Siler Mainspring

[Zonie]

Hear that Finnwolf?

Send your lock back to Chambers and let them look at it.

They know what to look for to see if there is a potential problem with interference between the parts and they would be glad to fix anything they find that is wrong.

You can't beat that deal with a stick!

As Barbie said, things sometimes break and I'm sure if they look over your lock and return it to you they would be more than happy to stand behind their product and fix it for you for free. :thumbsup:

 

[Finnwolf]

What can I say, but send it back! Send the gun to the builder, or send the lock to Chambers, but do something besides wondering how long it will be out of your hands. I am sure I am sounding very hard on you and for that I appologize, but we also have to think of others that are hurt by not following the advice given. :surrender:

If I send the gun back, it costs me at least $75. It it gets lost or damaged it costs me way more. The gun is gone to AZ at least for 2 weeks even if the builder fixes it the same day.
If I send the lock to VA, it only costs me $4-5 dollars but again, who knows how long it's gone.
I wanted to try to fix this myself and not bother anyone. I like to shoot a lot and not having this gun for awhile is more than an inconvenience to me. People do more with a gun than hunt for your info. This is the only flintlock I still own.
My mistake was in thinking that you "experts" could give me some insight on a real mystery. I approached this in the best way I could, malicious to no one. I took photos and sent them in. I anwered all requests for data as best I could. I endured hairbrained ideas like "the land might be jinxed".

My mistake was thinking that you amatuers could do anything to help. All you did is take a valid question and attack me cause you can't answer it. I won't make that mistake again any time soon.

 

[Fishhog]

What can I say, but send it back! Send the gun to the builder, or send the lock to Chambers, but do something besides wondering how long it will be out of your hands. I am sure I am sounding very hard on you and for that I appologize, but we also have to think of others that are hurt by not following the advice given. :surrender:

If I send the gun back, it costs me at least $75. It it gets lost or damaged it costs me way more. The gun is gone to AZ at least for 2 weeks even if the builder fixes it the same day.
If I send the lock to VA, it only costs me $4-5 dollars but again, who knows how long it's gone.
I wanted to try to fix this myself and not bother anyone. I like to shoot a lot and not having this gun for awhile is more than an inconvenience to me. People do more with a gun than hunt for your info. This is the only flintlock I still own.
My mistake was in thinking that you "experts" could give me some insight on a real mystery. I approached this in the best way I could, malicious to no one. I took photos and sent them in. I anwered all requests for data as best I could. I endured hairbrained ideas like "the land might be jinxed".

My mistake was thinking that you amatuers could do anything to help. All you did is take a valid question and attack me cause you can't answer it. I won't make that mistake again any time soon.

Finnwolf,relax man!! Best case would be to send the lock back to Barbie,even if it isn't one of theirs,probably 8 to 12 days turn around max..Followed your previous posts going back and forth with Roundball on your TC problems and bit my tongue on that one..Some Guys and girls on this sight are way more knowledgable than both you and I combined when it comes to muzzleloaders and their problems..No sense coming off like everyone is out to get you,you got some very good ideas on your siler problem.I feel bad for Dane the gun builder,he does great builds from what I have heard and seen and now he is pulled in this thread not fair to him ...Ray

 

[Frank/Pa]

What can I say, but send it back! Send the gun to the builder, or send the lock to Chambers, but do something besides wondering how long it will be out of your hands. I am sure I am sounding very hard on you and for that I appologize, but we also have to think of others that are hurt by not following the advice given. :surrender:

If I send the gun back, it costs me at least $75. It it gets lost or damaged it costs me way more. The gun is gone to AZ at least for 2 weeks even if the builder fixes it the same day.
If I send the lock to VA, it only costs me $4-5 dollars but again, who knows how long it's gone.
I wanted to try to fix this myself and not bother anyone. I like to shoot a lot and not having this gun for awhile is more than an inconvenience to me. People do more with a gun than hunt for your info. This is the only flintlock I still own.
My mistake was in thinking that you "experts" could give me some insight on a real mystery. I approached this in the best way I could, malicious to no one. I took photos and sent them in. I anwered all requests for data as best I could. I endured hairbrained ideas like "the land might be jinxed".

My mistake was thinking that you amatuers could do anything to help. All you did is take a valid question and attack me cause you can't answer it. I won't make that mistake again any time soon.

