Lock installition

[Ric27]

Well I have installed a few locks but have never tried to put one in assembled. I did learn some things here though that I will use on my next one that is going on this weekend. This is a Great!! forum

[B.Habermehl]

I use a slight variation of Don Stiths method. After transfer punching the lock screw holes I use a brad point drill to drill the bolt holes with a depth stop. And a forstener bit for the sear arm hole. BJH

[Dphariss]

How much wiggle room there is is dependent on how close to the edges of the plate the internals are.
If the bridle is near the upper edge and the mainspring, such as in linked mainsprings, is very close to the bottom then the "wiggle room" is not all that great.

Dan

[Dphariss]

I inlet the plate so its right where I want it, then the internals.
Much as Don S. describes. Sometimes I do it all with scrapers, chisels and gouges as was done here.




Knowing EXACTLY where the locks tail will be, for example, eliminates having it point someplace I don't want it too. Unless I screw up which I, of course, never do

I have a swivel breech in the works and have the lock plate inlet and did not even have holeds drilled in it until it was almost completely inlet. But I had to do this so I could get the lock back out. Will do the internals after I make the springs and get it functional. I think the store bought guts will work OK. I suppose I better start on that Monday and stop shaping the buttstock.

Dan

[Don Stith]

The use of drill bits to establish depth of inlet and for significant wood removal is widely used. A large percentage of patchbox cavities are done that way, so it seemed logical to apply that approach to lock innards. Just as an interesting side note:
I got to study a Confederate made Sharps carbine. The stock inletting for the action tangs and buttplate were done the same way. They did not have the machinery the Yankees did to do a machine inlet.
 Maybe a little modern for this site, but thought some might enjoy the observation

[Acer Saccharum]

Don, the smiths had to learn this from somewhere. The process is completely logical, but only if you have the technology.