Tenneseeeeeee Rifle back to flintlock

[Peter B]

I am looking at purchasing a 50 cal. Dixie Gun Works Tenn rifle. But it is percussion. Can I turn this back into a flintlock by changeing the lock plate out and taking out the drum on the barrel.

P

 

[Joel Lehman]

Yes you can. I did it with a LH rifle years ago. You use a 5/16 touch hole liner in place of the drum. L&R makes a replacement lock for the Dixie Tennessee Mountain Rifle. It may require some fitting.

I put the percussion lock back on and traded the rifle.I kept the Cochran lock which I put on a TOW Tennessee poor boy. I kick myself for trading the gun. I have fond memories of busting swinging turkey eggs at the Luckenbach World's Fair in the mid 80's. If you missed you had to eat the raw egg. I was lucky that day and hit all 5 eggs in a row at 25 yards.

 

[Peter B]

thanks pard

 

[Swampman]

The OEM lock is junk. Get the L&R replacement lock.

 

[Ivery Keys]

Really!? I have one of the Dixie rifles circa 1981 and it sparks everytime if I keep the flint and frizzen clean. No complaints from me. This is one of the Japanese made guns, I wish I did not have MIJ on the side of the barrel, but the lock works great for me...

Regards,

Ivery

 

[Swampman]

Polish the Made in Japan off and touch the barrel up. A lot of Civil War reenactors remove the markings from their barrel.

 

[weirdjack]

The OEM lock is junk. Get the L&R replacement lock.

You know, I did just that this past year. I bought into the hype that the L&R was a better lock than the original that's been on my Dixie for 27 years or so. I figured a new lock might be quicker and everyone told me, "The OEM lock is junk. Get the L&R replacement lock.". So I spent $125 at TOW for the L&R RPL lock, hogged the wood out to mount it in my Tennessee...and was dissapointed from the start.
About three weeks ago I finally got weary of the hassle, pulled off the L&R replacement lock, and went back to the original. The original is much less fussy of a lock, it sparks well, uses most any old flint, is not particular about how the flint is positioned, etc etc....it just fires the gun when I pull the trigger.
On the other hand, the L&R replacement was extrememly fussy about flint size (I had to knap flints short to fit), flint position, type, etc. And even then I had to knap the things every 8 shots or so or it wouldn't fire. Yes, it has a faster lock time, but the reliablility just wasn't there. I'm keeping it as a backup...but only because I don't want to burden someone else with one.
Jack

 

[Swampman]

It all depends on who assembles and tunes the lock. Most locks need to be worked over by a good gunsmith.

 

[weirdjack]

It all depends on who assembles and tunes the lock. Most locks need to be worked over by a good gunsmith.

I guess that means that the guy in Japan who assembled and tuned the original Dixie lock on my Tennessee did better in 1978 than the guy at L&R did this year ?
Seriously....when all was fitted, TUNED, fussed-with, said and done, I ended up putting the original back in the gun. I'll live with a slightly slower lock time if it's more reliable. A slower "Ka-Boom" is far better than a quick "Klatch!".
I would think that maybe I just got a lemon L&R, except that I've heard similar accounts from other RPL buyers. Although I am sure L&R makes some fine locks. I'm just not convinced that the RPL for the Dixie is one of them.
Jack

 

[44-henry]

I've had the same experiences, I bought a Dixie Tennessee flinter with the percussion lock included a few years ago, which is the second one of these I've owned over the years, both flintlocks have been very reliable. I had never touched the first one I had bought and didn't encounter any problems, but on this one I took the lock off and polished and tuned it and it works a lot smoother than my older one did. One thing I do notice, if you wanted to go from percussion to flintlock the L&R would be the way to go economically, take a look at what dixie charges for their conversion locks for these now, they are a lot more expensive than the L&R locks.

 

[Swampman]

I've owned one of them and I wouldn't buy another. They are cheap and a copy of a very late 19th c. rifle.