Tuning Locks and Triggers

[TDM]

Thought this might be a good cabin fever discussion. Can you can turn a hog’s ear into a silk purse with enough polishing?

 

[Phil Coffins]

No, if a poor design is started with it will remain a poor design. Poor material can be slightly improved but the effort would be better spent on starting over with good material. Cheap is the expensive way get no where.

 

[morehops52]

I'm not to sure about a hog's ear but I've found that a simple bit of lube in the right places can work wonders on a normal mass-produced lock. I'm not a metalworker so I don't go beyond a small amount of 400 paper and LIGHT gun oil. I used a moly lube once in a severe case. I've been able to lighten a trigger considerably without having to disassemble the lock. As far as tuning goes there are fellows on here that will give you the details to 0,0001 in. and I'm looking forward to them replying

 

[SOLANCO]

No, if a poor design is started with it will remain a poor design. Poor material can be slightly improved but the effort would be better spent on starting over with good material. Cheap is the expensive way get no where.

You do not always get what you pay for. You will very rarely get anything you did not pay for.

 

[FishDFly]

Thought this might be a good cabin fever discussion. Can you can turn a hog’s ear into a silk purse with enough polishing?

Nope.

 

[BillKilgore]

I am still fairly new to muzzleloading and all I have done is clean and lube my locks. Both of my rifles have Chambers' large Siler locks. For the fellows who "tune" their locks, what specifically do you do?

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

Well, I'll disagree ... with one caveat. The example is an import factory made lock that was just assembled 'as is' and not tuned, and I bet not even touched less to assemble it. As I received it from someone here on a Zoli 1803 Harpers Ferry rifle, the trigger pull was atrocious, off my trigger scale that goes to 8-pounds. The Seller even sold it as they hated shooting it!

So I disassemble it with the special spring tool, diamond honed all bearing surfaces, judiciously stoned the engagement surfaces and then get to the spring tension. The sear spring was 2X stronger than it needed to be. Carefully took that down. Reassembled, tested, took apart, tuned ... repeat ... etc., until satisfied

She now has a positive, crisp and safe 3-1/2+ trigger pull. It now shoots like a dream! Even my good friend who has both an original 1803 and one from a TRS kit likes it. Now I dared not to go any lighter in pull weight as this lock doesn't have a fly and from my experience, trying to tune such a lock 'too light' can result in the sear nose getting trapped into the 1/2-**** notch, due to too light a pull. [Adding tension to the sear spring is the fix for this BTW, in case you run into it.]

But back to the question - and the caveat - if of poor materials to start with or poor geometry, sometimes ... yeah, you just can't fix them.

Times you can't - are like when the notches on the tumbler were not cut/positioned correctly so the sear lever stays in approximately the same orientation, and it's impossible to correct them. But sometimes you can fix them - examples here are one can reharden the metal or say with the Gen1 T/C flintlock **** ... heat it and bend it forward for the better angle of attack.

 

[Phil Coffins]

I’ve been around a few fellows and seen some on this forum that can do amazing work. But I haven’t met anyone that could change this hogs ear into even a cloth bag. Detailing a mass produced lock that has the basic design and reasonable materials isn’t a hogs ear to me.
IMG_0403 by Oliver Sudden, on Flickr

 

[Widows Son]

I’ve been around a few fellows and seen some on this forum that can do amazing work. But I haven’t met anyone that could change this hogs ear into even a cloth bag. Detailing a mass produced lock that has the basic design and reasonable materials isn’t a hogs ear to me.
IMG_0403 by Oliver Sudden, on Flickr

That reminds me of the lock on my early 1980’s CVA Kentucky rifle. I think it was called a ‘small Maslin’ lock. I thought the adjustment screw in the tumbler was a clever idea.