So many variables, as smellie and Mc say tune the lock. My Indian Bess is as fast as Nessy's Ron Scott rifle.
From Track of the Wolf
"Tuning a flint lock gun requires much more than simply hardening the frizzen. The vent liner must be
located above the pan, and properly counterbored inside the barrel. The lock must have minimum friction,
and maximum spring tension. The frizzen must be adjusted to snap open at the proper time, yet not rebound.
Simple problems such as tight inletting, tight internal screws, or tight lock bolts can slow lock time."
From paulvallandigham muzzleloadingforum.com 12/15/11 01:32 AM - Post#1081857
Tuning locks involves " Reverse Engineering". That is, you begin where you want to go, and go back wards, one step at a time from there. anything that hinders the final goal( quick ignition of the main charge) needs to be "Fixed".
Percussion locks have 2 springs; flintlocks have 3. Each spring provides energy to perform separate functions from the other(s). To tune the lock, you remove all the springs, and then the parts, and begin with the lock plate. Most plates ARE soft. Their thickness, and the tension of the mainspring on the tumbler actually will determine if case hardening the lock plate should be done.
The plate must be Flat along the inside, so that all the internal parts attached to it can move freely. I test the parts manually, to check clearance, and properly angled points of contact, BEFORE I put those parts' spring back in the lock.
The order I work on parts after checking the lockplate is:
1. The frizzen, and its spring;
2. The mainspring and the tumbler( along with the tumbler bridle, and fly, if present.)
3. The sear bar, and its spring.
The logic of my madness? Everything in a lock leads up to that flint striking the frizzen properly to produce sparks, and getting them down in the flash pan as quickly as possible.
If the frizzen binds, or is slow to open, we fail. The result is inconsistent ignition, at best, short flint life, and lack of shooter confidence in his gun. All can cause a missed shot.
So, I work on the frizzen and its spring FIRST. Since these items are on the outside of the lock plate, they are also the easiest to observe in operation on the gun.
The rotation of that hammer( ####) is all important, in a flintlock, so the hammer, tumbler, and mainspring become the next most important items to work on. Most locks have a bridle to support the tumbler, and most tumblers today are designed to be used with a double set trigger. That then requires a " Fly" installed on the tumbler to allow the sear to slide over the half #### notch when the gun is fired.
The tumbler has to rotate as smooth as glass in the lock plate hole. check this manual, without the mainspring attached to the tumbler. Later when you are checking, and polishing the contact surfaces between the hook of the mainspring and the horn of the tumbler( if the tumbler is designed this old-fashioned style) You will want to examine how squared the nose of the hook is to the horn, so that the spring is not putting TORQUE on the tumbler and creating binding and wear to the tumbler and the hole in the lock plate. I have examined locks where the nose of the hook on the lower arm of the mainspring is so out-of-square that the mainspring actually will slide off the horn unless held in place by the wood in the lock mortise!
Contact points of the springs, and the parts they move must be polished to a glass smooth surface to get the least friction, and the best mechanical performance of both the springs, and the moving parts.
The small sear spring has the least tension, moves the least, and therefore usually requires the least amount of work to bring it up to best performance. Its simple job is to push down on the sear bar, so that the sear goes back to its "unfired" position, awaiting for the hammer to be re-cocked. In some actions, the sear spring also has to move the trigger back to its "rest" position. Polishing the nose of the sear spring, and the contact surface on the sear so that the parts move without any hesitation- smooth as glass- will give you the best working performance.
Once you get the lock all polished, oiled, and put back together, you can move on to design issues, such as how tall the #### is, where the flint strikes the frizzen( Angle of impact), where the flint edge is located during its cycle when the frizzen opens( or not), TH location, size of TH, How much powder to use in the flash pan, and then the proper techniques for loading your gun to maximize fast ignition.
Many of the foreign made locks are being produced by people who just copy some lock they see in a museum, without knowing if its a good lock or not. They think the frizzen spring's job is to hold the frizzen closed, so that the flint bites deeply into the face of the frizzen to Gouge out metal. They are wrong. One of the oldest "Tests" of a good lock is to leave the frizzen spring out of the lock, and test fire the gun. If its tuned properly, the gun fires quickly and surely everytime you load it, and the flash pan, #### and pull the trigger.
The ONLY JOB a frizzen spring was ever intended to do was keep the frizzen CLOSED when the gun was carried muzzle down.
Man of the modern locks have coil springs and struts, use bar and stirrup connections to join the mainspring to the tumbler. These lock require different approaches to tuning, but all the directions on taking the parts down from the lock plate apply, and polishing them, are the same. Testing them manually is also the same.
Most of the coil springs are "over-engineered", and need to have coils clipped off of them to prevent stacking, and to stop the "rattle and tickle" these heavy springs deliver to the entire gun. Because of the bar and stirrups connection the coil spring strut to the tumbler, you are limited to what can be done to improve the speed of rotation of the tumbler in these locks. Advanced tuning of these kinds of lock involves making a new tumbler and changing the location of the half-####, and full-#### notches to allow a shorter, faster rotation. For many target shooters, the half #### may become the full-#### notch, and no half #### notch will be provided.
I mention these anomalies simply to alert you to the fact that NOT ALL locks are made alike. The same REVERSE ENGINEERING principles will work in analyzing what needs to be "Fixed" on any lock to make its parts move more smoothly, and therefore faster, however. Care and maintenance thereafter determines how well a tuned lock continues to perform. "
