W.L. Cochran Lock

[BrownBear]

In my recent travels I picked up a small, unassembled lock (left-handed flint). Inside the plate it stamped W.L. Cochran and 1984.

Can anyone tell me more about Cochran and his locks? I'm planning on using it to build a trim 32 or 36 cal for snowshoe hare.

All info welcome.

[Roger Fisher]

In my recent travels I picked up a small, unassembled lock (left-handed flint). Inside the plate it stamped W.L. Cochran and 1984.

Can anyone tell me more about Cochran and his locks? I'm planning on using it to build a trim 32 or 36 cal for snowshoe hare.

All info welcome.

A friend of mine (I have at least one such) shoots a Cochran and parts are nearly impossible to find....Someone aboard may have info on a source!

[BrownBear]

Thanks!  That would be useful to have, short and long term.

This is a tiny little lock, and it's got me all inspired to build a small game rifle around it.  After all that, it would be a shame to retire it for a broken part.

[JTR]

A 25 year old unused left hand Cochran lock is no doubt about as scarce as hens teeth,,,,,

but,,,,

do you mean one like this one?





email me if you're interested.
John

[BrownBear]

I'm working on my education in flintlocks, but from what I can see yours looks like what I got in kit form.  Here are some photos:

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I would not hesitate to build a rifle around that lock.  I used a right hand version in a Nicholas hawk pistol, and it served me for lots of years before I sold it two winters ago.  Replacing broken parts is not magic, just mechanics.  I doubt you'll ever wear anything out in your lifetime.

[JTR]

Looks like the same lock. The plate on this one measures about 4 11/16" long.
I got the lock in a box of parts I bought and really don't have a use for it. If you're interested in having it for parts let me know, otherwise I'll put it up for sale.
John
jtrrobbins@msn.com  

[BrownBear]

Hadn't even considered having a second one to play with, but now that you mention it.....

I'm sending an email.

Thanks.

[Mike R]

Willie Cochran is a retired machinist in Tulsa, Ok--I used to live near him and built my first rifle and first pistol using his locks.  Back in the 70s-80s he made locks and triggers for other builders as well as building rifles himself. Willie was a member of the local BP shooting club and would show up in fringed buckskins at local rendezvous with his homemade longrifle--it was slim and scaled to his little locks.  Some catalog stores such as Dixie and Log Cabin used to carry his locks & triggers. I first met him at the annual Gilcrease Museum Rendezvous--the Gilcrease is one of the best western art museums in the world.  The buckskinners of his group demonstrated muzzleloading rifle skills behind the museum while Indian dancers entertained in front of the building--imagine actually shooting live rounds on museum grounds in a city [of course the museum occupied a large estate on the edge of town].  He gave up making locks some years back and sold out to a fellow in Texas who marketed them for a while.

[BrownBear]

That's terrific information, and I deeply appreciate you sharing it.  Sounds like quite the guy!

[Stophel]

I have one of the lock kits (minus the frizzen spring, which I used to fix someone's old lock with) that I got from Jim Alvey a few years ago, who had begun producing these locks.  Apparently he no longer does so, and no one has been able to get ahold of him recently.

I haven't decided what I want to do with it yet.

[Dennis Glazener]

Jim Alvey has Cochran's molds for at least 3 of his locks. Try him on this number:
325-636-4371 Cochran locks/parts
Dennis

[Roger B]

Willie (Wilmer) has been dead for several years & was in his late 90s at death.  If he ever weighed over 110lbs it would amaze me.  He was the first person to make true matching right & left hand flintlocks in the 20th century.  His percussion locks matched as well, but were not interchangeable with the flint.  We occasionally would go across town & have him do machine work for us until just before his death.  At the time he retired from North American Aerospace in Tulsa back in the 60s, he machined out his lock prototypes & went to work in the lock business.  He also made fast draw (aluminum framed) colts for blank firing & an exact copy of a S & W model 29, except for the barrel.  I remember, as well, & huge crossbow that he built still hanging on the wall of his shop at the time of his death.  I've had contact with one of the Alvey locks & it was just plain rough & didn't work.
Roger B.

