Single Lockbolt

[NY Loyalist]

Good Morning,Happy Mothers Day (to the ladies) and Hello!

I'm new to the site and board and have read alot and learned interesting things I hadn't known before. I believe I'm in great,knowledgable company!
I'm fairly new to blackpowder, six years in fact. I shoot at the local blackpowder range and talk to alot of the members. I'm a flintlock man! But, none of the guys seems to know when single lockbolts for flintlocks came into being for Rifles and or Smoothbores. I own one,made by Jackie Brown and was wondering.
Would any of you know? Where would I find literature on the subject?
Thanks!

[Don Getz]

NY..........Most old flintlocks were held in the gun with two lock bolts.   Most percussion guns used only one lock bolt.  You
will note that I used the word "most" instead of all.   Normally, if you found an old gun with a percussion lock, and it had
two lock bolts, we would consider that it probably was converted from a flintlock.  This is not a hard and fast rule, but is
the most common consideration..........Don

[bob in the woods]

One lockbolt will work, and it saves work in installing a second, along with dealing with clearance consideration re the ramrod .   Not something I've seen prior to the 19th C or on some contemporary pieces. Historically, the norm would have been 2 or 3 lockbolts prior to the 19th C from what I've seen.

[B.Habermehl]

I would argee with Don with the addition that milatary guns had 2 lock bolts much later into the 1860s + You really don't see many 1 bolt locks till after 1820. It would seem that it is linked with the quality of the gun. But nothing is carved in stone.

[hanshi]

Welcome to the forum, NY.  I'm not at all well informed on this subject but don't recall hearing any sort of problem related to the use of only one lock bolt on flintlocks; more problematic on percussions, I would think.

I have noticed that Tn/SMR flinters (early 19th century) often have only one lock bolt whether kits or finished rifles.  In this role a single bolt apparently does the job quite well.  My personal preference would be for two bolts, but then, I tend to be the skeptical type.  Still, this question is certainly worthy of being pinned down.

[smart dog]

Hi,
The use of single lock bolts (or side nails) was common on English pistols starting in the 1780's.  English flintlock sporting guns also often had single bolts during the last decade of the 18th century and it became the norm during the early 19th.  I am not sure when such a practice became common on American-made guns, but ceretainly the practice was common by the percussion era (after 1830 or so).  Keep in mind that many single bolted locks still had a lug and catch that anchored the front of the lock in the stock.

dave 

[Bob Roller]

If the lockplate is tightly inletted and the frizzen isn't a heavy one that tries to make the lock move in the inlet,a single bolt will work OK.

Bob Roller

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

As Dave says, just because it only has one bolt doesn't mean that the nose of the lock is not anchored.  I just made a GA gun with a .Davis late English flintlock that way. Nose ancored with a hook in a staple.

[G-Man]

Since the basic forms of some styles of southern mountain rifles changed little from the 1830s till the end of the century many such pieces are hard to date.  Old preferences stuck around a long time.  Many pieces that you would look at and first guess to be 1830 era are actually much later.  I recently saw a great Louisville Kentucky made flint rifle signed and dated 1847 that looks just like an Appalachian mountain rifle you would guess to be abut 10 to 20 years older.

From what I have seen two lockbolts were the norm on southern mountain rifles until at least 1830 - again - like Don said not all - but the norm.  Some piedmont North Carolina flint rifles that appear to date to the late 1820s and after sometimes seemed to have used a single lockbolt.  

Perhaps it has something to do with the tendency toward smaller locks and more slender architecture in the lock/sideplate areas.  The single lockbolt flint guns seem to mostly date from the percussion overlap era.

That being said, I have had several contemporary rifles with single lockbolts or even dummy forward lockbolts and a single lockbolt really does work just fine for a well inlet lock like Bob said, at least for the type of light shooting I do. If you are someone who shoots hundreds of rounds every week on the range it might  not hold up as well - I don't know.

Guy

[Dphariss]

If the lockplate is tightly inletted and the frizzen isn't a heavy one that tries to make the lock move in the inlet,a single bolt will work OK.

Bob Roller

Bob hit on a key point here.
The shock imparted by the frizzen is something most people do not think much about. But a frzzen the size of a large Siler imparts considerable energy to the lock plate and too the stock.

Dan

[Dphariss]

The British often used a hook at the front of the lock plate that was wedged under a flat head wood screw or nail etc to secure the front of the lock plate. So while only one "lock bolt" was used the front of the plate was still held in place at that point.
There really is no place for a front lock bolt here.
Dan



Here is a percussion J&S Hawken with no lock bolt at all as we normally use. It appears that the lock and breech were bought as a set.

[Dennis Glazener]

I'm a flintlock man! But, none of the guys seems to know when single lockbolts for flintlocks came into being for Rifles and or Smoothbores. I own one,made by Jackie Brown and was wondering.

Good question. I own a Mathew Gillespie that probably dates to circa 1810 and it has two lock bolts. A friend of mine owns an unsigned rifle that I feel sure was made in the same shop and by the same stock template, probably by either Mathew's father John G. or by his older brother William G. or his younger brother Robert Harvey G. I suspect that rifle was made about the same time but it has a single lock bolt. Both rifles are flints and it good condition with no evidence of problems caused by the lock bolts over the years.

I have built several rifles in the style of the above rifles using single lock bolts and have had no problems with them.
Dennis

[blunderbuss]

  I worked on a long silver mounted rifle now in the San Jacinto museum It was a present from J.Madison (president of the United States) to a guy named C, Reese this is not a common or plain rifle it's converted from flint also it has a forward fastener on the lock but only one side nail. It's dated 1814

[whitebear]

Nose ancored with a hook in a staple.

Dog could you send me a picture of this?

[whitebear]

As Dave says, just because it only has one bolt doesn't mean that the nose of the lock is not anchored.  I just made a GA gun with a .Davis late English flintlock that way. Nose ancored with a hook in a staple.

Sorry Tim that should have been DOC not Dog

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

Didn't keep a picture but  will get one... next time I go down to laurens county