Lighten up. It is hard to determine the problem without having the lock in your hands, and everyone here is trying to help based on what you told them.

 

[Dave K]

Is the gun broke right now? If it is, you may want to watch it for a while to see if it heals. If it works, shoot it till it breaks. Maybe it won't break. All I know, is when I want something fixed, I go and get'r done. I know allot of things but everything is not one of them. I do know where to get the address of where I can get'r done though. I have only one flinter as well to hunt deer with and believe me, I do allot more with a gun then just wait for deer season. :idunno:

This thread has gone on long enough by now that if the lock was sent, you could be finding out by now what was wrong with it and by the best lock people in the world. If there was a problem, you could be sharing what you learned with us and make us even better experts. Heck, you could be expert then too. :v

 

[Zonie]

Finnwolf said, "...My mistake was in thinking that you "experts" could give me some insight on a real mystery....My mistake was thinking that you amatuers could do anything to help..."

-----------
My thanks for your complimentary observations of our members.

Our members try to give their best recommendations about problems such as yours, sight unseen and I commend them for their efforts.

For them to take their own time to help another member does indeed speak highly of them.

Only a few seem to enjoy having a problem and are unwilling to take good advice they asked for.
I don't understand this thinking but then, being an amateur, I'm not expected to.

Oh well, perhaps I can misguide someone who will be willing to use my amateur thoughts?

To clarify the above, it really irks me to have someone present a problem and to have our members take their time to give ideas that could help, only to have their efforts slapped back in their faces.
Personally, I think someone owes all of those who tried to help with this problem a big apology.

 

[paulvallandigham]

I don't know many members who claim to be experts here- save perhaps Stophel, and Brooks--- about anything. Most of are struggling amateurs, who simply have suffered the frustrations of parts that don't fit, don't work right, break when they shouldn't, and all many of problems with both loading and cleaning these Traditional guns. We are trying to help others who are experiencing some of the same problems we believe we understand from what they post, because we have BEEN THERE, DONE THAT, and don't want to experience it again! :shocked2: :hmm: :surrender: 99% of the members here are here because they really don't want others going through those same frustrations.

Not all shooters and gun owners think that way. I know lots of guys who sit around knowing someone is going to do something wrong, and his gun won't work, or he misses the target, so they can laugh at him. I don't see much laughing at posters here.

One of the greatest limitation of this Internet is that even pictures, which are two dimensional, are usually NOT good enough to let us see what we need to see to really know what some problems are with locks and parts. Without three- dimensional views, you simply can't get the same perspective as you do holding the item in your own hands, and inspecting it from any angle you choose.

I learned to tune flintlocks from a long time hunting buddy, who was a black powder gunsmith and gunbuilder. Over the years, since his death, I have worked on various locks- mostly owned by other club members who ask me to help them figure out what is wrong. My experience is limited by the number, and kind of locks I have been asked to work on, naturally, so I make no claim to know everything about every lock made, now or in the past. They do have parts in common, and there are a finite way to screw up their function. I think I have learned most of them. I would never claim to know all of them. :idunno: :hmm:

We amateurs have tried to help you out as best we can. Our advice is obviously not good enough to you. That is your privilege to make such a decision, no matter how offensive your remarks are to all of us.

If I had a problem with a Chamber's lock, it would go back to Chambers to fix. Period. I would notify the builder of the gun of the problem, but I would send it back to Chambers, not the builder. Builders install locks in stocks. They don't cast, or harden, or temper springs and parts for the lock. If I had a problem with a GM barrel, I would not talk to the gunbuilder about it: I would call GM instead.

You have received extraordinary advice, IMHO, from all the amateurs who have offered to help. I thank you for posting the pictures of the broken springs. The quality of the photo did not allow a lot of close inspection, but just the location of the break was informative. I was able to rule out several sources of problems that break springs, as did others here. I know if I had that lock and those springs in hand to inspect, that I would learn much more.

Whether I could solve the mystery as to what caused 2 springs to break in such a short amount of time, I can't say. Until I physically inspect something, I have no chance to have any reasonable expectation of solving such an issue.