[Dave B]

I have a right hand lock on my hunting gun just like your Lefty. It was built in 94 and still going strong. Wouldnt hesitate one bit on building a piece using this lock.

Stophel How much for that lock missing the frizzen spring? You know ......I heard tell they aint makin them no more and its harder to find parts than an honest politician and its bad luck to keep a Cockran lock in the parts drawer..... now, I got this here old one eyed three legged mule who answers to tripod........

Seriously is it a Lefty or a Right handed I may be interested if its a RT

[Mike R]

Willie (Wilmer) has been dead for several years & was in his late 90s at death.  If he ever weighed over 110lbs it would amaze me.  He was the first person to make true matching right & left hand flintlocks in the 20th century.  His percussion locks matched as well, but were not interchangeable with the flint.  We occasionally would go across town & have him do machine work for us until just before his death.  At the time he retired from North American Aerospace in Tulsa back in the 60s, he machined out his lock prototypes & went to work in the lock business.  He also made fast draw (aluminum framed) colts for blank firing & an exact copy of a S & W model 29, except for the barrel.  I remember, as well, & huge crossbow that he built still hanging on the wall of his shop at the time of his death.  I've had contact with one of the Alvey locks & it was just plain rough & didn't work.
Roger B.

I was hoping you'd chime in--I knew your dad  briefly there in Tulsa.  I had forgotten about Willie's modern guns--he showed me one in his shop  about 1980 or so.  Last I inquired he was still alive--sorry to hear he passed on, but not surprised, he was getting up there.  The locks I got from Willie were well-finished and worked fine--and yes, the perc and flint versions were not interchangeable as I found out when I tried it--unless you built the flint version 1st, then bent the hammer on the perc lock to fit the drum & nipple. Ole "Graybeard" a local Tulsa builder was my mentor there and showed me that trick.

[Roger B]

Do you remember Graybeard's Christian name?  I'm trying to remember who that is/was.
Roger B.

[Mike R]

Do you remember Graybeard's Christian name?  I'm trying to remember who that is/was.
Roger B.

No...I have racked my brain, but I have always been poor at names and he went by Graybeard all the time.  He was a local Tulsa cabinet maker who got into gun building.  He liked southern style rifles, but I saw a couple of fancier "kentuckys" by him. He shot in the local club there with Willie et al. He may not still be alive--he was older than me and overweight [I am 65].  

[Old Ford2]

Hello All,
A fine fellow Mr. Doug Anderson built two rifles for me, using Cochran locksThese were made in the early eighties.
Both rifles were half stock, octagon to round.
One was a .58 percussion, right handed rifle, the other was a matching left handed .50 percussion.
Great locks, never the slightest problems in over twenty five years of use.
Old Ford

[greybeard]

I have one of Cochranes  R H locks  that he percussed with a brass plug in the speing hole . It's for drum and nipple. If anyonr is interested email me.
    Great well made locks. Back in the 60s he toured through western B C Canada and I met him on that trip.  Really a neat wee mam

[ol gabe54]

 Saw an old thread about W L Cockran locks. I am searching for a left handed flintlock to convert a percussion rifle. any help will be greatly appreciated.

[Bob Roller]

Mr.Cochran called me frequently in the early 1970's asking about lock making'and I gave him all the help I could.
The internal mechanism he used is a copy of mine that I abandoned in 1970 in favor of the linked tumbler/mainspring
that I still use. The external parts are nearly identical to the Chet Shoults lock that I started making in late 1962 after
getting discharged from the Army.I gave him all the numbers of material I found to be good for this work and I think
he opted for cast internal parts and made mainsprings himself. As far as I know the Chet Shoults lock and a neat
Ketland has not be revived and parts are available from Jerry DeVaudreuil in Wooster Ohio !-330-234-4500 a cell
phone. I have never herd any adverse comments about the Cochran lock and I am glad he had the success he did
with this little lock.

Bob Roller

[ol gabe54]

Do you know of anyone that makes a similar lock ?

[T*O*F]

In case anyone is interested, I have a pair, R & L, of Cochran percussion locks.  I wouldn't like to split them, but if I can sell both separately, I will do so.
Contact me via PM so as not to clutter this thread.