the boss on the tumbler, causing the cock/tumbler assembly to wallow around. The mainspring and it’s hook on the tumbler are scraping on the back of the plate, scrubbing off so much speed it won’t even move the frizzen, let alone spark.
It’s not too much work for me, I just don’t think I should have to do that much tweaking to a fully assembled piece.
The “over polishing” was disconcerting enough, but the lock needs so much work I decided to send it back to Ottawa. He’s a real nice guy, answers the phone if you let it ring long enough. I hope his “gunsmith” knows what he’s doing but I have my doubts.
I wish I hadn’t drilled a flash hole and sent the whole thing back so I could order a Doglock from the Rifle Shoppe and wait a year or 2 for it to arrive.
Hope my lock doesn’t take that long!

At least you know how to fix it.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

I asked as I will likely break down and get one, since it's an actual dog-lock...,

Funny, but the Swedes didn't do away with the dog-lock on Military muskets until the 19th century.

Swedish 1815 Musket

View attachment 232413


LD

Sometimes called a “puppy lock” on pistols.

 

[ArmorerRoy]

Needed a sling…

 

[Darto]

Mine is superfluous however this original reviewed by I Love Muzzleloading also had a half cock

Yeah, I purchased a Cookson doglock Early American fowler from the redoubtable BigSkyRambler here in the sales page. Has both half cock and the dog catcher. I'm very pleased with that trade I made!

 

[BillinOregon]

Roy, what do you think of the finish on the wood? It almost looks painted, but perhaps it is just very thick stain. Any idea what the wood looks like underneath? Glad you have a shooter!

 

[ArmorerRoy]

Roy, what do you think of the finish on the wood? It almost looks painted, but perhaps it is just very thick stain. Any idea what the wood looks like underneath? Glad you have a shooter!

Its definitely sprayed on with a clear coat on top. I rubbed the finish back with steel wool to a flat to satin look. Based on the lock mortise the wood is a lighter brown than the finish. I have considered removing it but I worried I might not like the results.

 

[FlinterNick]

I asked as I will likely break down and get one, since it's an actual dog-lock...,

Funny, but the Swedes didn't do away with the dog-lock on Military muskets until the 19th century.

Swedish 1815 Musket

View attachment 232413


LD

Original dog locks I’ve seen have a half and full cock notch. The reason for the dog catch is because the British didn’t trust the quality of their steel used on parts.

From what i was told by a Swedish Gun Collector, they kept the dog lock for drilling reasons and looks, looks by meaning a way of being different from the British, French and Prussians.

The dog lock was absolutely over kill on that gun, the tumbler has a half notch and is double bridled.

The dog catch was an absolute waste of steel and probably made the muskets more expensive than they needed to be.

 

[FlinterNick]

Roy, what do you think of the finish on the wood? It almost looks painted, but perhaps it is just very thick stain. Any idea what the wood looks like underneath? Glad you have a shooter!

Indian guns have a varnish that is dyed and painted on.

 

[FlinterNick]

The lever on mine does not swing freely. There is a screw to adjust the tension. I will loosen it and try that. Im still adjusting to the difference. Thanks

the dog catch screw should be shouldered to the plate to allow for it to pivot freely, meaning no matter how tight you make the screw the dog catch will pivot without any tension, if you need to adjust the screw’s tension, then its not done correctly. With each turn of the catch the screw will eventually turn off on its own.

Not a very good safety mechanism to rely on lol

One easy way to fix this is to have the screw in place where it needs to be set with locktite in the threads, this should work for some time, until it can be corrected appropriatly.

Shouldered screw vs. regular screw below.

 

[Commodore Swab]

the dog catch screw should be shouldered to the plate to allow for it to pivot freely, meaning no matter how tight you make the screw the dog catch will pivot without any tension, if you need to adjust the screw’s tension, then its not done correctly.

Shouldered screw vs. regular screw below.

