What is the best quality Flint lock assembly...

[Dave K]

They are Tom Fuller's flints. But, the point I want to make is, it is the lock. The lock is the heart and soul of a good gun. A good lock can make or break, another wise well built gun. I have one brand of lock that just is not as good at keeping the gun shooting as another brand of lock. Heck, if you want, just send me your old flints so I can keep shooting. :wink: Of course, I really only need a few to give me a lifetime supply. :thumbsup: Heck, maybe I should try using chirt. :grin: Heck, didn't I hear that Tom Fuller retired? He didn't retire, he just gave up when he heard about these locks. :grin:

 

[B Shipman]

Yes, Walter Cain Siler's are exceptional. Just a standard Siler, but perfect hardening. My personal rifle built in 1983, has a Cain Siler. The frizzen screw has a hard carbon steel pin instead. Not even threaded. All just as good as it was 25 years later. Bevel down.

This rifle has a dinged up natural patina look that is imitated by many yet real on this rifle. I've been offered 3 times what it would have cost back then. Not a great investment but you get to enjoy it. So much for the "too pretty to take in the woods".

As a custom builder, we want to make new pieces, not honor obligations to make failed things work.
Ergo, we find the best. If we have a brain. Those that don't, generally suffer.

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

I have a single set trigger that was made by Walter Cain and it is perfect. No castings--everything is machined and polished just right. I had no idea that he built locks for Jim Chambers, too. Good to know.

 

[SimonG]

Dave K , I don't have a problem with dull flints, most of my flints break in a week of hunting small game , I can usually go a full season of big game or more because of the fewer shots, but in a long period of shooting the flints usually break to the point that there is not a good way to secure them, or they are so short from knapping that they won't reach the frizzen AND be held by the jaws well.

you knwothe lfint is about done when the little bugger flips out of the jaws on the strike, many break some far too soon I think, but I mainly have L&R locks on the guns, sounds like they are junk from the way they go through flints huh?

thanks for the info!

 

[B Shipman]

Russ T. , Walter Cain doesn't, as far as I know, build locks for Chambers. He made Siler locks when Siler owned the Co. way back and was, IMHO, the best at the time. Back then, this is what I used.
When you're building rifles to sell, what you do not want is repair work. The best thing that can happen is that they work forever. Nothing does, but this is what you strive for.

 

[Dphar]

This is a small siler on a rifle with a "C" weight swamped barrel. So either will work fine on most rifles.

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

I wish he still built those locks--his triggers are pretty much indestructible!

 

Russ T. , Walter Cain doesn't, as far as I know, build locks for Chambers. He made Siler locks when Siler owned the Co. way back and was, IMHO, the best at the time. Back then, this is what I used.
When you're building rifles to sell, what you do not want is repair work. The best thing that can happen is that they work forever. Nothing does, but this is what you strive for.

Correct. Sorry if my previous post didn't clarify that. Mr. Cain does not build locks for Chambers. He does, however, buy kits, assembles them and sells them. And Jim said he would stand behind anylock made by Mr. Cain.

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

So it is still possible to get a Siler built by Walter Cain?

 

So it is still possible to get a Siler built by Walter Cain?

Should be, this was recent (last 2 or 3 months) that I heard it. I don't have his contact number, but I imagine Jim or Barbie Chambers would.

 

[roundball]

OK, I have what I need from my thread, thanks to all those who made positive contributions.

 

[Capt. Jas.]

I just found an unfired Walter Cain made Siler that I did not know I had. Slick as eel snot and it has the frizzen pin that Bill Shipman described. Drilled and tapped but not never a flint in it.

 

[hanshi]

Found this thread a little late but here's my :2 worth.

I have a small Siler, two large Silers, a Chambers GA lock and a Chambers Colonial Va lock. Any decent flint will give me upwards of a hundred shots in any of my locks; some quite a bit more, some not so many. All of these locks are so reliable that I never think in terms of a FTF. "Possibly" the most reliable is a large Siler on a TVM LL. I don't know who assembles their locks but they are good. The Chambers locks I have need no explanation.

 

[mhb]

Does anyone know whether Walter Cain still makes his set triggers? And, if so, how to contact him?
I'd really like to replace the single-function single set trigger on my flint longrifle with one of his double-function (capable of tripping the lock either set or unset) triggers.
Thanks!
mhb - Mike

 

[Captjoel]

I am sad to say that Mr. Cain is no longer with us. He was listed in the Last Relay of the June 2012 edition of Muzzle Blasts magazine. http://obits.cleveland.com/obituaries/cleveland/obituary.aspx?pid=156770262#fbLoggedOut

 

[pargent]

Twigg , Mortimer ,Durrs Egg . sorry

 

[mhb]

That is sad news.
Should anyone find one of his double-function single set triggers, please keep me in mind.
Thanks;
mhb - Mike