Davis Colonial American lock

[Mauser06]

Anyone have experience with this lock??   Happen to have pics of it in a rifle??



One of the builds "in the closet" will be built around a 62cal 42" octagon to round Rice. It has a fairly beefy breech but quickly tapers out and is a very light weight barrel. 

I am thinking it wants to be an early gun... Early Lancaster-Albrecth-Christian Springs-ish. 

I think I he lock would be appropriate. I believe it would fit the barrel well...so far, I've only used Chambers locks. 

I'd also be open to any other suggestions for the build.  Will likely be a personal hunting rifle which means I want a reliable sparky lock. 

I like working on collecting my parts before I need them so when one is done I am ready to go with the next. 


Thanx!

[Stoner creek]

I have one on an early gun that Mike Brooks did. After I got the sights lined up I went out and won a rifle frolic with the gun. That gun is my go-to deer season partner too.  I was very satisfied with it. In fact I went out and bought a half dozen of them to have around for future projects. It sounds like the build that you’re planning would be a perfect platform for that lock. I’ll try to post a picture of it later.
That Chambers Early Ketland would make an excellent choice too. I’m shooting one of those on my target rifle as we speak.

[Mike Brooks]

Excellent locks, I have used probably a 1/2 dozen or more.

[bama]

Yep, it's a good lock.

[smart dog]

Hi,
I used that lock on this rifle:


I originally thought it would be a really good lock.  However, the one I got had problems.  First, the flintcock is too big and because the lock allows too much travel backward for the flintcock beyond full cock, you have to be careful that the bend in the flint cock does not dent your stock. The frizzen and mainsprings are poorly balanced and the lock has mediocre performance after 10 or so shots.  On my lock there were casting voids at the bend of the flint cock and at the rear of the lock plate bolster. The bolster collapsed into dust where I drilled the rear lock bolt hole and the flintcock broke at the void in the bend. 

dave

[Frank]

Typical of most Davis locks. They are a hit or miss proposition. I stopped using them because of that and use Chambers locks exclusively.

[Mike Brooks]

Hi,
I used that lock on this rifle:


I originally thought it would be a really good lock.  However, the one I got had problems.  First, the flintcock is too big and because the lock allows too much travel backward for the flintcock beyond full cock, you have to be careful that the bend in the flint cock does not dent your stock. The frizzen and mainsprings are poorly balanced and the lock has mediocre performance after 10 or so shots.  On my lock there were casting voids at the bend of the flint cock and at the rear of the lock plate bolster. The bolster collapsed into dust where I drilled the rear lock bolt hole and the flintcock broke at the void in the bend. 

dave

Never had any of those problems.

[smart dog]

Hi Mike,
Well I guess it is just me right?  What the heck do I know.

dave

[okawbow]

My favorite lock. Very dependable and quite fast for a larger lock. I’ve won many offhand matches and even chunk gun matches with that lock.

[B.Barker]

Check out Chris Laubach's new lock. I seen a video of it and that thing really throws the sparks. It's good for an early gun too.

[Sawfiler]

Got one on a fowler. Pretty disappointed when compared to a chambers lock. It looks great, I had problems with sears breaking/frizzen hardness and other issues. I probably won’t buy Davis locks again based on the one I received

[Mauser06]

Man....I gotta admit my head is spinning now!   


Really never had such mixed reviews.  Sounds like maybe some QC issues maybe?     Maybe they were going through a spell or who knows...I don't know what to make of it.   

[BFox]

As with Dave I had a similar problem with casting voids on the neck of the cock.

[smart dog]

Hi Mauser,
You hit the nail on the head.  Some of the issues result from spotty QC and materials.  The over travel of the flintcock is a design issue.  Look closely at the photo I posted above.  Behind the flintcock on the stock of the wood, you can see the little dent created by the flintcock pulling back too far beyond full cock.  No one can ever accuse me of leaving too much wood on stocks around locks and the only way I could resolve the problem was grinding and reshaping the bend of the flintcock so it cleared the wood if I pulled it back to where it is stopped by the lock tumbler. Davis replaced the flintcock but I just ground off the cracked and broken bolster at the rear lock bolt hole because the thick plate had plenty of threads to hold the screw and I had reshaped the plate and inlet it.  I would have had to reshape a new plate exactly the same to fit the mortice and the old one still works.  I have a replacement plate ready to be shaped if I have problems in the future. I also do not like that they use small 6-40 screws for the internals despite the size of the lock and parts. They could easily fit stronger 8-40 screws.  It seems Davis uses 6-40s in all of their locks so it is a cost cutting measure.

dave

[Mike Brooks]

Hi Mike,
Well I guess it is just me right?  What the heck do I know.

dave

You know a lot more about locks than I do. I use three locks from davis, this big colonial, the English trade gun lock and the late ketland, all of these have worked excellent for me. On the other hand,  I haven't been able to get their other flintlock models to work well enough to put on a gun.

[Mauser06]

Thanx Dave!   


Really torn. Love the looks of that lock.  I think it would really work well for the build. 


I'm not ready for it yet.  Maybe Chris will have his on the market before I am ready....

I could go with a roundfaced or early ketland but then I loose the Germanic features.   I don't want anything with a real aggressive banana shape though.   

[rich pierce]

Buy one at a show. I always paw through a few. I’m sure it’s annoying but I buy one so that makes it bearable I guess.