Go here;
http://home.insightbb.com/~bspen/flintterm.html
to get a good picture, and list of parts for any flintlock, to use as your road map. No, the lock won't be identical, but functionally, all the parts are the same, and located in the same place.
The frizzen spring is on the outside of the lockplate. Its separate from the internal parts. It should not "complicate" things at all.
To mount the frizzen, simply insert the frizzen screw or pin, and open the frizzen so its not causing clearance issues with the frizzen spring as its install. The real problem is that if you didn't Note how compressed that frizzen spring was when you removed it, You will have to guess on how much to compress it to install it. There is a huge opportunity for you to compress it too much, and break the V-spring. Go slowly, and constantly test to see of the spring will fit into the plate so you won't compress the spring too much.
If this IS your first Flintlock, I suggest you obtain a V-spring vise from Dixie GWs or any other supplier to use to compress and install this SPRING. Without the proper equipment, or knowledge on how to do this with other tools you may have on hand without damaging the spring, you risk breakage.
That same spring vise will be needed to compress the main spring when its finally seated.
As to the internals, I like to install the tumbler, ( the hammer is attached) thru the plate, and then the sear, "fly", and then bridle to hold them all down, without either spring in place. I then test the movement of the parts manually, to locate any spots that rub, remove that part and polish it to clear it from rubbing against the lock plate, or any other part where it should not rub.
This is when a lot of new guys will crank those screws down too tight!, BTW. Don't Do that!!! Its not necessary.
If, for instance, you crank down the screws that hold the bridle too much, you can prevent the free movement of parts under it. Screws should be snug, but NOT TIGHT. You can put a small drop of "Lock-tite" or varnish, or lacquer( Nail polish works) on the threads when the screws are dry, before inserting and snugging them down, to prevent the screw from backing out.
NO screw should be extending OUT THROUGH the lock plate far enough to feel it. Some locks will have the heads of bolts rounded, and those stick out ever so small out of the lock plate, but not enough to interfere with the fall of the hammer. When you look down the plane of the lock plate from one end, those screw noses should just be slightly visible above the plate, and only the round centers of those screws should be visible.
When I am screwing down a screw into the lock plate, I place the tip of my finger on the hole in the lock plate, on the outside of the plate, so I can FEEL when the Screw is reaching the right depth. The nose of the screw will push against my finger tip as it seats.
I like to put the sear spring into its place using needle nose pliers, after the sear is attached. The mainspring is the last item to install( and the first to remove, when you are working on the lock.)
Now, check the movement of the parts. Except for the tension put on them by the two springs, they should move as smoothly against the lockplate, or each other as they did when the springs were NOT in the lock.
If parts are binding, or scraping together, check to see that you mounted the springs in their proper location. Sometimes, you have a bad spring, and the only cure is to replace it.
I have worked on two different commercial locks where the nose of the mainspring was poorly made, and required me to change it. In one lock, the mainspring "hook" was too long as was pushing against the tumbler as the hammer was cocked, putting lots of extra pressure against the tumbler and bruising the owner's thumb as he tried to cock the hammer to full cock. I filed and polished the nose of that "hook", to shorten it enough so it rode the horn, and didn't push up against the tumbler. The difference in the lock was amazing.
The other lock had a badly shaped "hook", and it put uneven pressure on the horn of the tumbler, forcing the tumbler to rub against the lock plate. I squared the nose of the "hook", so that the pressure was even, and then polished it, and the top of the horn, so that the two surfaces moved against each other smoothly( like glass), and that fixed that problem. That is the only lock with that problem I have seen, or heard of, to date.
Anyway, that is the order in which the parts should be re-assembled. If you make use of the diagrams and legends, you should be able to put it all back together. Pad the jaws of any thing you use to compress those v-springs, BTW. You don't want to mar the surface of those springs with the steel jaws of any pliers, or vise.
OH, if you took the hammer OFF the tumbler stud, its important that you orient the square hole in the hammer with the correct flats of the stud. Don't force things. The hammer, when its fit in the right place, should tap onto the stud with only light pressure or taps from a non-metallic hammer head. What appears to be square( and we talk about it as square), often has one side a bit longer than the other three.
If you don't know which location the tumbler should be in when you put the hammer back on, First install the tumbler. Now turn it until the Horn is pointing towards the forward lock plate bolt hole. With the tumbler turned into that position, the hammer should be forward at its stop on the lock plate/bolster. Align the hammer in that position so that you can look through the "square" to see the stud. Now move the hammer back or forward enough to align with those flats of the stud, and press the hammer onto the stud with your fingers. If it doesn't go, something is wrong.
Don't force it.
Check the inside of the lock to make sure that the sear nose is Not in either the full cock, or half cock notches of the tumbler. Then repeat the alignment drill, and fit the hammer to the stud.
Sometimes people bang that soft stud up when they remove the hammers. When that happens, the stud might not let you put the hammer back on so easily. Use a very fine jeweler's file, or India stone to polish the stud's flats, and remove any burrs you created by being too rough when removing the stud from the hammer. This happens most often when people use a steel drift or nail head to hammer on the stud. Always use brass or aluminum drift pins on these critical studs. Many small blows will accomplish the separation, without damage to the stud, when a big WHACK will damage it badly.
If you used a screwdriver, or cold chisel, to remove the hammer from the tumbler, rather then removing the tumbler stud from the hammer, you may have actually Bent the stud. There is not a lot of metal around the threaded hole in the square stud on that tumbler, and it can be damaged rather easily using the wrong separation technique.
Use the large-headed hammer screw, threaded into the stud, without the hammer in place, to check to see if you have bent the stud. If you did, you probably won't be able to turn the screw into the stud. Unless you have a well equipped machine shop, its probably time to buy another tumbler.
Next time you work on any gun lock, think in terms of working on a fine Swiss Watch, rather than the undercarriage of an automobile. Leave the Gorilla out of the shop for this kind of work.
I hear more horror stories from gunsmiths, than I see, simply because I am not tuning locks to make a living. But, the gunsmiths who know me, or have seen my work, have no trouble telling me about their worst cases, or asking my advise when they have a bad lock in front of them.
I don't have all the answers, but I have had my share of "weird problems", with locks, and experience has shown me most of the ways locks get that way. :shocked2:
:youcrazy: :rotf: :surrender: :thumbsup:
