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Have a 45 cal little half stock cap lock I made for my wife in the 70s that did not have a half cock. I never shoot it, but needed a project. The lock is an old economy one, and I could not find original parts. I purchased a tumbler that was close in appearance and the sear to go with it.
When I examined the parts I thought this might work, but will need some patience and extra work. The first item was to remove the bridal arbor on the top side of the tumbler. (no I did not want to re do the bridal to accommodate the arbor) I assembled the parts and the first issue was the tumbler shoe encroached on the arc of the mainspring. This issue would not allow the lock to engage full cock. Not a problem I thought, I will just trim the arc a tad to give clearance. With that done the lock would finally go into full cock. Now that the lock goes to full cock, the hammer is short of contacting the nipple about 1/2 inch.
OH manure, what now? Still not a problem, I will just plug the square hole in the hammer with a threaded bolt, and then re cut the square for the tumbler. Ok, the hammer is on and tumbler goes to full cock, but now, when the lock is relaxed, the mainspring falls off the tumbler. Now what? I made a small 70 deg double leg stop to elongate the contact point on the tumbler. Not sure how to fasten, so I just riveted it on. Dumb Idea, cuz I accidentally tripped the lock not in the stock, and pulled the stop loose. Fixed that with a larger rivet, plus solder. Good, now we are set to go! No, not really! Put the lock in the stock and the new sear (never checked that dimension) has a longer leg between contact tip and the trigger contact bar. So what you say? Now, the trigger will not trip the sear. Still not a problem, but of course we are really into extra work here for the whole project. Had to remove the trigger and move the pivot point on the trigger. With the old pivot point removed and the new one solder in, I again looked at the issues. Being a very green builder in the 70s, I installed a trigger with very poor leverage geometry. The only way to fix that was modify the trigger bar to accommodate the new pivot point. I had to finagle so I would loose minimal trigger pull distance. OK, now we are getting close, but realized the trigger pull and the cocking effort was way too stout. No problem again, trim both springs and NOW I have a little gun that finally works much better. Somewhere in that gibberish I had to harden and temper the tumbler and parts, which went well, except the sand buried baked parts came out with sand almost glued to them.
Love them muzzleloaders, they always give you something to do and scratch your head about.
Flintlocklar
Love them muzzleloaders, they always give you something to do and scratch your head about.
When I examined the parts I thought this might work, but will need some patience and extra work. The first item was to remove the bridal arbor on the top side of the tumbler. (no I did not want to re do the bridal to accommodate the arbor) I assembled the parts and the first issue was the tumbler shoe encroached on the arc of the mainspring. This issue would not allow the lock to engage full cock. Not a problem I thought, I will just trim the arc a tad to give clearance. With that done the lock would finally go into full cock. Now that the lock goes to full cock, the hammer is short of contacting the nipple about 1/2 inch.
OH manure, what now? Still not a problem, I will just plug the square hole in the hammer with a threaded bolt, and then re cut the square for the tumbler. Ok, the hammer is on and tumbler goes to full cock, but now, when the lock is relaxed, the mainspring falls off the tumbler. Now what? I made a small 70 deg double leg stop to elongate the contact point on the tumbler. Not sure how to fasten, so I just riveted it on. Dumb Idea, cuz I accidentally tripped the lock not in the stock, and pulled the stop loose. Fixed that with a larger rivet, plus solder. Good, now we are set to go! No, not really! Put the lock in the stock and the new sear (never checked that dimension) has a longer leg between contact tip and the trigger contact bar. So what you say? Now, the trigger will not trip the sear. Still not a problem, but of course we are really into extra work here for the whole project. Had to remove the trigger and move the pivot point on the trigger. With the old pivot point removed and the new one solder in, I again looked at the issues. Being a very green builder in the 70s, I installed a trigger with very poor leverage geometry. The only way to fix that was modify the trigger bar to accommodate the new pivot point. I had to finagle so I would loose minimal trigger pull distance. OK, now we are getting close, but realized the trigger pull and the cocking effort was way too stout. No problem again, trim both springs and NOW I have a little gun that finally works much better. Somewhere in that gibberish I had to harden and temper the tumbler and parts, which went well, except the sand buried baked parts came out with sand almost glued to them.
Love them muzzleloaders, they always give you something to do and scratch your head about.
Flintlocklar
Love them muzzleloaders, they always give you something to do and scratch your head about.