Alternatively you can center punch the back of the screw locking it in position yet still allowing it to be removed at a later date should you need to remove and clean it. A shouldered screw will still have the ability to unscrew so should also be locked into position.

 

[rickystl]

Surprisingly, with all the locks in my collection, I've never secured an original doglock. But fortunately, I've been able to examine a number of them over the many years. The earlier doglocks where both the hammer and tumbler shaft were made in one piece all had only a single firing notch on the tumbler. A likely carry-over from the snaphaunce. The later doglocks with the separate hammer and shaft and external hammer screw were a mixed bag. Some still retained the single notch on the tumbler. Others had the second safety notch on the tumbler, and still retained the dog catch. The one doglock I remember appeared to have the second safety notch cut on the tumbler at a later time - but during the period. not too surprising if you think about it. I guess eventually they determined the dog catch utilized as an extra safety feature was redundant.

Rick

 

[rickystl]

How is the pan to breech flat fit? That's one area I need to work on some more on my Indian made musket, as mine has a tiny gap there. During shooting, I fill it with a tad of beeswax, but I need to fix it eventually.
This dog lock is now on my will-one-day-buy-list!

I have an original Afghan rifle that had this issue. The barrel was originally from a matchlock and was repurposed for a flintlock during the period. I was surprised when I removed the lock and found a piece of leather was used to fill the gap between the pan and breech areas. Very tribal like. LOL But it would have worked. Later on I had a permanent type fix done using thin sheet brass, cut to fit, and epoxied in place. Worked fine.
You can buy something like 5-thousands sheet brass which is so thin it's almost like foil.

Rick

 

[rickystl]

I know the Indian guns are a mixed bag. When I ordered mine I called Access Heritage and they told me that the one they were sending me just arrived from the manufacturer. I was worried I might get a POS nobody else wanted. I would like to think that the Indians are taking criticism about the poor inletting and over polishing and are producing better guns now. My new one has none of these issues, at least by my standards anyway.

Yes, you would think they could save a bit of labor cost not having to polish all the parts to what looks like beyond the 400 grit. LOL

I once purchased second-hand, one of those Cookson Doglock Muskets. The seller attempted to slim the stock down and re-stain, along with trying to darken the steel parts, which just turned out grey. Anyway, the stock fore end still had too much wood for my taste. And it made the butt stock portion look too small and out of proportion. The only way to have been able to take additional wood off the fore end would require going right through the ramrod hole !! So I just sold it to a third party that didn't care about the stock.
But as fate would have it, the very next weekend, I was at a local gun show, and found a very lightly used Centermark that I bought for $500.00. So all's well that ended well. LOL

That said, the OP's musket looks good to me. And that nice, big doglock.

Rick

 

[rickystl]

I think Leonard Day’s sons are planning on selling them. I’ve seen images of their stands at two of the shows the past year, where they had them (just the locks), and their flier had a bunch of guns with them. Not sure what their current time table to tool up is. I talked to them in November and they were still at least a year out.
View attachment 232448

Hi John

Yes, it will be interesting to see what the Leonard boys come up with.

Rick

 

[rickystl]

If you keep the muzzle pointed down, the dog should fall in place as you pull back the hammer. At least that's how it does on my doglock blunderbuss. You're lucky with a 6 lb trigger pull. Mine is 20+ pounds! But it sparks great.

That's how it works on my Leonard Day gun also.

The Algerian miquelet locks have an interesting feature to their dog catch. It has a spring behind the catch that allows rearward movement of the catch only so far. A clever idea in that the spring acts as an assist to force the catch into the notch of the hammer as you pull the hammer back. Going to full cock, the spring forces the catch backwards and out of the way. Just some different thinking.

Rick

 

[rickystl]

"It seems I’ve seen snaphaunce lock photos with a bar that would hold the cock that retracted when cocked (?)"

Typically, the only safety on the snaphaunce locks was to leave the frizzen in the forward position. But this English snaphaunce locks has an additional safety at the rear of the lock plate. It essentially locks the sear from any movement.

Rick