I feel for you having to miss the use of a gun for a few weeks, but most of the hunting seasons are done, and now is the time to have work done on a gun so you can have it back for Spring hunting seasons, for summer practice, and for next Fall's hunting seasons. I hope you will come back and share with us whatever you learn from future inspections by anyone. :thumbsup:

 

[Tumblernotch]

Finnwolf said, "...My mistake was in thinking that you "experts" could give me some insight on a real mystery....My mistake was thinking that you amatuers could do anything to help..."

-----------
My thanks for your complimentary observations of our members.

Our members try to give their best recommendations about problems such as yours, sight unseen and I commend them for their efforts.

For them to take their own time to help another member does indeed speak highly of them.

Only a few seem to enjoy having a problem and are unwilling to take good advice they asked for.
I don't understand this thinking but then, being an amateur, I'm not expected to.

Oh well, perhaps I can misguide someone who will be willing to use my amateur thoughts?

To clarify the above, it really irks me to have someone present a problem and to have our members take their time to give ideas that could help, only to have their efforts slapped back in their faces.
Personally, I think someone owes all of those who tried to help with this problem a big apology.

I thank him as well. I don't know what it takes to be an "expert" so I'll continue to be an amateur with 36 years experience in shooting, repairing and building these things. I can't claim to know it all because I don't know it all. Since we couldn't hold the parts in our hands and examine them, we had to base our ideas of what went wrong on our own past experiences that may have been similiar or whatever knowledge we may have about steel or tempering. I reckon we failed, Zonie. If it was my gun, it would be shooting by now because I would have done one of two things. Either sent the lock to Chambers and let them have a look at it or, being the "amateur" that I am, I would have fixed it Myself. :wink:

Such remarks as those made towards those who tried to help kinda make me hesitant to try something so foolish ever again.

 

[bob243]

Really being an ammeture at this, I ordered a un-named lock when I got it, it did not function properly. After some investigation I figured the problems with it. Sure at first I was a bit grumpy about it at first, and was prepared to return it, however I opted to use it as a learning tool instead.. After an hour of time with a stone, and a fly from a donar lock I have a lock which functions perfectly. When I called to cancel the RMA I let them know to pass on the info to the maker. So instead of $5.00 in shipping, I spent (or will spend $1.50 on my next order) and an hour of my time. I would consider the experianced gained to be worth 1000x more valuable than the $1.50.

One of the biggest and most important lessons I learned in this hoppie as a whole (shooting, building, fixing, experimenting) was patients.

 

[barbie]

I love the fact that most on this page, and other chat pages too, are so willing to learn and so willing to teach at the same time. You guys have helped us out tremendously since these boards started up by answering a ton of questions for us and for the beginner gun builders. Thank you all!

Finnwolf, I know you stated that you wanted not to step on toes, but without giving us an opportunity to try and solve this question you have essentially tied our hands at helping. We can't answer the question without seeing the lock, thus we can't clear our name from a supposed problem either. At this point I must once again state I am not sure what it is you truly want from us or this board. Most of the answers you've gotten have had merit to them, but can only be based on the info you've given which unfortunately is not enough to solve the question. I rebuked a few of the answers for you, but there are still several that could be answered if the lock were on hand.

As for your time constraints with having the lock worked on, you never even asked us how long it takes to get a lock serviced and back to you. Typically we can get a lock in and turned around within a day, if not then two. We ship all locks priority mail so in all fair estimates assuming you ship it to us priority mail ($4.95) then the turn around would be 8 business days total.

As for this lock... I still have one SERIOUS concern at this point of not having the lock inspected. If there is an actual functional problem with the lock and it is not discovered but allowed to continue being used until it breaks, the chances of it breaking in the stock and causing damage to the gun itself is there. I think one of the worst problems I see when a lock malfunctions is when a main spring blows out (breaks) while inside the gun and under high tension. Usually it will blow both metal and wood out the bottom of the stock. Now instead of being out a lock for a few days to have it inspected, you are out a complete gun that may be fixable, or may have to be completely restocked. An 8 day loss of use to me is nothing compared to the risk being taken of further damage. Please consider this a fair and upfront WARNING.

 

[barbie]

On another note, now that I know who the builder is, I know there is no problem with the stock. Dane does great work and definitely can stand behind his own quality.

 

[BV]

Now I know why the professionals are hesitant to engage in long distance diagnosis.