Ketland Conundrum

[chubby]

A reply to michaelB your comment on the guns of the 17 & 1800s is correct, but you or I cant say what the owners of those guns may have done or had to do them the whole time they owned them!! JP Becks gun may have been perfect when it left the shop, but conditions and use will and can cause things to change!! such is life.    Chubby

[Dphariss]

He said it works perfectly out of the stock, and binds when in it.  So it's wood that's the problem.

I agree.

Dan

[little joe]

A reply to michaelB your comment on the guns of the 17 & 1800s is correct, but you or I cant say what the owners of those guns may have done or had to do them the whole time they owned them!! JP Becks gun may have been perfect when it left the shop, but conditions and use will and can cause things to change!! such is life.    Chubby

Totally correct in my judgement.

[oldtravler61]

Excellent point Dave. I learned that the hard way.

[smallpatch]

Michaelb,
Sorry to hear you're so thin skinned.  Don't know how many guns you've built, but by your expectations, I'd say not many.
The tolerances in a good lock inlet are very slim. Read thousandths.
Each piece of wood is different in density, grain direction, and moisture content.  Therefore, different in the amount of swelling/shrinking it will produce, again depending on the environment it's living in.
As I stated before, a builder would have to be psychic to determine that ahead of time.
I'm a hobby builder, and I've built nearly 60 guns to date.  As of yet, I've had just two that I've had the problem with. One is my own personal, and another I fixed in 15 minutes for my client.  Unfortunately, shipping took about a week, and $100 of my money.  But that's what a reputable builder does.
If you expect more than that, please don't call me.

[Hungry Horse]

My two cents goes like this. When I started building guns, the old timers that were my teachers wouldn't tolerate any new fangled stains, finishes, or sealers. So, it was all about aqua fortis, boiled linseed oil, turpentine, bees wax, and paste floor wax. The guns would initially swell when the finish was slathered on, and literally poured into every inlet, and down the ramrod hole. But, after a little refitting, nothing bound up later. Now, the finishes don't saturate the wood, and nearly all the inlets are left untreated, so the wood reacts to every change in the weather.

  Hungry Horse

[Mike Brooks]

Learning from past experiences I would recommend NO STAIN IN THE LOCK MORTICE!! It is much easier to identify lock parts dragging on wood that has NOT BEEN STAINED that takes on humidity and swells and causes binding or draging!!

I never stain inside. Never saw an old gun stained either.