I picked up the remains of a maynard tape priming springfield lock at a gun show recently and have finished rebuilding it (for the moment at least). The locks are fairly uncommon as there were only about 50,000 made for the pattern 1855 springfield rifle prior to the recent unpleasantness south of the border. There were variations of them made by other armouries for the earlier pattern 1842 musket. They were discontinued as impractical
This one was missing the gate or door on the outside and the bridle, sear and pall that advances the tape plus the sear spring was broken. The bridle screw was broken off in the sideplate and I ended up having to drill most of it out then make a tap to match the original thread and retap the hole. I got the pall right on the second try and was a fiddly thing to make especially since I only partially knew what it looked like.
I can see why they were discontinued; the pall seems like a part waiting to malfunction and I suspect it would not take a lot of crud to jam the lock. The hinge on the gate also seems a weak point because the original was probably case hardened and I can see the hinge breaking off, which is what happened on my lock. I also suspect that in wet weather, the priming tape could get damp and not fire.
cheers mooncoon
This one was missing the gate or door on the outside and the bridle, sear and pall that advances the tape plus the sear spring was broken. The bridle screw was broken off in the sideplate and I ended up having to drill most of it out then make a tap to match the original thread and retap the hole. I got the pall right on the second try and was a fiddly thing to make especially since I only partially knew what it looked like.
I can see why they were discontinued; the pall seems like a part waiting to malfunction and I suspect it would not take a lot of crud to jam the lock. The hinge on the gate also seems a weak point because the original was probably case hardened and I can see the hinge breaking off, which is what happened on my lock. I also suspect that in wet weather, the priming tape could get damp and not fire.
cheers mooncoon
